Greyhounds for everyone or bust!

A recent training session on lending gave me the opportunity to reflect on some of the more off the wall loan experiences I have had over the past 13+ years of working in finance.  It is absolutely amazing what you get to see as a lender.  Applying for a loan and borrowing money puts a person in such a vulnerable position that you get the unique opportunity to see people operate in a way they don't often act in other circles.  It also lets you see just how crazy some of us are.  Here is one of my favorite examples of the latter.


While working for a consumer finance company, fresh out of college, I had the chance to get to know a gentleman with an almost obsessive love for dogs.  Greyhounds to be more specific.  The wire-thin near starvation look of these gentle creatures just melted this otherwise gruff auto worker's heart.  He always came in to see me with a greyhound shirt, greyhound hat...once I am almost certain that he was wearing a necklace with a gold greyhound on it.  A little over the top yes, but nothing compared to some horse people I have met, but that's another story altogether.  Anyway, the wardrobe is not what makes this guy stand out in my memory, the fact that he took his love for these mild mannered speed demons to a level few would have the nerve to, makes him memorable.

This man, we will call him Joe, decided that after 30 years or so working for a Toledo based auto manufacturer, he was ready to retire and pursue his passion.  (Let this be a cautionary tale to those who have dreams of a post-retirement career that turns their hobby into a job) Joe had saved up a considerable amount of money over the 30 years of putting cars together and he knew precisely what he would spend it on, greyhounds.  More precisely, racing greyhounds.  Even more specifically, retired racing greyhounds.

Here was his business plan, more or less:

1. Purchase a decommissioned Greyhound bus.
2. Convert bus into mobile kennel to house greyhounds.
3. Drive mobile kennel to dog tracks, wherever they may be.
4. Convince owners at the race track to allow him to "rescue" their older dogs.
5. Fill the bus with these dogs.
6. Socialize and care for said dogs until they are ready to be adopted.
7. Drive the mobile kennel to pet shops and fairs to set up a greyhound adoption center.
8. Adopt out the greyhounds, clean the cages, repeat.

Joe had a dream.  Joe had some money.  Joe had no idea what was in store for him.  He found the bus.  I made him a loan to purchase and renovate the bus because based on his credit and money down, it was a decision well in line with the criteria for approval.  I underestimated just how badly Joe had underestimated just how badly things could go.  

Joe spent upwards of $20,000 on the bus.  Joe never checked on what licensing requirements are involved in running a mobile kennel adoption center for retired racing dogs.  Joe never consulted with a veterinarian to see what costs may be involved in getting these often neglected creatures healthy enough to be adopted into loving families.  Joe never considered another very important fact.  Not everyone considers greyhounds to be the cuddly, loveable creatures he does.

  Things went terribly wrong for poor Joe.  His first rescue mission resulted in him being forced to negotiate terms with the track and dog owners for the retired dogs, paying more for each of them than he could ever hope to adopt them out for.  Then there was the issue of shear volume.  Joe anticipated a few dogs rescued from each track along his trail of canine freedom.  First track, over 30 dogs.  Then came the reality that many of the dogs were not healthy, were not at all socialized and were certainly not housebroken.  Vet bills nearly broke him within the first month.  Feeding and housing the herd of scrawny savages did finally break him a few months later.  Things didn't end well for Joe or his dogs, as most had to be adopted out through the local humane society and other rescue groups.  In the end Joe was left with nothing but the memories and a very foul smelling bus, which was in turn repossessed and sold for pennies on the dollar.


I'm not sure there is a moral to this story, but if there was it might sound like this:

If you have a passion, that's great.  If you are willing to sell all of your worldly possessions and jeopardize your family's future to pursue that passion, be sure you have a well thought out business plan; and it helps to not have that passion involve dogs.