Fishdoggies

Misada pups

2010-07-11T12:26:00.003-05:00

When I post puppy photos I tend to put up Duckie's pups first. So this time Misada and her babies get the lime light first :D

A good friend Tony, headed down to TX on Father's Day weekend and visited with the Mommas and babies. It was extremely hot and it wasn't a long visit but long enough to get a few photos. Thank you Tony!!!

Track news, well I'm way behind on that. Currently we have 10 pets waiting for adoption. Yes, you read that correctly 10! I'm pounding the pavement and searching high and low for adoption groups that can help us out and move some hounds.
As everyone knows, the hounds are always safe with us until a group can be found.
Adoptions are extremely slow right now and I don't know if it's because so many are on vacation or if it's the economy. Whatever it is, things are slow.

I'm not sure if I posted previously but Cracker has been off on a slight injury. He's doing well and hopefully should start working back soon. More then likely this will be Cracker's last hoorah. He's getting up there in age and he owes no one anything!
I chatted with JT on his feelings on if we should even work Cracker back this time.
In JT's words "this boy wants to keep running" who are we to question what the Crackerman wants? LOL

One more thing, there is another on line auction going on with some really nice stuff.
This auction is for GAF (Greyhound Adoption of FL) Take a peak around and if something strikes your fancy feel free to bid away. Just stay clear of the items I'm bidding on would ya ;-)
Link here for the auction

Not a whole lot of exciting news

2010-06-15T23:30:00.002-05:00

Really not a whole lot going on with the Fishdoggies. We do have a 5 new hounds due in on Monday. A few Dave pups and then a few others.
We also might have a few pets being adopted out but that is not 100% for sure just yet so I will hold off about posting on that.

For those of you who enjoy the online auctions there is one running right now to help support the JCKC adoption hounds. GPA-Tallahassee/Sega.
AUCTION
As most of you know JCKC is the very end of the line for racing greyhounds. Basically it's the lowest competition around and one of the adoption programs that can use the most help as they are always flooded with hounds looking for homes.

We might be getting some new photos of the pups in TX so as soon as I hear for sure or when I get photos I will be sure to post those as well.

Sorry this is not a more exciting post but just not much to post about and hate to leave people wondering what is going on so figured I better post something ;)

Before and after the stakes race

2010-06-01T23:10:00.010-05:00

Photos above are before the stakes race in the Post Parade line up and then the after photos of the hounds in the kennel.

What is really funny about all this is that, as you can see both hounds, Do Bee and Cracker are pretty calm and cool before the race. Yes, they make us proud.

The after photos is what is so funny.

While our boys didn't win. Cracker did finish 4th after a pretty big bump on the escape turn and Do Bee finished 6th after navigating threw some fallen hounds. (the two hounds who fell are fine just fyi)

So in the first photos of Do Bee you can see that even though he didn't win his race he was still the happy boy and totally enjoying Judy hanging out on the floor of our kennel to give "her boy" some loving.

Cracker on the other hand was quite PO'd about the fact he got bumped around and didn't win his race.

If you look close you will see a cookie in his crate, that Cracker chose to not touch.

He also was more then happy to give the camera the stink eye.

The most important thing with any race is that all hounds come back to the kennel healthy and happy. While Cracker was none to happy he was healthy.

We are proud of both our hounds. They gave it their all and that is all we can ask.

On other news I got lots and lots of photos of some new hounds to our kennel. I still need to load them and resize but hopefully I will load them up tomorrow.

My 2 new favorites in our kennel. Phoenix Clumsy and Phoenix Itunes.

I've taken to calling Clumsy "the next coming of Dave the Dog" as he is a Dave son :) He really reminds me a lot of his Daddy Dave. And Itunes, OMG is this girl a super sweet lover girl!

I would add the links but Greyhound Data is down at the moment :(

Two in the finals!

2010-05-25T22:02:00.002-05:00

The results are in and the field is set for the Razorback Stakes race at Southland. While post positions have not been drawn yet, the draw will be on Thur. The dogs that will be in the Finals are
Stevie Pree (Ed Mullen)- 45
Krypto Drive (Charter)- 44
Starz Shetan (Magic City) - 44
Do Bee (Team Greyhound) - 43
Potrs Royal (Ed Mullen) - 42
Alicia Keys (Plum Creek) - 40
Pc's Uranus (Bussman-Balakas)- 35
Flupascrackerbox (Team Greyhound)- 33
Cracker managed to squeak in by basically all the stars lining up perfectly.
The Stake race will be held on Monday May 31. Post time is 1:00 and you can find the link for watching races via the Internet on my previous post.

You all know I love to post photos and I will explain the one above. JT, our trainer at Southland, has been with us since the day Kevin opened his first kennel. JT has handled and trained every dog that has come threw our Southland kennel. Including Dave the Dog, who is Cracker's daddy.
Yes, that is Cracker in the above photos. If there is one human on the face of this earth that Cracker worships it would be JT. These two have the most amazing bond.
While visiting the kennel one day during the time the dogs were all being put up from Turnout a red boy came running up to me and demanded lovings. Yes it was Cracker. So as I'm loving on this boy and checking with JT that for sure this is the Cracker man. JT says "ya that's Cracker" and I swear, the moment this dog heard JT's voice he left me high and dry to go hang with "his human" JT.

I, myself, have been a trainer of a kennel and know that bond some dogs form with the trainer. The bond between Cracker and JT is far greater then any I have ever seen. It really is a sight to behold.
I honestly believe that they both know the other is so special in ways others don't often see but yet they see it in each other.

Come Monday, JT will watch "his boy" Cracker defend his title in the Razorback Stakes along with watching a up and coming superstar in his own rights, Do Bee.

Finally Misada puppy photos :)

2010-05-23T21:38:00.005-05:00

Can you say cuteness overload? OMG do you not just want to curle up with momma and pups and just breath in that puppy breath and take a nap? I know I do.

And how cute is that little puppy roach? I'm not sure I've ever seen a pup so young roaching.

A huge THANK YOU once again to Beth. She drove on out to the farm this weekend just to visit with the new babies and get some photos of our newest additions.

These babies are out of Bob's Skeet and JJ Misada

Total Missy had 11 pups, one was still born and one was extremely tiny and weak at birth. The little one didn't make it so we are now at 9 pups total for Missy.

Lots of flash and color in this litter. Not that it matters one bit but they sure are pretty to look at ;-)

On the racing side of things. The next round of the Razorback stakes races is going on at Southland tomorrow. We still have Crazydreams, Flupascrackerbox and Do Bee running. Another cut will be made after tomorrows races. The top 8 point getters will go on to the finals on Monday May 31, the next 8 will be in the consolation round.

Safe racing to all hounds entered and fingers crossed that our hounds come across that finish line first :D

Cracker won this exact race last year but hasn't fared so well this year. But in his place stepped up his little half bro Do Bee. As of today Do Bee is the leader in points.

To watch the races at Southland you can click here

Race time starts at 4:00

Don't let the size fool you!

2010-05-21T09:40:00.002-05:00

Seriously folks, don't let size fool you. Mighty things can come in small packages too. I recall a friend visiting our Southland kennel and we just had a new litter come to the kennel. This friend who shall remain nameless, or not JUDY :P Looked at this little boy, who at the time was pretty scared and unsure of his surroundings, and stated "he'll never make it"
I have since hired this friend to visit all our farms to tell us what hounds will never make it LOL

OK all kidding aside, above is a super little hound with one of the biggest hearts around. Do Bee. He's tipping the scales at 65lbs and I think his heart is taking up over half that weight.
Watching this boy run is nothing short of amazing. Last night, in the 3rd round of the Razorback stakes race at Southland, he had an amazing break. But by time he reached the escape turn he was sitting 3rd. That's OK since we know Do Bee has the ability to make a great homestretch run. But it's not often that a dog can be passed when they are out in front and then come back for the win.
Sometimes it's just takes something out of the dog to be passed when on the lead.
Do Bee knows nothing of this.

Not only is Do Bee an amazing racer, in the photos above you can see that he is a bit of a clown as well. He smiles and grins and does a crazy silly little dance when you talk silly to him.
Do Bee is one of those hounds that when looking at him you might not think of him as a super racer and I think he just might enjoy proving all of those folks wrong. He just has that way about him.

So far, there has been 3 rounds to this Stakes Race. Do Bee's record for the 3 rounds is two 1st place finishes and a 2nd place finish.
Atta boy little man! We are all so proud of you.
Not to be left out, a huge CONGRATS to Ludwick, owner of Do Bee. IIRC Do Bee is actually named after Ludwick's son.
Ludwick and his family are amazing people and I'm so glad that this super little boy is their hound. Couldn't ask for nicer people and they make my job so much easier.

