Burrell School Third Graders Visit With Greyhound Friends

The Greyhound Friends Education Outreach Program paid a visit to the Burrell School Tuesday morning as part of their educational program on the dog breed.

The visit, set up by guidance counselor Julie McCoy, gave students a chance to see greyhounds up close and learn a little bit about the breed.

“We want to show them what wonderful and friendly dogs they are and how compatible they are,” program coordinator Stoddard Melhado explained. “Our purpose is to go out and education kids about greyhounds. We like to also teach them about the importance of being kind to all animals.”

Founded by Louise Coleman on Mother’s Day 29 years ago, the rescue program was started after Coleman adopted a greyhound and realized that most racing dogs didn’t have a future after they could no longer perform on the track. Since establishing Greyhound Friends, 10,000 dogs have been rescued and adopted. 

Talking to 60 third graders, the group gave an overview of the breed including the history of greyhounds, their life as a racing dog, and their life after racing. 

“They transition really nicely. They’re wonderful home pets. One of the things we try to do is get rid of some of the myths that people have of the greyhounds,” Melhado said.

Talking about life after racing, the group made it clear for as fast as greyhounds can go they are just as lazy, sleeping for hours on end. They also went over the basics of dog training which they would need because of their life at the tracks.

The eight dogs part of the presentation all raced but experience varied on competition time. Some dogs rarely raced while others' race total went into the hundreds.

While there are dogs in the program that have raced locally at places such as Wonderland Park in Revere, that will decrease over time. With voters deciding to ban dog racing in the Commonwealth in 2008, all dogs coming into the program now come from Florida. 

In addition, the students were able to collect donations for the Greyhound Friends’ kennel. As part of the deal, students had to do a chore at home to earn something that could be given to the group.

As students prepared to visit with the dogs up close, Melhado left the students with some words of advice for not only the dogs but for all animals.

“Remember how important it is to be kind to animals,” Melhado said. “Not just greyhounds but cats, dogs, all kinds of animals because they have needs and feelings just like we do and if you do that, you will be doing a very good thing.”

For more information on Greyhound Friends, click here to go to their website.