How Greyhounds Raced Into My Heart!

It was never my dream to own a Greyhound, nor was it on my ‘to do list’ of things I wanted to accomplish in my life. I had traveled the world, gone skydiving, ridden motorcycles and run marathons but owning a Greyhound? I didn’t even want to own a dog! But God obviously had other plans.

Micheala and her first greyhound Speedy

I had been a bus driver for the City of Winnipeg but after an injury I could no longer work. When I left in 2000, there was definitely a void in my life. A friend mentioned that there were two Greyhounds in a pet store; quite an unusual breed. It would be interesting just to see them. After a lot of coaxing from my daughter, we took a peek and it was love a first sight! Two weeks later we brought Speedy home. He turned out to be a Coyote hound, bred in Alberta to kill the wolves and coyotes that were killing farmer’s livestock. I was constantly asked if he was rescued from a race track but to be honest, I really knew very little about Greyhound racing and I certainly was not aware that one could get a track Greyhound in Winnipeg. I began doing research and what I found out made me ill and upset. Thousands of Greyhounds lost their lives or simply disappeared after no longer being profitable, many dying horrific deaths and living lives of abuse and neglect totally void of any human affection.

The sport of Greyhound racing was a huge business all over the world with countries holding racing licenses that could not even feed their own people. One could only imagine what could happen to these poor dogs. Nearly a year later we brought home our first retired racing Greyhound. Moe (Fast N Fearsome) changed my life forever. This beautiful gentle sweet creature brought the track home and a passion was born. One week later Hal (Hal E Bean E) arrived from another organization, he had broken his pelvis in Colorado and was still recovering. He too soon won our hearts.

A year later, in December 2004, I drove to Minneapolis in a blinding snowstorm to pick up my very first load of dogs and soon had my first adoptions. With the help of many wonderful people we became an incorporated non-profit organization in August 2005 and officially became a registered charity in January of 2007. To date we have rescued nearly one hundred Greyhounds and we have had the pleasure of meeting some truly incredible people. We have the good fortune of working with great people in the racing industry; people that love their dogs and genuinely care about what happens to them.

Throughout the years I continued running and often on a run I would wonder if there was a way to connect my passion for running with our ever present fund-raising efforts. It was during one of my runs that I got the idea for “Race for Your Heart”. I had always loved running and missed being part of the running community. I was exited at the prospects of combining the two with the possibility of raising money for our Greyhounds. The “Race for Your Heart” became a reality on October 14, 2006.

The race gets its name from the term rescue organizations sometimes use to let a greyhound race into your heart. Our first year was a near disaster as someone moved our directional signs. It was a crushing blow after all the hard work. I was really surprised when positive feedback began to filter in despite the problems.

The Pack

Speedy

Amos

Tyler

Hal

Moe