RETIRED RACING DOGS GET NEW LEASH ON LIFE.

Byline: Alicia Doyle Daily News Staff Writer

It has four legs, can run 45 miles per hour and has been known to make up to $300,000 within a five-year career.

"They make wonderful pets," said Bev Strissel, who with her husband, Rich, owns three greyhounds.

The Strissels are local representatives of Greyhound Pets of America, a national volunteer organization dedicated to finding loving homes for ex-racing greyhounds before they are destroyed at career's end.

Two years ago, the Strissels adopted Jillian, a champion racer for several years, and Maggie, a black greyhound that raced for roughly eight months. Last year, the Strissels bought Ginger, a honey-colored dog who had a brief racing career and spent eight months in a kennel before adoption.

While each dog has its registry number tattooed on the inside of one ear, the Strissels said they aren't concerned about the awards their pets won or where they raced.

"We've never had the desire to find out," said Bev Strissel. "We've always just loved them for what they are, not what they've won."

Greyhounds can be affectionate, friendly creatures that thrive on attention and human companionship. Raised with their littermates, greyhounds love becoming the center of attention as household pets.

However, greyhounds do not usually make good watchdogs.

"Their friendly nature is not threatening," Rich Strissel pointed out.

Before greyhound pet adoption groups were formed, many of the animals were exterminated or sold to research laboratories once their racing careers were over.

The strong, gentle dogs usually start racing when they are about 1-1/2 years old and can continue into their fifth year, according to the American Greyhound Council Inc. On rare occasions, some greyhounds race beyond their sixth birthday.

In 1994, greyhound racing was a $634 million industry. There are 54 tracks open for live dog racing in the United States.

The National Greyhound Association, the registry for all racing greyhounds, estimates that 30,000 to 50,000 greyhounds race in the United States each year.

While the sleek, solid animals have been known to win races paying more than $100,000 per winner, once they are too old to be quick, they often are put to sleep.

In 1994, roughly 15,000 ex-racing greyhounds - many from breeding farms - were exterminated, according to Gary Guccione, executive director of the American Greyhound Council. The year before, 16,000 dogs were destroyed; in 1992, 21,000 were destroyed.

Guccione said the number has declined over the years partly because the number of greyhounds being bred each year is falling. In the past 2-1/2 years, the number of dogs born has dropped 30 percent, Guccione said.

"We've encouraged people to cut back on breeding to address the humane issues," Guccione said.

However, animal rights groups say the American Greyhound Council "manipulates" figures, neglecting to count the puppies that are destroyed before they even leave the breeding farms.

Susan Netboy, founder of the Greyhound Protection League, said the total number of dogs destroyed in 1994 was closer to 28,000.

"You have to understand," Bev Strissel said, "the tracks look at the dogs as a commodity, not a pet." She added that she and her husband, as GPA representatives, try to remain neutral when it comes to discussing how many Greyhounds are exterminated each year.

Three weeks ago, the racetrack in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, closed, ending the racing careers of 400 to 700 dogs. The Strissels already have taken 16 dogs from that track for adoption. Their hope is to take as many as 60 to 70 for placement in Los Angeles homes.

GPA was formed in 1987 in Oxford, Mass., shortly after Retired Greyhounds as Pets, an adoption group headquartered in New England, invited adoption groups across the country to join in the formation of a national greyhound placement organization.

GPA officers chose California - a nonracing state - as its headquarters because they wanted to be neutral on the racing industry.

That same year, GPA placed 100 ex-racing greyhounds into pet homes. In 1994, GPA and other greyhound adoption groups placed more than 14,000 greyhounds, with 15,000 placed the following year.

While the Strissels are happy with the three greyhounds they've got, they've occasionally discussed adopting a fourth.

"We can't help it," Bev Strissel said. "They're so addictive."

HOW TO ADOPT

To adopt a greyhound or for more information, call Bev or Rich Strissel at [phone].

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PHOTO

Photo (1--color in SIMI only) Rich Strissel and his wife, Bev, are local placement representatives of Greyhound Pets of America. (2) These three greyhounds, who probably would have been killed after the end of their racing careers, now live happily in Simi Valley. Michael Owen Baker/Daily News