animal rights

HOPKINTON — Tiger, a 7-year-old fawn greyhound, has been a great pet, but he gets a little lonely when his owners are at work. A few weekends ago Robin and Steven Narcovich drove up from Rhode Island to Hopkinton to visit the Greyhound Friends’ fall open house, looking for a companion for Tiger.

With the guidance of kennel founder Louise Coleman and her volunteers, the Narcoviches quickly found their dog a partner. Wanda, a sweet-natured brindle, took to him immediately.
“She rested her head on him, so I think that’s a match,” said Narcovich as she filled out the adoption papers. A longtime dog lover, she works part time in a grooming shop on Saturdays. Greyhounds, she said, “are so unlike any other breed. They ask for nothing and appreciate everything.”
For 30 years, Greyhound Friends has built a network of owners and friends devoted to the breed. But for the first time, the organization has begun to arrange adoptions of dogs that are only part greyhound, if that. The breed is in flux as the dog-racing industry becomes a thing of the past in a growing number of states; Massachusetts voted in 2008 to ban greyhound racing, and New Hampshire banned the sport two years ago.