News & views of dog-related topics, dog training & behaviour, greyhounds, myth-busting & the occasional smattering of marketing/PR and life in general.
It's fair to say that my agility training isn't going quite to plan! The wettest April, June and July have dampened my spirits and as Mina doesn't *do* rain, it's somewhat hampered our agility training sessions.
Now, I knew that training a 10 year old greyhound/lurcher would not be without its challenges. Firstly, the main one is to keep Mina injury free (so far, so good); secondly, I needed to make sure she was fit enough to do this (she is & has been ok'd by the vet); thirdly, I need to get my coordination working (sometimes my brain doesn't seem to communicate to my feet what I want them to do) and finally (and this is the biggie) I need to maintain Mina's focus.
I have no illusions over my agility training with Mina. I have absolutely zero plans of competing with her - it simply wouldn't be fair to expose her to the stress/excitement levels that an agility competition would bring. I need to pass my practical module for university and I want to have fun along the way for both Mina and me.
Thankfully, we have a great agility instructor - Bob Sharpe, from Field of Dreams. He is very patient with me (especially when my coordination goes to pot) and is full of practical advice. However, the biggest thing that has both of us stumped is finding the prime motivator for Mina.
Motivation's the name of the game...
Unmotivated? Me? I'm just taking a break!
Mina can switch from being motivated to completely un-motivated in a nano-second. She can have been enjoying a sequence, a set of grids - getting food rewards, tug & toy rewards - and then; hey presto! Zip! It's like an invisible magic wand has cast a 'unmotivated spell'! I have had some great advice from Jennifer of Never Say Never Greyhounds, who runs her greyhounds in agility competitions in the USA, and I'm reading 'When Pigs Fly' - a great book by Jane Killion about training the more 'challenging' breeds. Despite all this, I'm still struggling to find that elusive top motivator (or motivators) for Mina. I'm now considering a rabbit skin and will be hitting ebay/amazon/online retailers to see if I can find one.
Anyway, today's agility session was all about sequences and contacts. I've already mentioned how lousy my coordination can be and today just proved it. I was doing some simple sequences and attempting to get a front cross executed correctly. For some reason my natural reaction is to do a blind cross and whilst this may still work with a seasoned agility dog, it's not ideal for Mina.
I ran Bob's dog for this and was doing well until my splendid lack of coordination struck - I either tripped or slipped and ended up doing a less than graceful swan dive to the floor, twisting my ankle in the process... ouch! Despite that Meg still made the jump, however it did mean I had to rest up and not do any more sequences.
So, we moved our attention to the A Frame. Due to Mina's age we'll be running a course where all the obstacles are at reduced height. When Mina was younger she used to amaze me and my hubby with her mountain goat like tendencies. Where we used to live was a very steep escarpment that Mina regularly ran up and down at lightning speed. After several repetitions on lead, we moved to off-lead and she really enjoyed it, as the video shows.
She may have missed her contacts but at this stage I just want her to enjoy going over the A Frame. We'll finesse her contacts in forthcoming sessions.
In the meantime, my ankle has started to swell up, so I think it's time to put my feet up, apply a bag of frozen peas, have a cuppa and start searching for that rabbit skin.
I haven't blogged in a while, or updated the agility diaries... to be honest, I've been struggling with my motivation and have been a tad under the weather. I've tried not to let it impact on my training sessions with Mina but, of late, both of us haven't been that motivated (I don't think the nearly constant downpours have helped)!
However, onwards and upwards (as they say). Today, the sun was shining and we had an agility 1-2-1 session booked. My motivation seemed to be back (hopefully for good) and Mina was keen to get out in the sunshine.
As I've said, we've both been struggling with motivation...Mina's special agility toys weren't seeming to excite her and my 'world famous' liver cake just wasn't cutting it. However, thanks to one of my college friends (Mr Spraggins - you know who you are!) I'd discovered Pet Munchies and the small roasted duck breast treats (aimed at cats but just the right size for rewards in training) and these little bites of duckie deliciousness seem to be weaving a spell on Mina.
I'm using them on a sheet of clear laminate, to help Mina's 'forward focus' and 'drive'. Today we used them for getting Mina to go through the weaves. I've got a set of 6 V weaves at home, but today was the first time Mina's had a chance to generalise and go through a set of 12 V weaves in our training field.
