GPA Indy Message Saddened

[Joshua Halverson]

Dear GPA Family,

It is with great sorrow that we inform you that our grey Madero, known  
to many as "Starbucks Dog" at the yearly picnic has passed away from  
osteosarcoma.  The news came on sudden as we learned about his  
prognosis on Friday. This came as a complete shock as he was at the  
vet only a month earlier with a bill of perfect health.  While we knew  
from the beginning that many hounds die from bone cancer,  we didn’t  
think that it would happen at the early age of 6.  This has been an  
extremely hard weekend watching him walk on three legs and acting like  
everything is okay even though we knew that it wasn't.  The problem  
with greyhounds is that they are very stoic and loyal to their owners,  
so even when they are in extreme pain they still act normal.  They are  
the dog of royalty as far back as the Pharaohs’ and this is how they  
have always been expected to act.  After much soul searching and  
realizing what was best for our grey, we decided that he was ready for  
the Rainbow Bridge.

Madero has taught us many things during his life.  The most valuable  
being love.  We never have thought that such a large part of our  
hearts would be missing when he crossed over the Rainbow Bridge.   
While his time with us has been short, he has made us promise that we  
will continue to help hounds from now until our passing day.  His duty  
was for us was to see the splendor and magnificence of this  
outstanding breed, which he overwhelmingly succeeded at.  We have a  
favorite quote,"people come into our lives for a reason and we are  
lent to those who help us most to grow."  Thanks to Madero, we can now  
add, "people and HOUNDS come into our lives for a reason and we are  
lent to those who help us most to grow."  We never knew that when we  
gave him his forever home, that forever could be so short.  We are  
thankful that he was given the opportunity to see just how amazing  
humans can be to this breed by allowing him to find a home after his  
racing career.  After all, he could have been euthanized long ago  
while never knowing what love really is.  Thankfully, he found Joe and  
I and learned as much from us as we did from him.

Madero's legacy and gift to us is that we will forever be greyhound  
adopters.  I know that it's the only breed of dog that we are ever  
going to want.  His love for us is going to save the lives of many  
future hounds.  We thank him for everything that he has given to us  
and everything we have learned.

Please take the time to hug your hounds.  You will never know how  
strong your bond of unconditional love is until it's gone.  We are so  
thankful that GPA has come into our lives.  We will continue to be  
advocates for these racers and hope to save many more hounds in our  
lifetime.  Thank you to everyone in the GPA family who has helped us  
through this extremely difficult time and wish only the best to all of  
your own hounds.  We know that our hearts are stronger loving Madero  
and we look forward to seeing him someday on the other side of the  
Bridge when we can be a family once more.

Joe King & Joshua Halverson