Lets hope for Do Bee to continue his winning ways because I really think he would look adorable in that winners circle :D

The total is in

2010-05-20T11:15:00.003-05:00

No new photos but you know I have to include something so this is a previous photo of Misada that Beth took.
Misada finished up having her pups late Tue night. It was a pretty long labor for Misada and I'm really glad we have made the choice to pet Missy out after this litter. Even if that wasn't our choice before it would be ours now after this long labor.

Missy had a total of 11 pups. One was still born and one is very small and weak at birth. Missy has been trying to reject that one pup but William is working hard to get Missy to accept that pup. He's watching over and placing the pup on a nipple to make sure he/she is getting fed. Momma's normally know when something is wrong with their pups and Missy has never rejected a pup before. Sometimes nature can be a sad factor to deal with. But no one is giving up on this little pup.

Hopefully some photos of Missy's pups this weekend.

On kennel news one of our newer pups into the kennel has won her maiden race. Constant Boogie won in her first maiden race. WOOOHOOO Congrats Cheryl and Jay. I think you have a very special pup here in Boogie.

Tonight is another qualifying round for the Razorback Stakes race. May all our hounds run fast and safe! Right now Do Bee is sitting tied for first with the most amount of points. Atta boy little Do Bee!

We also moved out 2 hounds who will soon be headed to the Tucson track to run. This is a new venture for us and our owners but we feel we have some very good connections in Tucson to watch over these hounds and make sure if they don't make the race track they will be placed into a greyhound adoption program. We have received a few hound that had previously ran at Tucson and they came to us in AMAZING condition, well cared for, friendly, happy, social and clean. Of course this is all very important to us when working with other kennels. We need to feel we can trust in the proper care during and after their racing careers and this kennel has showed they are on the same page as us with this outlook.

OK lets hope for some good updates tomorrow on results from the 3rd round of the Razorback Stakes Race.

Misad is having her pups

2010-05-18T19:41:00.003-05:00

Ever wonder what a pregger greyhound looks like? Above is Misada. Photo taken by Beth on Sunday. Today (Tue) Misada started whelping her pups. Starting at around 2:30am and by noon she was still having pups. So far a total of 7 pups and I'm hoping she's almost done.

This is Misada's second litter and also her last litter. After she weens off the pups she will be retired to home life.

Beth is planning on going back out to the farm this weekend so we should have more puppy photos :) Who doesn't love puppies?

On the racing kennels all hounds have arrived safely to their final destinations. 3 new hounds into our Southland kennel and 3 hound move on over to B'ham.

A bit more good news, CrazyBoCrazy has found a forever home :) Congrats to Linda Russi's mom. I think they are going to be a perfect match.

Also Dusty the Dog moved to GPA-Nashville today.

Did I mention Puppy photos?????

2010-05-17T12:35:00.005-05:00

Please welcome to this world 10 healthy, happy,fat pups! The proud daddy is Yahoo Omar and the proud momma is Quack Attack aka Duckie.

Pups were born on Friday and on Sunday two good friends, Beth and Tony headed out to the farm and were able to get lots of photos of the new babies.

I'm not sure on sexes of pups just yet but we have 2 blacks, 4 white and blacks, 3 reds and the odd ball of the bunch, 1 white and red.

This is a litter that we are of course very excited about. Yahoo Omar was name 2009 Rural Winner (best sprint dog in the country) and Duckie is a full sister to the 2009 Flashy Sir winner (best distance dog in the country) Flupascrackerbox.

So when you hear us talking about trying to breed the best to the best, this is a prime example of what we try to do.

For those of you involved with racing I'm pretty sure Kevin will be selling a few of these pups. While I would love to keep each and every pup, with board bills on a litter of 10 it's just not financially possible. So if you have any interest about possibly purchasing one of these pups just shoot Kevin and email. I stay far away from that end of the biz ;-)

On other news we have 3 new hounds headed into Southland today. 3 Hounds headed to B'ham. Gina Kincaid, Gabrielle Can and Casino Sarah.

OK well that is quite the update for now. More to come tomorrow as we have several pups schooling official today.

Doggie moves, racers, pets and lots more!

2010-05-16T12:06:00.003-05:00

Lots and lots going on this week so I should have several updates to the blog.
First off and some exciting new is CrazyboCrazy is retiring. She's the girl in the photo above. Photo compliments of Rachel Hogue.

Crazy is a FULL SISTER to my very special boy, Dave. You see where I'm going with this right? Yup that means this girl is super sweet and should be a "push button" type of pet.
Crazy has had 3 litters and her breeding days are done. She was an amazing racer, winning the Night of Stars, She's been a super momma and now it's on to next job of wonderful pet.

In other news, Dusty the Dog is moving on to retirement as well. Dusty also has a famous bro in Pat the Hammer.
GPA-Nashville will be driving to B'ham on Tue and picking up Dusty along with a few other hounds. Keep your eyes on the Nashville site to hear more about Dusty in retired life. They also keep blogs of all their foster hounds. How cool is that?

On Monday we have a few dog moves. Some hounds coming in to our kennel and a few moving out to B'ham.
Once I know 100% on who is going where I will post those moves. Nothing like pushing it to last minute. But that seems to be the way when moving dogs around.
I do know FOR SURE that we have a couple Dave the Dog pups coming in.
Phoenix Clumsy and Phoenix Shake. These 2 hounds have been running at Tuscon and doing quite well so we have high hopes that they take to the Southland oval. We love those Dave pups!
A shout out to Rick. Thank you for giving these hounds a chance at Southland.
Rick is an excellent owner and I'm thrilled to be working with him. He has the same thoughts and ideas as we do on the care of the hounds, during and after their race careers.

OK that's enough for now. I of course have tons more new. Including PUPPIES!!! yes you read that correctly we have babies that were born on Fri.
So tomorrow, some photos and more info about them :)

More photos soon to come

2010-05-14T11:36:00.003-05:00

I normally like to have each and everyone of my Blog post contain photos. So I included a photo of JJ Misada.

But by the end of this weekend we should have some new exciting photos to post :)

A good friend Beth and another friend Tony are headed out to the farm in TX to visit with the Duckie pups and also the Misada pups. In the next few days we should have some brand new babies on the ground. Compliments of Yahoo Omar and Quack Attack and also Bob's Skeet and JJ Misada.

For those not really in the racing know. Yahoo Omar was named the 2009 Rural Rube winner (that is the best sprinter in the country) Quack Attack aka Duckie is the full sister to Flupascrackerbox. Who was named the 2009 Flashy Sir winner (best distance dog in the country) This is a breeding that we are super excited about. Little super stars in the making?? We can only hope.

For now, we hope for easy births and all healthy, happy pups and mommas. THAT is the most important

For Misada this will be her last litter. As soon as she weenies the pups, normally around 3 months or so, she will be retired and move on to home life.

This will be Misada's 2nd litter as she chose to be a momma later in her life. Still she will go into retirement at under 8 years old.

Lots of other interesting news going on. Recently I was made aware of an AR video that was posted on Youtube. In this video was a photo of Dave the Dog. Talk about lighting a fire under my butt. OHHHHHH BOY!

I quickly contacted Youtube to inform them that the photo being used was not OK'd by us, the people in that photo did not OK anyone to use it and well basically someone just stole the photo off our website and used it for their own little powwow. Not cool, not cool at all.

Thankfully Youtube quickly removed the video as it was in violation of their terms.

So let me just post this and clear some things up. I really do enjoy posting photos and info out to anyone who enjoys reading this blog. I do ask that if you find an image I have posted and want to use it PLEASE ask permission. Is it really that hard?

Of course I would have told this AR person to go jump in a lake if they asked to use the photo of Dave :)

At the racetrack we have lots and lots of new pups that have recently come in. Pets moving out and all the normal stuff.

I will do my best to post a bit more often. I have been a bit laxed lately on the blog and well I have found more people read it then I had thought :)

Not so little any more

2010-02-16T16:37:00.007-06:00

As I said they are not so little any more.

First 2 photos are of the Misada pups. Growing big and strong and they sure seem to be enjoying the lure pole

The rest are of course the Duckie pups. Amazing how they grow and change as they get older.

Most of the pups now have some sort of black ticking on them. As you can see some more then others.

These guys and gals are enjoying the lure pole as well.