The weaves may not yet be fully upright but Mina's made great progress which, thanks to the power of my iPhone, has been captured on the video below:
Today's training session was great and just shows what a difference a change in mind/motivation (along with sunshine) can do. I didn't manage to capture it on video but we had a dozen successful trials with the tunnel too, along with some good grid work.
So, what do you think? Will we make it round the grade 3 course next January?
I'll keep blogging when I can and continue to work hard on making the training fun and ensuring we keep our motivation.
This weekend I've been at university with Mina. It's always lovely to meet up with my friends and fellow students - particularly when we have our dogs with us - and to have a whole weekend of learning and talking 'dog'. This weekend was no exception to the rule.
Chilling out on Sunday
Saturday was filled with a number of practical lectures, two 'train a new behaviour' practical sessions plus a lecture from the head of the South Yorkshire Police victim support dog unit. All in all, it was a jam-packed day, which was rounded off by a lovely beach walk with some of my friends and their dogs. Both Mina and I came away pretty pooped but looking forward to today, when we would be able to have some 1-2-1 time with the lecturers and time to practise our chosen discipline of agility.
I'd pretty much decided that for the agility session I wanted to focus on getting Mina's contacts right. I wasn't planning on introducing her to the contact equipment fully and had set my training criteria quite carefully. I planned to slowly introduce Mina to the contacts on the A Frame and get her comfortable with just being on the contact part (using lots of positive reinforcement and homemade liver cake) and then to ensure she would wait and target my hand (eventually working up to just a nose/head dip) before being released. Due to Mina's size, age and conformation I decided that a nose target to the ground wasn't appropriate.
As it turned out, Mina had different ideas to those that I'd carefully planned! Whilst I was sorting myself out with treats and our lecturer, Lynda, was holding Mina's lead, Mina had different ideas. Before we knew it, she'd walked on to the contact area and calmly started walking up the A Frame (with Lynda holding the lead) and, just as calmly, walked down the other side and waited on the contacts. I was dumbfounded and overjoyed, all in one go. Mina always used to have 'mountain goat' like tendencies when she was younger and used to love scaling the embankments in one of the parks in Northumberland, when we lived in the NE. However, at her current age, I didn't think she'd take to scaling the sides of the A Frame quite how she did.
Mina taking a breather in the agility area
Now, normally, I wouldn't encourage anyone's dog to scale the A Frame (or any agility equipment) without doing the foundation work. The chances of it going wrong and the dog developing a fear of the equipment can be too great. So, as Mina had taken matters into her own paws, I worked with her. We did several repetitions of the A Frame, all with me holding her collar whilst she walked over (it is more stable holding her collar than lead, but as she'd started scaling it whilst wearing her lead, we didn't take it off the first time) and lots of liver cake at the other end.
As we were on a roll, and Mina was still excited, I decided to have a go at the rigid tunnel. We collapsed it as far as it would go and to begin with, I clicked and treated Mina every time she stuck her nose in it, or put her paw in it. When she appeared comfortable enough with this, I went to the other end of the tunnel and our lecturer, Emily, held Mina at the other end. I kneeled down, showed Mina that I had tasty venison liver and called her through....
...the tunnel isn't really an ideal size for greyhounds but the lure of the venison liver was strong and Mina calmly made her way through the tunnel for it and we practised this several times.
I am so proud of Mina. She constantly amazes me with her capacity to learn and to disprove the many myths that surround older dogs and greyhounds. Mina is the proof that you can teach an old dog and greyhounds new tricks.
The Canine Student Becomes Teacher
But, enough of my pride; what lessons did Mina teach me? Firstly, she taught me role reversal - sometimes our dogs become the teacher. Despite me having set the criteria of gradually introducing Mina to the contacts of the A Frame, she took matters into her own paws (so to speak)! I think sometimes, when we're training our dogs we can forget to look at what our dogs are really telling us and we can fail to adapt our training around them.
Secondly, Mina showed me again how important it is for us to really know our dogs - especially when they've reached their training limit. I was having tons of fun - after all, Mina was proving to be a super star - and I wanted to continue but the signals from Mina was that she was well and truly pooped.
