Wash..Rinse...Repeat!

GPA received 6 wonderful hounds from JCKC on October 20th! As usual we met at Crittertown Bath House to give them a good scrubbing!
The hounds arrive early in the morning

Lin and Nerice work on Greta's Bam Bam

Brian helps Avalanche's new owners with his bath.

And the best part..the rub down!!!
Avalanche and his new family
HKF Dusk with her proud new mommy!


EDS Strong Echo and his new family
Sea Princess who is waiting for her new home!!!

JJ's Fickle Fate is with her foster family and ready for adoption!
And Greta's Bam Bam..his new family is arriving on the 21st!

Another group of hounds are arriving on October 27th! Please check our adoptables site for more pictures and information on any dogs in our foster program! Fill out an application today!!

*Pictures courtesy Katrina Stumpf

West Point Crab Carnival

It is Crab season in Virginia!!! So GPA went to the West Point Crab Carnival to show off the hounds in the parade..and eat a few crabs!
Dana shows off her crab hat

Ceasar shows off his parade wig as well.. Everyone waiting for the parade to start..it was hot but luckily we were lined up in the shade.
Cali used this as an opportunity to show some cub scouts that greyhounds make great pets!
Finally, the parade begins!! Most everyone is out of town at the Dewey Beach greyhound event, but we braved the heat and got lots of attention!
Stay tuned for Dewey Beach pictures! And don't forget..GPA has a haul scheduled for this month so get in your application soon!!!

*photos courtesy Katrina Stumpf

Grey Pride

GPA had a booth at this years Richmond Gay Pride Festival on Saturday the 29th.
Toby is very concerned about unwanted litters and free-roaming studs causing trouble. So he took it upon himself to promote protection as well as greyhound adoption as Miss Tabatha Mercedes Porsche Lexus Infiniti Carrington Rolls Bentley Escalaide Deville Bus. Toby was introduced to the stage led by his Entourage, Tyrone and Diego!
Once on stage, Toby did his best to promote how wonderful greyhounds are as well as making sure everyone understood the importance of safety during extracurricular activities.
After working his magic on stage, Toby joined all his greyhound friends at the booth to further promote greyhound adoption!
Toby greats his fans from his dressing room.
Trueman enjoys the weather and attention as well.
Tyrone and Diego get a chance to have some downtime after escorting their lady.
Dolly and Ally know how to work the crowds.
GPA has a wonderful display set up to raise money and increase awareness!
Ally reacts when someone asks if Toby was prettier than her..
Sable rests after a long day
Dolly can take no more..
GPA will be at the West Point Crab Carnival on October 6th, at Dewey Beach's Reach the Beach on October 5-7th.
And another haul is scheduled within a few weeks, so please put in your application soon so we can hand pick your new fast friend!
*Photos courtesy Nerice Lochansky and Gil Caldwell

Dog Haul September 1st

The volunteers of GPA-Richmond pulled off a wonderful haul of 15 beautiful hounds on September 1st. THey all came from Jefferson County Kennel Club (JCKC). The hauler arrived very early on Saturday morning
And the dogs started filing out after a long journey from Florida.
Then the dogs line up and get a CapStar for flea treatments
Jenny and Brian Alfano admittedly had their hands in every greyhounds mouth on this morning!
Here are a few pictures of the new arrivals waiting to be loaded up in volunteer's vehicles What a beautiful blue brindle!Then a short trip to Critter Town Bath House for the necessary grooming and pedicures. Critter Town is a wonderful location for this and we definitely thank the owner for allowing the greyhounds to invade his business!
The hounds arrive!!! Many anxious adopters await their new hounds!
They wait in line patiently for their turn. Every chips in to clean ears, clip nails, give out ID tags, fill out adoption paperwork, bathe dogs, etc.
Every tub is filled for about 2 hours of washing. The dogs definitely appreciated it
even though it doesn't look like it! Amanda and Katrina help Southern Loving (AVAILABLE) gets rid of all her dirt and starts to smell like baby powder!