So let me explain a bit about this lure pole. While the pups really think it's all just play time what is actually going on is a teaching tool. The lure pole is swung around in a circle and entices the pups to chase as it not only has a stuffie attached but also a squaker.

So the pups are learning to chase, go in a tight circle and all at the same time having fun and having play time with the humans.

How cool is that?

Both litters are just about 8 months old so still a long time before they head to the track but we are excited to watch the pups grow and learn and I just can't wait to see them once they are all grown up and running on the big track.

Results for the Auction for GPA-Nashville

2010-02-11T17:20:00.003-06:00

Before I chat about that cutie pie above let me share with you our totals for the auction.

With the help of many donors along with the bidders GPA-Nashville raised just over $6000

Can you believe that??? That is the highest total yet of any of the auctions I have help host.

WOOO HOOO and a big Thank you to each and everyone who donated and bid and helped out with this auction.

OK now about the above hound. While she is NOT a Fishdoggie I think it's important to post her info here. Her name is Dawn and she is the first hound to be helped by the funds raised by the auction we held.

I want to wish Dawn well and a fast recovery. She is being fostered by Ann-Marie, the wonderful woman who fostered Heidi for sooo sooo long. I know that Dawn is in the best hands and her recovery will be quick and in no time she will be in a home.

Good luck Dawn! Rest well and speedy recovery.

Ok we have lots and lots of Fishdoggie news. I will give you a few quick bites and then will post more tomorrow about all the comings and goings.

First off, 4 hounds moved to adoption this week. WOOO HOOOO

Flupascrackerbox was named the National Win Champ and now is also in the running for the Flashy Sir award (Best distance dog in the country)

We have had a brood bred and the breeding is very similar to Cracker's. Yes we are excited for that :)

We also have some new photos of the Duckie pups and the Misada pups.

Told ya we had a bunch of stuff going on. So tomorrow more updates with much more details and photos of course.

Auction for GPA-Nashville has started!!

2010-01-17T09:39:00.003-06:00

The GPA-Nashville auction has begun.
Let me say that without these adoption groups we couldn't do what we do.
Every year I try and help support GPA-N with rallying support and getting an auction hosted by 2 Hounds Design

There are times that we, as a race kennel just can't afford to fix all the hounds that break legs. I really wish we could and we do the best we can but sometimes certain hounds need more specialized care then we are able to provide. This is where GPA-N comes in and normally comes to the rescue.
They are an amazing group in that they have never said NO to any of my calls of broken leg hounds.
Just for example we had a hound, Hydro Bomb Heidi Ho, as she has lovingly been called, broke her leg on 5/26/09. It was a pretty bad break so I placed a call to GPA-N. Plans were put in place and Heidi was off to the vet to be fixed up.
Heidi was just, THIS WEEKEND, released to her forever home.
That is over 7 months that Heidi was in a foster home being rehabbed. That included vet visits, wrap changes and all sorts of things.
And this is just one story, there are many more broken leg hounds that GPA-N have helped along the way.

So when I say PLEASE help and support this group, it's for very good reason.

This auction runs until Jan 25th and closes out at 10PM EST or 15 minutes after the last bid is placed on an item.
Thanks to each and everyone!

The New Year begins, but lets not forget the old

2010-01-03T09:13:00.003-06:00

As 2009 has come to a close and we start 2010 let us not forget the past year.

We have had our highs and lows but in New Year fashion lets just focus on the highs.
I think one of the things I'm most proud of is that to finish off 2009, in our race kennel we had just one pet waiting on adoption. Of course I would love to take credit but all credit is due to the wonderful adoption groups we work with.
Without them, we couldn't do what we do. So for the this New Year please think about making a donation to a greyhound adoption group. Times are tight for everyone and especially these groups.
With many tracks closing this past year and with returns hitting an all time high, I'm sure they can use the help.

Now on to the above photo. To finish out our 2009 we moved 2 hounds. One, Crazy Boybob, to GPA-Nashville and the above boy, My Artful Dodger, directly into his forever home.

These boys were transported on Dec 21, when I was making a trip to Connecticut to visit family and friends for the holidays.
Doggie Dodger was along for almost the whole ride and I can't tell you what a joy he was to travel with.

Dodger has been a long time resident of our kennel and it was bitter sweet to move him on to his retirement home.

On the home front, we ended out the year on a very sad note. One of our hounds, Augie Dogie, became sick while I was away. On Dec 29th, we made the heart wrenching decision to allow Augie to pass, with out me by his side.
I want to say, THANK GOD for Kevin. He stayed with Augie and hugged and kissed him for me, whispered the words of goodbyes for me and sent Augie upon his next great journey.
Sometimes people think, we are just kennel people, that these hounds don't have the profound effect on us that they do just greyhound adopters.
Nothing could be further from the truth. My heart breaks for each and every hound who has never learned about home life. For those that just might not have good owners that care as much as we do in Team Greyhound. And by Team Greyhound I don't just mean, me and Kevin. I mean ALL of Team Greyhound, each and everyone of our owners I feel has that same strong bond and love for these hounds.

So for the year 2010 I wish that every greyhound owner out there learns the love and devotion these greyhounds posses. It will change your life if you allow it to.

May each and everyone of you have a Happy and Joyous New Year, with less hurt and more celebrations. Life really is too short and we all need to embrace each and every day we are allowed to walk this earth!

Home for the Holidays

2009-12-11T18:48:00.003-06:00

On Wed I took off for a trip to Southland. We had 2 hounds that were ready for adoption and an adoption group ready to take them so it was road trip time for me.
I headed to the kennel first to visit and say hello then it was off to my friends Mike, Judy and their son Kevin's house.
Of course a warm welcome by all and their hounds as well. I have to say each and every hound at Judy's house is just as sweet as can be.
We went out for some dinner and good conversation then it was back to their home and time to rest.

On Thur morning it was back to the kennel to take a few photos and then load up my crew and on the road.
PH Broken Spoke and PTL Bart. Both who were wonderful travelers.
I already got word from Judy M that Spoke has made herself quite at home and was already laying in Linda's lap LOL Yup our hounds do enjoy the retired life ;)

Another road trip will be happening on Dec 21st for another long term kennel hound.
My Artful Dodger aka Doggie Dodger will be making trip with me up to the great white North.
But more on that once the trip is done.

Now I know the holiday time is quickly coming upon each and everyone of us. Your racking your brain on what special gift you should give to this one or that one. May I make a suggestion?
One of the most special gifts you can give is to open your heart and home to a greyhound.
Oh you say your house is full? Then how about a donation to one of the many deserving greyhound adoption groups out there.
With out these adoption groups we would never be able to do what we do. So think about it. They always can use the extra donations ;-)

CELEBRATION!!

2009-11-21T08:57:00.004-06:00

Ya that's right boys and girls it's time for a celebration at our Southland kennel.
On Friday night, Nov 20th Cracker placed himself amongst some of the most elite hounds ever to run the Southland oval.
Cracker logged in is 42nd win of the race season, putting him at top honors of Most wins in a season at Southland Greyhound Park.

Sure looking at the above photos you wouldn't think this hound was much of a racer, more of a loverboy. But let me tell you, when his paws hit that track he's all business!
His passion for attention switches to a passion for winning his races.

If you ever get the chance to visit our kennel please make it a point to meet this amazing boy. I think many are shocked at what a laid back, chill dog he really is.

We are of course so proud of Cracker and also of JT. Many don't know but last year Cracker sustained a hair line fracture of his hock. Even with that early injury he was still named to the 2nd All American Team.
This year, Cracker sustained a muscle tear to his right shoulder. He was off just under 2 months and still has managed to log the title of Most wins in one season at Southland.

He's just an all around amazing boy is so many ways.
All I have to say is we are BLESSED!

Lots of stuff going on

2009-11-19T08:40:00.004-06:00

OK lets see if I can update all to what has been going on.
I'll start with most recent and work backwards.
Yesterday, started off bright and early (7:30) I headed out of Gulfport, headed to New Orleans to pick up 2 travelers.
Picked up the hounds and we were on our way to P'cola.
Let me tell you, these hounds were just so sweet and well behaved. I couldn't have asked for better travelers.
The red girl is named TFI Patty Melt A tripod brood from a farm closing in TX.
The white and black boy is Irish Linen Also from the same farm in TX. But now looking at the info on Greyhound Data I wonder if it was wrongly inputted or if this really is Irish Linen. I swear the boy I traveled with was white and black???? hmm

Anyway, both hounds are headed to GreyHaven in FL.