She would have continued because I wanted her to but she wouldn't have enjoyed it and, knowing our luck, would have injured herself. I think it's a human tendency when our dogs are doing well to have the "just one more go," "just one more repetition before we finish" mentality.
I've heard so many stories how the 'just one more go' has pushed dogs to their limits and has meant a lengthy recovery and rehabilitation process to get them back to their former selves. I never want to do this to Mina or any of my dogs.
So, we finished on a high and both had a cooling drink before setting off home. Luckily for Mina she could snooze in the back of the car and dream of being a mountain goat for the day!
Back at the end of January I wrote a post about Mina's first agility 1-2-1 (Jumping at the Chance: Greyhound Agility). Since then we've had two more 1-2-1s and I've invested in some agility jumps and a set weaves to practise with at home.
Now, here comes the tricky bit... by February 2013 both Mina and I need to be able to complete (note: I say 'complete' not'compete') a grade 3 agility course - yikes! It's all down to the Advanced Dog Training module of my university degree. I did have the choice of other doggy disciplines such as gundog, obedience, scent work, working trials and flyball - along with the college tests (which are a mish mash of everything), however none of them really appealed to me as much as agility. So agility it is for both Mina and I.
We both have so much to learn and I have a rather hefty training plan and schedule to produce to illustrate how we're going to get from complete novice to completion of a grade 3 course (double yikes)!
Before Crufts I had been looking at agility equipment on Ebay and 'watching' several items - deliberating whether to spend my birthday money on them (or not). When I arrived at Crufts I was pleased to see that one of the Ebay suppliers I'd been watching - Jesse Jump Agility - was there. So, I took the plunge and bought three 'deluxe' jumps and a set of 6 'deluxe' weaves.
I tried out the jumps - which are three quarter width - with Mina and she loved them, as the video shows.
Since buying the home agility equipment, I've attended an Agility Training the Trainer Course. I plan to incorporate elements of agility into my dog training classes and really wanted to learn how to do it properly. The course was run by Kim Hunt who runs Derbyshire Agility Centre. Kim is a qualified animal behaviourist and has over 20 years' experience as an agility judge and competitor.
The course was jam-packed with information, practical demonstrations and the chance for us to undertake short training sessions with volunteers. The focus was on pre-agility work and introducing dogs and handlers to the equipment safely.
I've come away with some great ideas of how I can help Mina prepare for each piece of equipment and more importantly, how I can incorporate this into my training plan. Also, as an added bonus, the exercises are easy to incorporate into my training classes and 1-2-1s and will help owners and their dogs with focus and bonding.
So, what's next? Well, we've a long list and to get to the stage of completing a grade 3 course feels like a mountain climb. I'm going to be putting the work in on the basics like targeting, establishing a solid wait and working on forward focus (amongst other things) and working on my coordination!
I'll share details of our progress along the way and if you've any agility tips to share, please don't be shy - I need all the help I can get!
I've been meaning to finish blogging about my work experience for a while now - ever since August in fact - but since I've started back at university and now run Puppy School classes, my time just seems to have evaporated.
However, I do want to share what the final part of my work experience provided me - the opportunity to see behind the scenes at Nottingham Greyhound Stadium.
I'm well aware of how the racing industry polarises opinion and I don’t want to get into the rights or wrongs of racing, this isn’t what my blog is about. As previous posts have explained, I want to work with retired greyhounds, and their owners, post-racing and to do this I feel that I need to understand how these hounds have been nurtured before their retirement life as a sofa surfer.
I can only blog about what I saw - not what may happen at other tracks or at other trainers.
A 'civvy' goes trackside
It's pretty rare for a ‘civvy ‘to see what goes on behind the scenes before, during and after a race. To attend a greyhound race as an official handler, you need a licence from the Greyhound Board of Great Britain, (GBGB) which is the governing body for regulated greyhound racing in the UK. Jane approached GBGB on my behalf and I was granted a temporary licence as a kennel hand.
Nottingham Stadium. Photo: John Wardell
For me, attending a racetrack as a handler was something I felt I needed to do. I wanted to see for myself how a greyhound is treated and what checks and procedures are in place trackside.
I also wanted to use the opportunity to observe greyhounds’ behaviour before and after a race – not something you can easily do as a spectator. At university, we’re encouraged to observe behaviour from a scientific point of view, which can be very hard when you have an emotional attachment to a breed or dog.
