Words by Anna Cooke Photograph of Karma by Laura Allen Studios.
For A Big Fluffy Bed, Somewhere.”
“They’re All Racing – Cynthia Smoot
Karma, whose portrait by St. Petersburg artist Carrie Jadus graces the cover of this issue of THE NEW BARKER, is a retired
Greyhound. Cynthia Smoot, a reporter for Tampa Bay’s Fox-13 and Bill Weller have the profound pleasure of living with her. During a fundraising event for the Humane Society of Tampa Bay in 2015, The New Barker donated the cover art as a live auction item. Cynthia and Bill placed the winning bid.
W Who doesn’t enjoy a good love story? This one in partic-
ular has an almost O’Henry plot twist to it. Cynthia Smoot and Bill Weller (pictured here) have always
been dedicated cat people. While living in Summerville, North Carolina in the early 90s, they had heard of a man, Randy Barrow, who was flying in retired Greyhounds and boarding them at his newly-formed kennels, Greyhound Friends of North Carolina. A photographer friend visited the first group of dogs. He returned from his assign- ment, and told Cynthia and Bill they had to meet the dogs. “You will be enchanted,” the photogra- pher told them. He had already adopted one of the
dogs. “Love at first sight,” he said. Bill reminded everyone that they were cat people. They worked all the time and he traveled a lot. Adopting a dog was just not meant to be. Unbeknownst to Bill, Cynthia and a girlfriend visited
Randy’s kennels. Inside the small waiting area were 10 to 12 dogs lying around. A little anxious to be in such tight quar- ters with so many large dogs, Cynthia decided to sit down, anyway. Two dogs got up and walked over to her to be pet- ted. “I was immediately enchanted. These were the most un- doglike dogs I had ever met. So graceful, like cats, I thought,” said Cynthia. As they were leaving, Randy handed Cynthia some
brochures about Greyhounds and the need for homes to adopt the retiring dogs. She glanced at them, then placed them into the sun visor of her car. A few days later, Bill drove the car to the carwash. As he was checking for belongings before turning the keys over to the attendant, he pulled down the sun visor and the brochures fell out. “I read about the breed while my car was being washed
and got excited at the prospect of living with one,” said Bill. One of the criteria listed in the brochure for adopting a Greyhound was that the property had to have a fence. When Bill arrived home, he didn’t go inside right away.
Cynthia looked outside to see him standing in front of their home. She walked out and asked him what he was doing? “I’m looking to see where we can put a fence in,” he
answered. “The brochure says we need a fence before we can adopt a retired Greyhound.” Penny would be the first of four retired Greyhounds that
The 45 Mile-An-Hour Couch Potato: Four-year-old Karma is in her best roaching form. Greyhounds love lying on their backs with all four legs in the air, which is known as “roaching.” Photograph by Laura Allen Studios.
42 THE NEW BARKER
Cynthia and Bill have adopted (so far) over the last 24 years. Penn’s Sweet Love was her track name. Typically, a Greyhound is raced for one year starting at 18 months old. They retire at around two to four years of age and can live until they are 13 to 15 years old.
www.TheNewBarker.com
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