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.