• There are currently 49 operating greyhound tracks in 15 states.
• With 16 tracks, Florida has the greatest number of tracks.
• Even though they are alone in individual crates, greyhounds at tracks live in kennels of about 100 dogs.
• About every six hours, the track dogs are muzzled and turned into a small area in like-sex groups to relieve themselves.
• Greyhounds love to run.
• Generally track greyhounds are raced every third day.
• Fortunate dogs are fed a poor diet of raw meat mixed with kibble.  
• Because the food is soft, many track greyhounds develop early tooth decay.
• Approximately 13,000 greyhounds were adopted in 2001.

• In Dog Fancy Magazine's January 2001 issue:

"I do regret allowing Gary Guccione, executive director of the National Greyhound Association [a racing industry group], to estimate the number of Greyhounds euthanized per year (he says about 6,000) without including the number most adoption-rescue groups use (20,000)." --Steven Biller, Editor

• While many owners and trainers love and respect their dogs, some dogs do not find kindness at the track.  Periodically one reads or hears a news item about several greyhound carcasses having been discovered.

• For more information about the horrors that greyhounds face from humankind, please use the following link.  But be forewarned, it will be even harder to say 'no' to adopting an ex-racer.  Link to greyhound protection league

This is the true story of how some friends adopted their greyhound.

This animal-loving couple was vacationing in a state that allowed greyhound racing.  They were driving by a track.  Quite a distance from the track itself and the road, the couple saw a man and a greyhound in a field by the side of the road.  Something about the man just didn't seem right to the couple, so they stopped the car to see what was wrong and to stretch their legs.  Once out of the car and getting a better look at him, they heard the slumped man crying.  Then they noticed the gun and shovel.

This story has a happy ending, though.  The couple got the man to start talking to them.  He said that his boss had told him that this dog had to go and handed the man the gun and the dog's leash.  The crying man had wanted none of it, but could find no other work in the area and could not afford to keep the dog.  The couple asked if they could take the dog.  That was how Gretchen became part their lives about 10 to 15 years ago.

Periodically there are still stories of greyhounds being killed only because the dog is slower than another dog; or the racing season is over and there is no rescue group is in the area.