Greyhound Board of Great Britain
The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) is the governing body for greyhound racing at licensed tracks in the UK. GBGB came about as a result of the 2007 Lord Donoughue report into greyhound racing. The report was commissioned in the wake of reports of greyhound welfare issues, notably at Seaham, Co. Durham, which – quite rightly – created a media storm and alerted the public to some of the welfare problems surrounding the sport during the passage of the Animal Welfare Bill.
At the time greyhound racing was overseen by two bodies – The British Racing Greyhound Board and the National Greyhound Racing Club. As a result of this report, GBGB was established in January 2009. However, GBGB is only responsible for governing the racing at GBGB licensed tracks and not the unlicensed 'flapping' tracks.
At the track
For many kennel hands, track days are long days. You’re on the go from early morning until at least 11pm/midnight.
The hounds that are racing on that particular day are carefully checked at the kennels - they are weighed, groomed and checked to make sure they’re in full health prior to racing. Then mid-afternoon, the hounds are prepared for their journey to the track and are put in the van, in individual crates/compartments, ready to go the track. Depending on the trainer, most vans are equipped to transport between 6-12 greyhounds.
When we arrived at the track, we unloaded the dogs one by one. Our first task was to let them go for a pee and a poop (there was a sandy area especially for this, fully equipped with bins and shovels). If I timed it right I realised I could position the shovel in the right place – as anyone who’s read my previous post will know that I couldn’t manage the flick of the poop onto the shovel! - and 'catch' the poop before trying to make a mess of scooping it.
Then each dog was taken into the kennel area. This is an air conditioned building, with an outside paddock area, where the hounds are checked and gathered immediately before a race, and rows of internal kennels.
The amount of checks each hound underwent were phenomenal. When you arrive in the kennel area, you provide the dog’s name to a member of the track staff and then the checks begin… Firstly, the dog’s ear tattoo (or tattoos if he/she is a dog of Irish origin) is checked and compared against the name and database information. Then the dog is scanned for his/her microchip – again to check that the dog isn’t a ringer. These details then appear on a TV screen above the scales, where the dog is weighed. A racing greyhound's weight can only fluctuate within 1 kilo of his/her last racing weight - if the hound is over 1 kilo heavier or lighter they will not be allowed to race.
Racing at Nottingham. Photo: David Yanez on Flickr
Once the identity of the dog has been checked and verified, it was time to go through to the kennel area - when entering this area, the dogs have to be muzzled. The dogs are then checked by the vet before being admitted to their individual kennel. The vet checks their gait, general health and re-checks the ear tattoos.
Each dog is given a kennel which is numbered and allocated by race. The kennels are the size of a large crate (as in crates used by many pet dog owners) and provide enough space for the hounds to stand up, move around and lie down. Each kennel has clean bedding of the vet bedding variety and is airconditioned/well ventilated.
Before the dog is popped into their kennel, a member of staff checks the ear marks again and scans the microchip. Once the hound is in their kennel, the door is locked. The reason the door is locked is to prevent any tampering with the dog before a race.
Race time
When it's time to prepare the dog for his/her race there are another series of checks to go through. When collecting a dog from their kennel, I had to provide the member of the track staff with the dog's race name, the race he/she was in and their kennel number.
The member of staff then unlocks the kennel to let the dog out. The dog's ear marks are re-checked and then I was able to put the dog in their racing jacket, fix their race muzzle and attach their leather fishtail collar and lead. The dog is then led by the handler into the paddock area, where he/she is scanned again for the microchip and another vet check is undertaken.
When given the signal the handler leads the dog out onto the track, where the dog is announced to those attending the race. Upon another signal each dog is taken to the traps and they are placed individually into the relevant trap. They are only in the trap for a matter of seconds before the race begins.
(Video is of my greyhound Stevie & was provided by his racing owner prior to his retirement . This race took place before GBGB was established)
At the end of each race the vet is there to check each hound after he/she has finished the race. If any hound has sustained an injury the vet is able to treat them.
