GreyHeart Greyhound Rescue and Adoption of Michigan is a rescue organization that began out of a heartfelt and determined vision to save greyhounds from the horrors of the greyhound racing industry.   It is dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and placement into loving homes as many retired racing greyhounds as possible. 

  Responding to a need on the east side of Michigan, GreyHeart came into being.  Below is Carol’s story about the birth of GreyHeart.

I became interested in the plight of the retired racing Greyhound in the early 90's, when I started to find out what their life was really like and that if they lost just one more race, they could loose their life.

In 1995, Wayne and I adopted Daisy from Helen Banks from Second Chance for Greyhounds in Florida. At that time, Helen had a wonderful farm where the greyhounds went from the track to wait for adoption. She held 35-40 dogs at any given time. Wayne and Daisy connected. We visited with Daisy so many times, that when we came to see her she now recognized us. And so it was, Daisy was our one and only.........so we thought. She was my inspiration though.

 As we drove, I read “Adopting the retired racing greyhound by Cynthia Branagan, for the first time. As Daisy stood drooling in our brand new LHS with leather seats, off to Michigan we drove. Daisy was 19 months old and had a mind of her own.  Daisy inspired us to form GreyHeart and she left us on January 12, 2008 at the age of 14 1/2.  Daisy was our 1st greyhound and the last greyhound in our house to leave us.  Her mission was th see Shy (her best friend), Joey and Daytona through their lives.

Whenever I was down in Florida, I helped out at Helen’s farm........that’s where I found Shy, hiding in the back of her crate, scared and frightened of everything. After much discussion, we adopted Shy. We felt we could give her the home she deserved.  The decision to add a second would be life altering...........we had to move from our detached condo in Novi (only 1 dog allowed) to a house with a fenced-in yard (Shy did not potty well on a leash) in Livonia and we also had to move from a condo in Florida (Daisy was too tall and we could only have 1 dog there also) to a house with a fence in Florida..........needless to say it was a hard year, moving 2 times in 6 months in 2 states...............but we wanted Shy. The year was 1997 and Shy had a long career on the track. She was 4 when we adopted her. We lost her to lumbar stenosis on April 7, 2005.....she was almost 12 and life was not the same in our pack.

In May of 1999, I started to work with Second Chance for Greyhounds(SCFG) in Michigan.....they were located on the west side of the state. They were formed from Helen Banks’ influence years prior. SCFG needed help with adoptions, in homes, transportation, etc., covering southeastern Michigan and I agreed to help.

Well, the demand was so large on our side of the state, that it became too much for SCFG to handle. They were a small group and we were growing by leaps and bounds. It became impossible to run adoptions over such a large span.

That’s when GreyHeart was formed................In December of 1999 in our great room about 10 people sat brainstorming and GREYHEART was born. Each having our own set of responsibilities. But as volunteer work goes, people tend to get excited for the moment and then go back to their normal lives. A few of us hung on and worked GreyHeart every moment of every day. My real estate career fell short...........you can say it went to the dogs!!

In early 2000 Joey came into our lives, he was just 2. Helen called about a boy named Abita Amigo being up for adoption down in Florida. We were wanting to add a 3^rd and we wanted a calm boy, we trusted Helen’s knowledge of greyhounds and adopted him sight unseen. As many know, Joey was .....my doll dog. Joey passed away on October 6, 2007, he was almost 10 years old.

Then in 2001 Daytona came bounding into our lives. He was returned and we had fostered him. He was 89 lbs. A strapping 3 yr. Old............well guess what, he stayed!!! Needless to say our neighbors thought we were nuts, and so did our families. Wayne wanted this guy. Wayne helped get GreyHeart off the ground financially, so I guess he deserved this BIG white greyhound. Daytona was only 9 1/2 years old when he passed away on September 10, 2007.

Over the years Helen Banks lost her beautiful farm in Florida and eventually retired and moved to North Carolina. Second Chance has been in operation for over 13 yrs. Keeping their own pace. GreyHeart is now in our 7^th year and still going strong. With the wonderful volunteers GreyHeart has, I am sure we will continue to move forward and save as many lives as we can.