Spotlight on Emma!

Emma, racing name "Pitched Short," is a sweet new foster girl on her way to OKC for retired living! She has 25 registered races and is the offspring of Brett Lee & Gypsy Sails.


Emma is 6 years old & we think she looks like Cookies & Cream! Check out her pedigree info here!

Emma's former owner sent her very special kennel collar with her.



Emma (L) with her mom, Gypsy (R)



Emma on her way to OKC!



Stay tuned for more pictures & personality information about Emma.

What did Santa bring your greyhounds for Christmas?

Submit pictures of your greyhounds on Christmas!
E-mail to EmilyHummel@GreyhoundPetsOK.org

Tango opened his own gift from his mom Kathy!

Tango says "Thanks mom!"

Rosie perfects her cockroach in her new Bagel Bed from Paws Around Town!

Daisy counts sheep in her new Bagel Bed

I think it's safe to say the sisters LOVE their new beds

Calvin has been a very good boy this year!

Cami fell asleep waiting for Santa

Zoe snuggles in her Sooner blankie while her family opens gifts

Luke was the life of the party on Christmas morning

What do you think he's dreaming of?

Mollie shows off her Christmas jammies

Frenchie's celebrates her first real Christmas with toys in her favorite color--PINK!

Frenchie dives right in to her Christmas gifts!

A special thank you

"I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something.  And I will not let what I cannot do interfere with what I can do." -Edward Everett Hale

This weekend we had the pleasure of rehoming a special little greyhound who had been picked up by a couple in order to keep her from going to the local shelter facility. They kept her for a few months and fell in love with her, but knew they could not keep her due to their work schedule. They had placed a rehoming ad on Craigslist and we went to pick her up to find her an appropriate home.

This morning when we went to do our daily Craigslist check for Greyhounds needing to be rehomed, we found this message posted by the same family, thanking us for our help. We are humbled to read such a special thank you from a kind couple who put this greyhound's needs above their own to find her a home that could give her the love and attention she deserves. We can only hope that there are more families like this out there, that have the selflessness to help another without concern about their own feelings or agenda.

"I just wanted to say a special thanks to Hounds of the Hearland for helping us find a home for our Beautiful greyhound, Belle. She was a wonderful to companion to us ever since the day we found her as a stray, and even though she was spoiled rotten, she is missed terribly. I was glad to come across a group like these great people who could help us find a home for her where they can give her the attention she deserves now that we no longer can. They were even kind enough to send us picures of her in her new home.

At one time I used to worry about dogs that wound up in these groups, as I was afraid that they were only looking to "turn a buck off people's sympathies." These people genuinely came to help, and care about the dogs that they rescue. I know now, from experience, that they truly are out to help, and should get all the public support that they can.

Please give them a look, and do what you can to help.

http://www.greyhoundpetsok.org/  

thank you for taking the time to read this and help these folks all you can.

JD Cooper "

Greyt News!

We just found out that we raised over $900 at our December Give Back Day at Rococo! Thank you SO much to everyone who came out to support us by eating a meal at one of the Rococo locations, those who spread the word, and especially to Rococo for supporting local nonprofit organizations like ours.


We appreciate all the support of our friends at Rococo and throughout OKC who made this fundraiser such an oustanding success for us!

HOH's newest Board Member

We would all like to welcome our newest member of the Hounds of the Heartland Board of Directors, Emily Williams! Emily has been working behind the scenes as our Twitter and Facebook administrator for over 2 years now. She will now serve as our Recording Secretary and help coordinate adoptions as well as various other duties.

We are thrilled to have Emily as part of our team! Congratulations and thank you for your dedication to the greyhounds!

Holiday Hounds

Check out our huge turnout from Edmond Petsmart last Saturday!

Edmond Petsmart: this Saturday!

Stop by the Edmond Petsmart near 19th & Broadway this Saturday between 12:00 - 2:00! Deck your greyhound with their favorite Holiday attire and show others what fun family pets these lovable couch potatoes make!

Don't forget  to tell your friends & family about our *Holiday Food Drive* - they can even stop by this Saturday and purchase a bag of dog food for our foster dogs! December 9th - 12th Petsmart is offering 15% off your ENTIRE purchase- including dog food! Visit www.Petsmart.com to print the coupon and come b(u)y to help us out!

We are in desperate need of foster homes right now. The reason you only see around 5 available dogs on our website is because we can only bring in as many dogs as we have foster homes for. There are always hundreds waiting for a spot! If you want to learn more about the process, come by and visit with us to get some more information, or just go ahead and fill out an Online Application and note that you are interested in fostering- it's free! You do not have to provide any food or supplies to foster, we provide everything!

We hope to see you this Saturday!

