By Neena Strichart, Publisher
For most of my life I was a pet snob. Cats, cats, and only cats were my choice in a four-legged companion. Oh, I’d had a dog or two but I certainly preferred meows to barks.
When Steve decided to retire from the Long Beach Police Department, he started his campaign to get a dog. Oh, not any dog, he wanted a greyhound. We had seen them through the years and he was convinced that rescuing a retired racer was what would quench his thirst for a dog. Making a long story short, Steve won me over and we adopted Rose from Greyhound Pets of America. We had her for more than seven years. I am no longer just a “cat person.”
When Rose passed away earlier this year we grieved and then adopted another greyhound to fill the void in our hearts. Phoebe is a sweet girl, just over two-years old. She is so gentle with Tabby, our 19-year-old blind cat, and she plays nicely with our two-year-old Italian greyhound.
Loving a retired greyhound is a very special experience. Knowing the hardships these dogs endure while racing makes most of us owners a bit overprotective with our furry kids. When I heard about the tragic story regarding Henry the greyhound and the vicious pit bulls, I was just sick. So sick that I couldn’t even assign the story to a staff writer. I didn’t want to think about the incident or acknowledge it in any way. I know now that we must all address the issue of what happened to Henry–or he will have died in vain.
My friend Shirley Vaughan of Friends of Long Beach Animals (FOLBA) wrote a letter that is right next to my column this week. She did a wonderful job with expressing how my husband Steve and I feel about what happened and I will not diminish her letter with redundancy in this column.
Our staff writer Nick Diamantides will be covering this story in next week’s issue. I know that he will do a good job of getting all the facts from every angle. Although we do our best to write about the positive things in our neighborhoods, sometimes the tragic does happen and we will not stick our heads in the sand or ignore the subjects that are hard to face. We are here to inform you. Thank you for reading the Signal Tribune newspaper–we care what you think.
For information about Greyhound Pets of America visit their website www.fastfriends.org.