On Sat (Nov 14th) once again, my good friends, Mike and Judy took to the roads to help us transport 2 hounds.
Fast Fluffy aka Bunny and her brother Paw Paw Earl.
Both hounds are now with Shamrock of Louisville, KY.
Big THANKS to Jennifer for taking these hounds in and of course THANKS go out to Mike and Judy. My road warriors :D

On Thurs (Nov 12th) me and Kevin took a trip to Southland for a meeting that was called by the track and kennel owners. While Kevin attended the meeting I stayed down in the kennel loving on the hounds and getting photos. Also meeting some of our new hounds in.
It may be a long ride for us to head to Southland but I always enjoy the time with the hounds.
Tomorrow I'll post a few of the photos I took while there. We have some very nice looking new hound in our kennel.

On a different note, one of our long time hounds in our kennel has finally retired.
My Artful Dodger aka Doggie Dodger received a slight muscle tear to his right shoulder. Now if he was a younger hound he would be rehabbed and brought back to racing. But Doggie Dodger owes no one a dang thing. This boy has been an amazing hound for us and he now enters his much earned retirement. At the age of 4yrs and 7 months, he will be greatly missed in our kennel.
Dodger already has a home ready and waiting on him. We are just letting him rehab a bit in the kennel then we will work on moving him to his forever home. Sorry can't spill the beans on who that might be but let me tell you. Dodger is going to one of the best retirement homes I could ask for.

Never a dull moment in Team Greyhound. And you all just figured I sat behind my puter and ate bon bons LOL :P

How and where did it all start for me?

2009-11-06T20:36:00.004-06:00

Taking you all to the past. Are you game for the ride down memory lane?

OK the above photos were just recently emailed to me from Anne. One of the very first personal adoptions I have ever done. We are talking about 1999.
I'm not even sure how it came about but I must have been poking around on some website and found Anne who adopted a hound that use to be in my kennel with a "crooked nose" This girls name is Watch Me Cleo. I can't seem to find her on Greyhound Data so I'm pretty sure that was her name.
Anyway I contacted Anne and just wanted to chat with her about Cleo and how she was doing. While I was chatting with Anne she mentioned they were ready to adopt another hound.
I got the most wonderful, warm, caring vibe from Anne and informed her I had an AMAZING boy who was up for adoption. A boy by the name of Greedy Gus.
Gus was such a special boy and I just knew that Anne's home was the place for him. Luckily Anne was game and ended up adopting Gus.

This blossomed into a very cool and amazing relationship. Anne had a friend Carol, who once meeting Cleo and Gus knew right away she, herself needed a greyhound.
Anne connected Carol with me and we got to work finding her a hound.
Now my memory fails me here but I'm pretty sure that Amazeme Hank was the first boy she adopted from me. Not long after she added Amazeme Blaze.
Now I could be wrong and it could go the other way around, Blaze then Hank.
Either way, another wonderful friendship was formed between Carol and myself.

A few years passed and I moved on down to B'ham. The kennel I moved down with from CT was closing down and all the hounds had to move out.
There were 2 EXTREMELY special hounds that I had that were in need of a home. It was a brother/sister duo.
My first thought for these two were Anne and Carol. I put the call out and sure enough both were game to add in another hound.
Arrangements were made and Anne took in Bess, (race name TXS Conclusion) and Carol took in Frog, (race name TXS Perfection)

Sadly just Cleo and Bess are the only two from the "old gang"
In the first photo the hounds are L to R
Cleo, Gus, Blaze and Hank
Second photo is
Cleo, Blaze, Gus (red boy) Bess, Frog, and Hank
Third photo is
Hank, Blaze, Frog, Bess, Gus and Cleo off to the far right.

No matter how many dogs I handle through the years these hounds will NEVER be forgotten or their owners for that matter.
It's the good memories of years gone pass that photos like these bring to mind.
No matter the miles between friends, the connection never fades.

Of course all hounds are special to me, but sometimes there are just certain hounds that touch you. Greedy Greedy Gus for sure is one that will never be forgotten.
That little boy (61lbs) would booty scoot up and down the kennel isle. He was such an AMAZING boy.
Bess and Frog, my gosh those two just stole your heart with just one look.
Not to take anything away from Cleo, Hank or Blaze. As you can tell I remember each and every one of them. Just looking at the photos I can pick them out.

So if you ever wonder what sort of connection the kennel people have with these dogs. Please, please, please know it may be stronger then you could ever imagine.
Each and every hound that I have ever interacted with has taken a little piece of my heart along with them to their new homes.
When news came in to me that Gus, Hank, Blaze and Frog had passed I cried my eyes out.

So THANK YOU Anne and Carol for adopting "my" hounds, for loving and caring for them and also for allowing me to share in their retired lives.
Any hound will be BLESSED to share their retired lives with either of you!!!

What do retired racers do???

2009-11-03T21:16:00.003-06:00

These photos I received were just too good not to share.
Above the dog in these photos is DD Da Dog aka Dash. Now retired (of course) and living out his retired life with Lou.
I totally busted out laughing at the first photo. Jockey and all for Halloween. Can it get any cuter?
Next is what happens when you take your retired hound back to the race track for a reunion. I mean really, look at those photos and tell me this boy doesn't want back out on that track??
There is no question that Dash knew where he was, knew what was going on and wanted a piece of that actions.
What is great about these photos, they were taken at Southland, the track where Dash ran and also retired from.

Yes you can take the greyhound off the race track but you can never take the racing out of that hound. Think what you may but the photos speak for themselves. Do these dogs love the job they had? NO QUESTION! Do they love retirement, well of course they do.
I wish for each and every person who has adopted a greyhound to have this chance. The chance to take their hound back to a race track and just see that gleam in their eyes, that wild eyed look, the tongue hanging down to their toes, the pull on the leash, the pure excitement that causes every nerve in their body to twitch and totally come alive.
It's something so amazing to experience.
Thanks to Lou for sharing these photos.

Lets have a PARTY!!!

2009-10-30T23:02:00.002-05:00

What's that you say?? A party?? What are we having a party for you may wonder?

News just in, Team Greyhound HAS BEEN REBOOKED for the 2010 season at Southland Greyhound Park. WOOO HOOOO

Yes folks, you read that correctly. I have to say a heartfelt THANK YOU to each and everyone of you who took the time to write and call Troy and Shane.
Your voices and letters were heard LOUD AND CLEAR!
I honestly can say I don't believe any track has heard such support of a racing kennel as you all showed them for Team Greyhound.

I am moved beyond words and for anyone that knows me, that's a tough one, to catch me at a loss of words :P
I always knew I loved this greyhound world and when help was needed you all rallied behind us. Yes, I had tears in my eyes at the news. Not just the fact that we were rebooked but at the outpouring of support that you all showed.

I am so blessed to call each and everyone of you my friends.
Guys, WE DID IT, YOU DID IT!!!
Wooooooo flippen hooooooooooooooo :)

Please help support Team Greyhound!!

2009-10-28T08:54:00.003-05:00

The above photos speak about what Team Greyhound is all about.
First and fore most it's about the hounds. Their care and well being, doing what is best for them and that is proving to possibly be the demise of Team Greyhound racing at Southland Greyhound Park in West Memphis.
Before I get too far into that let me explain the photos above which relates to what Team Greyhound is all about and what it means to those hounds that come into our program to be labeled Fishdoggies.

The first photo is of a pup out of Quack Attack (Flupascrackerbox's sister) and Soprano Drive.
If you look deeper into that breeding you will see that Quack Attack's daddy is the one and only Dave the Dog. A past Southland Superstar. This pups dad Soprano Drive was also a Southland superstar.
So what you're seeing is support of greyhounds that had raced at Southland.

Next in the above photos is a Stakes win photo of Flupascrackerbox. What you don't see in that photo is the whole group of folks that came out to see that win and enjoy the races. I believe we had at least 10 folks there cheering on Cracker. Once again supporting Southland Greyhound park.
On a side note, let it be known that Team Greyhound received numerous calls from other kennels at other tracks wanting Cracker to race with them. Since Team Greyhound is about "dancing with the one who took you to the dance" It was decided not to move Cracker around. To keep him at his home track.
What are we getting for that support of Southland? the boot?
This is Cracker, a 2nd Team All American, a dog that has set numerous track win records and we chose to keep him right there at home.

The last photo is a retired hound. Blue Duck. A hound that raced in our kennel, who was purchased at the Nationals to run at Southland.
What that photo shows is that we not only talk the talk but we walk the walk. Making sure that each and every hound has a place to call it's forever home.

