They’re basically used for the racing industry and then discarded. But then when you research the nature of the breed, they’re just a beautiful dog, and a really good family dog.

Welcome, loving viewers, to this edition of Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants as we visit the all-volunteer, non-profit group Friends of the Hound which is based in northern New South Wales, Australia in the small town of Tweed Heads.

Friends of the Hound specializes in rescuing and re-homing greyhounds and serves its home state and the South East parts of the state of Queensland. In Australia 20,000 greyhounds are bred each year for the cruel sport of greyhound racing where betting occurs. After only three or four years a dog’s career is over and they often will be euthanized as they are no longer wanted by the dog racer. Friends of the Hound desires to see all greyhounds live out their natural lives in peace and happiness.

To date the group has saved the lives of some 300 greyhounds. Let us now hear from the founder and president of the group, Lisa White, on how Friends of the Hounds came to be.

We went to the local pound here to join the local animal rescue group “Friends of the Pound,” and whilst I was in signing all the paperwork, the kids and my husband went out and were looking at the dog pens, and when I came out, I saw this beautiful blue greyhound sitting there in one of the cages. And I happened to say, “Oh, what a lovely dog,” as I was walking past, and the pound keeper overheard me and said, “Oh, don’t look at that dog,” and I said, “Oh, why?” And they said, “Oh, it’s a greyhound, it’s here to be destroyed.” And I just grabbed the kids and walked off.

But all afternoon, and all night, the image of that dog’s face stayed in my mind, and I just couldn’t forget her. So I went online and I looked up “greyhound rescue” and all about greyhounds. There was a lot of sites from the UK and America where there’s lots of greyhound adoption agencies. And there’s a few in Australia that I looked up. And I went back to the pound the next day and I inquired about getting that dog released, and it was only through luck, and fate, I think, that she was released to us, and she was the first greyhound ever released from Tweed Pound.

She was a very timid dog. They actually told me that on the paperwork. It said that she was too timid for racing, that’s why she was being put down at the pound. She was just a very easy going, very sweet, affectionate dog.

Zada was the reason why I got involved in greyhound adoption. She was the first greyhound our family adopted. When we got Zada and we realized what fantastic dogs greyhounds were, it inspired me to do more for the breed, and help some more dogs. So I approached Friends of the Pound about doing Greyhound rescue, and they were very happy to have someone onboard that would specifically rescue and re-home the greyhounds.

We then went and adopted another dog. Zada was rather timid, so we then went and adopted another one called Bimby, and he was our promo dog, and we started doing the greyhound rescue.

Greyhounds are excellent at helping those who are disabled and love to provide companionship. We next meet Alexis who was aided by Friends of the Hound and then became a volunteer for the group.

We’re here at the nursing home with Alexis, Hally, and Eva. We’re just about to find out how this trio all came together. Alexis can you please tell us how you adopted this beautiful dog for your grandmother?

Sure, after Nan had a stroke a couple of years ago, she was looking for a large, easy care, low maintenance, low exercise dog and so I did a lot of breed research and found out that particularly in the US and the UK, greyhounds are used a lot both as therapy pets and also for people with limited mobility and who need an easy care dog.

So I contacted Friends of the Hound and spoke with Lisa (White) and she confirmed that that’s what they are like. We went along to visit four of them and choose Hally as the one whose temperament most went with what Nan was looking for. We relied a lot on Lisa’s recommendation because she had so much experience with re-homing the greyhounds. We couldn’t have been more pleased. She’s been absolutely fantastic.

And, has this started a love affair? Have you gone on to adopt any more?

Absolutely, I’ve always had big dogs, but had nothing to do with greyhounds. And when we got Hally, it was just fantastic. I actually started volunteering with Friends of the Hound, doing events and that kind of thing. And then I adopted another dog called Kane who I do Pets as Therapy with. Hally also does Pets as Therapy, where we go into nursing homes, hospitals, go to homeless events, senior’s expos, that sort of thing.

