onrushpam

Awww, Marvin... you were a very special dog! I KNOW you are making the angels smile!

David, I'm going to send you a PM... but, the short answer is, there are LOTS of retired racers enjoying lure coursing, straight racing and oval racing every weekend! You are already running whippets, so you know a lot of the details. Greyhounds are somewhat different and require a bit more care/attention/conditioning. But, you and your greyhound could have a lot of fun on the field. Edited to add... I have NO idea what they mean about "fighting"! Either the dog runs clean or it doesn't. As far as I can tell, competing in amateur events has NO bearing on dog behavior in the house/pack. Well, maybe it has the effect of making the dog tired, which equates to quiet... a VERY good thing with a young, active greyhound! Well, I TRIED to send you a PM, but your inbox is full!

Run with the wind, Tyler!

Burpdog, how old is that KState study? The last reading I did on Alabama Rot led me to believe they're back to "unknown cause", though food-borne wasn't ruled out... they just couldn't say it was the cause. I've seen two dogs with it... both died and it didn't take long. As LynnM said, I think if this dog had Alabama Rot, he'd be dead by now. I'm surprised Dr. Couto would be so definite, having not seen the dog... Best wishes to you with your dog!

So, if we get a PM from a moderater and have questions, we can't respond to the PM with those questions???

He helped us get our adoption program going. He loved greyhounds... He was the track vet for YEARS... long before greyhound adoption found a foothold in the Panhandle. When we started the adoption program at JCKC, he did everything he could to help us succeed. I'll NEVER forget the night he called me about NINE dogs from Pensacola because a kind-hearted woman took them from the vet's office where they were about to be PTS and loaded them in her van, thinking she'd drive them to her all-breed rescue group in NC. NINE dogs loose in a van with a single driver! She got to Monticello and somehow found Doc Jordan. He took the woman to his home for the night and held the dogs in the vet clinic until I could find a place to stash them. He was a gruff ol' guy and fought his cancer with a vengance... but, it finally felled him. We'll miss him terribly. His family has asked for contributions to our group in lieu of flowers... He's still helping the greyhounds!

We placed a bunch of the half-sibs... NST Royal Lass and others... I can't remember for sure which off the top of my head. I'll try to remember to look when I get home and see where they all went.

Oh, Nancy, I just saw this!!! I am SO sorry!!! Marvin was very special to me... he was the only one of the dogs I was able to keep track of from our early days at JCKC. He was much loved in the racing kennel, and I KNOW how much love he enjoyed with you and your DH! Give some special scritches from me to Marvin's brother, Ram, and your other pups! Run free, sweet Marvin!

We've lost both our UK girls. I can't bear to tell the details... sometimes horrible accidents happen. Thank goodness we have Amy's babies... Donald is here now. White will be here tomorrow. Red will be here next week. Onrush will be a very different place...

Awww... I've been following Ginger's story on the SEGA lists... Bless you for caring for her and giving her much love in her last days!!!

It was twelve years ago this weekend... Glen and I set out on Good Friday morning for the nine hour drive to Council Bluffs, IA. We had decided to adopt a greyhound and the program at Bluff's Run was the closest we could find to where we lived at that time. (I thnk this was during the time when The Woodlands was closed.) After a restless night in a motel, we met Donna Lovely at her farm, where the Bluff's Run adoption dogs are housed. I had spent hours on the phone with Donna, discussing the available dogs. My initial request was for a small, dark female. But, Donna kept talking about this big, white girl named, of all things, Brownie! She said Brownie would be a good fit for my two other requests... our new pet needed to be good with small dogs (we had a blind cocker spaniel) and small children (my nephew spent a lot of time at our house). We met Brownie, and liked her a lot, but wanted to meet ALL the dogs. So, we made Donna introduce us to every single one before agreeing that Brownie was, indeed, the right dog for us, despite her size and color. That night, in our motel room, we decided to rename our new girl. She would be Bonnie... Bonnie (a/ka/ Wild Survival) and her three littermates had flunked out of schooling and never run an official start. Two of the littermates had already been adopted and her sister Meg was still at the adoption kennel. I've always hated that I never contacted their adopters! We took Bonnie home on Easter Sunday, and I will never forget the big, goofy grin she wore for most of the long ride! That was the start of something HUGE in our lives... Bonnie introduced us to many new experiences... competitive obedience (she earned her Companion Dog title in the first year she owned us), lure coursing (she wasn't very good, but she loved it) and to volunteering in greyhound adoption. She was a perfect dog... always by my side. She loved nothing more than hanging out in the yard with us on a sunny day or wading in the creek at the farm. She ruled what become the Onrush pack with a velvet glove. She was the ultimate alpha female. She had a helicopter tail and greeted each new experience with enthusiasm and that goofy grin. There will never be another one like Bonnie. I still miss her terribly...

We just finished rehab on a dog with this injury. Our vets used a technique where fascia from a muscle is used to replace/strengthen the ligament. Several weeks of leash-walking, then gradual return to activity allowed time for the repair to heal. She did great!

