Foster Tails and Fails
The greyhounds we foster are part of the B.Greyt Family too, even if they're only with us temporarily! Learn more about the hounds we have fostered, and what it can be like to foster retired racing greyhounds!
We want to stress that we are not rescuing these dogs. These are retired hounds-- they don't need rescuing from anything as they are very well-cared-for before they come to us! Whether they made it to the track or not, they are retired, not rescued.
Eliza
Eliza was our very first foster in late August 2020. When I picked her up, Eliza was a 1.5 year-old nervous peanut-- weighing in around 40 lbs-- who never raced, and is the littermate sister to our friend's hound!
Eliza was a very sweet girl, but we were in a little over our heads with her as our first foster; after almost two weeks with us, she went into a prison training program. If we were to take her on now after learning so much about fostering, I'm confident we would have much better results working with her!
This prison training helped Eliza immensely and she is now extremely happy and confident in her forever home-- she is like a different dog and it makes us so happy to see her doing so well!
Goofy (Mo's Goofy)
Goofy was foster number two in October 2020. At 4.5, he broke his leg in a race, and our group took him on! Goofy came to us as a very temporary foster and was only with us for five days. He is a gentle giant and we probably would have totally fallen in love with him if he had stayed longer!
Goofy is a big boy-- around 80 lbs-- and had to be pushed/carried up the stairs the first couple days so I definitely got a workout with him! The first time I tried to take him for a walk around the neighborhood, he led me into the yard and found a nice shady spot in the grass to take a nap instead! His calm demeanor was similar to Mama Carole's so he fit right in with us.
Goofy has since been adopted by a wonderful family in Pennsylvania, and he is spoiled rotten with them, exactly how it should be!
Harvey
Foster number three was Harvey! Harvey was 1.5 when he came to us and never raced. He was with us for five weeks and came a long way with us!
Harvey was rambunctious, mischievous, and had no leash manners when I picked him up, but he was also very sweet and would wrap his neck around you for hugs.
He loved trying to play with our cats, and every walk we took was actually a neighborhood squirrel patrol-- Harvey would get so excited over squirrels that he would leap straight up into the air! I'm sure our neighbors laughed a lot during those first couple weeks of his leash manners boot camp!
Harvey has since been renamed Ralph, and he has a human sibling which he adores! We have pet sat him since he was adopted, and he is still the same goofy guy!
Kuku (PJ Skirt Skirt)
That's right! Kuku was technically foster number four, and we picked her up right off the hauler in mid-December 2020!
Most of Mama Carole's babies had not been cat safe, so we decided to foster Kuku at first to make sure she was a good fit for us! I knew within a day or so that she wasn't going anywhere, but she still had to win over my SO.
Kuku was actually afraid of our cats at first, and she took two full weeks to start doing the stairs completely on her own-- this princess holds the record for longest stair mastery!
Kuku is also technically our first foster fail, so that's another title she holds! We officially decided to adopt her 1/1/21 and the rest is history!
Baker (VJ Got Baked)
Foster number five was Baker! Baker was a few months shy of 2 years old when he came to us around St. Patrick's Day 2021, and he didn't quite make it racing.
At this point, our adoption group's number of applications was so high that dogs were being adopted very quickly! Baker was with us for only one week before being adopted! He is a big, sweet guy who picked up on leash manners very quickly!
Baker had a lot of anxiety in the crate, even overnight, but started getting more comfortable with it as the week went on. He also holds the record for fastest learner on the stairs-- within 12 hours, he was doing them almost completely on his own!
Gunther
One-year-old Gunther was foster number six and we came extremely close to foster failing with him! Gunther broke his leg and never made it to the track, so he came to us in late April 2021.
Gunther is sweet, silly, affectionate, and oh so goofy! We expected him to only be with us for a week, maybe two at the most-- he was so good that there was no way that he was going to be a long-term foster with all those adoption applications! Gunther ended up being with us for just shy of a month after two different people passed on adopting him!