We will now briefly pause for a message and when we resume, we’ll learn more about Friends of the Hound. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants on Supreme Master Television, where we’re speaking with, among others, Ms. Lisa White, president and founder of Friends of the Hound, which rescues and re-homes greyhounds throughout the state of New South Wales and in the South East parts of Queensland, Australia. While waiting for a loving family to take them in, many of the rescued greyhounds stay with Ms. White on her large property.

This one here is Cleo. This is Lizzy and this one here is Patty. And Patty and Cleo are litter sisters that we rescued last week. And I also picked up Lizzy last week. They were all surrendered to us from Greyhound trainers; they weren't racing anymore. Actually all these guys weren't actually cut out to be race dogs. The two sisters are three years old and Lizzy's only 20 months old.

And when you say, "cut out," what, they just weren't fast enough?

These guys actually didn't have the mentality it takes to be race dogs. They weren't as interested in chasing as dogs need to be to be race dogs. So they were surrendered to us.

Most of the dogs we source are local dogs, from Northern New South Wales through to Brisbane. But we have taken dogs from far and wide. I've taken dogs from other states, as far as Tasmania, throughout New South Wales and throughout Queensland. So wherever there's a greyhound in need, we try to help.

They breed 20,000 greyhounds a year in Australia for racing and the wastage is just enormous.

They finish their racing career at age three to four. But only half the dogs bred actually make it to the track. So we're talking about a lot of young dogs that don't have a life.

The catch phrase I use for these dogs is, for greyhounds it’s "the quick or the dead." Because basically that's what it comes down to. If they're not needed for the racing industry, most of them are put down. So there's a great need for our work out there, and there's a great need to raise awareness about them as pets, because they actually make such a fantastic suburban pet.

They're quiet. They're a big dog but they're so quiet. They don't need a lot of exercise and they're really easy to have around. So they actually suit a working family in a suburban yard.

Babette Angell is a dedicated volunteer for Friends of the Hound and works with Story Dogs, a program that has been implemented in some local public schools in northeastern New South Wales. Sammy, a Friends of the Hound rescue dog, gladly helps out with Story Dogs. Let’s now learn more about this splendid program for children.

Babette, you’re here with Sammy, and you’re off to your Story Dogs program at the local school. Could you tell our viewers a little bit more about this program?

This is a voluntary organization that started up in Murwillumbah, based on an American and British program that goes into primary schools for grade 2 students that are slow at reading. And the idea is that you have a specially trained dog that goes into the classroom or the reading area or the library, and has a one to one session with slow readers.

The dog does all the work, he does all the listening and I do some of the talking. And the children get more confidence if they’re slow readers to read to the dog, because the dog just sits there and is non-judgmental. And the children interact with the dog. And a lot of children who are slow readers, never have seen a dog or patted a dog, and the dog has to be very gentle and listens to the children. And you allow the children to brush the dog and pet the dog.

And he comes into the conversation, like you might say, “Oh, Sammy didn’t really understand that word, can you say that again?” Or “Sammy didn’t hear what you were trying to say, can you read that again to Sammy?” Or “Shall we read together for Sammy?” Or “I’ll start off reading and then Sammy wants to hear what you can say.” Or you might say, “Tell Sammy about that story another way,” depending on what the child wants. So the child gets to interact with the dog and the dog sits on a special mat with the child, and you sit down too, and you read with the dog.

And does Sammy just sit there patiently and listen?

He loves to be in the action, he likes to know what’s going on. And, I think it’s very good for a greyhound to go into a school, because that will get the message across to everybody that greyhounds are very gentle, and good with children.

We thank Ms. Lisa White and Friends of the Hound volunteers for helping to save the lives of so many magnificent greyhounds in Australia. Please join us tomorrow on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants for part two of our interview with Ms. White and others.

For more details on Friends of the Hound, please visit

Friendly viewers thank you for being with us for today’s program. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May Heaven’s love always shine upon all of us.

