Patricia Hunt was reading a dog magazine when she came across an article about an adopted greyhound. All the skin had been scraped off his paws from years of running on the track. The Concord resident was in the market to adopt a dog, and after reading that article, there was no question: This time she was taking the greyhound.

All my life I'd had mostly Pembroke corgis, and my surviving dog was Petunia, an irrepressible 5-year-old Lab/pit mix. Volunteers with Golden State Greyhound Adoption brought a few retired racers over to test compatibility with Petunia, and to check my place and make sure we were both "greyhound-safe." After passing their inspection, I expressed an interest in a 2-year-old black male with a white chest and four white paws who had been saved from the Colorado racetracks. When he and Petunia met, it was love at first sight and that was it. I named my new dog Jemmy.

Over our eight years together, I've never stopped bragging about my wonderful boy - he's exceptionally friendly and outgoing, not to mention sweet and tolerant of both cats and kids. People always tell me he's the friendliest greyhound they've ever met. At 9 1/2 years of age, Jemmy still has a sweet puppy-like spirit. He loves shoving his head into a hand for scratching and petting, and is known for slapping his big paw on a leg so the owner will give him more love. When he's "itching" for a good scratch behind the ear, he does the famous greyhound "lean," which goes right to my heart.

In January, Jemmy became more than just my greatest love. He may have saved my life. It's commonly known that greyhounds aren't the best guard dogs because they rarely bark. But all that changed at 6 one morning when I awoke to hear my gentle boy barking nonstop and in an aggressive tone he's never used before. I got up to see what was wrong and entered the kitchen, which was unusually cold. I was going to silence Jemmy with some treats when I saw that the outside door, leading from the kitchen, was wide open.

Jemmy had scared away an intruder with his barking. The burglar managed to get away with a cheap wireless device for charging a phone, but that was it. We don't know if the intruder only heard Jemmy or saw him too. Anyone catching sight of a barking, muscular, 85-pound dog would want to exit quickly.

There are many reasons that I've always believed Jemmy to be exceptionally smart and communicative, and now I have proof. He knows who our friends are, and he knows who doesn't belong here. I've since had our alarm system activated and upgraded because I don't want my sweet boy serving double duty as a guard dog.

Dog experts say that greyhounds aren't protective, but Jemmy has busted that myth. He's my ever-faithful companion, my biggest blessing and now my greatest hero.
