My Greyt Life

I adopted my first greyhound in late 1998. I was living in Redondo Beach, Calif., trying to be self-employed. The first hound I met I said yes to because I didn’t want to drive through another traffic-snarled freeway interchange or two to meet a different hound. I said, “I’ll take that black and white one.”

Painter entered my life and changed it in ways I could never envision. He was a people magnet. Cars frequently stopped to ask what kind of dog he was. Some people even got out of their cars to meet him, which he loved.

A year later I was asked to foster and I failed. Two-year old Lily jumped on my couch in 5 minutes; she was puppy-like until 6. Where Painter was 99% good boy; Lily clocked in around 65%. She destroyed things and since I was generally sloppy – goodbye shoes, purses, books, receipts and files. She once ate a whole rotisserie chicken with bones that I carelessly left on the counter after rushing out to find a lost dog.

When I moved to Tucson, an entire community embraced us with play groups, volunteer options and ice cream socials. Friends that I made in the early 2000s are still my friends even though most of us have aged out of adoption.

Painter passed at 12 ½ and Lily at 12 ¾. Along came Jett, the life of the party, my party. He loved people and kids. We were invited to Doolen Middle School to talk about greyhounds. While I spoke, he walked around the room putting his head on every kid’s desk so they could pet him. He knew how to work a room; maybe he should have run for public office. A year later came Girlfriend. They were yin and yang. Girlfriend was reserved and lived in Jett’s shadow.

Jett passed at 10 1/2; my first who suffered osteosarcoma. Tucson Greyhound Park ended live racing June 25, 2016, and while many hounds were available for adoption, I monitored the website and noticed a lingering fawn. Daisy (fka Dakota) was an 8-year-old brood mama who had 17 offspring and was missing a toe. She was fostered by Linda Begaga for six months before I brought her home.

The two girls hit it off and had many friends including greyhounds – Mochi, Furlough, Meadow, and Donut, and Millie, an Airedale. Girlfriend passed March 2020, one week after her 15th birthday and Daisy passed at 12 from osteosarcoma in September 2020.

In November 2020, I adopted 6 ½ year old Kismet (pictured), another brood mama. Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as she had many health problems and passed from osteosarcoma at 8.

One of the most difficult things we do as hound parents is to make timely and gut-wrenching decisions to free them of pain. I look back at almost 25 years with six dogs and feel fortunate to remember the good times and even start laughing now and then. I cannot imagine my greyt life without them.

Karyn Zoldan is an SA Greys member and volunteer on the marketing and communications team.