My husband and I just saw Friends of the Hound on the Internet and we would just like to help the cause and we just love the greyhounds; we saw they needed help.

I think greyhounds are very restful dogs. When you come home from work they’re glad to see you, they bounce around. You give them a treat, they lie down and they’re quite happy to just be with you wherever you are.

Welcome, beloved viewers, to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants for part two of our program profiling the all-volunteer, non-profit group Friends of the Hound which is based in northern New South Wales, Australia in the small town of Tweed Heads. Friends of the Hound specializes in rescuing and re-homing greyhounds and serves its home state and the South East parts of the state of Queensland.

In Australia 20,000 greyhounds are bred each year for the cruel sport of greyhound racing where betting occurs. After only three or four years a dog’s career is over and they often will be euthanized as they are no longer wanted by the dog racer.

Friends of the Hound desires to see all greyhounds live out their natural lives in peace and happiness. Their motto is “Adoption, Not Destruction.” To date the group has saved the lives of some 300 greyhounds.

With the racing dogs, a lot of the dogs we rescue come in with injuries from racing – (Right) broken toes mainly, and muscle injuries are quite common. We have had leg fractures that have stopped the dog from being a race dog but aren’t interfering with their ability to be a pet. A lot of the dogs come in poor condition. I mean they’re skinny dogs anyway, but a lot come in very, very poor condition. So the first thing we do is feed them up, treat their injuries if they have them, and get them healthy.

Most of our dogs are surrendered by trainers. We do rescues from local pounds as well. The dogs are just collected from the trainers and brought home here where they're given a couple of weeks assessment and we get their vet work done.

And Lisa, when you bring them home, what's the first step of your process?

I take them into the kennel area and just get them used to a new surrounding. Some of these dogs have been bred and lived in the same place all their lives. Most of them are used to living in a two-by-one-meter cage. So we put them into dog runs, we take them out, we walk them around. We just let them settle, just give them time to settle.

After a few days, most of them seem fairly relaxed and happy and then we start the process of assessing them with the other dogs.

They go through a period of assessment just to get used to being pets and to see how they interact with other animals. I've got other dogs here; I've got a rabbit and chickens and horses and three young kids. So it's a great environment to test the dogs out and to see how they interact.

So once we know what the temperament of the dog is, then they get put out into foster homes. So we have a list of people that have volunteered to take the dogs into their home temporarily.

And do they have any special requirements for the foster home?

Basically they just need a secure yard. They need just time and love to spend with the dog. I mean the safety of the dog is of utmost importance. And we try and match each dog to a suitable foster home. (Okay) So we have foster homes with kids, foster homes with cats, foster homes with other dogs. Some dogs are playful, some aren’t. So we basically try and just match the dogs up to a suitable foster home, which will allow them to flourish and get used to being a pet.

A valuable member of the Friends of the Hound team is the long-time Tweed Coast veterinary surgeon Dr. Merridie Fury. Dr. Fury has attended to many of the greyhounds rescued by Friends of the Hound over the past eight years including providing spay and neutering services in preparation for re-homing them.

As far as an animal to work with, they’re delighted animals because they trust you, they let you work with them, they’re easy to deal with, they’re a really nice animal to work with as far as being a vet is concerned. And they’re very nice placid animals.

Some of them have come from Lisa (White) and some have continued to be clients here after they’ve been re-homed and the people really adore them.

One special thing from my point of view is that greyhounds are almost considered the universal blood donors. I’ve used some of Lisa’s greyhounds. I’ve rung her up and said, “Lisa, I need some blood,” and she’ll bring across a greyhound and they donate blood very well.

When Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants returns, we’ll learn about Friends of the Hound’s Pets In Therapy program. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

Welcome back to Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants on Supreme Master Television, where we’re spotlighting Friends of the Hound, which rescues and re-homes greyhounds throughout the state of New South Wales and in the South East parts of Queensland, Australia.

