By Ann Marie Shambaugh
Mary Louden is a big believer in the power of a fresh start.
Her nonprofit, Prison Greyhounds, pairs retired Daytona Beach Kennel Club racing dogs with inmates at the Putnamville Correctional Facility, who help prepare the canines for adoption. It’s an unlikely partnership, but one that’s beneficial for the dogs and the inmates.
“(The inmates) exercise responsibility and appreciate the chance to give back to their community by doing something worthwhile that really makes a difference,” Louden said. “The guys experience the reward of a job well-done. They know that the greyhound has a better chance at a successful adoption because they stepped up for the program.”
As for the greyhounds, life in prison prepares them for transitioning into a home environment. The dogs have grown up in a kennel with dozens of other greyhounds and have encountered few people. In prison, that’s reversed.
“The greyhounds are highly socialized. All racers are used to being handled with people and dogs but have never been on slick floors or climbed staircases,” Louden said. “They don’t know mirrors, glass.”
Such was the case for Carolina Glare, a 3-year-old greyhound who raced in 20 events in 2015. She went through the two-month Prison Greyhounds program before being adopted by Eric and Melissa Claflin of Zionsville later that year.
“For many of these dogs, it’s the first time they’ve been in an environment that wasn’t the farm they were raised on or the racetrack where they spent their entire lives,” said Melissa, a nurse by day. “Some of them have never been on grass before.”
The Claflins have enjoyed watching their greyhound – whom they renamed Hula because “she was very elegant and quite the dancer,” Melissa said – adapt to life in a home.
“It was like she belonged here,” said Eric, an EMS director. “We had been told they are very easy to integrate into your daily routine, and we found that to be very much true.”
The Claflins were drawn to the organization’s neutral stance on the racing industry and the freedom it gave them to get involved at their own pace.
Now, they both work as prison team volunteers, helping settle the greyhounds with the inmates. Melissa also serves as the meet and greet director, overseeing events for potential adopters to learn about the breed and the Prison Greyhounds program.
Louden acknowledges that greyhounds aren’t for everyone, and that people interested in adopting one should learn as much about the breed as they can through books or getting involved with programs like Prison Greyhounds. She owns four greyhounds and is fostering another, so she knows the tremendous bond that can form with a retired racing dog when it’s a good fit.
“They are like the wind when they run, simply breathtaking,” she said. “What we love about these fast friends is both their sleek, friendly, fast way of racing through our backyards and into our hearts, but also the alertness, loyalty and socialization that the breeders on the greyhound farms and trainers on the track have built into the dogs.”
Life in prison
When the greyhounds retire, they are loaded into a climate-controlled trailer and driven from Daytona Beach, Fla., to their new home for an event that Prison Greyhounds calls New Dog Day.
Volunteers are on site to welcome the dogs and take them for a walk. Then they take one dog per car to the Putnamville Correctional Facility, where the dogs are bathed, groomed and introduced to their team of inmate handlers.
In prison, the handlers take the dogs to school, chapel, family visits and recreation activities. The greyhounds live in the dorm and sleep in crates set up next to their handlers.
“We focus on transitioning the hounds from athletes to family pets, focusing on good house manners,” Louden said. “This is not an obedience class, but instead we focus on things that the average adopter will truly value.”
The hounds graduate after spending approximately eight weeks in the program.
For more, visit prisongreyhounds.org.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 2 – approximate number of months the greyhounds spend in prison
- 8 – number of greyhounds in the prison at a time when the program is full
- 15 – months of age that a greyhound typically begins racing
- 45 – miles per hour a fast greyhound can run
- 247 – number of retired racers adopted out by Prison Greyhounds
