AFTER THE RACE TRACK

The sleek, long greyhound approaches speeds of 40 miles per hour as he chases the decoy rabbit around the track. He glides to the finish just behind the seven other dogs in the pack. Little does he know this is his last race.

The dog's trainer calls to him beyond the finish line. The greyhound rushes to the trainer and nuzzles his leg, showing love. The man doesn't respond but leads the dog to his cage inside the hauler. At home the shotgun is waiting - for losers.

This ending of a career is something that people are trying to change.

Retired Greyhounds as Pets, also known as REGAP, was started in 1986 by Jackie Schnepf after a dog track came to Waterloo, Iowa, not far from her home. Because Schnepf's husband, Dale, is a veterinarian, "we thought that we would probably get business from that greyhound track," she explained.

They got business, but not the kind they wanted. "The business was putting the dogs to sleep. We did a few of them and we said, `We can't stand this - this is horrid! These (are) wonderful, young beautiful dogs!' "

The Schnepfs had heard about an organization that was saving greyhounds and giving them to people as pets, and they thought they could do the same. "That was about eight years ago, and in that time we have processed 1,300 dogs from our veterinary clinic," she said.

Rescuing greyhounds

Under the REGAP program, Schnepf picks up unwanted dogs from the local track, then takes them to her husband's clinic.

"They have their heart work checked, their rabies vaccination, their 5-in-1 vaccination, their worming, and their grooming, and then if they have any other medical need, my husband will do that without charge," she said. In addition, the dogs are spayed or neutered.

Schnepf also checks out prospective owners to make sure the dogs go to good homes. Besides caring for the dogs' medical needs, REGAP has two rules: The dogs must be kept in the house because they are social animals and they can't tolerate the climate outdoors, and they must be kept in a fenced yard or walked on a leash every day.

"The greyhound has no homing device," she explained. "If they run off from their area where they live, they usually can't find their way home. Also, they would get hit by a car because they don't know what cars are - (they'll) go out and race with a car."

According to Schnepf, greyhounds learn quickly and have a lot of love to give.

If someone wants to adopt, "we tell people don't make any decisions about what you want until you meet the dog. The greyhound will pick out their owner. . . .

"I had a lady come from Chicago and she walked in and said, `I don't want a male and I don't want a white dog.' Well, you can imagine what she left with - the biggest white male we had. She named it Snoopy. It just adores her, because that dog picked her out."

Greyhounds usually are 2 to 4 years old when adopted.

"You usually won't get a puppy because trainers want to see if the puppies are good at racing," Schnepf said.

The dogs usually live for 12 to 14 years.

Getting accustomed

When a new owner takes a greyhound home, there are some habits of greyhounds to get used to. First, the animals are extremely docile and very laid back.

"(The dogs) are too used to spending their time in the day sleeping in their crates," she said. "Then they go to a house and all they want to do is sleep on your couch or your bed, because until they got into your house, they have never felt anything soft before."

Greyhounds come almost housebroken.

"They are what we call kennel-broken. They live in cages and then four times a day the trainers put them out in a turn-out area for them to go to the bathroom, so therefore, when they go into a house, this mentality transfers," according to Schnepf. "About 98 or 99 percent of them will automatically housebreak that first week."

Since greyhounds have enough energy to sprint around a track at 40 miles per hour, they also need to exercise at the new owner's house.

"If you have a fenced-in yard, you can just let them out and they will a lot of times do laps for you," Schnepf said.

"Usually they do two to three laps, and then they are done, then they sleep. . . . They are what you call short-spurt energy dogs."

If you don't have a fence, you can walk them every day or take them to a fenced-in area, like a football field, to run.

About 10 percent of the retired greyhounds in the United States are adopted through various organizations, Schnepf said. By taking in a dog, the new owners are doing the dogs a great service. If the greyhounds were to stay in the hands of their trainers, they may face terrible fates.

"A lot of them are euthanized in very terrible ways because (the owners) don't want to spend the money to have a vet do it," Schnepf said. "Sometimes they are hit on the head with baseball bats or hammers. They are shot maybe (or) clubbed. . . .

"There is also the `Tijuana Hot Plate,' which is being used in the United States. The Tijuana Hot Plate is an apparatus that they put together that will electrocute them. It is very painful - excruciating pain for them," she emphasized.

The greyhounds have two simple needs, according to Schnepf: "They want someone to love and they want someone to love them. And this is what a family does for them.

"They bond so immediately to you. They just have all this love to give to someone, and they have never had anyone to give it to. Then they get their family, and they just can't stop giving off this love."

EDITED BY: Jon Katz, 15