Mitch, It's great to see you here on GreyTalk! I had never heard the story of Chilli. I know she's running like the wind... If you and Larissa feel ready to adopt again, I'll cross my fingers that you'll find JUST the right doggie amongst the ones we're bringing up on Saturday.

I and the hounds of Onrush will miss you, sweetie!

Run free Dougie... I was proud to have met you!

He was known as Getter in the racing kennel and he was there in January 2001, when I first started visiting the track regularly. He was a sweet, red boy. Not particularly memorable, just always calmly there, waiting for his pets. He had broken in at Hollywood a year earlier, but never rose above D, so they moved him to Naples, where he continued to struggle. But, he held on to the end of the year, when he came to JCKC. He was mostly a "B" dog, though he would hit the board in A from time to time. He was just a good workable dog for his trainer, Tom. His littersister, Katsu Catch Me, joined Getter in Tom's kennel in July 2001. Towards the middle of 2003, Getter dropped from B to C to D and graded off. Tom said he wasn't sure what was wrong, but he wasn't going to try to bring him back, because he was already four years old. For some reason, Tom decided to send, Catch Me, along at the same time, though she had just dropped from B to C. Getter and Catch went together to Star City Greyhounds in Roanoke, VA. Sara began to call him Getty and grew very attached very quickly. Unfortunately, it quickly became obvious that Getty was ill. He was diagnosed with Erlichia. His titer was so high, he must have been exposed LONG before he came to JCKC. I'm not sure of the details, but for some reason. Getty was not treated by Star City's regular vet when he received his Imizol treatment. Shortly after, he became MUCH worse and it was discovered the poor guy had been given a massive overdose (10x) of Imizol! Getty was given the best of care, including blood transfusions. He fought hard to overcome the damage done to his body, but it was not to be. Getty crossed the Bridge this morning. My heart goes out to Sara and those who cared for this sweet boy... Run like the wind, Getty! We'll see you again one day...

Okay, I went back to my notes... I think the two substances used are: Ethanolamine Oleate and Prilocaine, mixed with a bit of the dog's own blood... But, I'm not a vet and don't pretend to play one on TV!!!

Okay, here's the deal... "Firing a toe" is a technique for stablizing a dislocated toe... When Rob does it, he mixes a "schlerosing agent" (geez, I wish I could remember what it's called) with a bit of the dog's own blood, and a local anasthetic (similar to novacaine)... This "cocktail" is injected into the tissue around the joint. (Not actually into the joint.) The how-much and where is more art than science... The foot is splinted, with the end of the splint extending well past the end of the toes, so the dog can't actually put weight on the toes. Post-procedure care varies, based on the severitly of the injury... typical would be 5 days of total crate rest (leash walk only to empty), followed by five days of gradually increasing leash walking, then gradual build-up of work back to competition. I've taken Amy to work with me and leash walked he r, gradually increasing the distance, over the second 5 days... Scar tissue forms around the joint, forming a sort of "artificial" means of support... The scar tissue keeps the toe from dislocating again. It doesn't always work. If the joint capsule is blown out or the supporting tendons are destroyed, this technique probably won't help. But, with a simple dislocation that just won't reduce and hold up to competition-level stress, it can give enough support to allow the dog to continue running. In my experience, this works on toes that "hold up" in day-to-day yard running, but won't sustain the pressure of competition in the field. If you rest the dog for 3-4 weeks, and the toe contiues to flop in and out just running around the yard, it may not be a candidate for success with this technique. But, if you can find a vet who knows how to do this, it's _always_ worth a shot before amputation!

Rob came to a few of our lure coursing trials (and had at least one dog do _very_ well)... He saw a bunch of dogs with toes lopped off and said "Whoa! I can do better than that!!!" He's worked on my Amy girl several times... She was his "demo dog" for a seminar last year. He's fired a couple of toes, her shoulder, and helped me with treatments for some other issues. Lure coursing is _hard_ on dogs, especially if they run in top competition weekend after weekend... The _really_ cool thing about taking a dog to Rob is that you get an in-depth lesson in canine anatomy, how to examine a dog for injuries, nutrition, kinesiology of the canine gait, etc., etc... As long as you can hang in and ask questions, he'll teach you!!! And, he has "magic hands"... I just LOVE watching him check out my pups... If only he weren't 4+ hours away!!! The funny thing was when he told us he'd never seen the inside of a toe he had "fired"... A friend wound up having to amputate a toe Rob had worked on. So, he had the toe "preserved" and Fed-Exed it to Rob! If it weren't for Rob, Amy would be missing a couple of toes...

Actually, it's not new at all in the racing world... I'm sure Rockingship is familiar with what the old-timers call "firing a toe"... But, Rob Gillette, at Aurburn U. is a master at it. He's fixed up many toes on our Southeastern Greyhound Club lure coursing doggies! My Amy girl is in _bad_ need of a trip to see her buddy Dr. Rob!