Gunther is nervous in new situations and needed practice on the leash, but he was such a quick learner and gained so much confidence while he was with us! He even started winning over princess Kuku! We had the option to adopt him after the second applicant fell through, but we ultimately decided it would have been selfish to keep him.
Gunther has found a wonderful home and we are able to keep in close contact with him and his mom; we even get to pet sit him from time to time! We are also able to continue fostering, so as hard as it was to let him go, we know we are helping more hounds and that's what fostering is all about!
Tater Tot
Foster seven was Tater Tot! He joined us Fathers Day Weekend in 2021 at three years old. From the minute I heard his name, I was in love, and I should have known that we would end up foster failing with him!
Tater came to us as a spook. He did not trust strangers, and for the first week, we had to keep him on leash in the fenced in yard because he wouldn't let us get close if he was off-leash! That was a hard lesson we learned on our first day with him!
Tater was with us as a foster for a month before getting adopted by another family. In that month, we came so incredibly far in building his confidence and earning his trust! He was still nervous to eat meals in the same room as us but he would come when called and would consistently take snacks right from our hands!
It didn't take long before we realized that Tater was not the right fit for the family that had adopted him, although that is a story for another time. We missed Tater a lot, and fortunately it all worked out and we were able to adopt him! 8/4/2021 was the day we signed the paperwork and made it official!
We are still working on building his confidence, but it still blows our minds how far he has come! We love our Tater the Greyter!
Cain
Cain joined us as foster number eight on 7/12/2021. Cain was also our youngest foster to date, at only 10 months old!
Cain was definitely a puppy, but he was such a snuggly sweetheart too! He had a similar demeanor to Gunther, so it's a good thing he got adopted so quickly! He gives kisses right away and loves people! He absolutely loved rolling around in the grass, especially with a toy hanging out of his mouth!
Cain was adopted after a couple weeks of fostering with us. He has since been renamed Groot, and he also has a whippet brother named Rocket.
Lily
A week after picking up Cain, Lily joined us as foster number nine! Lily was just 11 months at the time and celebrated her first birthday with us on August 15th 2021.
Lily, like our first foster Eliza, is a little peanut, although she is a lot more muscular, weighing in around 50lbs. Lily and Cain were best buddies on the farm in Kansas, so seeing the two together was adorable (until one started instigating some puppy mischief... they don't call greyhound puppies 'landsharks' for nothing)! Lily is a landshark in every sense of the word, but she is so unbelievably cute so there is balance.
Lily loves hearing herself whine and will do so for no particular reason. She is ridiculously fast in the yard, and will even carry around squeaky toys while zooming! She loves carrying things around the house, and is particularly fascinated with carrying our shoes around and snuggling near them.
Lily had a couple families that didn't work out and returned to us after each adoption fell through. She was finally adopted by a family with another greyhound and is doing so well!
Love
Love's haul made it to CT on 10/16/2021, and she was our 10th foster! It was a rainy, miserable night when we picked her up, but she was so sweet and just went along with it.
Love was 1.5 years old when we fostered her, but you'd never know it because she was so calm for her age! She is sweet and affectionate, and we call her variations of Lovey Dovey Love Bug.
Love was adopted by a family that we get to stay in touch with, and she loves her feline sister and bossing her dad around with barks! She has been renamed Daisy, but she'll always be Lovey Dovey to us!
Gus
Joining us as foster 11 was Gus. He is the littermate brother to Gunther, and we were eager to meet another G Baby! Gus was sibling number four to come through our adoption group, and arrived in CT mid-November 2021.
Gus is a sweet, silly boy. He's never met a stranger and would randomly come over to ask for pets while we were working. He was an easy foster, which in hindsight, we probably took for granted-- we didn't know how good we had it!
By early December, GusGus had already found a family and was adopted! He went home with another hound and is a happy, playful boy! You can even follow Gus on Instagram!
Dotty (VJ Dontstartnow)
Foster 12 was not-so-spotty Dotty! She was 1.5 when she came to us 1/14/2022, and it was a bitter cold night! That was memorable because princess Dotty is not a fan of the cold!
