The New York Times

May 8, 2005

Nowhere to Run and Nowhere to Call Home

By ELISSA BASS

WHEN Tammy Krol and her partner, Patty Langan, heard that the Plainfield Greyhound Park was closing, they quickly arranged to adopt one of the track's greyhounds. When they brought it home late last month, the dog, whose racing name was Twilight Arthur, paced throughout their West Haven home all that night. So the couple's two teenagers, Mike Blodgett, 15, and Sarah Blodgett, 14, christened him Pacey. It was easy to rename the 3-year-old dog that the family adopted through Retired Greyhounds as Pets, an organization that places the racing dogs in private homes when their careers are over. Easy, said Eileen McCaughern, who founded the organization's Connecticut chapter, because it is doubtful anyone at the Plainfield track ever called Twilight Arthur by name.

Ms. McCaughern places about 100 dogs a year. Nationally, an estimated 13,000 greyhounds are adopted annually into private homes Since the Plainfield track announced last month that it would close on May 14, Ms. McCaughern has been working as fast as she can to find homes for the some of the 1,000 to 1,200 dogs at the track. She has placed six dogs here, two dogs there and realizes that she has a long way to go.

"This is a rescue effort's worst nightmare," said Ms. McCaughern, who runs her organization out of her home in Bethany and owns five greyhounds. Ms. McCaughern fears that after the track closes, any dogs left on the property will be euthanized.

Linda Wenner, a state animal control officer whose territory includes Plainfield, said that as long as the dog owners give their permission, and it is done humanely, it is legal for the greyhounds to be killed.

"It has happened at other tracks, not in Connecticut, but it has happened at other tracks in the past," Ms. Wenner said.

The track said that won't happen in Plainfield. Karen Keelan, executive vice president of the track, said on Tuesday that no adoptable dogs would be killed and that they would not have to leave the park after the track closes. If kennel operators were not able to take care of the dogs, she said, the track would hire people to do the job.

She said two of the park's six kennels have already made arrangements to relocate their greyhounds, about 300 dogs, to other tracks. The track is working with a third kennel on relocation as well, she said, and she was hopeful that places would be found for the dogs in the other three kennels. She estimated that 200 to 300 dogs would need to be adopted.

Ms. Keelan said that the park is working with Greyhound Pets of America, a national adoption organization, to help place dogs. Track and state officials are working to determine how many can go to other tracks, how many will return to their owners, and how many will be available for adoption.

"We want them to be placed," said Ms. Keelan, whose father, Edward J. Keelan, built the Plainfield track as well as the dog track in Seabrook, N.H. "That's what we're looking to do. There will be no unnecessary euthanization. That's why we're spending the time, reaching out nationwide, as far away as Canada, to find people to take the greyhounds from us. As long as it takes to place the greyhounds, we will support them financially."

The April 27 announcement that the track would close came two days after Plainfield town officials rezoned land that included the track site to allow construction of a domed auto race track. Gene Arganese, a developer who was proposing the 140,000-seat race track and has an option to buy the property, had been saying that the existing dog track would be part of his project. But on April 27, he said the current dog track would be demolished and rebuilt as part of the project. After the track closes, Shoreline Star Greyhound Park, a seasonal track in Bridgeport, will be the only greyhound track in the state.

Kennels subcontract to a track to provide the dogs for racing, said Tom Howard, who owns HMS Kennel, one of the kennels at Plainfield. The kennels lease dogs from owners, who live all over the country. Some people own a handful of dogs, others own dozens.

Mr. Howard said the kennel takes 65 percent of a dog's winnings, and the owners take 35 percent. The kennel assumes the cost of caring for the dogs.

Mr. Howard has between 170 and 180 dogs at Plainfield, where he has operated for 15 of the 20 years he has been involved in dog racing. He said he has openings for 50 Plainfield dogs in kennels he runs at other tracks, he has found homes for another 12 in New Jersey, and he has persuaded two owners to take back the half-dozen dogs they own.

"I probably have 25 owners in all," he said.

The problem with relocating the dogs to other tracks to continue racing, Mr. Howard said, is that Plainfield is considered the last stop in a dog's career. Older dogs, injury-prone animals and those that don't have a lot of victories end up in Plainfield, where business has been steadily declining for years. (Where once the track employed 350 people, today there are fewer than 100 employees.)

"Two-thirds of the dogs there can't go to another track," he said. "They just aren't fast enough. A lot of the dogs at Plainfield, realistically, they have no place to go. So they will sit there. The track said they will hire people to take care of them, but ... ."

It is this unfinished sentence that brings Ms. McCaughern to tears. She is a part-time real estate agent and also works full time as a trademark paralegal for General Electric. Retired Greyhounds as Pets requires a potential owner to fill out an application, and then the person's family and living situations are matched to the best dog.

She expected to place six more Plainfield greyhounds yesterday,, Her organization's policy is to spay or neuter all dogs before adoption, and the surgery and recovery takes a couple of days. Still, she said she can deliver an adopted dog in under a week. The new owners are not charged for the dog (Ms. McCaughern asks for a donation), but do pay the veterinary bill for the surgery, which can range from about $150 to $250.

Track dogs live in foster homes for a few weeks before going to their new owners to help them make the transition from living in a crate nearly all their lives to living in a home. Racing greyhounds don't know how to go up and down stairs, have never seen a window or a mirror, and may not even know what grass is, Ms. McCaughern said.

Ms. Krol and Ms. Langan weren't thinking specifically about saving a greyhound. Their 9-year-old basenji died suddenly a month ago, and they were still in mourning.

"It was so weird in the house without her," Ms. Krol said. "And then we saw the whole thing going on in Plainfield." They contacted Ms. McCaughern, who had two Plainfield dogs available for adoption.

"Arthur was the guy for us," Ms. Krol said. "It all happened so fast, it's like it was just meant to be."

April Brodeur and her partner, Bert Barrell, of Stonington adopted a greyhound, Sadie, five years ago through Greyhound Rescue of New England. When they heard about the Plainfield track's closing, the couple immediately began talking about adopting another.

"We call her the best dog in the world," Ms. Brodeur, a lawyer, said of Sadie. "People think they are hyperactive. She's a 45-mile-an-hour couch potato. They make such wonderful, wonderful pets."

Ms. McCaughern got her first greyhound in 1975 when she was visiting in Seabrook, N.H.

"I was out with some folks who were from the track, and I asked the question: What happens after they are done racing?" she recalled. "They said they destroy them all. So I went right to the track. They were destroying 14 that day. He picked one out for me. Terry Canary was her racing name. She was 2 years old. She's been my inspiration. She was the best."

She founded the Connecticut chapter of Retired Greyhounds as Pets in 1982 and estimates that she has placed 4,000 greyhounds since then. "We need time to place these dogs," she said. "I'm so ready to jump in and place as many as we can. They are the best pet you'll ever have. They are like potato chips. You can't have just one."

Several organizations place greyhounds in homes. They include: Greyhound Rescue of New England, www.greyhoundrescuene.org, (508) 478-1617; the Greyhound Protection League, www.greyhounds.org, (800) 446-8637; Greyhound Pets of America, www.greyhoundpets.org, (888) 267-1099; and the Connecticut chapter of Retired Greyhounds as Pets, www.regapct.com, (203) 393-1673.