Greyhound Freaks » At The Track

Fell First Turn, DNF

Heather Vaughn — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:26:17 +0000

Bunny schooled again on Thursday.She didn’t exactly burn up the track on her first schooling race, so I anxiously and excitedly pulled up the schooling results on Friday morning. I found her race and read words that no racing greyhound owner wants to read: Fell First Turn, DNF. The DNF stands for “did not finish.” EEK! My excitement quickly drained away and my anxiety shot up quite a few notches.

Since it was still early, I dashed off a quick email to Heather at Team Greyhound to see how Bunny was doing. I knew the reason she didn’t finish couldn’t have been catastrophic (like a broken leg), or I would have heard from them immediately. Heather called me later that morning after she’d spoken with JT. It turns out, Bunny had rushed pretty well out of the box, and ended up in the first turn with the other dogs. She ended up getting banged up pretty good and knocked down. When she got up, she seemed a little disoriented, so the quickly pulled her from the track.

Physically, she’s doing fine. At this point, my worry is that she may be afraid to go into that first turn on her next time out…especially since her personality seems to be more reserved to begin with. Heather did confirm that can happen, though she didn’t seem overly concerned about it. The racing kennel isn’t schooling any dogs on Monday, so Bunny will have a good bit of time to get over her tumble on the track. I have faith that her trainer will school her back when she’s ready.

Things are moving at the track!

Heather Vaughn — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 11:00:23 +0000

Unfortunately, our dear Bunny doesn’t seem to be moving as fast as the other dogs…LOL She had her first schooling race Monday morning and not only did she finish without her muzzle…she finished dead last. Of course, this was just her first schooling race . Her littermate, Wildcat Alley, performed pretty much the same way in her first schooling race and went on to win her schooling race yesterday. It’s a learning process….so we’re keeping our fingers and toes crossed that Bunny will warm up to the idea of being first!

You can track Bunny’s career at http://www.southlandgreyhound.com/ (or stay tuned to here for regular updates)….

Her entry…(yay!)

Her results…(wah-wah-wah-wahhhhhhh) LOL

It’s a boy!

Heather Vaughn — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 11:37:35 +0000

Yesterday was the pup draw for the Dave the Dog x Flying Tan Time litter in which we own one puppy. There were 8 puppies, with the A pup already given to the previous owner of Tan Time as part of her sale to Team Greyhound. The pup draw is done randomly…the owners who have purchased a puppy are sent an email with the order in which we can choose a letter. When it’s your turn, you choose a letter from the ones still available and send an email with your choice to the entire owner list and then it’s up to the next person on the list. You don’t know the color or sex of any puppy until the choices have been made. Obviously, this is to keep the draw as fair and level as possible. (For those not familiar with greyhound tattoo’s, puppies are tattoo’d by the age of 3 months with a unique litter number in one ear and the birth month/year/and a letter in the other ear.)

With our first pup draw, I chose “B” for my maiden name “Brown.” This time around we chose “F” – as in FAST! It turns out F corresponds with the only black male in the litter, which is perfect for us! We love the black dogs and to own a black, male Dave puppy is just awesome.

We’ve got some pictures of the litter, but I’m not sure which (if any) of the black pups is our black male. We won’t choose a name for several more months, so for now our boy will just be called F Puppy (unless/until I think of a good call name!). We already have a definitely first choice racing name picked out, which we’ll reveal when the paperwork is processed by the NGA.

(puppy photos courtesy of Team Greyhound)

Ahhhhh…the life of a greyhound puppy!

I just love the expression on this red puppy’s face!

She’s looking good!

Heather Vaughn — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:00:20 +0000

In what’s been an otherwise sad week for us and our pack, we had some welcome news from Team Greyhound regarding our race girl, Bunny. Bunny is doing well in training, though she’s a little shy and still getting used to life in a racing kennel. Her first schooling race should be in the next week-to-10 days or so. Stay tuned here for schooling results! Two of her littermate brothers have already schooled (Wildcat Alley and JL’s Jerzeeboy).

