speed – The Greyhounds' Yarn

March 13, 2017March 13, 2017

A Day of Lure Coursing

Blogging can be a challenge. I get bloggers block and have trouble coming up with interesting Greyhound topics when this happens I turn to my husband for inspiration. He suggested a chronicle of a day in the country lure coursing. I thought that he was onto something. I hope that you all enjoy this post and folks who haven’t been to the field decide to come out for a day of fun in the country.

Lure coursing is a weekend event. On Friday night I begin packing the van. I feel more organized this way. To aid me in my OCD organization I bought plastic bins that are organized with first aid supplies, leashes, blankets, and other lure coursing accouterments. I have crates for all the Greyhound set up in my car. I have learned my lesson about having loose Greyhounds in the car after Jethro locked me out of the car and jumped out through the sunroof!

I leave my house with plenty of time to get to the field. I generally pick up breakfast as oftentimes I am very busy at the trial and have a hard time bringing myself to eat.

The trial begins with inspection and check-in usually around 9AM. At large trials like the International Invitational, inspection can start before the sun is up! This is when the inspection committee watches your Greyhound’s gait and checks for lameness. They also check the bitches to make sure that they are not in season.

After inspection, the field secretary completes the “draw” or the running order of the hounds. This is a blinded draw of the coursing hounds with a separate draw for each stake, open, field champions, and veterans.

While the draw is going on I usually walk my hounds. It is important to let your hound poop and pee prior to running—just ask Sashi – when nature calls, it calls. I also like to stretch the hounds and warm them up, and the walk helps with this.

After the draw is posted the trial begins to get underway. I take a photo of the running order because I will forget—it is not fun to be at the line in the wrong blanket! I then head back to the van to get the hounds ready for their run. If the hounds are running on continuous loop I will wrap vetrap around the Greyhounds’ legs up to their stopper pad to prevent line burn. Also, if the ground is hard and dry I will tape their pads with elastikon to prevent a blown pad. When it is our turn I head to the line with my hounds in a slip lead and regular lead. I get in position, holding the slip lead with my right hand and place my left hand under the Greyhound’s tuck. Some people do not like to hold a Greyhound under the tuck but I find that it gives me more control of the dog. The lure starts to move and the Greyhounds lose their minds! The hounds are not released until the hunt-master says “Tally-Ho” when the lure is far enough in front of the dogs.

I let the Greyhound go as soon as I hear “Tally-Ho.” Then I get to watch my most favorite thing: a big beautiful Greyhound doing what they are best at, chasing.

The Greyhounds are moving so fast it seems that the entire course only lasts seconds.

Once the Greyhounds are back at the line, I grab mine and hurry back to my van to remove any tape or vetrap and check them for any lameness or tenderness. Once the vetrap is removed I use a pressurized sprayer with water to rinse out their nail beds. When dogs run on turf they can get a build-up of debris in their nail beds. This can be painful and a potential cause for infection. If there is a little blood in the nail bed, that is okay and it should be cleaned with the sprayer. I do not give water at this time. After they appear to be sound I walk them until their breathing becomes more normal and they are able to close their mouths. Then give them a small amount of water.

After all the dogs have ran in prelims the entire process is repeated, generally after lunch, which gives a nice break for the hounds. Once all dogs have run twice, the top hounds will run for best of breed. After best of breed is completed, all the breed winners are able to run for best in field.

Once all the running has been completed, awards are given out and photos of the winners are taken. Most often the placing dogs will get a toy (my hounds are very pleased with this).

After socializing with friends and some photos, we pack it up, head home, ready to repeat the following day.

Feature image credit: Cindy Frezon

March 2, 2017March 6, 2017

Yes, I own a racing Greyhound and no she isn’t a rescue

Am I the only Greyhound owner who gets annoyed when asked if my Greyhound was rescued? It really gets under my skin and it seems to happen far too often. The other day we were buying dog food and I was asked if my Greyhound was “rescued.” I was in a particularly rotten mood and my husband elbowed me as to say “please do not unleash your bad mood on this poor kid.” I put my bad mood aside and replied, “No, they were not rescued and yes they are racing Greyhounds.” The kid looked perplexed but continued to bag our goods and not ask for more clarification.

I feel continually frustrated about the misinformation that makes its way into the mainstream. It seems like the anti-racing (AR) propaganda penetrates so deeply that it has affected many people, even people who own Greyhounds.

This past week I read two articles in two different papers in North America stating complete inaccuracies about Greyhound racing and the lives of racing Greyhounds. By no means am I saying there are no failings in the Greyhound racing industry and that it is perfect. However, I feel that the vast majority of people working in the Greyhound racing industry love Greyhounds and respect the breed for what it is: a functional, fast, exceptional hound.

