JAN'S HOUNDS

We began 2001 in a major panic. The farm was being sold and we didn't have a new place to call home. The folks who had planned to build a kennel for us found out their money was tied up, and it turned out they couldn't help. Then we got a call from Linda Gleim. She and her husband, Herb, raise and race a few Greyhounds and they have a small kennel. They offered to let us house our dogs with them until we had a new place. OK, we had a place for the dogs, but no place for Torri. The Gleims said she could park her motorhome next to their kennel. February through May 2001 were some of the hardest times we have seen. Torri, her family and her 2 pet Greyhounds were living in the motorhome.  I was babysitting one of her 'hounds, Big Guy. The motorhome was difficult to keep warm, it wasn't exactly roomy and comfy, and my weekly visits to the kennel often found Torri worried and depressed, wondering if we would make it.  In June, Torri bought a small house in Brighton, Colorado. One less thing to worry about!

We had a offer to use a kennel at Cloverleaf Kennel Club. We really appreciated the offer, but it just wouldn't allow us to continue with Torri taking care of our Greyhounds and doing the majority of the kennel work. She certainly couldn't live onsite and care for the dogs there.

We also tried to negotiate a deal to rent an unused kennel from a local Greyhound owner. The property needed major cleaning and repairs, and we just couldn't afford the rent he wanted.

If all of these stresses weren't enough, in March 2001 several of our board members resigned and started a new Greyhound adoption group. That hurt, a lot. Torri taught so many of us so much about Greyhounds and how to care for them, she was deeply hurt when people she considered friends, some who adopted dogs she had raised and loved, walked away when she was at one of the lowest points of her life.  While having another adoption group in Colorado can only be a good thing for Greyhounds, I doubt many of us will ever forget the hurt they caused but hopefully, everyone learned something from it.

Soon after we started adopting Greyhounds from the Gleims' kennel, they became deeply involved with our adoption efforts. They offered to let us build a kennel on their property, but we didn't believe that would be possible. The cost involved was daunting, to say the least. We met with Herb and Linda and Herb's brother, Rick, and they convinced us to at least consider building. We made plans for a 20 ft. by 80 ft. pole barn as our new kennel. It would have 18 indoor-outdoor runs for adoption dogs, a kitchen/office area, a bathroom, a storage room, and a small crate area. The design we chose was similar to the Gleims' kennel to allow us to take advantage of their experience with the building process.

In July 2001, we began the begging process. We mailed almost 1,000 letters to local businesses, asking for their help with our project. We got our first response four days later from Fort Collins Truss. They offered to donate all of the trusses we would need. We began to hope it would happen!

Donations continued to come in and we began construction on September 22, 2001. This was a whole new learning experience for many of us who had never been involved in building anything before. After the first day, we could really see how big the building would be, and it was frightening to realize how much we had left to accomplish.

We met some absolutely wonderful people in the business community during this time. Over the next four months, the building appeared. If you want to read a more detailed account of the process, our article that was printed in the Greyhound Project's Celebrating Greyhounds Magazine can be found at: http://www.rmga.org/kennel.htm

On January 5, 2002, we moved our Greyhounds into the new kennel! Less than a year after losing our old "home," we had a new home and many new friends! When I look back now over the difficult times and consider all of the alternatives presented to us that we had to decline, I have to say that everything worked out better than I had ever dared to hope. I hope I never experience another year like 2001, but it has taught me to have faith. Faith that good people and real friends will be there to help when the chips are down.

Things are hectic, as usual, at the kennel. We had an Open House in June, and many of our adopters and friends came to see the kennel. We even had our first inspection by the NGA and were told most adoption groups would love to have a kennel as nice as ours. It isn't fancy, but it's warm in the winter and cool in the summer and, with the concrete floors, it's easy to keep clean. But the thing about our new kennel that the dogs really like - and hardly any other adoption or even racing kennel has - is the individual indoor/outdoor runs. The dogs don't have to wait for a turnout and we don't have to DO turnouts five or six times a day, which is a real plus for those hours when it's almost impossible for anyone to be there.