Where's My Spice patiently waits in line for her turn
We even attracted a camera guy from NBC12 even though the piece got trumped by more pressing news from the weekend..it was still neat!

We still have hounds available in the foster program. Many of the 15 were adopted that day but not all! Visit the petfinder site to see all the great hounds GPA has available. And as always if you don't see anything you like, email gpa@greyhoundsvirginia.com.

Here is Hevener's Apollo who is available for adoption. He is a sweet, goofy boy with a huge heart! And he is a beautiful blue fawn!
Southern Loving is also available. She is a very sweet and quiet girl who loves to give kisses!

RNC Dottie (available) has a lot of energy and a lot of love to give!
We also have Whytell Ditty a sweet brindle female available for adoption! And last but certainly not least is Steve's Friend J who is waiting for his perfect home!
Check the adoptable dog list often

And don't forget to check GPA-Richmond's upcoming events!
*Pictures courtesy of Amanda Hatcher, Nerice Lochansky and Katrina Stumpf

Changes!!!!

Please keep checking back here often. We now have a fabulous volunteer who has taken over this part of our webpage and will be keeing this up to date.. She has done a wonderful job so far redecorating and will be posting pictures and lots of information in the coming weeks..

So for Now we are Under Construction!!!!

Ok... So its been almost a Year....

Yes.. I realize I have been slack at updating the News section of our website.. So here goes... The past year has been amazing.. So many wonderful families now have beautiful greyhounds that have raced into their lives. Through the help of so many people, we were able to place 91 new Greyhounds into Loving homes last year. And this year, we are on a great start as well. Our members, volunteers and board really stepped up last year as I had surgery on my shoulder. Well.. I had three surgeries to be exact, but who's counting. I was limited in what I was allowed to do and everyone would yell at me if I started to do something wrong. You just gotta love em!!!!

This past February, we helped organize along with a couple other amazing folks, an auction to help the JCKC Hounds and some medical bills they had accumulated. This auction generated over $6000.00. WOW... What an amazing outpouring of support we had.. There were so many items donated to help a wonderful program and of course the wonderful people who volunteer their time to run it.

We were very honored to take part in the Capital Ale House "Community Chest Night" the first Thursday night in March. What an amazing way for a business to give back to the community. From the size of the crowds at both locations, we are sure this will be a successful fundraising event for us. Thanks to the folks at Capital Ale House for having us and we urge you to visit their locations on a Thursday night between 7 and closing when they give a portion of sales to the Community Chest Charity of the week.

Our plans for this year include Easter on Parade, Bon Air Victorian Days, our Annual Spring Picnic May 6th and many others... Please check our calendar often to see what is going on..

We receive new hounds each month and are always willing to special request a hound for you if you so desire.

All of our hounds are fully vetted before adoption. They have all of their shots up to date, have been wormed with Drontal Plus, Full Dental cleaning, spay/neutering, heartworm check and prevention. Our Adoption kit includes: All Medical Records, track records when available, Dental Kit, Compressed Rawhide Bone, stuffed toy, Matching Collar and 6 ft leash, Track Muzzle, a folder full of excellent resources to read as your new hound settles in your home, and the support of Richmond's First and oldest Retired Racing Greyhound Adoption Agency.

Remember that GPA Richmond serves the Greater Richmond and the Tidewater area of Virginia. We try to only place hounds within a 2 hour drive time from Richmond.

You may reach us at any time by emailing us at: gpa@greyhoundsvirginia.com

Take care and until next time please remember that "Greyhounds Make Great Pets".

Gil Caldwell, President

LOST DOG ALERT!!

GPA - Richmond

On Saturday April 29th, one of our members hounds escaped while they were visiting their daughter in Manassas VA. She is a socially challenged little brindle girl named Gracie. There are people searching, printing and posting flyers in that area. We need more Foot Soldiers to help bring this girl home. As recent at last night we had a positive sighting of her. If you can help out in any way, please contact us so we can put you in touch with the people heading up this search..

Thanks.. Gil

GPA - Richmond

April Showers???