If you are into Greyhound adoption and have not visited a track, you’re missing out. I am lucky to be a part of a Greyhound Adoption group that arranges yearly visits to racing kennels and tracks encouraging adopters to see what life was like for their Greyhound before adoption.

It is important to be thoughtful about our opinions, and knowing the details of both sides is important to understand the entirety of a subject. Unfortunately, it seems that most of the AR supporters cannot see past outdated reports of abuse and neglect to see the positive changes in Greyhound racing today. It oftentimes seems overwhelming to educate the general public and some Greyhound enthusiasts that racing Greyhounds are loved, well exercised, well fed and happy in their professional careers.

There are certain ideas created and propagated by the AR machine about retired racing Greyhounds that have invaded mainstream Greyhound adoption. One idea is that skittish dogs were abused throughout their professional careers. This idea is complete rubbish. First off, by now we all know that negative training is not successful. Why would someone spend thousands of dollars on a dog that could create revenue and abuse it, thus diminishing their chances of success? Complete insanity. Furthermore, dogs have different personalities just like us. I have raised a fair number of terrier pups and for the most part they are fearless dogs, but I have seen dogs be gun shy or timid with no external cause for them to demonstrate that behavior. Skittish Greyhounds are most likely that way do to nature not nurture.

Another idea that makes me nuts is the raw meat myth. Feeding raw meat is not a bad thing! Dogs are predators and they are made to eat raw meat. Now, let’s talk about non-human grade meat. The labeling of meat is not just based on the quality of the product but also the facility it is made it. Lots meat packing facilities have quality products but have not obtained certification from the USDA to mark their product as “human grade.” Most pet foods are not made for human consumption, as the regulations and certification for this labeling would be very expensive, increasing the cost of pet food. It’s just not a logical business move. Thus, the non-human grade meat myth should be a moot point from now on.

Opinions and facts are not the same; however, opinions create gut responses and bias. When dredging through the misinformation about Greyhound racing it is important to push our bias aside and get at the truth. I support Greyhound racing for many reasons and as I have seen and learned more about the industry my support grows. I hope that this article encourages you to reinvestigate your feelings about Greyhound racing immersing yourself in facts and not opinions.

February 16, 2017March 6, 2017

The Fovea has it

Science really gets me excited. What is most exciting is when something new is discovered. This could be a new treatment, new technology, or revisiting of a previously thought notion or idea.

Eyes are one of the coolest organs in the body. They are windows to the brain and some would say to the soul. In humans the vital sign of the eye is visual acuity—you know, when you have to cover one eye and read the eye chart. 20/20 vision means that you see the same as a normal eye would see at 20 feet. 20/100 vision means that you see what a normal eye would see at 100 feet. As you might imagine it’s much more difficult to test the visual acuity of a dog’s eye—they can’t tell us what they see. Due to this, some scientists believe that the visual acuity of the dog has been underestimated.

We know that dogs see differently than humans do. For many years we have known that dogs can see much better in low light than us; they have rapid vision that allows them to detect rapid changes in the light, and, due to the placement of their eyes in their skulls, they have wider visual fields than we do (Miller & Murphy, 1995).

All of these qualities aid the dog, a predator, in its ability to hunt. However, the acuity at which the dog can focus was thought to be diminished, as the dog is known to lack a fovea (Miller & Murphy, 1995). Fovea centralis (fovea) is a structure in the human eye. The fovea is a depression within the retina that contains a large number of densely packed cones type cells that are responsible for visual acuity (Beltran et al., 2014).

For years scientists have felt that the dog’s visual streak was responsible for their visual acuity. The visual streak is an area in the retina with increased amounts of photosensitive retinal ganglionic cells and cone cells (Miller & Murphy, 1995). However, in 2014 things changed.

In 2014 the canine retina was evaluated with in vivo (in life) and ex vivo (in death) imaging (Beltran et al., 2014). The researchers found an area in the retina very similar to a non-human primate fovea, which they deemed the area centralis. This area was tiny but full of densely packed cone cells (Beltran et al., 2014). This area was not a fovea-like depression but was very similar from a histologic standpoint to what is seen in the center of the human fovea, the foveola (Beltran et al., 2014).

You may be asking why is she so excited about this? This information is incredibly important. This indicates that a dog’s visual acuity is actually better than previously thought. The visual acuity of a dog was thought to be about 20/50 (Miller & Murphy, 1995). Based on the findings in this study, the visual acuity of the dog would be between 20/24 and 20/13 (Beltran et al., 2014). That means that dogs could be able to see at 20 feet what a normal eye would see at 13 feet!

The canine eye is an important structure for multiple reasons. For our Greyhounds the eye is important for racing, lure coursing, coursing, hunting, fetching, running through agility obstacles, and their everyday lives. Just imagine having better than perfect vision and then adding a wider visual field, the ability to detect rapid changes in light, and the ability to see in low light—I would be overwhelmed with that much stimuli going through my brain all the time! Dogs are complex animals and the more we learn about them the more I amazed by all they do!

