Royal was the group's first puppy!

He fractured his back right leg in the "run" at the Greyhound farm and the group agreed to pay for his surgery and find him a home. We had no experience at all in caring for puppies--especially trying to keep one quiet and crated while he recovered. Thank goodness for Laurel Drew--one of our group's founders--who kept Royal at her home and found him a fantastic family. He was adopted at the age of 6-months old by Nils and Jill Westlund of ABQ. Royal recently passed away at the age of 9-years old and lived with this special family his entire life. Here is the wonderful tribute they sent to the group:

"Laurel told us the first time we met that he was quite a character, and how she was right about that. Over the past 9 years Royal has kept us busy, entertained, worried, and proud.  He's made us laugh, frown, cry, and whatever there is in between. We got Royal before we had kids and always referred to him as our 'first-born'. He stole our heart from the moment we first saw him and our love for him grew deeper with every day that passed...I cannot find the words to describe how much we loved him. And this is what struck me the most--I grew up in a family with many dogs and I was fond of each of them. Royal however, was different, I always felt that he loved me back even more." 


We are so grateful for the love and devotion that Royal's family gave him. We were able to add Royal to the Greyhound-Data base, after all of these years--he was a noble and lovely Greyhound--a credit to his breed! Here is the link to Royal's background.


As a final note to this sweet story--the Westlund's adopted Firefox and here is a nice pic of Firefox and Nils. Firefox will live with Nils, Jill, their son-Jackson, and another retired racer named Lonesome Rhythm.