Once the race is finished each dog is taken back to the paddock by the handler and checked over. Their faces are washed to get rid of any sand and their paws are washed and checked to get rid of sand and to make sure there are no cuts. They are then taken back into their individual kennel and provided with a fresh bowl of water. The track is very stringent about leaving each dog in their kennel for a minimum of 15 minutes after the finish of each race (instead of taking them straight back to the trainer's van). Again, this is to ensure that the health is not compromised - if there was an issue that did not present itself immediately after a race, the time lag ensures that if there was such an injury the vet could attend to it.
The track at Nottingham is 437m in circumference and on the occasions I was at the track I witnessed one accident where a pair of hounds bumped each other and one ended up doing a somersault. This is the part of the sport that I, and from the trainers I spoke with, dread. Everyone wants their dog to come home safe and injury-free. In the race where the bump happened, both the dogs seemed to be fine and were checked by the vet. However, another dog which was not involved in the bump had gone lame and was attended to by the vet immediately after the race.
Welfare Observations
At one of the races I attended I was interested to see that there was a Greyhound Welfare Officer listed in the programme and present at the track. I spoke with him as I was intrigued to understand his role. He is responsible for ensuring the welfare of the dogs both at the track and those who are about to retire. If he feels that the welfare of a dog is compromised, my understanding is that he is able to take relevant action to tackle it.
With the number of checks in force at the track I visited it would be very difficult to tamper with any dog or substitute a ringer once they're at the track. GBGB also has a stringent approach to anti-doping. At any GBGB licensed track, random urine sampling and tests can be undertaken to test whether a dog has been doped.
I was especially interested to observe the dogs' behaviour when they were with their handler, waiting in the paddock just before the race started. I was on the look out for stress signals such as hyper vigilance, lip licking, crouched body posture, panting and shaking. Whilst I did see signs of stress in some dogs, I did not see signs in all dogs. And those that were exhibiting stress signals were not the extreme signals of stress that I have sometimes seen at general dog shows and in rescue kennels. In contrast there were some dogs that showed signs of anticipation that we would probably term as excitement (think how excited your dog may get when he/she is shown their lead).
Overall, I was impressed with the facilities and standards of care I saw at the track. I understand that injuries may happen but, in my opinion, injuries can happen as equally off the track as on (just ask my dog Mina).
The future of racing
So what does the future hold for greyhound racing in the UK? Track attendances are dwindling and there are calls to ban the industry.
What would happen though if greyhound racing was banned? There would certainly be an economic impact for those who run racing kennels and those connected to racing – staff at tracks and kennels, manufacturers (pet food, bedding etc), along with the rehoming charities and rescue centres. And what about the dogs themselves? If greyhound racing was banned tomorrow, would it lead to mass euthanasia of the thousands of dogs in racing kennels? How and where would these dogs be homed?
I don't know what the answer is and I can see both sides of the argument for and against racing. At the end of the day the greyhound is an amazing breed and one that I hope I will always have the privilege of working and sharing my life with.
Please do comment and share your views.*
*Please keep responses polite. Any abusive comments will not be tolerated and will be removed.
As anyone who reads this blog will know, I love my greyhounds and generally anything that is greyhound related too. However, there is one greyhound area that really polarises opinion – greyhound racing.
I’ve heard all the horror stories and read some of them too in the national press but as with anything in life, I wanted to make my own mind up and see for myself.
It’s not often a ‘civvy’ gets to see behind the scenes of greyhound racing however, my university studies presented with me an opportunity to do just that. As part of my degree I have to undertake a good chunk of dog related work experience: 56 hours to be precise. I’d thought quite carefully about what experience I wanted to gain and kept coming back to what had inspired me to pursue a canine career in the first place– greyhounds.
Jasper snoozing away
It’s fair to say I’ve only really dealt with greyhounds after their racing careers and I have often wondered what has shaped the behaviour of the snoozing hound at my feet. I want to be able to help retired greyhounds adapt to their new lives after their racing careers and felt the only way to do this is to see first-hand how they’re nurtured, raised and trained.
Whenever I told anyone that I was planning to do my work experience at racing kennels, I was constantly warned of how “tough and distressing” it would be, how “soul-less” racing kennels were, how I wouldn’t last and how upsetting I would find it. I decided I would make up my own mind and carefully researched greyhound trainers in the area.
During my research I came across a female trainer, who along with running kennels, runs a schooling facility, with a purpose built schooling track. The trainer, Jane Houfton, places great emphasis on the welfare and training of the greyhounds in her care and after an initial meeting in April, my work experience was agreed.
