|
by Kevin Adam
Greyhound Companion and QCGA Volunteer
For most of my life, I was just not a "dog" person. But I found out a few years ago what I'd been missing out on for all that time.
I never thought about dogs at all - much less greyhounds. But something changed in my thinking because of a chance encounter in January 2004, at the Bald Eagle Days in Rock Island. That's the day I met my very first greyhounds.
The Meet and Greet team was there, and I had no idea that greyhounds are a large breed. I also had no idea that they were so curious about people. Or so calm. Or so gentle. Or loved affection so much. I learned, and experienced, all of that in just 15 short minutes as I met the dogs and spoke with a volunteer. My wife and I didn't adopt a greyhound that day. But the seeds were planted.
We talked about adopting one, off and on, for a few months. Then, we took the plunge. We had a lot of questions, and we did the necessary reading. We wondered a lot of things: Will it run around the house like a crazy dog? Will it need to be walked often every day? Will we be able to train it to live with us - and our cats? Fortunately, it's our imaginations that ran wild.
We found out many things first hand with our first greyhound. Naturally, each one has it's own personality, just like people. But we also found out that they're very intelligent, very loving, and, surprisingly, very calm dogs in general. And again, just like people, they have their likes and dislikes too. We were surprised at how easily we fit this wonderful greyhound into our lives - and glad we didn't have to walk it constantly.
Soon we realized that it could be even better to have two - so, yes, we adopted another. After a while, we thought it could be fun helping out the greyhounds who live at the kennel. So now we volunteer, and get to visit dozens of greyhounds a few times each month.
So if you're thinking about adding a dog to your family, think about a greyhound. You just may fall in love, just like my wife and I did. And you know what? We have a young granddaughter who loves them too. And they love her. They're gentle with her, and they especially love the extra snacks they get from her! Adopting is easy, and the volunteers in charge of adoption will help make sure you get the right dog for you and your family.
Then you can find out, first hand, what I did: Greyhounds are simply a joy to have around.
Do you love dogs? Do you enjoy volunteering? Then you just may like volunteering at the QCGA kennel in Maysville, Iowa. It's a short drive outside of Davenport. Visit the "Volunteer" page for more information. |
