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Our Educational Trips! What better way to learn about your product than by contacting the previous owner or manufacturer! We believe the best way for any adoption program to work is to be very knowledgeable about the breed they are working with. Therefore, we have made it priority number one to get a very good education about the Greyhound, his life before the track, at the track and after the track! Below you can read some of our stories about our trips to various places. Our Trip To Florida ~ May 2002!After months of planning and weeks of waiting, we finally did it, we went to Florida and saw exactly what Greyhounds are really all about! We saw every aspect of Greyhound from puppy to teenager in training to world class athlete and even retired couch spud! We arrived on Monday, a little weary from the drive yet so excited about what the week held for us. On Tuesday we traveled an hour and an half North to a greyhound farm. Our tour was very much the same as the rotation of the puppy as he makes his way up to racing dog. First we saw the beautiful "moms" with their tail wagging little tykes! What cuties they were!! We saw pups as little as 2 weeks old, barely had their eyes opening, so sweet and such teeny little ears. We saw the famous Talentedmrripley, the "fastest dog in the country's" pups. I think those little buggers know they're special and their just about 6 weeks old! We gave them all names, the entire litter was named after a theme, their theme being Soaps! So there was Lifeboy and Irish Spring the two boys. Zest, Ivory, Dial and Caress the girls and Little Miss Dove, the runt of the litter who is just as bossy as they come!! I guess it pays to be a half pint, cause you get to pick on your buddies and its just so cute!! We moved on to the pups that were just as fun as frolickers could be. These litters were about 2 months in age and so much fun to play with! The kids had a great time playing with the "furkids!" These were some silly little pups who chew your shoe strings and lick your toes!! We were particularly partial to the "candy bar clan" including Fifth Avenue, Godiva and Payday. However the Gangsters were silly too with Bonnie and Clyde and Shark just to name a few! Our next set of pups to play with was about 4 months old. All these guys had an interesting feature that proved they were all brothers and sisters...each one had a cowlick on the top of their necks!! Of course they all had big feet too! Clumsy and cute, these pups were all about playing and such bundles of energy. As we moved our way down the barn, we came to the 6 month old pups. Emily thought she was going to out run these pups and ended up getting tackled at the end of the 130 foot run, partly because she was wore out and they weren't! Huge pounding feet these guys had and tails that just slap all over as they wiggle their little butts!! So adorable as they lick and smooch all over your face! Making our way around to the big runs, we saw the 6-12 month old pups. Wow are they big and silly! We went to the outside end of the runs and as they barreled down those long 350 foot runs they looked so determined to get their first and get the first high fives! This group of pups will have a huge football sized field to play in very shortly, only two more sides needed to be fenced and it was finished. Now these pups, had big feet for sure, but they were also gaining some pretty stout looking muscle! As we come around the to the front of the barn again we see the race training kennel. The pups in this area were 12-15 months old. They are trained to live much as they would in a racing kennel at a track. They are taught what it means to "crate" or potty train. They are taught the basics of racing before moving up to the final finishing phase of training. Final finishing comes between 15 and 18 months and most pups travel to the tracks between 16 and 18 months of age. There is a lot of work that goes into a greyhound even before it runs its first race. From proper diet to grooming, the amount of care and time put into each dog is phenomenal. A day at the races was more than just that. We visited the track and met with several owners and trainers. We were also able to visit the compound behind the track and see all the athletes. I compare this to going to the Olympics and visiting the Athletes Village! It was just superb is all we can say. Every kennel we went into had such clean floors, every crate was clean, open and airy and you could see all the dogs the minute you walked through the door. It smelled so clean it was just unbelievable! One thing that was so amazing to us, the kennels were quiet! Incredible how there could be so many dogs, sixty of them in a kennel and they hardly barked at all! During our track experience we learned more about greyhound track life. How dogs are schooled, how they are weighed in, how the staging area works, how the post race pee tests are done!! We also learned that all the dogs get a nice cool hosing