Life in a racing kennel
Following all the warnings people had given me about racing kennels, I half expected the them to be a mix of Alcatraz meets Colditz – cold, grey and faceless with uncaring staff. Nothing could have been farther from the truth.
The real Alcatraz NOT a racing kennel
The Kennels were set up exactly like many boarding kennels although, as the case in the UK, greyhounds are kennelled in pairs. Each kennel consists of an indoor sleeping area, with a raised bed and plenty of bedding, and an outside run. Contrary to popular myth, the greyhounds were not confined to their sleeping areas for 22 hours out of 24.
What really struck me was the dedication of the staff and the evident love and affection for the greyhounds in their care. All the hounds received regular, positive human contact and plenty of affection from kennel hands. I didn’t witness any incidents of rough or callous handling – quite the contrary.
Cleaning, feeding, caring for and schooling over 100 greyhounds is no mean feat and for someone who’s normally based in an office – like me – it’s hard, physical and demanding work.
Breakfast is served!
The greyhounds’ needs are top priority and the first job of the day is letting them out after their night’s sleep and giving them breakfast. So, at 7.30am on a weekday (8am on Saturdays – hounds need a lie-in too) breakfast is served! Breakfast is a blend of dried dog foods (a bit like doggy muesli), which is covered by special milk compound. Working as a team, the kennel hands start with breakfast service. Outside each kennel two bowls are put down, the next person goes down and puts in scoop of the muesli, followed by next person who covers this with the milk.
Tonto & Ranger look forward to breakfast
Then we start feeding the hounds. There are three kennel blocks and each block is provided with their breakfast service in turn. The kennels are opened up and dogs are fed on a one in one out basis - one eats in the outside run/paddock area to their kennel and the other in the sleeping area. Once they have all eaten, bowls are cleared and the dogs are let out into their kennel’s paddock area.
Then we start over on the next kennel block, and once that’s completed the third and final block. At the same time this is happening, the pups are being fed and taken into the exercise paddocks.
The kennels
Once all the hounds have been fed, it’s poop, scoop and clean on a massive scale! All kennels are cleared of poop and any dirty bedding. This is back-breaking work (and rather smelly too).
Unlike the well practised kennel hands, I couldn’t seem to master the art of just being to scoop and flick the poop onto the shovel (well, not unless I wanted to flick it over myself) and had to use a scraper to help. Once all poop had been cleared away, sleeping areas and the outside run were brushed, disinfected and hosed down and beds were topped up with clean, fresh bedding.
Once all 60 kennels have been cleaned the humans get a chance for a coffee break and a bite to eat.
Grooming and health checks
After coffee break, it’s time to groom the hounds, check their health and weight and give them any treatments. How many pet dog owners can truthfully say they thoroughly check their dogs on a daily basis? At the kennels, every dog is weighed on a daily basis and their weight recorded. For racing dogs their weight can only vary within 1kg of their last race weight.
Dogs are groomed, teeth are brushed and any worming or flea treatments are also given. For any dogs that may have an injury, these are also treated. An ultra sound machine is used on any sore muscles (I tried it too and it really helped my back) and for any hounds that may have a cut or laceration there is an amazing laser machine which helps to promote healing.
During this time, many of the dogs are also exercised in the grassed paddock areas.
Lunchtime
Once treatments have been completed it’s soon time for lunch – but this time the humans get to eat before the hounds! Once the human lunch break is over, it’s time for the hounds’ lunchtime service. The food is weighed according to individual dog’s needs and put into a bowl with the dog’s name on it and the feeding routine begins again. Each dog is fed a specific amount depending on a combination of their weight, age, whether they’re racing or retired and their specific nutritional needs.
After lunch, poop scooping takes place again and the hounds are free to run in their outside run/paddock areas.
Treats and walkies
Over a weekend many racing owners come and visit their dog(s), bringing them treats and taking them out for walks. Owners are actively encouraged to come and visit their dogs and I met several, very dedicated owners who religiously visit their dogs on Saturdays and Sundays and, when their racing careers are over, take them home with them to live out their retirement on a sofa.
Challenging my perceptions
I realise I’ve only had a snapshot of what life is like for a greyhound in a racing kennel but I have to say, although it challenges my perceptions of the life my pet ex-racing greyhounds have, it is a different life but not necessarily a bad one.
