BY JOE POTENTE
jpotente@kenoshanews.com
and JOHN KREROWICZ
jkrerowicz@kenoshanews.com

Ryne Hoover and Kelly Gresser were considering adopting a dog, and they had heard Dairyland Greyhound Park was contemplating closing.

Little did they know as they drove up to Kenosha from Kankakee, Ill., on Wednesday, that the decision to shutter the track was already made, shipping hundreds of greyhounds out to the adoption market in the coming months.

“We just kind of came up here to see the puppies, talk to the adoption people,” said Hoover, who viewed a passel of greyhounds through a window before racing began Wednesday.

Roughly 850 to 900 greyhounds reside in Dairyland’s 12 kennels. About 25 to 30 percent of them — the top racers — will move on to other tracks, while the rest will be “petted out” to adoption agencies, said Silverhawk Kennel owner Tom Thomas.

“No dog will be left out,” Thomas said.

Residents can help

There’s plenty that local residents can do to help with greyhound adoptions, said Ellen Paulus, president of Greyhound Pets of America-Wisconsin:

— Promote greyhounds as good pets.

— Urge friends and family who have expressed interest to consider it further.

— Donate cash, dog food and gas cards to pay for shipping the animals, cleaning supplies, paper towels and other pet-related supplies.

— Volunteer to process adoption applications, transport dogs to other agencies, take on other responsibilties.

— House a greyhound temporarily, which might require additional training.

“There might be education on how to handle a greyhound because you can’t put them off a leash in a yard without a fence,” Paulus said. “When they’re running as fast as 40 mph, good luck in catching them.”

Paulus said there will be more details at www.gpawisconsin.org, including adoption applications. She anticipated some special events would be arranged in the Kenosha area related to greyhound adoption.

Paulus estimated her group could receive 25 to 30 dogs when the track closes. The others would be shipped to adoption agencies across the country.

She chuckled when asked what she’d do if the Dairyland pack overwhelmed her organization’s resources.

“It’s always overwhelming here,” Paulus said. “There’s always more dogs than what we have places for. We just keep focused on getting one dog placed at a time, and if it means there’s 100 or 500 dogs from Dairyland to deal with, the goal is still the same.”