{"id":203413,"date":"2026-07-04T20:15:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:15:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/07\/04\/greyhound-who-refuses-to-race-finds-stateside-home\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T20:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T20:15:20","slug":"greyhound-who-refuses-to-race-finds-stateside-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tahrir2day.com\/news\/2026\/07\/04\/greyhound-who-refuses-to-race-finds-stateside-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Greyhound who refuses to race finds Stateside home"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A greyhound who hates running around a track will instead be pursuing the American dream.<\/b><\/p>\n

Rather than having the racing career for which she was bred, Kiki will swap Sunderland for California with her new family – jazz musicians Natalie Angst and Tomas Antonic.<\/p>\n

Kiki will accompany the couple, who are currently based in Germany, at their shows before snoozing at home on the couch.<\/p>\n

Professional greyhound trainer Yvonne Bell, who bred and raised Kiki, said: “She’d play all day and chase a ball, but all she wanted was to be fussed by people. Not all of them have that instinct to chase – she was one of those that didn’t really have it.”<\/p>\n

Kiki was one of a litter of seven, with most going on to race. <\/p>\n

But when she was taken to the track for her trials, she stood out.<\/p>\n

“You can feel it in the body when you’ve got hold of them,” Bell explained. “She wasn’t really fussed\u2026 she might jog after it [the hare], but she wasn’t keen.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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And so Kiki’s path changed direction. Her temperament made it clear she was better suited to life as a pet.<\/p>\n

Kiki was assessed to determine how she would behave in a domestic setting – proving to be calm and gentle, even around young children and other animals.<\/p>\n

“She ticks every box,” Bell added. “She’s very, very loving.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Greyhound rehoming volunteer Andrew Isaac, from Home Run Hounds, said Kiki’s story was not unusual.<\/p>\n

“These dogs are often unraced for two reasons – either injury or they’re simply not interested,” he said. “Kiki just wasn’t interested.”<\/p>\n

He explained that organisations like his worked to match dogs with the right owners, often sourcing animals from across the country.<\/p>\n

“We’re a bit like a dating agency for dogs,” Isaac joked. “People come to us with what they’re looking for, and we try to find the right fit!”<\/p>\n

Kiki and the American couple were a match and she has been living with them in Germany for one month and will eventually accompany them in California when they return home in about two years’ time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Angst, 31, said: “We’re both working musicians, and we do travel a lot. And we just knew that whatever dog we got needed to kind of fit in our lifestyle in that way.”<\/p>\n

The couple reached out to Home Run Hounds in the UK after their search abroad was unsuccessful. <\/p>\n

“It was just love at first sight,” said Angst, recalling their first meeting with Kiki. <\/p>\n

“She was just like, so happy to see us.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Antonic, 30, said Kiki was leaning into him and showing him her “big brown puppy eyes”. <\/p>\n

He said that is when they decided she would be returning home with them.<\/p>\n

Kiki loves to relax with her purple dinosaur, Snaggletooth.<\/p>\n

“She just gets very curious about my guitars and just kind of pokes around, “Antonic added. “She just always wants to be near us.”<\/p>\n

Kiki also has her very own Instagram account where her profile reads “I would rather be friends with bunnies than chase them”.<\/p>\n

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