On March 25th, we received 9 hounds. All of the hounds were already spoken for but we still had to bathe them and get them ready for their new families. Many thanks to our huge team of volunteers that pitched in to help out. This was another beautiful group of hounds and they did very well. Welcome to all of our new adopters as they join the GPA Family.

We are now processing applications for April, May and June hauls. There are a lot of hounds available at the tracks waiting to come this way..

We are once again participating in Easter on Parade. Dress up your hounds and come on out and participate in the Pet Bonnet Contest.

In May, we will be marching in the Bon Air Victorian Days Parade.. We welcome everyone to come out with their hounds as we walk up Buford Road. I would love to have a bunch of hounds walking with us to show how beautiful and wonderful our pets are..

Also on May 7th, we are having our Spring Picnic. This year there is a little change. The location is going to be at IronBridge Park in Chesterfield County. Please check our calendar for details on this and all of our events.

Thanks to everyone for all that you do to help these wonderful hounds..

February Already???

Its hard to believe that another year is underway. We have another load of hounds arriving February 18th. Also that day we will be participating in the Pet Expo at the Showplace in Mechanicsville. Of course we can always use volunteers to come help out. Please email us if you have some time available that day to bring your hounds out and show them off at our booth. Newsletters have also been mailed out. If you don't receive yours, please let us know. We are still working on getting everyones addresses correct in our database. We are continuing to place 5 or more hounds per month thanks to our wonderful volunteers and great adopters. Once again we welcome everyone to sign up for the GPA Richmond Group email list. This list can help all of us as we travel the journey of being owned by Greyhounds. Feel free to post questions, ask for advice, exchange tips and even petsitting. Also please remember to check our calendar for events. If you have something that you would like for use to participate in, please let us know.

Updates!!!

The last 6 hounds we received have already made their way into their new homes and we have 3 arriving tomorrow morning, plus 5 more on Weds morning. Of the 8 hounds, 5 have homes and the others will soon have a home of their own..

The GPA Board met this past month to elect officers and to also fill some additional vacant seats on the board. We are excited to have a board that is dedicated to finding homes for these hounds while working together to make a stronger organization.

Our Board is as follows:

Gil Caldwell, President
Mark Lane, Vice President
Beth Nilles, Treasurer
Bobbie Moore, Corresponding Secretary
Amy Rizzo, Recording Secretary
Tim Gray, Board Member
Tom McDonald, Board Member
Brian Shaunassey, Board Member

We recently established a message group for GPA Members. This will allow our members the opportunity to discuss their hounds with other Greyhound owners. It can be a very informative way to communicate with each other, share ideas, organize playgroups etc.
To Join, please send an email to the following email address:
GPARichmond-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
I process emails mainly in the evening so it will take a few hours to get a response but I will respond. I hope that this board will allow our members to communicate with each other to form a stronger Greyhound community.

In Closing, I am happy to include the following message from GPA National President, Rory Goree.


To: Greyhound Pets of America - Volunteers, Members, Adopters, Friends and Supporters.


As we approach this season, I want to express my gratitude for your efforts in finding homes for greyhounds and for your support. Every one of you has performed an outstanding job.


The adoption of each greyhound speaks volumes. This past year has been tremendous, even with the difficult times of track closures, and natural disasters, you managed to continue on with the mission of GPA in finding forever homes for greyhounds.


During the Christmas season many of us are running around wrapping up gifts and putting the finishing touches to our holiday decorations. In GPA, every day we are wrapping up adoptions and putting the finishing touch onto another successful adoption. I can't begin to express my heartfelt appreciation for each and every one of you.


Enjoy every minute with your family, friends and pets. I wish you a wonderful holiday season.


Rory

President - Greyhound Pets of America - National

Who Let the Dogs Out??

Today was a very unusual day for us to receive dogs but since the haulers were heading north and we had our orders in, they arrived on a weekday. Arriving this morning about 9:30 were 6 beautiful hounds. They were ready to get off of the hauler right away. After walking them, we loaded them in the van and headed home to bathe & feed them and then get them settled in for the day. Two went home to their new adoptive homes to meet an existing greyhound waiting for them there. Another will go home tonight and two will go on Friday... As always it was wonderful working together with volunteers and members of our organization to find these dogs great homes.. And to our new adoptive families, welcome!!!