Veterinarians we love

If you have read "Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies" or "Adopting the Racing Greyhound" (both are books we suggest our adoptive families read to familiarize themselves with the breed) you know that Greyhounds have specific veterinary needs and we all use a veterinarian we love and trust with our greyhounds. If you are considering adopting a greyhound but don't currently have a veterinarian you use on a regular basis, we are happy to refer you to one of our many recommended vets in the OKC/Edmond/Yukon area! If you do have a vet that is not on this list, just ensure that they are up to speed on the unique anesthesia requirements for greyhounds in particular.

First and foremost, we recommend Dr. Chris Rispoli of Gentle Care Animal Hospital in Edmond. He does all the vetting for our foster greyhounds and we trust him to take care of all of our needs. He is located at 17200 N. May Ave., Suite 900, Edmond, OK 73012. Learn more about Dr. Chris and his veterinary practice at http://gentlecareah.net/index.php. If this is not near where you live, check our our extensive list of recommended and trusted veterinarians below!

Dr. Kelly Barger
Acre View Pet Hospital | 1900 S. Bryant Ave.
Edmond, OK 73013 | (405) 348-0808

Dr. Calhoun
Rock Knoll Animal Hospital | 6715 S. Western
Oklahoma City, OK | (405) 634-5700

Dr. John B. Hays
Mobile Pet Clinic | Serving NW OKC
(405) 721-0480

Dr. Jim Lee, Dr. Michael Benham & Dr. Roger Johnson
Wedgewood Pet Clinic | 4201 N.W. Expressway
Oklahoma City, OK | (405) 848-3329

Dr. D. M. Hawkins
Dr. Nancy Worland
City Animal Hospital | 2910 NW 23rd St
Oklahoma City, OK | (405) 943-1467

Dr. Harry Traylor
Dr. Cobb
North Penn Veterinary Hospital |12241 N. Pennsylvania
Oklahoma City, OK | (405) 752-0131

Dr. Roach
Best Friends Pet Clinic | 647 Kickapoo Ave
Shawnee, OK 74801 | (405) 273-5617

Dr. Donna Woods
Danforth Animal Hospital | 800 East Danforth Road
Edmond OK 73034 | (405) 340-1020

Dr. T.K. Epperson
West Yukon Veterinary Hospital | 934 W Main St
Yukon, OK 73099 | (405) 354-1946

Neel Vet - Emergency Hospital
2700 North MacArthur Boulevard
Oklahoma City, OK 73127 | (405) 947-8387

Animal Emergency Center
931 SW 74th St. (1-240 & Western)
Oklahoma City, OK |(405) 631-STAT (7828)
Hours: Mon-Fri. 6pm - 8am
Weekends: Sat. 12pm - Mon 8am
Holidays: All Day

FOR EMERGENCY AFTER HOURS CARE ONLY
Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care Hospital
1800 W. Memorial Rd.
Oklahoma City, OK | (405) 749-6989

Foster Focus: Jane Pace

Hounds of the Heartland would like to celebrate this months' Foster Focus: Jane Pace. Jane has been a valuable volunteer since she adopted her first greyhound and began participating at Hounds of the Heartland events.

Jane became involved with Hounds of the Heartland about a year ago after adopting her first greyhound Ebony. Jane and her son, Travis had gone to Petsmart to see the greyhounds and

specifically wanted to meet Ebony as Jane thought she had a sweet picture from the 'Our Hounds' section of the Hounds of the Heartland website. Although Travis and Ebony did not see eye-to-eye in the beginning, they love each other now and Jane feels as though Ebony has been the easiest greyhound to come into her home.

Jane soon became a foster home for Hounds of the Heartland after adopting Ebony. To date, she has had eight foster greyhounds come into her home. Not only does Jane foster, but she heads up the OSU-OKC Farmers' Market Show and Tell the 4th Saturday of every month (during nice weather). After fostering her first two greyhounds, Downtown came to live with her and a month later was finalized for adoption to stay forever! "Failed Fostering" is a term we use when a foster home decides to adopt rather than send them off to another forever home. After Downtown's adoption Jane took a break from fostering to do some home remodeling, but soon jumped back in and has since had about five greyhounds come to stay and learn what retirement is all about.

When asked what her favorite part of fostering is, Jane states the moment when her foster greyhound goes to their forever home and the adoptive family displays the pure emotion of happiness and enthusiasm to be adopting such a special animal.

Jane's son Travis is a big help to her as well. One of her fondest memories is of her favorite foster greyhound Austin. Travis was holding Austin in his lap at a Show and Tell event at Paws Around Town and talking to an older woman about greyhounds for 20 or 30 minutes. Jane loves how Travis, who is 14, participates in most of the events and feels as though the greyhounds has given him something to be responsible for.