We did receive some new photos of our girl. I may be a little bit biased, but I think she’s gorgeous! …and built like a linebacker! I may need to get some extra big collars when she finally retires LOL

She’s not too sure what to make of her first photoshoot in the turn out pen

This one’s a little bit blurry, but she still looks good

We have a name! Rather, Bunny has a name!

Heather Vaughn — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 13:13:17 +0000

Her name was officially approved by the NGA: Fast Fluffy. The name has significant meaning to me. Long before I ever considered actually owning a racer, I would spend many hours chatting on the phone with my friend Heather (she happens to be with Team Greyhound). In addition to “girl talk”, we always seemed to find ourselves talking about racing, adoption and all things greyhound. As a relative newbie to greyhound racing, I always had a myriad of questions! Whenever Heather would talk about a scenario or refer to a “generic” racing dog, she would always call the dog Fluffy. I would jokingly tell her that if I ever owned a race dog, it’s name would be Fluffy-something-or-other.

And now, that’s a reality! I love that our first dog is co-owned with Team Greyhound and the name reflects a friendship that grew from a love of greyhounds – both pet and racing.

Bunny is at the track!

Heather Vaughn — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 12:36:03 +0000

Great news from Heather at Team Greyhound! Our first race dog, Bunny, arrived at Southland Greyhound Park a couple weeks ago. We’re still waiting for the naming paperwork to go through and she’ll have a month or two of training at the track before her first race. Her trainer, J.T., will get her used to running round the track and coming out of the starting boxes before she enters her first official maiden race. She’s also acclimating to life in a racing kennel and learning the routine every race dog must learn.

Here’s Bunny’s picture sent to us shortly after her arrival at Southland…She’s a beautiful girl!

From Pet Owner to Racing Owner

Heather Vaughn — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 14:37:56 +0000

Ken’s first exposure to greyhounds was going to the Thursday night races at Gulf Greyhound Park with his friends. It wasn’t until later that he adopted his first retired racer. My first exposure to greyhounds was on the internet when I was researching a breed for my first pet. It wasn’t until after I’d adopted my first greyhound that I ever visited a track to see greyhound racing for myself.

Though our introduction to the sport of greyhound racing was at different times, different tracks and under different circumstances there is one thing we shared: our love of the sport was immediate. It never really occured to me that I would ever actually own a race dog. And if it weren’t for Ken vocalizing his desire to be a part of the sport, I’m not sure I ever would have pursued buying a puppy. We talked about doing it for years…but when it came down to writing out that check to buy the puppy, I just always found reason not to do it.

Finally, there was a breeding we liked at a time we had some disposable income to purchase the puppy. We went through Team Greyhound, not only because Heather and Kevin are good friends of ours, but (most importantly) because we have worked with them on the adoption side of things for years and we both believe they are the ‘good eggs’ in the sport. They have a deep commitment to the welfare of the dogs that race in their program and an enthusiasm for the sport that is infectious.

The Team Greyhound program is great for first time owners. I don’t have to worry about finding a farm or a trainer or a track for our dog to run at. I don’t have to worry about coordinating haulers to move my dog from here to there. I just send a monthly board check to Team Greyhound and they take care of the rest. For our first pup, we decided to go half-interest so we co-own the pup with Kevin Fish.

We purchased a pup from the PA’s Shawneelass x Maryville Rumble* litter. PA’s Shawneelass was an unproven bitch at the time, but her early litters have produced some really nice racers, so we are hopefully her genes are strong in our litter as well!

Here’s a picture of our dog’s litter. Her racing name is still to be determined, but her call name is Bunny. She’s the red puppy looking away down at the ground…

Keep an eye here on greyhoundfreaks.com as we track Bunny’s racing career at Southland Greyhound Park – her racing begins in Spring 2009!