What I'm getting at here with all of this is that we have been informed by the Director of Racing, Shane Bolender, that Team Greyhound will not be getting rebooked for the 2010 season at Southland.
The reasons given are 1) We did not maintain a proper active list.
While we can not deny this claim there are deeper reasons behind that and we feel those reasons should be taking into consideration.
We are a 100% adoption kennel, we will hold dogs for how ever long it takes until an adoption group can get them into their programs.
As many of you know with so many tracks closing, the economy being what it is, adoption groups are filled to the brim. So sure hounds have to wait in race kennels, well at least our hounds do as we do not believe in killing an adoptable hound just because we need the room.
What has been shown to us in the actions of the Director of Racing, is that the good guys come in last and loose their bookings.
It seems as if Shane does not want to hear any of this info and basically their rules are rules, even at the cost of the lives of greyhounds. Pretty sad if you ask me.
Move those hounds in and out as quick as you can and keep those numbers and active list as high as you can, screw the lives of the greyhounds, we need numbers.
IF that is what greyhound racing is all about and what you have to do to keep your booking, well then that is just beyond sad.

Next up is we have had a few disgruntled owners calling Southland weekly to complain. Shane is tired of hearing from these few. Sadly this is exactly what these few set out to do is cause problems. Seems as if it's working. So lets hit it from the other side.
Lets send these guys at Southland the other side of the coin. Let them hear from those that support Team Greyhound and let them hear the good that we do in this business.

So I ask of all of you to please help and support Team Greyhound. Contact Troy and Shane and let them know how you feel about Team Greyhound possibly getting the boot from Southland.
I will give you email addresses and phone number below for the proper people to contact.

Troy Keeping (GM of Southland)
Office number 870-735-3670 ext 8300
email address TKeeping@dncinc.com

Shane Bolender (Director of Racing)
Office number 870-735-3670 ext 8307
email address SBolender@dncinc.com

For once let's fight to keep the "good guys" in racing!! So please help and support us with letters and phone calls.

Many thanks and not just from us humans but also from all the hounds that are in our kennel and have come thru our kennel.

Trying to catch up

2009-08-30T10:06:00.004-05:00

Talk about getting behind on bloggin :( First let me say I'm sorry for that.
OK now on to what has been going on.

The most recent is Flying Tan Time moved to her forever home.
The photos above are of Anna and Mark meeting their new girl for the very first time. Thanks to Carol, Mona, Mike and Judy for helping this all come together!

It's a pretty amazing story how this all came about. I was posting info into Greyhound Data when I was peaking around at Tan Time's littermates. One stuck out, Bud. There was info on there from his adoptive parents and also an email addy. So I took it upon myself to email.
As fate would have it, they lost Bud in May. They had in the past searched for Bud's littermates and for some reason I had never included our email for Tan Time.
Long story short, they couldn't believe I was contacting them about this. They were so excited and ready to add a hound to their home.
Phone calls were made, transport was set up and well, there you have it. Tan Time, now known as Fate, made it to her forever home =)

On some other news, racing. Our super star boy Cracker injured his shoulder muscle. He's off on about a 2 month rest but we totally expect to see him back on the track.

Again sorry for being so laxed on posting and I will try to catch up.

You have been waiting for the babies

2009-07-29T23:43:00.004-05:00

My GOSH how time flies and how Puppies grow.
The above photos were taken 2 weekends ago (7/19)
My friend Beth went out to visit and got these photos for us.
The Duckie pups were moved to outside pens and Beth and her family were able to help move Momma Duckie and pups. So you are seeing the first day adventures of the Duckie pups in the great outdoors.
The red and black pups are Misada's and sadly we did loose one pup. We are pretty sure that Misada got excited with a schooling trailer pulling up. Misada has always loved to run and she knows when it's time. In the Duckie puppies photo you can clearly see who Tid Bit is. She's that little bitty girl on the left sitting down. She will not go on to race and already has a home lined up. Tid Bit should be moving to her home come mid to late Aug. I should be helping with the transport so you know there will be tons of photos =)

Over due Updates

2009-07-23T10:16:00.005-05:00

Two hounds moved on to retirement life over the weekend. Bad Lady, the red girl above and Bayou Diva.

GPA-Nashville picked up the girls at B'ham this past Sat. Rumor has it that Bad Lady just might go and live with one of her siblings. Diva already has her brother, Charmin Dave waiting at home for her arrival. Foster only, or so I'm told ;-) We will see if Pam can resist this super cute girl =)

I will update on puppy news tomorrow as we have lots of new photos thanks to Beth. Beth, her daughter and her hubby went to visit with the Misada pups and also the Duckie pups and my goodness did Beth take some adorable photos.

UCME So Lonely is doing well and rehabbing in our kennel. JT says the incision site it looking SUPER and the area of the compound fracture is taking a bit longer to heal but that as well is healing nicely. At Dr Pearce's request she was put on another round of antibiotic.

BIG Thanks go out to Mike for helping us with Lonely, carrying her to the vet and back, picking up meds and everything else he has done.

JT has said that Lonely is using her leg well and we are just down to a small wrap to cover the area that is taking a bit longer to heal.

Also some more news is that we have scheduled an Online auction for Jan 17-25. Just in time for shopping for Valentines Day ;-) More on that as we get closer

You've been waiting for them, Pupdate

2009-07-08T10:13:00.006-05:00

Above is the newest photos of Misada and her babies. All are doing WONDERFUL. Misada as you can see is a very attentive Momma. Check out each pup that someone touched, cleaning said pup and then cleaning the human hand that touched her pup LOL

And not to be left out are the Duckie pups. All are doing well and motoring around as they should be at this age.

Their eyes should all be open by now but when the photos were taken the pups were just 11 days old and only one guy had one eye partially open.

Duckie is a wonderful Mom and taking such good care of her pups. They are growing like weeds.

We should have more photos in about a month or so as Linda has plans to go back out to visit.

Thank you to Linda and Beth who drove out to visit and also take photos for us.

On other news, Lonely was taken to Dr. Pearce's office this morning by Mike. (thank you Mike!)

I will continue to keep everyone updated on how Lonely is doing.

She's in the best hands and prayers for a easy surgery and recovery

Puppy news has to wait

2009-07-07T13:13:00.002-05:00

Today I was going to update with new puppy photos we got in over the weekend but something more important came up. I know what you're thinking, what can be more important than PUPPY PICTURES?!?

Well on Tue night (June 30th) UCME So Lonely went out on the race track like any other race but sadly it was not like every other race for Lonely. She broke her leg :(

The track vet didn't feel that it was a bad break so it was wrapped and we set up an appointment for an X-ray with Dr. Blackburn's office.

Good friends to all Fishdoggies, Mike and Judy helped us with transport and I have to give a huge SHOUT OUT to Mike. He even thought to get a photo of the x-ray while at the vets office, which then allowed us to show Dr. Carol what sort of break we were looking at.

The more info we can pass along the better. So Mike, THANKS for thinking on your feet taking that photo =)

Results from Lonely's x-ray showed that there was displacement in the hock area. Not the news we had hoped for. Lonely would need surgery.

A call was quickly placed to our friends at GPA-Nashville and the ball really got rolling.

Lonely will be transported to Dr. Pearce's office tomorrow morning by Mike and Judy's son, Kevin. THANK YOU KEVIN!!

Where she will have her surgery, recover and then will come on back to rehab in our kennel.

I know sometimes our owners might not know all the in's and out's of what goes on and this is just one of the many things that happens.

A broken leg hound isn't always just a wrap and set. Sometimes it's much more then that and so much more goes into .

Getting the dog to the vet for x-rays, understand and making choice from what those x-rays show, transports, adoption groups lined up and much more.

So when you see a dog that is rehabbing from a broken leg on one of those adoption sites please know how much work goes on behind the scenes. Not just with the kennel, not just the adoption group but many times there are all sorts of folks pitching in to help out and I can never thank each and everyone of them enough.

Hopefully nothing more pops up and new Puppy pictures tomorrow =)

OH what a NIGHT!

2009-07-05T12:38:00.003-05:00

CONGRATS FLUPASCRACKER BOX!!!

Lets talk about adrenaline and no I don't mean the dog I mean that stuff that manages to pump through your veins and just gets you so hyped up that you can't sleep. That's the stuff I'm talking about.

Wow wee, let me tell you July 4th was an amazing night for the Fishdoggies.

We had 2 dogs in the 2009 Razorback Classic Championship.

Flupascrackerbox, aka to his friends Cracker, and also Pat the Hammer.

