In 1992 Erika Hartman was living in San Antonio, Texas. She received a call from Greyhound Protection League in Austin - someone had seen a greyhound thrown from a truck. The dog suffered great injuries but no one stopped to help him and he crawled into a shed to die. His injuries were numerous - bleeding profusely; infected body; and part of his lip torn off from a rusty wire muzzle. He was rescued and removed from the shed and when he was to be euthanized, the vet could not bring himself to do it -

GPL then called Erika and she drove from San Antonio to Austin to bring him back to her home - Erika named him Gabriel and she and her husband nursed Gabriel back to health over the next several months. As Gabriel's wounds healed, he became friends with the other dogs in the family. Sometime later the family moved to Vermont, and Gabriel would go on long walks with Erika. They were together for 9 years. Because the tattoos, his ears were altered, they were never sure of his age. Gabriel was a symbol for everything that is wrong with the greyhound racing industry - mistreatment, neglect, cruelty, and disposal when no longer valuable. Gabriel never got over his fear of men wearing baseball caps. He had endured much in his past, but gave unconditional love to Erika and Garland. Gabriel's health finally failed and he is now resting peacefully.