Why I Can Run So Fast

It's Post Time

The snow has been melting and I have been able to run in the back yard more than I have been able to when it was cold and there was a lot of snow outside.  Papa and Daddy make paths so Nicky and I can go potty, but it's hard to run around because you have to follow the paths and that's not always easy.  Sometimes they end and you just have to turn around.  Besides, it is very cold outside and I don't want to stay out for so long.  I usually just go potty and come right back inside when it's very cold outside.  I can't stay outside for very long because I am so thin.  I get very cold very very fast and could get sick.  So I have to just potty and come right back.  But now it has been getting warmer and I can stay outside for a longer time without getting very cold.  So now that it is getting warmer, I can run again.  That makes me very happy because I really love to run. 

Papa told me that the stories I tell that you like the most are the stories I tell about greyhounds and puppies and why we are special.  He says that the stories about how I can see and how I used to race get lots of visits.  So that means that you all like when I tell you about the special qualities of puppies like me.  So tonight, I am going to tell you about running, because I really like to run.

And I can run fast.

The two ways all 4 feet are in the air.

Why is it that some dogs can run fast and others can't run so fast. It's all about what humans call gait.  Papa says that my gait is the quality of my running.  I just like running, so I do it.  But I guess greyhounds were bread to run fast a long long time ago.  And we have a special kind of running.  There are two kinds of running.  One is called single suspension, and the other is called double suspension.  Greyhounds run fast because we have double suspension running style.  That means that when I run, there are two different times when all four of my paws are off the ground.  When I start running, I just walk fast and pick up my feet two at a time and just do that fast.  But as I run faster and faster, I start to gallop.  When I push myself off by my back feet, I stretch out my whole body.  My front feet are stretched out in front of me and by rear legs are stretched out behind me.

The second time is when I am stretched out like that, my front paws hit the ground and I push off with them.  As I push myself in front of my front paws, I go into the air again and my front paws go behind me and my back paws catch up and go ahead of my front feet.  As that happens all four feet are off the ground again and my back feet are in front of my front feet.  It sounds confusing, I know.

Here is a picture of the double suspension gait.

http://www.oricomtech.com/projects/leg-run.htm

Here is a video of an Italian Greyhound running in slow motion. If my description was a little too difficult to follow, watch the greyhound run in slow motion and you'll get a better idea of how I can run.



Here is another good video of a greyhound running in slow motion and playing with another puppy friend.



And remember, just because we can run fast, that doesn't mean that we should be forced to race against our will.  We love to run, but we don't like to be forced to run around a track so people can bet on us.  And what's worse is that only a small portion of the dogs that are bred for racing actually are good enough to make it to the track.  The rest are just killed.  They die alone and unwanted.  So if you appreciate our running and love to watch us run, then adopt a greyhound and bring him or her to the beach or to a dog park and let him or her run around freely.  Don't make us run for sport.

It's not cool.  You bet.  We die.  That's not cool at all.




Here are some links so you can read more about my running gait, if you want to.

Running Gaits of Galloping Dogs
http://www.oricomtech.com/projects/leg-run.htm

Gait from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gait_%28dog%29

Keep your tail up and wagging!

-Katie

Dog Racing. You bet. We die.

It's Post Time

When I decided to write in my own blog, instead of writing on my Papa's blog.  Papa was all excited.  He's very proud of me and wants me to be happy.  He's also very proud of my racing heritage and the fact that I am an athlete who used to be a racer.  He went on and on about how cool it would be to have a blog with a racing theme, and that I should stress my racing heritage.  He did a search for greyhound racing and got all these very cool pictures of digs runing together on the track.  Some very sports-like pictures that make racing look very cool.  They make dogs look like we are champion athletes who have a good life, like human athletes do.  Papa didn't understand.  I told him that racing made me sad and I didn't want to relive any of that stuff.  I told him I was very happy that I was adopted by a good family.  I also told him that I was very lucky.  I told him there were lots of racing digs that never had the chance I had.  I told him that racing wasn't as glamorous as it seemed.  He didn't understand at first, but then he did a little more research on the internet.  He dug just a little bit deeper.  And I saw Papa cry.  He found the truth.  I can't post pictures for you here, they make me too sad.  And I don't want to scare or make anybody else cry.  But you can find them, if you want to see them.  If you need to see them.  I will post the links to stories and pictures. The pictures are on the internet.  You can find them.   I think he understands now.  It made me sad, like when I was racing.  I was lucky.  Many of my fellow athletic racers are not so lucky.

When you seach Google for greyhound racing, you get all these really cool pictures of dogs racing.  They look cool, like I said before.  It might make you feel like dog racing is just such a cool sport.  They look like they're really having fun, just running.  And we do enjoy running.  I love to run.  I do it every chance I get.  But we get very tired when we run.  And when we get tired, we like to stop and rest.  And we have been bred to chase things.  But I don't like chasing a mechanical decoy and being forced to compete against some of my friends.  Remember that racing is a business, and like any other business, the sole purpose is to make money.  The people in charge of the business don't care about us dogs.  Unless we win and make them money.  But what about dogs that lose?  What happens to them?  Did you ever wonder about that?

There are 8 dogs in every race.  And only 3 dogs make money.  Win.  Place.  Show.  Five dogs don't make money.  Slower dogs get only a few changes to race.  And it might even be unfair to call us slower dogs.  Sometimes, we are quite capable of running very fast.  We might even win, if we wanted to.  But some dogs just aren't into the control.  We don't like being forced to do things.  And we certainly don't want to be mean to the other dogs.  Those other dogs are all we have for friends.