Cracker broke well and was on the front just coming out of the first turn. I sorta chuckled as I saw other kennel folks walking away basically knowing that the race was going to be OWNED by Cracker. He did not disappoint :)

Not to be left out was Pat. He ran a good race and just didn't give that extra kick he normally does on the back side.

It was hard watching two hounds but I heard from some that Pat might have gotten a slight bump or pushed out wide on the back stretch.

Whatever it may have been Pat wasn't going to be out of the money and came up for a nice 4th.

Making the twosome of Fishdoggies, 1st and 4th.

I can't even begin to tell you how proud and honored we are to have these two special boys in our kennel and not only that but be the off spring of our own Dave the Dog.

Along with the excitement from the win we also were surrounded by good friends for a night that we all enjoyed.

Thank you so much Mike, Judy, Heather, Ludwick and Jay for celebrating and making it an even better night.

One last person that needs to be mentioned is JT Riley. Yes, I'm saving the best for last ;-) What would we do with our our trainer JT.

He's been with us basically forever and has seen the best of times and the worst of times with all our Fishdoggies.

JT was around for the start of Dave the Dog's career and now he's around for the careers of Dave's offspring.

JT if you read this I LOVE YOU!!! you are amazing and so humble by all of this but you should be proud and I know that you are. Without you where would we be.

Thank you my friend!! Your the best!

More Tadpoles and adoption

2009-06-30T09:14:00.002-05:00

On Sunday Misada started to whelp her pups. After all said and done we welcome to this world 8 beautiful babies. 7 females and 1 male. 4 black females, 3 red females and the signature of Dave the dog, the odd duck, a white and black male.

As you can see it seems like one is not like the rest LOL

That cow puppy would also be the only male in the litter.

Thanks to someone on Greytalk, GreyPoopon, he has already a name ready and waiting for him. Daretobdifferent. How cute is that?

Other pups news is one of our little Quackers has passed away =(

With Duckie being a new mom she is not use to having to watch where she lays and she ended up laying on one of the white male pups. GOD SPEED little one.

Tid Bit, the tiniest of the pups is still doing well.

Adoption news, GPA-Nashville headed to Southland on Sat and picked up WWW Howie Long. Big thanks to GPA-N for taking in one of our hounds.

We have a few more hound ready for adoption at B'ham and there have been some changes in the adoption kennel there at B'ham. More about all of that tomorrow.

All our broods that were due have all whelped so not much more puppy news will be posted, Other then when we get new photos cause everyone loves puppy pictures :)

We have baby Quackers

2009-06-24T11:39:00.005-05:00

Between last night and 4am this morning Duckie aka Quack Attack whelped out 8 Soprano Drive puppies.
If you look at the pups above you will see one much smaller and thinner then the rest. We have nicknamed this little one Tid Bit. So please thoughts and prayers for Tid Bit, to continue nursing and to get bigger and stronger as the days pass.
Duckie is a first time momma and all reports at the moment are that she's being a wonderful mom. Staying with her pups and letting everyone nurse.

We are all very excited about this litter as Duckie is a full sister to our very special boy Flupascrackerbox aka Cracker.
It's a breeding that we hope will produce Southland runners. Duckie being full sister to an All American and being bred to Soprano, who himself is an All American who also ran at Southland.

With in the next few days we should also have one more litter of pups whelped. Misada who is bred to our very own stud dog Dave the Dog.

All mom's, Phantom, Duckie and Misada are all first time Moms. So of course we are always worried and concerned for the moms and pups.
So far all is going well and lets hope Misada continues on the trend of healthy pups and moms.
So while this is not adoption news, it is still news about the Fishdoggies and what goes on in our world.
As soon as things slow down a bit on the whelpings I will be sure to get back into the world of Fishdoggie Adoptions =)

We have GUPPIES, err Puppies ;-)

2009-06-21T11:13:00.004-05:00

First photo above is the Proud Momma, KB's Phantom Eye. On Wed morning Phantom whelped 8 very healthy, happy Fishdoggie babies.

Proud Pappa is our very own Dave the Dog.

I always love seeing pups that are Dave's as he always manages to throw and odd ball in the litter. For this litter it's looking like the White and Black pup is the Odd Duck =)

Reports are that we have 5 females and 3 males. Blacks, reds, white and reds and the lonely white and black.

There will be more puppy news coming along in the next week as we have two more Mommas due to whelp.Quack Attack AKA Duckie and also JJ MisadaSo if you can spare a few good thoughts for easy whelping and healthy happy Mommas and babies. Both mom's due to whelp are first time moms as was Phantom.

The Traveling twosome

2009-06-18T09:05:00.005-05:00

On Monday 2 more Fishdoggies found their way into the adoption world.

First above is Crayons. A super friendly girl who is not afraid to let anyone know what she wants and that is ATTENTION.

Crayons had become well known in our kennel as the hound that would make the most noise for your attention.

I recall visiting with Crayons while she was just a young pup out on the farm in KS and what a little character she was. The only brindle in the litter and I think this must have stuck in her brain that it made her extra special.

Reports from her foster mom is that Crayons is very well behaved and has not made any noise while crated. This just goes to show you that some of these hounds can be totally different dogs once moving to adoption.

Either way, Crayons is a personality PLUS girl.

Also Buckeyes Rock was moved to adoption on Monday. A jaw dropping handsome boy.

OOPs some info I forgot to pass along about Buckeyes. This whole litter, while out at the farm in KS, was taught to catch cookies.

Buckeyes and all his littermates are all very sweet and loving hounds, oh and lets not forget quite the lookers as well

For those of you who read the blog from GPA-Nashville, Buckeyes is a full brother to Mizar.

Hounds were pick up by Becky from Greyhound Crossroads.

Greyhound Crossroads not only picked up hounds of ours, but also picked up a few hounds from a good friends kennel, Southern New England Kennel, Alan Olson.

Along with picking up 3 hounds from Champion kennel for PRH.

Those hounds for PRH were then transported to my bestest bud

Heather V. Heather held the dogs for the day/night and transported them on up to PRH on Tue.

So all and all Monday was an EXCELLENT day for adoption doggies.

Not just Fishdoggies but others as well and to me the more hounds in homes the better =)

2 new pets in South Carolina

2009-06-11T09:17:00.003-05:00

On Tue a member of Greyhound Crossroads was in the B'ham area and picked up two pets for Greyhound Crossroads.
First to make the trip to South Carolina was Saint Marteen (photo above)
A beautiful girl with almost as much personality as she has good looks. Marteen or Martini as her new foster family is calling her, is just a HOOT.
I really feel this girl could put a smile on any one's face. She loves to talk to you and loves even more when you talk to her.
I don't see Marteen aka Martini hanging around long in a foster home. She's just one of those girls that seems to have it all, looks, good with small critters, good with kids, just an all around sweetheart of a girl.

Next to make the trip to SC was Skeela. Now Becky from Greyhound Crossroads has been "hunting" this girl down for, oh about the last year and a half I would say LOL. I think at least once every two weeks I would get an email from Becky checking to see if Skeela had retired yet.
Skeela is a BIG girl, weighing in around 70+ pounds. But she is such a lover girl. She loves her tummy rubs and will flop down just about anywhere to have someone rub her tummy. She also will give you a silly grin if she feels her cuteness factor isn't high enough.
Skeela hasn't even been in her foster home for a full day and has already learned that if she climbs up on the couch and flips over she will get those tummy rubs that she so loves.
Skeela is being fostered at the moment with Becky but will soon move to a foster home with Catherine. What is so cool about this, Catherine has adopted Skeela's mom, My Little Ruthie.
Catherine has fostered just about all of the Ruthie babies that have gone into adoption.
Skeela I think will also be a fast placement. She's another easy going girl who has shown to get along with cats and small dogs.

A very special birthday

2009-06-04T10:51:00.005-05:00

On June 2nd a very special boy celebrated his 2nd Birthday. Please join me in wishing Rooftop Ike T HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Sure does look like home life is agreeing with Ike =)

As I have posted before Ike is a success story. A story of people working together for these dogs.

The love and care that GPA-N put forth for Ike is above and beyond and I can never say THANKS enough to all the folks.