So, is life in a racing kennel bleak? In my opinion – no. Yes, it is different to that of many pet dogs (my own hounds included) but contrast it to the millions of pet dogs that are left alone at home for hours at a time whilst their owner goes to work, with no-one or anything for company; or the working dogs that are kept in outside kennels and not allowed in the home; or even the breeds that struggle to adapt to modern family life as it’s not what they’ve been bred for. Which dog has the better life?
In my next blog post I’m going to look at how the greyhounds are schooled and trained for racing and my final post in this series will look at what happens behind the scenes at a greyhound track.
I hope that by sharing my experience it will provide a balanced view of such an emotive subject. Please do feel free to comment and share your views*...I look forward to reading them.
*Please keep responses polite. Everyone is entitled to their views. Any abusive posts will not be tolerated and will be removed.
PS You can read my previous posts on my work experience here:
On April Fool's day this year, I received a letter notifying me that I was likely to be made redundant. Unfortunately, this wasn't an ill-conceived April Fool's joke and 13 days later I was officially out of work.
Now, you may think that's enough of a reason to describe my life as "going to the dogs" but you'd be wrong. On the day I received my letter (great timing - not - as it was before the Easter bank holiday weekend), and once I'd recovered from the shock, I hit Twitter.
"Redundancy for all" by Brian CK/Digital Leica on Flickr
I didn't really want to tweet all my woes (honest), but I remembered seeing a tweet about a job at the Kennel Club and wanted to find out more...
...The application deadline was the following day, and after speaking to my husband, parents and the Kennel Club, I decided to apply. The post was for 3 months, covering sabbatical leave, and was based in London - hence the conversation with hubby, who'd be on hound duty whilst I was away, and my parents, whose house and creature comforts I'd be taking advantage of if I was lucky enough to get the job.
To spare you the to-ings and fro-ings, I did get the job and once I'd finalised my termination date from my old employer, I started on 16 April. However, whilst I was in doggy heaven I did need to find work for when my time was up and I returned home.
I live in a lovely part of the UK - rural Lincolnshire really is very beautiful - but it is a part of the UK that isn't exactly flush with Senior Marketing Communications jobs.
"Yellow is the New Green" by Lincolnian (Brian) on Flickr
I need a job that allows me to work flexibly so I can start my University studies in Canine Behaviour and Training this September. I also need a job that will help pay for my University studies and help keep me, hubby and the hounds in the manner to which we'd like to become accustomed!
So, I've done several things...Firstly, I've set up my own Marketing Communications business - SJM Marketing - essentially, 'rent a Marketing Director'. The SJM element happens to be my initials, but in a happy coincidence is also the initials of the hounds - Stevie, Jasper and Mina.
The aim of the business is to provide marketing and PR advice and support to small companies which may not be able to afford a permanent, full time Marketing Manager/Director. Hopefully, I'll be able to work with companies within the pet care sector and I'm already in discussion with one such company.
Running SJM Marketing also means I can work from home with the hounds taking over regular 'office guarding' duties and keeping me company. I'm working on the website, but if you're reading this and would like to email me about marketing/PR, you can contact me on: susan@sjmmarketing dot co dot uk
Stevie taking his 'office guarding' duties very seriously!
Secondly, I've just been accepted to be trained as a tutor for National Puppy School, which is very exciting. I'm a firm believer in the importance of socializing puppies and can't wait to start the training, which begins in September.
I'm hoping that the Puppy School and University studies will complement each other.
I should be able to start running Puppy School classes in 2011 and complete the foundation part of my degree by 2013. I'll then need to study a further 2 years to obtain a full Bachelor of Science degree in Canine Behaviour and Training.
So there you have it - whichever way you look at it - my career is definitely going to the dogs, but thankfully for all the right reasons.
Now, I knew that training a 10 year old greyhound/lurcher would not be without its challenges. Firstly, the main one is to keep Mina injury free (so far, so good); secondly, I needed to make sure she was fit enough to do this (she is & has been ok'd by the vet); thirdly, I need to get my coordination working (sometimes my brain doesn't seem to communicate to my feet what I want them to do) and finally (and this is the biggie) I need to maintain Mina's focus.