We don't have protectors, we have keepers.  We don't have parents who love us, we have owners.  Those owners only love us if we make them money.  If we don't make them money, we are just an added expense for them.  They have to feed us and pay people to take care of us.  If we don't make money, they don't care about what happens to us.  And we can't race throughout our lives. Racing is just for the very young, like with most sports, athletes burn out very young, because of how we are forced to push our bodies to the limits.  So we can't race for more than a season or two.  And then what?  More dogs, younger dogs, are bred to replace us.  So what happens to us?  Even the winning dogs get old and can't win anymore.  Then we all just become a burden on the kennel owners.  They need the space for those younger dogs, and they don't want to take time or energy to feed and care for us.  They just want to get rid of us.  The lucky ones get sent to a shelter for a chance to get adopted.   Some kennels work with adoption groups to help move the dogs from racing to the social world.  Others are more bloodthirsty and are only interested in profits and losses.  Dogs from those kennels are the unlucky ones.  The unlucky ones get killed.  For every dog that gets adopted, there is at least one dog that is killed.  They aren't just put to sleep in a kind and loving way, like an old, sick dog would be.  They are brutally killed.  Butchered. Discarded.  Cheaply.  Without care.  Or responsibility.

Greyhounds that are bred for racing all have tattoos.  One on each ear.  On our left ear is the number that logs our birth.  All my brothers and sisters from that same little have the same number marked on our left ear.  The right ear tattoo contains the date of my birth and what order I was tattooed.  Every dog has a distinct tattoo which is registered and can be traced.  That's good if we're lost.  It's also bad if someone wants to discard us.  So many dogs who are left to starve have their ears cut off, so they can't be traced.    Dogs are often left to starve in cages until they die.  Then they are put out with the trash.  They sometimes cut our ears off then, but sometimes, they just cut off the head.  And leave the headless bodies in the trash.

Now I am sad.  So I can't write anymore.  But I will leave you with these thoughts.

Please don't support the racing of dogs.  Please do everything you can to stop the treatment of animals as money making possessions. Please stop the spread of greed and animal abuse for profit.   Help all dogs have a healthy and happy life.  Help us stop the needless breeding of dogs that will just end up being killed because they are not one of the three out of the eight.

  
Keep your tail up and wagging!

-Katie

Links to Sites on the Web

Greyhound Racing: Misery, Brutality, and Death
http://www.animalcrueltyworldwide.com/Greyhound-Racing/Greyhound-Racing.html

Greyhound Racing-You Bet They Die
Death in the Fast Lane
http://www.vegaplanet.org/?p=476

Greyhounds:  Racing to their Deaths

http://www.animallaw.info/articles/arus32stetlr433.htm

Very Bad Pictures
Don't look at these if you have a weak stomach, please.

http://anydifference.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/greyhound2.47210023_std.jpg

http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/images1/barbaricW.jpeg

http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:NTcXP6oG3JBVnM:http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e221/brasscatt2/dograce16.jpg&t=1

http://www.gracieland.org/PJ/lab.gif

http://www.animaladvocate.net/legacy/greyhounds_spain.jpg

That's enough.  I think you get the picture.

Out of the Box

It's Post Time

Hi everyone.  I want to welcome you to my new blog.

I had so much fun writing stories for my Papa's blog that I wanted to try this myself.  My family is very supportive of my blogging and always encourage me to do the very best I can.

I think that I will blog about my wonderful life and all that I experience at home.  I am so lucky to be here with a family that loves me and accepts me for who I am.  Papa is going to give me the two stories I wrote on his blog so I can post them here.  So I am sorry that the next two posts will be stuff you might have already read.  But I did want to keep all my stories together.  That's the way I like it.


But I wasn't always this comfortable and this loved.  When I was just a puppy, things were different.   I used to live in a big building with lots of other greyhounds.  There were people there who used to treat us OK, but not great.  We got lots of food and water, whenever we needed it.  But there wasn't much love and tummy rubs.  We were made to race each other.  We had to chase this stuffed rabbit around a track.  Now I love to run, I really do.  It's one of my favorite things to do.  But I didn't like to chase after the rabbit.  It was stupid.  And I didn't like the way the people yelled at us if we didn't win the race.  It seemed a little silly.  I mean there were 8 of us in the race and we were all chasing just one rabbit.  We couldn't even catch the rabbit.  We didn't even have to.  All we had to do was cross the finish line first.  Well that didn't seem like fun to me.  Only 1 out of the 8 could cross the finish line first.  The odds weren't fair.  Plus, we were supposed to push and shove other dogs out of the way.  I didn't think that was such a very good idea.  I mean, have you ever been running very fast, as fast as you could, and tried to push someone out of the way?  It's hard.  Plus, if you don't do it just right, you could fall or trip over one of the other dogs that were running fast, too.  I didn't want to trip and hurt myself or any of the other dogs.  I love to run, but I didn't want to hurt anyone.  So I wouldn't do it.  I just ran fast, but didn't push my way to the front.  


After not even one year, the people decided that I wasn't fast enough to be a racer.  And here is where I got very lucky.  Some people who own racing dogs just do very mean things to their dogs if they don't win races.  They stare them, or beat them, or even worse.  It's very bad.  They do very mean things to these dogs.  But some people give the dogs to other people to try to find them homes.  And that's what happened to me.  That's how I got here.  That's why I was lucky.
Many other dogs, just don't make it. They die because nobody loves them and they can't find anybody to love them.


It's true.  I was very lucky.  I went to two shelters before I met my daddy and papa.  And they took me and loved me.And so here I am, to tell you all about it.  I hope that you'll enjoy reading my stories and that you will leave me comments in the box below. 

I am working on trying to install a gadget that will allow you to give me treats.  But I can't find one.  So you'll have to hold onto the cookies until I find a way for you to get them to me.



Bye for now.
Keep your tail up and wagging!
-Katie