Babba still waiting =(

2009-05-30T10:34:00.003-05:00

Photo above is of Babba. Babba was moved to Greyhound Crossroads back when our kennel in B'ham closed in Jan.
Babba was moved into a foster home with Allyson and her family. While Babba may not enjoy the most active home he did well with Allyson. Her home is far from quiet LOL with 3 sons and gosh who knows how many dogs and cats and wherever else she is fostering at the time :P
But Babba did just fine with the whole family. He would just go and find a quiet place in the home to rest if things got a bit to active for him.
Babba has now moved to foster care with Becky and all reports are WONDERFUL. He gets along with everyone and everything.
He just tends to get a bit overwhelmed with new things, but he's learning.
He even did a M&G last weekend and was walking around and hanging out with everyone just fine.

I know that reserved hounds are not the easiest dogs to find places for but in their home life they are so different from what you may see at a M&G or even in a kennel.
For Babba that is the case. In home life he's a real caricature. Talking away to the humans when he needs to go out, loves to play with toys and is just an all around sweetie.
So if you're thinking of possible adding to your pack maybe Babba would fit in nicely for you? He is the last of his litter to find his forever home so lets change that and get this boy in a home =)

Lass is HOME

2009-05-29T08:34:00.003-05:00

Pretty Momma girl Lass made it to her Forever home on Wed afternoon. As you can see above she's is getting along well with all her new brother and sisters, oh and is ignoring the kitties too. GOOD GIRL Lass =)

It was a long haul for Momma Lass. She left out of OK on Monday morning and didn't arrive in Mass until 10pm on Tue night.

Lass never missed a meal and figured out dog beds extremely quick.

Yesterday Lass learned about squeekie toys and had a blast. Running in the yard and playing with these new found fun things.

Rumor is her first meal in her new home consisted of Dry food, some canned food and spaghetti LOL

I want to say a HUGE thank you to Nancy, who picked Lass up in Raynham, MA late on Tue night. It was a long night for Nancy and Lass too.

Also I can never say thank you enough to Dee. Lass's new Momma. She opened her heart and home to a wonderful brood momma. This is Dee's first Brood but I'm thinking it sure won't be the last.

Lass won Dee and her husband Steve over in about 2.3 seconds flat =)

Photos above are compliments of Dee. First one is Lass begging to have that fun squeekie toy back. Second one is of ArchE (white and red) Abby (white and black) and then of course the Beautiful Momma Lass (red)

Sometimes it's bad news

2009-05-28T14:46:00.004-05:00

With greyhound racing I'm sure most of you know, sometimes it's not always good news. While this week we did have good news of Lass heading to her forever home we also had bad news.

On Tue evening we received a call from our trainer at Southland that Hydro Bomb broke her leg =( that's her in the first photo

Hydro was carried to another vet's office on Wed and it was found that while yes there was a slab fracture the real damage was ligaments. NOT GOOD. Actually a sister to Hyrdo had this same injury and basically now, after 3 months in and out (mostly in) a vets office she is headed to a forever home.

A few phone calls were made and GPA-Nashville is willing to take her in and make sure she gets fixed up and into that forever home she so deserves. HUGE THANK YOUS to GPA-Nashville.

If for some reason you find you have a few extra $$ and you're thinking of making a donation, GPA-N is one of the best groups we have ever worked with.

Now for the other bad news. On Friday night we missed a call and then on Sat morning remembered to check our phone messages.

Seems as if Redeem, who was running in TX also broke his leg.

Kevin chatted with the kennel owner on Sat and Redeem was PTS.

Sadly Redeem had won his race and was back at the bunny box when another dog came bearing down and ran right into him.

Busting up Redeem's leg very badly :(

While we do try our very best to make sure each and everyone of our greyhounds finds his/her forever home, sometimes even the best made plans go to pot.

I debated about posting this info as I want this site to be fun and upbeat. But I also don't feel that only good, warm, fuzzy info should solely be posted. So I hope you understand my mind set when posting such sad news as today's post.

It's not to make people sad or upset, but I want this blog to be informative and sometimes that info is not always good news.

GOD SPEED Redeem

On the road to a new life

2009-05-25T12:33:00.002-05:00

Today is the day for Lass. I called the hauler this morning just to double and triple check to make sure Lass was safely on board. and she is.
Now it's just a long haul until she reaches home.
Lass will be picked up at Raynham, MA at around 10pm on Tue night.
She should be in her new owners arms sometime on Wed. She will be resting with a good friend for Tue night and Wed day.

So now the real waiting begins, until I hear that Lass has arrived safely at Raynham I'll be on pins and needles.
Please good thoughts for a safe and uneventful trip for Lass and all the other hounds and humans on this ride.
I will be sure to post updates on Wed.

Lass retires

2009-05-18T11:26:00.002-05:00

A week from today a very special momma dog will be on her way to her forever home. PA's Shawneelass, Momma to Flupas Crackerbox, will be placed on a hauler in OK and make her way to the New England area.

Lass will turn 8 in June and she owes no one anything. She has been a super momma and by far one of the best broods we have ever known.

I'm so excited for her and her new family that are so excited about sharing their home with Lass. They have wanted a brood momma for so long and things just worked out that Lass was the girl for them =)

I'm sure I will get updates and photos of Lass in her new home and I will happily share them here as well.

So on May 25th if you all wouldn't mind thinking a few good thoughts for Lass and the hauler. For a safe, uneventful trip. It's a long haul but it's going to be well worth it once Lass gets to her forever home.

Cowdoggies for adoption

2009-05-15T08:38:00.004-05:00

I just heard from the kennel we work with in B'ham, Toomanyhounds, that 3 of our hounds are ready for retirement. And they are ALL White and Red cow doggies.

The first photo is of Buckeyes Rock. Buckeye is a super sweet lovable big boy. Weighing in at around 77lbs. Buckeye is from a litter of just 4 pups. 2 of which are already in homes. Dave's Lil Bomb and Mizar.

Next is Saint Marteen and my goodness Miss Marteen is a hound that will just make you laugh and smile. Marteen is a talker!! she loves to talk to anyone who will pay her one ounce of attention. Just Roooooooing away, dancing and making herself as silly as possible just to make sure you're paying attention.

Last on the list is Flupas Phanatic. 4 of Phanatic's littermates are already retired. Barbannie and Noonan live together in TN, Baggins the Money was retired even before reaching the race tracks and Lady Melody.

Phanatic is going to need a special place to start off his retirement. While he's a sweet boy once he gets to know you he's very unsure of strangers.

Melony (owner/trainer of Toomanyhounds) was unsure if Phanatic should even be adopted out. I guess he was pretty jumpy when the kennel assistants would work with him and he would make moves to nip at the helpers out of fear. Melony has said Phanatic has done much better with the kennel assistants and even the lead outs but he is fearful until he is fully comfortable in new situations.

As always with any of our hounds they are safe and sound until we find the proper places for them. I will be checking with adoption groups to work on finding places for these hounds but if you read my blog and think that any of these hounds would work for your adoption group just drop me a line.

I know that Marteen and Buckeyes will be quick easy placements and with Phanatic, I know he will be a bit more work, but where there is a will there is a way and we will find it :)

Also at B'ham they offer a spay/neuter program for hounds. For $125 you can get a fully vetted hound. Teeth cleaning, heart worm check, fecal, spay or neuter all for just $125.

So lets get these Cowdoggies MOOOOOOving ;-)

Shy hounds need homes too!

2009-05-12T10:21:00.003-05:00

On Sat Bayou Debutante made her way into the greyhound adoption world, thanks to GPA-Nashville. Debutante is a shy little girl who really seems to enjoy having the company of another greyhound around.

Three of Debutante's brothers are already retired and living in homes. Charmin Dave and Jessie Jay were both also placed by GPA-Nashville and the other brother Diamond Dave was placed with a friend in MN.

I believe that Debutante is being fostered with her brother Charmin Dave.

This whole litter was a little bit shy/unsure of themselves. But of the ones that have found their forever homes I have heard only good reports on how everyone is doing. All have adjusted well to home life and even are showing their funny and silly side.

Sometimes this happens where you have a whole litter that all of them seem a bit shy. Sometimes it's related to lack of handling as pups but in this litters case it's not the reason. We visited with this litter quite often and they always seemed a bit reserved. Looking back and thinking about it their momma Flying Charmin was a bit of a shy girl.

It's lessons we learn. We try to be extremely picky on what females to breed to what males and the bloodlines and things along those lines.

Sometimes we don't notice our mistake until the pups are already at the track and then we look back and say "well ya, duh"

But as long as these pups are adjusting well to home life all is not a loss. It's a lesson learned.

So WELCOME to retirement Debutante!!

