A record 47 dogs brought in from the track on Saturday, April 9th!

On April 2, 2005, Tom McRorie made a trip to the Caliente race track to pick up a broken legged dog, and was informed that due to two recent track closings and the surplus dogs being sent to Caliente, the pet kennel was filled well past capacity. With no room to hold the dogs, they would need to be moved out of the kennel as soon as possible.

Immediately, a call to action was made, and volunteers answered that call with resounding dedication. By April 6, plans had been made to bring in over 30 dogs the next weekend. Several of our foster homes committed to taking not one, but two fosters in order to help bring in as many hounds as possible.

On April 9, the day of the retirement party, Tom McRorie and Dana McNamar drove to Caliente with the dog hauler and a separate van. When they arrived, Tom requested that all available greyhounds be placed in the pet kennel, and they would load from there. Suddenly dogs came from everywhere. They were stuffing dogs everywhere they could in Dana's van, the dog hauler trailer and the back of the Suburban. We had hoped to take all the dogs, but that was when we were told there were 60. We did the best we could, but the ones left behind are safely in our pet kennel and will play and be well fed until our next pickup.

Dana arrived first at the McRories with 10 females stuffed in the van, and the frenzy began. Tom arrived not too long after Dana, bringing 37 more dogs. It was a sight to behold - volunteers, dogs, and x-pens covered every available space. The volunteers worked tirelessly, ensuring the dogs were taken from station to station to be bathed, get their toenails clipped, their ears cleaned, and get vaccinated and have their blood drawn. And then, there was the cat and small dog testing to be done. The day began at 8:30am for the volunteers who set up the kennels and stations, and ended after 8:00pm for those who helped with the cat testing and the final breakdown of the xpens.

The final count from Saturday:

Greyhound Pets of America took 47 greyhounds from Caliente. The Greyhound Adoption Center in San Diego took 28 greyhounds, and we had to leave 22 (14 boys and 8 girls) in our pet kennel. All together, there was a total of 97 dogs, 75 who are now on their way to being adopted into their forever homes.

Congratulations to all of you and thanks for all you do for the dogs. You guys are awesome, and we all did a wonderful thing yesterday. Many of our regulars were not at the retirement day due to the heavy event schedule that also needed support so we can find forever homes for these pups. I don't know how we did it, but we did it.