Doggie Tales

Ever since he laid eyes on an abandoned greyhound in 1980, Carl Viener has been running , the city's oldest nonprofit greyhound rescue group. That dog encouraged him to make trips to various dog tracks in the Southeast to help more greyhounds that were no longer wanted for racing. Viener also opened Grey’s Land, a foster home shelter for the adoptables which sits on the same property as his own home.

This week, Viener sits down with Patch in Grey’s Land to talk more about his nonprofit company and why he loves greyhounds so much.

Patch: By March of this year, you had helped 4,600 greyhounds find homes.

Carl Viener: Now we're over 4,700. We'll probably hit 5,000 some time in 2012.

Patch: Wow. How does that feel?

Viener: You do it for so long, it's just routine. Without thinking, you come in, you let them out, you feed them, you do everything, and you get them socialized. Probably the last 15 years has been easy because prior to that, we would drive to Florida and Alabama and drive back up [to pick up adoptables], and it was such a long day. Now it's a matter of a phone call, and they bring them right up.

Patch: How did Grey's Land come about?

Viener: I had this addition built [next to my own house] for my mother. She was living near Emory, and she was having a little trouble day to day, so she needed somebody to live with. So I built this to move her over here, and when she passed, I rented it to a girl who had two greyhounds for three years. Probably four years ago, I gave it to the [greyhounds]. That's why [the house-style of] it is a little odd; you don't need a stove and refrigerator and cabinets and the whole bathroom thing. If I was building it for them, I probably would have done it differently.

Patch: Well, it worked out.

Viener: It's more like a home, and people look for foster-home type of situations and this is kind of it.

Patch: Compared to other dogs, what makes greyhounds extraordinary to you?

Viener: I like them because they're pretty lazy, and they tend to not need a lot of exercise. They're easy to deal with, and they don't get into arguments much. You know, the population is changing here always with new dogs, and we'll board a few people's dogs, too. There's five of them here that are boarding. They've met so many greyhounds in their lives that it's not like, "Oh, I don't like this one, and I don't like that one." They're the opposite of the reputation of a pitbull. They're so non-aggressive. They're inside dogs, and they're quiet and calm. They get excited for a minute, and that's about it. They're excellent for apartments, condos or houses.

Patch: And you have greyhounds yourself, right?

Viener: I only have one greyhound left. I do have some miniature greyhounds, but I'm not keeping any myself. I'm 58, and I'm scaling back. I'll have to say, though, like Flyby, she's crippled, and nobody will probably adopt her. She's got an autoimmune thing, and her joints are all locked. It's real painful to walk and she's on medication, so she's probably mine. We’re a no-kill shelter, so if somebody doesn't take them, they end up staying here.