Beltran, W. A., Cideciyan, A. V., Guziewicz, K. E., Iwabe, S., Swider, M., Scott, E. M., Aguirre, G. D. (2014). Canine retina has a primate fovea-like bouquet of cone photoreceptors which is affected by inherited macular degenerations. PLoS One, 9(3), e90390. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090390

Miller, P. E., & Murphy, C. J. (1995). Vision in dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc, 207(12), 1623-1634.

December 8, 2016March 6, 2017

Why all the chatter about breed standard?

A few days ago I wrote an article about what it means to adopt a Greyhound. Overall this article was well received. However, some comments I found thought provoking. I also reviewed other posts throughout social media and there continued to be a theme: what is the standard for a greyhound and why that matters to you as an owner.

The American Kennel Club (AKC) judges each breed of dog based on a written standard. You can review the AKC written standard for greyhounds below.

Head – Long and narrow, fairly wide between the ears, scarcely perceptible stop, little or no development of nasal sinuses, good length of muzzle, which should be powerful without coarseness. Teeth very strong and even in front.
Ears – Small and fine in texture, thrown back and folded, except when excited, when they are semi-pricked.
Eyes – Dark, bright, intelligent, indicating spirit.
Neck – Long, muscular, without throatiness, slightly arched, and widening gradually into the shoulder.
Shoulders – Placed as obliquely as possible, muscular without being loaded.
Forelegs – Perfectly straight, set well into the shoulder, neither turned in or out, pasterns strong.
Chest -Deep, and as wide as is consistent with speed, Fairly well sprung ribs.
Back – Muscular and broad.
Loins – Good depth of muscle, well-arched, well cut up in the flanks.
Hindquarters – Long, very muscular and powerful, wide and well let down, well-bent stifles. Hocks well bent and rather close to the ground, wide but straight fore and aft.
Feet – Hard and close, rather more hare than cat feet, well knuckled up with good strong claws.
Tail – Long, fine and tapering with a slight upward curve.
Coat – Short, smooth and firm in texture.
Color – Immaterial
Weight – Dogs, 65 to 70 pounds: Bitches, 60 to 65 pounds

If you are like me when you read this, it sounds very similar to what you see in a National Greyhound Association (NGA) greyhound. First, what is the difference between the AKC and NGA? Both are registering bodies; however, the NGA is special as they only register greyhounds. All American racing greyhounds are registered with the NGA. The NGA doesn’t have a written breed standard so to speak; rather, NGA greyhounds are bred to a performance standard, meaning they are judged on their ability to excel in running sports. When we look at the AKC written standard for the breed, the NGA greyhound fits the description in that standard. So why do we find ourselves disagreeing on the breed standard again and again? The answer is rather complicated. I think that show breeders thought that breeding a greyhound with exaggerated structural features was sexy and the dog would be able to compete in the group and best in show ring at dog shows. They succeeded. There is no functional purpose or advantage for the exaggerated changes we see in most greyhounds that compete in the show ring.

Actually, dogs that are exaggerated are not good for our breed and here is why. These dogs are not functional in that they are deficient in athletic ability. They are able to participate in running sports but unable to compete on the same level with coursing-bred greyhounds or racing greyhounds. If you read into the written standard above you will understand all these qualities are desirable because they improve the greyhound’s speediness and athleticism. By exaggerating the structural features called for in the written standard we are taking the functionality and the most important part of the greyhound away.

I have listened and read comments about show greyhounds and see things such as “isn’t she beautiful” or “she’s living art”. I appreciate these opinions but I want to know if they have ever seen a greyhound running after a lure or quarry. Have they ever seen true poetry in motion?

I am not sure that I will ever feel that a hound standing in a ring is more lovely than a hound doing what they were bred to do for centuries. I will never see how loping in a ring can be more beautiful than raw power on the coursing field or sand being flung all over the track by a hound that can scoot.

I understand that dog shows are a lot of fun to a lot of people. I wish we would see more functional dogs at these shows. I proudly support the breeders that are promoting functional hounds and I hope that in the future at Greyhound specialties you will not see a dog win breed in the ring that is not able to compete in the field but instead a Greyhound that can win in the ring and on the lure coursing field.

As stewards of our breed we must advocate for functionality. Our focus should not be on what can win the group and best in show ring but what can make a hare turn and break track records. We simply must focus on the raw power of our breed; after all, it’s why they are still with us.

Official Standard of the Greyhound. c/o The American Kennel Club. Retrieved December 1st, 2016 from http://images.akc.org/pdf/breeds/standards/Greyhound.pdf_ga=1.268297802.576806201.1479637347