Saturday, June 16, 2007 --Activities begin at Noon

Lisa Packard relaxing at home with her greys

Lisa is a volunteer and board member for Greyhound Options

My Week as a Kennel Helper

By: Lisa Packard

I would first like to thank everyone who made this week possible, especially Bill Malboeuf, the trainer for North Shore Kennel and the regular kennel workers, Donna, Josh, and Laurie.  All of you guys were great, you made me feel right at home from the start.  I actually miss Josh's smart mouth and wise *** comments.  When I was first presented with this opportunity, I was very hesitant.  I had been involved with retired greyhounds for approximately three years and started fostering about a year and a half ago.  I had read many an article on how poorly the greys are treated at the tracks, believing every word.  I decided to look into it a little further and after talking with several different people, and finding out I would be able to work with the kennel my Rocky Rock (for his story go to http://Rockyrocks.org) was at when he raced, I was sold on the idea.  Also, I had never set foot on a dog track or watched a dog race prior to this experience.  I did not know what to expect for the worst from the things I had read.

 

 

 

My first day at the track, they had me start after first turnout (6AM) at 8 AM, which I found out later was because first turnout is completely crazy if you have ever done a turnout before.  Imagine 100 pups all wanting to go out to the bathroom at the same time! Even at the end of the week, I still found first turnout to be the craziest.  When I arrived they were just finishing first turnout., and I was put to work helping to change the beds.  Then sweeping and mopping the kennel floor once all the pups were back in their crates. While I was helping clean the kennel, Bill had started to get their food ready ( a mix of raw beef, high protein kibble and several supplements).  For many people this may be an issue, but I feed my own greys raw diet and swear by raw diet.  For all of you who are wondering, by day two I was up to my elbows mixing the feed.  I was completely amazed on how organized feeding time was with that many pups.  After feeding time was over, it was time for second turnout, and my first lesson on how to take a grey out of an upper crate. Yes, there is a proper way to do this so the pup does not get hurt.  This took a little while for me to get down, but everyone was very patient with me, including the pups. Then the pups that need to be worked out were brought to the sprint pad. I was totally amazed how excited all the pups get when they knew some of them are getting to go run. It is almost as if every pup in the kennel is asking very loudly, "Please take me, I want to run".

After sprinting, it was time to get the pups ready who were racing that afternoon.  These pups are weighed, have their ears cleaned, nails clipped and are completely checked over  (range of motion in every joint is assessed) to make sure they are up to racing. Then the pups are brought over to the track for official weigh in around 11:30AM.  The kennel help gets a chance to take a lunch break.  Racing starts at 12:30PM so the person doing the afternoon card needs to be back at the track in time to take care of the pups after they finish racing. When each pup finishes they are brought into the cool down area where they are walked, given water, and have their eyes and nails cleaned.  Once the pup is cooled down, it is brought back to the kennel and fed the rest of its food. The pups who are racing are only given a small portion of their food before racing. While the pups are racing, the rest of the pups at the kennel are again turned out, so the kennel worker who is doing third turnout of the day needs to be back at the kennel for 1PM. This turnout usually takes two hours. After each turnout, the kennel is swept and mopped, and while the pups are out the turnout areas are continually cleaned of poop (there is a lot of that with 100 pups!). Last turnout starts around 6PM and again takes two hours. After finishing my last day at the kennel, I was amazed at how much work and love goes into each and every pup.  I was also very impressed with how clean and organized the kennels are kept.
It was after this first day that I began to realize the people who work at this track don't really do this for the money.  It is more for the love of these wonderful pups. The rest of my week at the kennel was mostly a repeat of my first day, except for learning more details of the care which goes into these pups, such as mixing their food, cleaning their eyes and feet after they finish racing, or trying to figure out who was who and what crate they went into.  I think everyone at North Shore Kennel should be paid at least a dollar for every time I asked "Who is this and where do they go?"  In my defense, by the end of the week I think I had about 75% of the pups kennel names down, and a list of about 25 pups I wanted to take home.  I could probably write a whole book on how great this experience was, and how it changed my beliefs on greyhound racing.  I have seen first hand, not only the love these pups receive, but how much these pups love to race. You can see it in their eyes how excited they are when they are leaving the kennel to go to the track. I know a lot of people would argue that I was only there for a week and everyone knew I was there. The love and concern for these pups that I had seen from Bill and his kennel help was not something that they could have pretended all week.
I will never forget this experience, and I cannot thank Bill, Donna, Josh and Laurie enough for putting up with me and making me feel completely welcomed.  I ended up taking so much away from this experience that will help me in so many ways as I continue to foster these wonderful pups. It has been a couple of months since I was at North Shore Kennel, and I have been able to foster one of the pups , which I think made his transition to home life a lot easier.  I also now know the reason newly retired pups seem so afraid.  It is not because they have been abused, it is because they are not sure of all the noise and activity which happens off the track.  I have also adopted one of the pups that was on my list of 25 that I had wanted to take home with me. Both the pup I fostered and the one I adopted never showed the fear that my other foster's showed the first few days they were off the track.  I think it is because they already knew me and knew they could trust me to protect them from all the loud noises and activities of home life.  I again want to thank everyone who made this week as a kennel helper volunteer happen.  If I lived closer to the track, I would give up my career as a nurse to work at the track full time.  Finally, if I had to pick one thing that was the highlight of my week, it would have to be hand slipping one of the newer pups who was just starting his racing career.
Return to Raynham Return to Kennel Helper Page