The adoption program involves taking the dogs in, assessing them, getting them used to life as a pet in the foster home. And then every dog that’s adopted out goes on a two week trial to their new home. We try and match the dogs to a suitable home and everyone is happy because we want it to be for life.

Friends of the Hound has a Pets in Therapy program where volunteers and greyhounds visit hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and nursing homes to bring joy into the residents’ lives and help them heal. Alexis Mulhearn, a Friends of the Hound volunteer, now describes how Kane and Hally, her two rescued greyhound canine companions, comfort the lonely.

The dogs are much better than I am at telling, which patients need what. They decide who they want to see and where they go and away they go.

So they’re very intuitive guardian angels.

Very intuitive, very intuitive, (it’s) very interesting watching them interact with different people. Sometimes, in both the nursing home and the psychiatric unit, I’ll see somebody who I think, “Gee, that person’s having a bad day.” And the dogs will pretty much ignore them and go up to somebody else who I think looks Okay. And the minute the dog walks up, that person will wrap their arms around them and start crying, and I think “Wow! How did they know?” (They are) much more intuitive than I am. So I don’t worry now; I just let them do whatever it is they want to do and I’m hopefully trying to get a bit more intuitive and a bit more like them.

Friends of the Hounds relies on foster carers like Babette Angell to look after rescued greyhounds until a wonderful family who wants to adopt a canine is found.

This is Leroy, my foster dog.

And how old is he?

He’s four.

And has he been to the beach?

He likes the beach, and he was very nervous about going into the water. He wouldn't go in the water. But now he'll just go in the water, and step right into the waves, more so than the other two. So he's gotten more confidence now.

To provide support and encouragement to people working with gentle greyhounds, Friends of the Hound has created an annual greyhound picnic day. This year’s event was held at the Murwillumbah Showgrounds in New South Wales.

We’re hosting a big Greyhound Picnic Day, where we’re getting lots of people who have adopted their dogs, plus the people that are currently fostering dogs to come along and mingle with all of the hounds and have a lovely, lovely afternoon, where we get to meet the other dogs and talk to other greyhound devotees.

Supreme Master Television was invited to come for the picnic and met some of the terrific attendees, humans and canine alike.

Could you tell us a little bit about Gracie, how you became involved with her?

Oh, we’ve had Gracie now about five and a half months; we’ve always had pound dogs in the past. I work with Lisa (White) who’s president of Friends of the Hound, so I knew a lot of the work she was involved with. (Right) And also she’d had greyhounds visiting patients in the hospital I work at. And I thought they were a beautiful dog, and I persuaded my partner, let’s look at a greyhound.

So at the time Lisa knew she was available and very timid and probably knew that she’d be the only child in the house for a while, and her being timid, and us been shift workers, and one of us home nearly all the time, it was suitable for her to come to us on a trial period. But, yes, the first two weeks was trying, but after that everything fell into place for us.

Well, Lacy we’ve had for two years and she came to us. We don’t know what her previous history was but we encouraged her to run and enjoy life, and we take her down to the leash free areas of the beach, and she just races up and down and enjoys socializing with other dogs.

We close today’s program with Ms. White’s kind message for all our viewers.

I think everyone should meet a greyhound. I think everyone should have the chance to meet one of these gorgeous dogs, pat one of these dogs and then I think that those that do and know the breed, will fall in love and want to help. And that’s what we find, most people when they meet these dogs, they’re just amazed by them.

We deeply thank Ms. Lisa White for taking the time to speak with us about her work and share the wonderful characteristics of greyhounds, as well as the volunteers and foster carers we had the opportunity to interview about their experiences. Australia’s greyhounds truly have a friend in Friends of the Hound!

For more details on Friends of the Hound, please visit

Thank you for joining us on Animal World: Our Co-Inhabitants. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment, after Noteworthy News. May each little star in the sky brighten up your world.