Negativity..

Recently we keep hearing more and more negative press on all sorts of things and Greyhounds as well as GPA has had their share. I recently received the following email from National President Rory Goree and he had asked us to post on our websites which I am doing through here. Lets all try hard to keep things positive and look for good in the placement of the hounds that our group places. I don't want our chapter to be involved in this type of continuous bashing.

On a Positive note, this week, we are receiving 6 hounds that will be going into new homes and we are working on applications for a haul that takes place the first weekend in December.

And now a word from our National President.


IT'S TIME TO SPEAK OUT FOR GREYHOUND WELFARE, NOT WARFARE!

I have received dozens of e-mails over the past few weeks from many of the 10,000 dedicated GPA volunteers all over the country who are upset and angry over recent statements made by Ms. Paulsen of Greyhound Companions of New Mexico. Instead of working constructively alongside GPA to ensure that the greyhounds sent to Juarez are placed in loving U.S. homes when they retire, Ms. Paulsen has chosen to attack the GPA effort and personally vilify me and other GPA volunteers. This has outraged and offended not only our members, but also many other moderate adoption advocates.

Why has Ms. Paulsen decided to turn her back on the Juarez greyhounds? Apparently she and her organization no longer share the goals of GPA and the mainstream adoption community. Unbelievably, it appears that their new mission is to STOP GPA from working cooperatively with the Juarez track for the benefit of the greyhounds there. Greyhound Companions of New Mexico has now officially joined the handful of extreme organizations whose primary focus is not the welfare of greyhounds, but full-scale war with the greyhound racing and moderate adoption community. And Ms. Paulsen has resorted to deliberate lies and distortions as her weapons of choice in this pointless war. A case in point, Ms. Paulsen has used a person who was disciplined by GPA for alleged animal abuse as her character witness against GPA.

Recently Ms. Paulsen has changed her tune. She was stating we (GPA) would be sending dogs to Juarez. Now she is saying that by finding homes for the Juarez greyhounds we are endorsing greyhound racing. Ms. Paulsen - you have been adopting greyhounds for years so I guess you endorse greyhound racing.

We've set the record straight on many occasions, both on our website and in personal communications with many of you. For a full statement of the GPA position on Juarez, please feel free to visit our website, www.greyhoundpets.org. But our position isn't even the issue.

The real issue is that reasonable people ought to be able to disagree without engaging in vicious and malicious campaigns of "personal destruction." My friends and I believe it's time to speak out for greyhound welfare, not warfare. Let's set political issues and personal grudges aside, and get back to putting the greyhounds first.

We urge you to contact Judy Paulsen at info@gcnm.org, and ask her to stop her terrible attacks against GPA and the adoption volunteers trying to do the right thing for the Juarez dogs. When you send your message, please forward a copy to us at pres@greyhoundpets.org.

And remember-when we abuse the people who love greyhounds, speak honestly, will not put greyhounds at risk to further their own cause and work tirelessly on their behalf, it does as much harm as if we were abusing the dogs themselves.


Rory S. Goree'President - Greyhound Pets of America – The Greyhound Retirement Specialists

Another successful Picnic

Our fall picnic went off without a hitch. What a beautiful day to spend at the park with all of our friends and hounds. We had wonderful food and entertainment as well as vendors and our Raffle. There were so many things donated this year. We had gift certificates from Broughton Kennels, Dog Services, items from Premier Pet Products, Southern States, FastJack Sportswear, Dog Walk Designs and others. We even had a DJ from "Tune in a Bucket" that kept festive music playing all afternoon. A Canine Freestyle demo was put on by Joyce Miller and friends from Merrimac Kennel Club in Hampton as well as fun games and contests... Thanks to everyone for making our picnic a success.