If you speak to one of our volunteers about Jane, they might say "Oh yeah, Jane? That's the collar lady." Jane has not only been a valuable volunteer and foster parent, but she is our official martingale collar designer! Jane has been making her own martingale collars for several months and you won't find one of her foster greyhounds without looking their best and modeling one of her creations. She does sell her collars under "Fast Pace Designs" which are fancy martingale collars for the best dressed hounds!

Not only is Jane known for her volunteering, collar-making, and fostering but Jane also participates in 5K events and is quite the established runner. Hounds of the Heartland loves to participate in local 5K events, especially ones that allow for greyhounds to come for a visit and Show and Tell booth. You just might see that spunky 'collar lady' in a Hounds of the Heartland t-shirt run past you, if you are fast enough! What do her running friends say about her? They would argue that she is the 'bread lady' as she bakes the most wonderful bread ever! If you arrive early enough to the Farmers' Market Show and Tell events, you just might be lucky enough to enjoy a slice!

Hounds of the Heartland is so very thankful to have such dedicated volunteers. We look forward to many more years of friendship and volunteerism adopting retired racing greyhounds to their forever homes with such wonderful people. Thank you Jane!

If you are interested in fostering for Hounds of the Heartland, you can read more here. Also, if you are interested in ordering a collar from Jane, please email GreyhoundPetsOK@GreyhoundPetsOK.org for more information.

Local Youth Donate!

A couple of local youth, who are owned by an array of rescued animals, have decided to take on a project by constructing and building dog beds while donating a portion of the profits to Hounds of the Heartland!

The dog bed is $75 and stands 2' tall x 1'9" wide x 2'8" long.

If you are interested in ordering a bed, please email TrishaWhitley@GreyhoundPetsOK.org to request an order form for these wonderful dog beds.

adopt. foster. donate.

Merry Christmas!

Reminders about upcoming events

We will not hold a Show & Tell at Paws Around Town this Saturday as we normally do on the 1st Saturday. Regularly scheduled Show & Tell events at Paws Around Town will resume February 5, 2010.

We will not hold a Show & Tell at Norman Petsmart on the 4th Saturday (December 25th) this month as it falls on Christmas Day.

We will be taking a break from Tuesdays on the SPY radio station for the Holidays and early 2011. Thank you to Ferris O'Brien and the whole crew @ the Spy - we are so thankful for our relationship with the station. Stay tuned for new information about our spot on the Spy in 2011!

**Remember**
This Sunday, December 5th is Give Back Day @ Rococo!
This Sunday, December 5th Rococo Restaurants will be donating 10% of ALL SALES to Hounds of the Heartland! Visit either location listed below for Brunch, Lunch or Dinner for a nice meal and help a greyhound at the same time. What could be better? They have a huge selection of meals to choose from in addition to a full bar with hand-selected wines, spirits and beer. Some of us will be gather at the new Northpark Mall location for Brunch around 1:00. We would LOVE to see you and catch up!

Original Location: 2824 North Pennsylvania Avenue, OKC, OK 73107
Northpark Mall Location: 122nd & May Ave., OKC, OK 73120

Prez Says - December

We each have our own thoughts on what the Holiday Season means to us personally. For me, it a special time of year because I have so many fond memories growing up spending time with my extended family. Oh, the stories I could share of me and my cousins raising all kinds of trouble on my Grandparents farm in Kansas, but I will save those stories for another time. The one story I will share is about Luke our greyhound.

It was our first Christmas with a greyhound, so we had no experience about how he would react to our Christmas Tree or towards all the wrapped presents. We blindly assumed he would be good and leave everything alone. Oh to our dismay when we came home one evening after the spending the entire weekend wrapping up all the presents, to find Luke passed out in the middle of the living room with a single present unwrapped. We had foolishly wrapped up a bag of marshmallows for my nephew to use in his new “Marshmallow Shooter Gun.” Luke had sniffed it out among all the presents, like he had carefully selected the one and only present he wanted. He had carefully opened one end of the bag and had a snack. Of course, after devouring half the bag he was not feeling well, and had just laid down in the middle of the room. I’m sure if he could talk he would be saying “I can’t believe I ate the whole thing.”

For the next couple of days he paid the price for his mistake with several unplanned trips to the backyard. And my poor nephew paid the price as well, because we just wrapped back up the uneaten marshmallows and told him Luke stole his present. It made for some good laughs when he opened the gift and saw the half eaten bag. Now the whole family has a great story to share about Luke the Greyhound and another great memory to add to our list. So to everyone, I wish you a great Holiday Season and hope you each capture some fond memories of your family, friends, and your greyhounds!

-Brad Whitley

Do you have a favorite Holiday memory with your greyhound? Leave us a comment to share your moment. We love hearing your stories!