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Best Friends: Karen Freymiller
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(Times photo: Marissa Weiher)
Karen Freymiller of Monroe talks about her best friends Kai, an 11-year-old golden retriever, and Penny, a 10-year-old greyhound.

Freymiller said she and her husband, Jim, have always had golden retrievers and Jim likes to take them pheasant hunting. Kai, who they got from a breeder, had allergies so pheasant hunting was never his thing.

Freymiller became enamored with greyhounds after meeting some at Cheese Days and found out about Greyhound Pets of America Wisconsin, which is currently celebrating April as "Adopt-a-Greyhound Month." The organization eventually paired them with Penny, who was 4 years old at the time and had just retired from racing in Daytona, Florida.



Describe Penny and Kai's personalities.

Penny is a diva. She's a typical greyhound in the sense that she has that predisposition of "What can you do for me?" She's loving, very sweet. She definitely likes things done her way.

Kai's nickname is Doofy Boy. He's just a goofball. He loves to play. We think he'll always be a puppy. He's like a bull in a china shop sometimes.



What do you like to do together?

We used to do meet-and-greets with Penny at a pet store in Madison promoting greyhounds and Kai would tag along. It was nice to do that. I take them for walks. Penny is much easier to walk, while Kai is pretty boisterous. Kai, I like to play with a lot. With Penny, playing isn't a part of her personality.



What has it been like having Penny and Kai in your life?

I want to say, especially with Penny, we've been quite involved with the GPA and we've met so many nice people through that. It's enriched our lives just having these two here. It's that unconditional love. You can come home from a rotten day and they're so happy to see you it makes you forget what happened at work.