Adopted Greyhound Makes 1st-Prize Impression Torchy Among 24 Former Race Dogs To Become Pets Of Missoula Families

Christmas came early for 9-year-old Amber Hitchcock and her younger brother Timmy when they adopted a homeless greyhound last week.

Torchy was the first of 24 greyhounds delivered to Missoula families Friday from the Post Falls race track. It closed Sunday, leaving 700 dogs homeless.

The dogs that are not adopted face death, since after Sunday they will no longer be racing dogs, paying their own way by their track performance, but orphan dogs with no place to go.

Torchy came to the Hitchcock home sight unseen. The family’s first glimpse of him was 3 p.m. Friday, when the kennel trailer and truck arrived from Idaho carrying the dogs to their new families in Missoula.

He turned out to be a sleek white and russet colored 3-year-old male. He weighed about 50 pounds.

“We’ll take him home and see how he plays with our other pets,” Amber said as the dog obediently nestled into a travel kennel in the back of the pickup truck of her father, Missoula businessman Aaron Hitchcock.

Amber and Timmy have been running errands, cleaning house and doing assorted other chores around the family’s home and business for almost a month to save up the $120 it cost to neuter Torchy, give him all his shots, groom him, and otherwise make sure he was fit for adoption, said the children’s mother, Helen Hitchcock.

Each dog is assigned to a family only after extensive screening is done to make sure the match will be a successful one. One necessity is a fenced yard, according to Linda Hightower of the Greyhound Pets of America Missoula affiliate MAGIC, which stands for Montanans Adopting Greyhounds, Ideal Companions. The adopting family also must promise not to breed their dog, hunt it, or abuse it.

In return, Hightower tries to match each dog to a family’s specifications for their ideal pet.

“We requested a young girl, but they said they didn’t have very many, so we said we would take a good boy that has a really good disposition,” Amber Hitchcock said. She said the color didn’t really matter.

Torchy seemed to fit the bill for a good disposition perfectly.

He stood still while he was bathed and groomed as some 10 other dogs and as many human beings looked on. He wagged and shook agreeably when he was introduced to his new family immediately after his bath. He didn’t bark or whine, he didn’t jump up, and he wasn’t the least bit shy. He was alert, he had a gentle demeanor and his behavior was polite and agreeable when he was introduced to strangers - all signs of a really good disposition in dogs, as well as human beings.

Why did Amber want to adopt another dog, since the family already had Pancho, a perfectly suitable Boston Terrier?

“Well, number one, ‘cause we didn’t really want it to die, ‘cause if they didn’t find homes for the dogs, they would be put to sleep. And I really like dogs, and Linda Hightower explained they were really gentle and playful with other dogs. And I like greyhounds a lot because they are really nice,” Amber said, all in one breath.

Friday’s delivery of dogs was the first to Missoula. Hightower and other greyhound advocates hope there will be many more.