As a reminder, GPA Richmond has t-shirts as well as other merchandise for sale. We just received a new shipment of both short and long sleeve T-shirts in beautiful color and various sizes. Please email us if you are interested in purchasing one. Short Sleeve shirts are 15.00 and long sleeve are 20.00.

Please remember to listen to Voice America each Friday for "Greyhounds Make Great Pets". Your hosts are GPA National President Rory Goree, Kari Morrison Young, Kathy Hoynes and myself, Gil Caldwell. You can log onto the show at 2pm eastern time at www.voice.voiceamerica.com

Take care until next time...

Gil

It's Picnic Time!!

Wow... We just got back in from Greyhounds Reach the Beach at Dewey Beach, DE and what a wonderful time everyone had. Of course it rained a good bit of the time, however it was still nice to see the hounds and friends from all over the world.

October 16th is our fall picnic. We are very excited about this event. We have several vendors lined up to attend and sell their Greyhound Merchandise(bring money), there will be a Canine Freestyle demonstration and of course fun and games. We also have a DJ attending to play the hits and even offer some Karaoke during the day. Hamburgers and Hot Dogs will be supplied by GPA/Richmond and all we ask is that you bring a side dish or dessert to share.

We received three beautiful hounds on October 1st from Melbourne and working on applications for another run towards the end of the month. With all of the tracks closing for the winter months, there are so many hounds waiting for new homes. This month, three large tracks up north will be closing for the season, pouring 600-800 dogs into the adoption system and then we have the southern tracks doing the same thing.

Would you like to help out?? GPA Richmond has many volunteer opportunities available. We need foster homes, volunteers to help with merchandising, helping to schedule events etc. Please email us if you can help out.

We recently established a message group for GPA Members. This will allow our members the opportunity to discuss their hounds with other Greyhound owners. It can be a very informative way to communicate with each other.
To Join, please send an email to the following email address:
GPARichmond-subscribe@yahoogroups.com I process emails mainly in the evening so it will take a few hours to get a response but I will respond. I hope that this board will allow our members to communicate with each other to form a stronger Greyhound community.

Once again, please remember the picnic set for October 16th from 11-3:30pm. Directions are located on our events calendar..

Take care and we will see you on Saturday..

Gil

More Dogs and the" Dog Flu"....

First, we are excited that we have three hounds arriving Saturday Morning from Melbourne Florida. They will arrive between 2 and 4am. Two of the three have new homes already. Currently we have 2 females in foster and with the male on Saturday, that will make three foster hounds.

Many people have been sending me news articles, emails etc on the "Canine Flu". Friday September 30th on "Greyhounds Make Great Pets", we will have as our guest Dr Brad Fenwick to discuss this important matter. So please tune in to www.voice.voiceamerica.com at 2:00 Eastern time to hear it live. Also, I am posting the release that we have received regarding the Canine Flu.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Dr. Brad Fenwick, 540-231-6077; fenwick@vt.edu

CANINE FLU STORY OVERHYPED BY MEDIA, EXPERT SAYS

Blacksburg, VA (September 29, 2005)—An internationally recognized expert on infectious diseases in greyhounds says recent media reports of a canine flu epidemic have “greatly inflated the significance” of the scientific paper on which the reports were based.

Dr. Brad Fenwick, Vice President for Research and Professor of Infectious Disease Pathobiology at Virginia Tech, has specialized in the study of disease in racing greyhounds. In a letter to greyhound tracks and kennel operators, Fenwick said there is no scientific basis for the “hysterical tone” of recent media reports. Fenwick wrote the letter at the request of the American Greyhound Council (AGC), an organization formed by track and kennel operators to promote greyhound health and welfare.

“There is no killer dog flu crisis in greyhound racing,” Fenwick wrote, “or outside it, for that matter.”

The media reports were triggered by a research paper published in the current issue of Science Magazine suggesting that a respiratory disease observed in greyhounds at several tracks since 2004 is closely related to the equine flu virus. The paper also raised the possibility that the canine flu could be transmitted to humans because it had crossed species from horses to dogs.

