I physically drive the dogs. They travel very, very well. Of course the greyhounds who were trained at the race track have an inherent sense of mobility. So they’re wonderful traveling. We stop, I don’t know, a couple of times a day. They have to obviously be on the lead, as anybody who knows that has traveled out to California, especially the Southern route. When you go through all the deserts and the arid land there, you have to watch out for snakes and other such things. So we typically choose camping sites, glamping sites, or motels.
Greyhound Welfare is an organization that gets notified when the greyhounds retire from racing. So some of the greyhounds that I take out to the West Coast are in fact going to forever homes. I’ve spent over 25 years in the horse racing industry, on the media side.
Speaker 4: Here come the horses for today’s race. The pick four starts here with exact trifecta and super-fecta betting.
Katherine: It’s a matter of giving back. Prior to purchasing the ranch, the greyhounds were suitable because of their size. But my dream is to be involved in after care. Because these horses give their lives to the horse players, the owners, the trainers, and everything. And, you know, unless they are top of the range, you know, stakes grade one winners, they don’t all go on to a happy retirement. Unfortunately there are just not enough of these sanctuaries and retirement homes. And I also wanted to get involved in my ultimate goal with the sanctuary, is to turn it into a therapeutic destination.
BB: When we say the dogs retire, it can mean a lot of different things.
LA: Blair Braverman.
BB: Typically when I say it, I mean the dogs are not really on the race team anymore. But that doesn’t mean they’re not part of the team. So we have retirees who, we, are double digits and just absolutely like own the farm and keep all the youngin’s in line. And still love to run, but they go short distances. And then I have, I have a friend in Minnesota who has multiple 18-year-old sled dogs who still run every day. So there isn’t really an age where they have to stop. But they can, as they get older, they can sort of, you know, want a chiller life. As mushers, as their people it’s our job to just pay attention to that and make sure that every dog is sort of living the life that is right for them at that time.
So sometimes we have dogs who become pets, we have people who want, you know, an active pet and they’ll talk to us. And a retired sled dog can be an incredible pet, especially if you’re interred in canicross, which is running with a dog pulling you, or bikejoring, which is biking with a dog pulling you. Or skijoring which is skiing with a dog pulling you. There’s all sorts of mushing sports you can do with one dog or two dogs. And a dog who’s retired from a bigger team could be a really fantastic option for that because they want a little bit of a chiller life, they wanna go their own pace. But they still have all that knowledge, have all that experience. They probably know, you know, their rights and lefts, and all sorts of commands for running down the train ahead of you.
You know, it’s just sort of figuring out what is the right lifestyle for them at every moment. And it can be bittersweet. You know, I remember when our girl Refried retired from the race team, she was a singer. And she would always sing when the going got tough. And I knew that I wasn’t gonna be hearing her in races anymore. That was bittersweet. But that she was still gonna be part of the team in every other way.
LB: Refried, I love those names.
Next week, we look at quite a different reason for travel and immerse ourselves in the allure of famous cemeteries, historical tombs, burial sites, and the rituals that come with honoring our ancestors. Thank you for listening. I’m Lale Arikoglu, and you can find me, as always, on Instagram @lalehannah. And follow along with Women Who Travel on Instagram, @womenwhotravel. You can also join the conversation in our Facebook group. Allison Leyton- Brown is our composer. Jennifer Nulsen is our engineer. Jude Kampfner from Corporation for Independent Media is our producer.
