Your Greyhounds History – A Facebook Phenomenon

An overdue new website linking owners of ex-racers with the former connections has grown like wildfire as Greyhound Ambassador Kim Sanzone explains:

There is a new buzz group on Facebook that in recent weeks has rapidly gained momentum and new members. ‘Your Greyhounds History’ came about after pro racer, Clare Hadden, was inundated with requests to provide information around the bloodlines of retired greyhounds via another page she runs for Head Honcho descendants.

Clare said “ I love Honcho hounds and their unique characteristics, and so following the requests I ran a poll to see if people wanted to extend to looking at other bloodlines and the end result was the new page.

I then asked Viv Clements and Elaine Moore to become involved and the page was born – we started slowly but in the last few weeks we have been overwhelmed by the number of requests to join.

At the time of asking neither Viv or Elaine had any idea how much work it would entail but to their credit they have really stepped up to the mark for the group and I’m very grateful for their input”.

What is so unusual about this group is that the majority seeking information about their adopted hounds have probably never even visited a race track, and yet they are keen to discover not only their new pets racing record (as well as locating siblings and finding out about their greyhounds parentage) but also to acknowledge the work that the former breeder, trainer and owner have put into their beloved dog.

Membership on the page is currently at 2,300+ and rising, and many new posters have expressed their gratitude that they can openly ask about their dogs former racing history without fear of being shot down and told the usual anti myths – as happens on many other ‘retired’ groups.

You only have to scroll down the page posts and read some of the extremely touching and heart-warming stories about the lives of the greyhounds in retirement, to be truly moved. Equally gratifying is how trainers, breeders and owners have embraced this and are keen to see their former star settled into homelife as well as offering advice and help and in some cases photos, race DVD’s and memorabilia.

The ladies are doing a remarkable job in tracing and sourcing race information for each dog, as well as adding photos and adopter details to Greyhound Data -helpfully assisted by GD’s Kevin Wright – all of which is very time consuming, so their dedication is to be applauded.

They have also received a great deal of help from Liz Mort at the Greyhound Stud Book and Carmel Leavy at the Irish Coursing Club in identifying race names from tattoos, and additionally Greyhound Ambassador, Lynda Bonner, has been instrumental in tracking down former trainers, breeders and owners across Ireland and putting them in touch.

Owner Kate Rollinson has also been kind enough to sponsor a competition on the page for ‘Best Smile’ and Rebekah & Thomas Smyth were delighted with their beautiful prize for their winning pic of their gorgeous retired hound ‘Shadow’ (Deanmill Bugatti). There has also been help in locating race details and history in the USA by Cindy Patterson and photos for retired coursing hounds, courtesy of Yvonne Harrington. The goodwill on the group is apparent, and it appears to be a team effort in locating just the right information required and the page is now attracting global members including Germany, USA and Belgium amongst others.

What’s remarkable is that the ladies running the group are doing this on a voluntary basis and in their own time – although they have assured me that it’s a labour of love. Many of the new adopters have also remarked that they can’t believe that the greyhound showing in the racing clips is the same dog that is currently roaching on their sofa.

Some of the success stories are incredible, like the one about ‘Stefan’. Stefan, (racing name Stefans King), had been adopted by Debbie and Stefan Ewing but failed to respond to his name when called. After joining the group, a neighbour of his former breeder got in touch to say that he had previously gone by the name of ‘Nero’.

The Ewing’s were astounded to find that when called by that name their boy responded excitedly – so much so that they decided to change his pet name back to ‘Nero’ – it just proves how much of an impact early nurturing has on our greyhounds.

Another wonderful tale is that of ‘Pip’ (Lease Agreement), new owner Granville Jones contacted the page in the hope of finding out a little bit more about ‘Pips’ racing accomplishments.

He got more than he bargained for when former owner, John White, not only provided further details but also forwarded on ‘Pips’ race cards, DVD’s and a beautiful presentation jacket – a very kind and well received gesture.

Then there is the stunning ‘Speedy’ (Get on Speedy) adopted by Kerry Snellin, after contacting the page Kerry was approached by Teresa Cahill (wife of trainer Seamus) who not only furnished her with further information on ‘Speedy’s’ racing prowess but who also kindly sent on to Kerry his 100^th race award mug to keep as a memento.

Teresa said, “It’s great to be able to see our boys and girls again after retirement as they have played a huge part in our lives during their racing careers and this page helps that to happen”.

There are many other similar stories, all positive and all happy to embrace their former athletes racing careers, all of which completely busts the anti-racing myth that adopters don’t wish to hear about their pets lives prior to retirement.

So, breeders, trainers and owners who want to see some of their former charges relaxing on a sofa, get yourselves over to Facebook and get involved – you won’t be disappointed.