Contagious respiratory diseases among dogs are nothing new, and Fenwick said this one appears no more serious than common kennel cough. The vast majority of greyhounds exposed to the canine flu recover completely, with many not even requiring treatment, he said. Evidence shows that most of the dogs that become infected with influenza do not show any symptoms. Where rare fatalities have occurred, they have been due to bacterial complications arising from failure to treat soon enough or with the correct antibiotics.

What disturbed him most about the media reports, Fenwick said, was the suggestion that this canine flu could be transmitted from dogs to humans and that greyhounds or the industry are somehow responsible for the outbreak. It is possible, he said, that this virus was circulating undetected in the pet dog population for some time and only became recognized when it caused problems in the greyhounds, since even a mild respiratory disease is of special concern in a canine athlete.

“There has never been a single recorded instance where the disease was transmitted from a horse to a human,” he noted, “so it is irresponsible in the extreme to suggest that this should be a cause for concern among the general public or pet dog owners.”

Fenwick advised industry members to take several steps to prevent the spread of any contagious diseases among greyhounds, including prompt consultation with qualified veterinarians, the use of appropriate antibiotics, more frequent checking and observation of dogs, extra cleaning and sanitation measures, and isolation of ill dogs away from healthy animals.


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I do hope this helps answer some questions and if you have any others please call into the show on Friday to discuss them with Dr Fenwick..

Until next time, Hug Those Hounds!!!

Gil

Dogs Everywhere!!!

Things have continued to be quite busy lately. We recently received 6 hounds from Tallahassee and there are only two left to place in their homes. And we have 3 coming in from Melbourne on October 1st as well. Sometimes I think I am seeing double with all these dogs running around... But its so wonderful to see them in their new homes. All of the tracks are reporting heavy numbers of available hounds and of course we need more homes that can provide a home for a hound that is not cat safe. If you can provide one, please let us know because these hounds are often overlooked at the track.

I have also been participating weekly as a host on the Internet Radio Show, "Greyhounds Make Great Pets". You can log in Friday's at 2 pm to listen at www.voice.voiceamerica.com Or visit the Greyhounds Make Great Pets website for the archives of past shows. If there is a topic that you would love to have us discuss, email me and let me know as we are always looking for new ideas.

October 16th is our Fall Picnic. We are looking forward to seeing our friends and hounds as always. GPA Richmond will be providing Hamburgers and Hot Dogs with members providing dessert and side dishes. We also have various activities planned and even Vendors with lots of Greyhound Merchandise. I will explain more about the events as the date gets nearer.. Please consider joining us and be sure to email us if you are attending so we will have enough food.

Now is a great time to let a Greyhound Race into your heart and home. All you have to do is call!!

Until next time, please hug those hounds!!!!

September 6 2005

Its been one month since my first blog and I apologize for not adding to this more often. This past weekend, we attended the National Greyhound Adoption Conference in Tampa Florida. What an informative and fun weekend. We were able to listen to some very infomative speakers, visit the tracks and watch a few races and even bring home an award.. Yes.. Thats right... GPA National had asked their chapters to update their websites and submit the new sites for a contest and our site won!!!! I have to congratulate Caroline who is our webdesigner for her hard work in getting the site up and running in time for us to enter the contest as well as putting together a fantastic site. Our Prize is a round trip airfare to our next conference.Our Senior Brood Mom Rosie has been adopted and is enjoying her new life in her forever home. We have also placed several new hounds and have a couple in foster care. Right now we have Flying Artist as well as Argus. We also have hounds coming in hopefully this coming weekend as well as at the end of the month. With the fuel costs as they are, haulers are being more cautious about making partial runs and need to have full carriers when they make a trip.We have also received word of three tracks closing for the season this fall. That will mean an additional 1000 dogs that will need to be placed. Right now every facility is flooded with hounds and of course we will need to help even more.During our Conference this past weekend, we held a special auction and took up a collection to help the hounds and adopters who have been devistated by this most recent storm. Through the generosity of so many, this fund grew quickly to around 4000 bucks to help out those in need.. There will be directions on GPA Nationals website where you can give towards this fund..Until next time, be sure to hug your hounds..Gil