down when they get done running. Some get Twinkies and some get Marshmallows! They are walked and then taken back to the kennel where they tell all the other dogs how they won the race. Whether they won or not, I swear the dogs in the kennel tell "fishing" stories to each other!!! We had such a good time. We met some great people. We met lots of wonderful future pets, and we shook hands with the fastest dogs in the country. This experience has assured us that working directly with the owners and the kennels is the very best way to put forth some wonderful dogs into the adoption arena. We feel honored to have a working relationship with those in the racing industry who are eager to do what is best for their dogs when their racing career is over. What we want people to understand is very clear. Greyhounds make awesome pets, but it is because of their training and sense of discipline that the ex-racing Greyhound is what it is today. Believe us when we say the puppies are cute, but we know those puppies are going to be a handful! We also want people to understand that the racing Greyhound is a very valuable dog. Pups who are just breaking in, usually between 16 and 18 months can cost as much as $30,000. The breeders have put an extensive amount of time into the breed lines and genealogy of every litter. This research gives the general public the ability to adopt a purebred dog that cost the race owner thousands of dollars. Imagine your pet, who you adopted for $250, just imagine what it must have cost to breed him or purchase him, feed him and train him and house him. Its something to be proud of. Every one of the dogs adopted through our group has a lineage and a history. Even if they never even race, they still have long blood lines and a history. I think that is one of the most fascinating things about the Greyhound as a racing dog. Our trip to Florida to pick up our dog truck ~ July 2002! We had another wonderful trip. I arrived at the airport and found that the airline I was to fly on had gone belly up the day before my departure. That was just the beginning!!! Yes it was stressful but just made me a more seasoned traveler! We had a good trip, learned more about the racing kennels in this trip. We intended on spending time with people to learn how things are actually done...a day in the life of the racer from first turn-out to the end of the race day. Unfortunately that didn't happen as we ran out of time. But we met with some wonderful people, saw some of our sponsors kennels and talked to some trainers first hand. The morning that we were to come home, I assisted with an am turn out. Had I been able to spend the day there I am certain I would have received a serious track education. I handled some really nice dogs. I cant say enough about the care these dogs receive. There were no ticks, no fleas, no cut up dogs...these are champion athletes and it shows in their condition and quality of their care. The trainer understands every dog in the kennel. He is attuned to the specifics and quarks of each dogs personality. Information I receive from him regarding the adoptable dogs is vital to learning about each dog and passing that info along to the new owner. I spent an entire evening talking with this trainer and every question I asked was answered!! I am certain he thought some of my questions were stupid, but that's ok, I need to learn and in my eyes no question is a stupid question when the welfare of the dogs is involved. We picked up our truck from the RV place on Friday. The AC and generator had needed repairs. We actually got a majority of the repair bill paid for by donations and we are forever grateful to Mr. Rodney Cooley for assisting us with our truck education and repairs. The truck runs great, the AC is chilly and the dogs traveled home in comfort and style! I'll get a picture of the truck posted soon! We are planning on getting graphics put on the doors and I'm sure you'll see me about town as I shuffle dogs from the vet and back! Please be sure to wave if you do see me!!! The pups we brought back traveled well. The boys were taken to the vet first thing Monday morning to get neutered. The little girl was dropped off on Tuesday morning to be spayed. This would not normally take place so soon as we will have a short "trip recovery time" once we get the facility built. Since these guys are already headed to homes, we needed to get them in ASAP so the could recover from their surgeries. Everyone is doing well and will go to their prospective homes this weekend. I am planning another trip soon. This time I will be able to learn more about the greyhound training and track life. Basically I plan on living the life of an assistant trainer for a weekend. I think one of the most important things we can do for these dogs is to understand why they do some of the things they do and learning the training and race life is just one more way for us to do that. I'll be sure to take some pictures next trip too!
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