Dotty was our first medical hold foster, as at her first appointment with our adoption group's vet, they discovered a heart murmur. A follow-up echo showed two leaky valves, and she was referred to a cardiologist. While she waited to be cleared for adoption, she moved on to a different foster home to be closer to the cardiologist.
Dotty was fairly easygoing with hints of stubbornness, and so silly while she was with us. She tried her best to befriend Kuku, but Kuku gets grumpy, especially when it comes to other princesses in the house. Dotty loves toys, rolling around like a silly bug, and she even once TPed the house by grabbing the end of a toilet paper roll and gallivanting around the house, before proudly coming into the office- with the TP still in her mouth- and showing us what she found!
Dotty is now known as Dani and is living out whatever time she has left as a lake dog in New Hampshire. Her mom is awesome and shares tons of updates!
Boos
'Lucky 13' was Boos. Boos came to us, also on medical hold, due to an upcoming procedure that was closer to us than his previous foster home. He joined us as foster 12 on 2/12/2022 at just 8.5 months old, making him our youngest foster to date.
Boos is a special boy. He was bitten by another dog when he was very young, causing a defect in his muzzle. As a result, he was left with a large facial deformity, dental abnormalities, and damage to the growth plates which has caused a significant underbite and uneven growth of the left and right sides of his face. While he gets on just fine as is, a veterinary dentist Boos was referred to said that he could help to repair Boos' face!
Boos Baby is a sharky landshark; we've heard that blues are crazy, and based on this dude, we would have to agree! Boos is very mischievous, playful boy who loves toys and moving targets-- the cats were very happy when he got adopted! He is also very sweet and loves people!
Boos was with us much longer than anticipated due to having to reschedule his appointment while they waited for supplies to come in for his procedure. He was a foster who really tested our patience, but it was worth the wait because he is healing up so nicely! He was adopted 5/7/22 (not a moment too soon!) and is living his best life as an only hound! We see him regularly at our monthly walks and we love him so much more now that he's not our responsibility!
Our adoption group put together a fundraiser for Boos' procedure, and you can get a shirt with Boos' face on it thanks to a collaboration between us and our friend Paul over at Dreyer Designs!
Gloria (VJ Sister Sue)
Foster 14 was Gloria! This brindle beauty joined us on 5/26/22, much sooner than we anticipated taking another foster after the chaos that was Boos. But when your friend and fellow volunteer had a date mix-up and was in a bind for foster homes, and when the dog is a littermate to one of your all-time favorite fosters, you don't hesitate to say "of course we'll foster her!"
Gloria is the littermate sister to Gunther and Gus, so the third G baby to come through our home! Gloria was painfully shy when first joining us. She was so shy she wouldn't even eat while we were in the room with her! It took around two weeks before she really started warming up to us, but once she did, we were her people!
Gloria gradually started showing her playful side towards the B.Greyt Hounds, Tater especially. She also had quite the ruthless hunter side to her-- Gloria caught a groundhog, a squirrel, and a mouse in our yard! The mouse is somehow the only one who walked away safely.
Gloria was adopted to a loving home and we get to keep in touch and see her somewhat regularly at our group's events!
Katty
Hard to believe in just under two years, we have already made it to foster number 15! Katty was originally meant to join us in October 2021, but the decision was made to take Love instead. Katty was quite the spook at the time (we're told she was worse than Tater at one point!), so they worked with her on the farm for a while before she joined us in CT 7/29/22.
Katty was definitely still a little shy and nervous when we picked her up, but warmed up to us quickly and it didn't take long before Brandy started falling in love! Something about those shy cows...
The group we volunteer with, We Adopt Greyhounds, Inc (WAG), is an all-volunteer run, 501(c)3 non-profit organization. All donations they receive go towards bringing more retired greyhounds to Connecticut to be adopted, as well as taking care of the hounds while in foster care. If you would like to help WAG, you can find out how to donate here.
It should be noted that our views on greyhound racing are not a reflection of WAG.
B.Greyt is Pro Racing, while WAG maintains a neutral stand.