Back in action and doggies moving

2009-05-02T09:59:00.002-05:00

First off I want to say sorry for the bit of delay in posting to this blog. I went out of town last Friday for GIG and got back in town late Sunday night. By Tue morning craziness was going on at my home. Duck managed to get himself into a bit of trouble and the week was spent worrying about my Ducker dog. He's better now and if you want to read the whole story you can find it here.

OK now on to what everyone really reads this blog about. Doggies moving on to adoption. Tomorrow (Sunday) Beth from GPA-Nashville will be at Southland and picking up D Ortiz. Those photos above are Ortiz.
Ortiz is the last of 13 pups to head to adoption. He's been an amazing boy for us. While not a super star he's what makes kennels function. A plugger as we like to call them. At the age of just about 5 yrs old. (turns 5 in June) he's been at the tracks longer then most racers.
I know Ortiz will be a WONDERFUL pet and anyone will be blessed to have this sweet boy in his home.
So CONGRATS Ortiz on retirement. While we will miss you in the kennel we know that you are on to bigger and better things. Share your joy and talk more humans into adopting a greyhound ;-)
Again and also HUGE THANK YOU'S go out to GPA-Nashville for taking in our racers.

Shilo, Babyface and Polo boy on their way

2009-04-23T14:27:00.004-05:00

Today 3 Fishdoggies are on their way to retirement. SAS Shilo, BI's Baby Face and Polo Boy.
Becky and Joanne from Greyhound Crossroads headed out early this morning on their way to B'ham.
At the start of their trip we thought it would only be 2 Fishdoggies moving but when they learned about Polo Boy they quickly got onto the phone with the owner of Polo Boy's brother Go Charlie Go. If all things work out Polo will be joining his brother in retirement. How cool is that??
Also Becky has been waiting on Baby Face for quite some time. I think at least once a week I would get an email from Becky asking about Baby LOL. No Becky can not adopt BabyFace but I know she will be fostering this sweet girl.

A GREAT big THANK YOU goes out to Becky and Joanne for getting up so early in the morning hours to head to B'ham. Along with our hounds they also picked up a few other hounds from a friends kennel of mine. Alan Olson from Southern New England Kennel. Alan is a long time friend of mine and I'm thrilled that GC was able to help move some of Alan's pets.

As of right now there are only 3 Fishdoggies retired and ready for adoption. 2 of the 3 have already been spoken for and within the next few weeks they also will be moving into adoption.
I think this is the smallest number of pets we have ever had within Team Greyhound. Honestly it's a SUPER feeling.
Oh we do have a brood momma that has also retired from her duties but more on that later. Can't spill all the beans ;-)
(photo of SAS Shilo compliment of Rachel Hogue)

Jessie Jay heads to adoption

2009-04-22T16:37:00.004-05:00

From a cute little pup (top photo on the far left) to a SUPER handsome grown up boy.

Jessie Jay made his journey on Sat 4/18 from B'ham to GPA-Nasvhille.

I have to say that GPA-Nashville have some of THE BEST foster parents around. It's not often you find a group that is willing to work with the shy/spooky hounds but GPA-N always seems to find a way to help these hounds further on their way.

Helping them adjust to life outside the racing kennel.

MUCHO THANK YOUS go out to GPA-N for taking in Jessie. I know with the work of your foster parents Jessie is going to blossom in to the most awesome pet anyone could ask for.

He already has the looks so a bit of confidence and who could say no to this boy?

Don't give up

2009-04-17T08:44:00.009-05:00

Strange things happen to good people and good dogs. It's how you proceed with the strange things is what can make or break a story.
Above is a photos of a boy named Rooftop Ike T. Ike was purchased at the Nationals in KS for a fair sum of money. He was a young, healthy, racer that was purchased by a couple Team Greyhound members to race at our Southland kennel.
Shortly after arriving to our Southland kennel our trainer JT noticed some sort of infection going on with Ike's leg. By the next morning Ike's leg was loosing skin and the area was turning black. Ike was rushed to our vet and reports were not good. It was believed that Ike had been bit by some sort of spider and the venom from that spider was spreading through Ike's leg and causing all sorts of skin loss, infection, and all around bad stuff. Our vet felt that there was no way to save this boy as a racer and wasn't even sure he could save Ike's leg.
A call was placed to Ike's owner explaining what was going on and the cost that might be involved. This is a hard choice for an owner. Several thousands of dollars was just spent on purchasing Ike, now the thought of more money spent on a hound who would never race again. At this point, talking with the vet, talking with the owners and using our own thoughts it was looking like Ike would be PTS.

I always hate making a choice like this and when I have hesitations I will often refer to my friend Carol. It was a hard pill for me to swallow knowing that Ike was such a young boy and might loose his life because of a spider bite. It was bothersome to me.
After chatting with Carol and having it OK by GPA-Nashville, it was decided upon to have Ike transferred to another vet's office. Dr. Pearce.
Ike arrived at Dr. Pearce's office on Nov 5th. It was going to be a long road to recovery for Ike but outlooks were good that Ike would NOT loose his leg.
Ike stayed with Dr. Pearce from Nov 5th until Dec 12th. During that time Ike was on strong antibiotics,Hydrotherapy,and wrap changes daily as his wound to the leg was weepy and oozing.
On Dec 12th Ike left Dr. Pearce's office, was seen by Dr. Carol and then was moved directly into foster care with Mary Hoskins. Mary continued the still-needed bandage changes along with the soaks. By this time the affected area was shrinking rapidly.
On March 9th, Dr Carol met with Ike and Mary again and by this time the wound had finished closing and there was no need for any more bandages.
From the first days of Ike's visit with Mr nasty mean spider, to completely healed was FOUR MONTHS!!!
Ike has now been adopted by Sarah Gerhardstein.
Many thanks goes out to so many people involved in Ike's story. First off to his owners Brett Horyna and Dennis Curry. For trusting in my instincts that Ike could and would get better. No one wanted to see this boy in pain.
HUGE Kudos to Dr Carol for talking with me and listening to me and my concerns about Ike. To GPA-Nashville for taking on the large task and bills of what Ike was going to cost, let alone the time it would take for Ike to heal. Also to Ike's foster mom, Mary Hoskins. You did amazing after care for Ike. And lastly to Sarah Gerhardstein, for adopting this super boy.

The photos above. First one is taken at Dr. Pearce's office. If you look closely at Ike's back left leg, on the inside you can see the damage done by the spider bite. This wound went from the front part of Ike's leg around both sides. From the top of his foot, to well past his hock area, up toward his "knee" area.
Next photo is of Ike making the trip from Dr. Pearce's to Dr. Carol's office.
The last two photos are of Ike in his forever home. Ike was officially adopted by Sarah Gerhardstein on 4/14/09. CONGRATS Sarah and Ike!!

It was a very long road to recovery for Ike. Not all stories turn out with a happy ending. But this one did thankfully, due to the commitment and willingness of so many.

What happened on 6/26/04???

2009-04-14T13:09:00.005-05:00

On June 26th, 2004 the first girl you see in the photos above Valid Sail whelped a litter of 13 pups Yes you read that correctly, 13 pups. This is an unusually large litter and normally when a Momma has this many pups not all survive. It's just so much on the momma. But Sail being the wonderful momma that she is and also a bit of help from the farmer with extra feedings, each and every pup survived!

It doesn't end there. All pups with the exception of one. Brandi I think her name is now, was purchased at 2 months old to become a pet for a person named Skip, who is also involved with greyhound racing and adoption. The rest of the 12 pups continued on their lives and all made it to the race tracks to try their paws at racing.

While in many litters some showed they could run and some showed a couch was best suited for them.

As of today, April 14, all pups have been retired. All except D Ortiz are living in their adoptive homes.

The second photo above is of Dash, racing name DD Da Dog. Dash lives in Nashville with his Mom Lou and brothers Andy Taylor and Troy.

Third photo is of Dori, racing name Doris Drive who is living in NC as an only child. Last photo is of my very own Pooh, race name Pujols. Lives with me and Kevin and the rest of our crew.

Here is the list of the other pups as well. Always Charming lives in VA Beach, placed by Project Racing home, Honk on Bobo, placed by Greyhound Crossroads, Hurricane Breeze placed by GPA-Nashville, Itza Wild Ride and Poetic Onslaught were placed by GPA-LA, Smokin Breeze and Windbound Hound were placed with GFNC and then Turbros Girl, who I know she was placed with some group and she is living in a home but I'm having a hard time finding that info.

If that is just still not enough the Momma, Valid Sail is also living in NC with a good friend Cathy. Sail also shares her home with her sister Valid Splash.

A litter of 13 pups and Momma and we know where each and everyone of these pups are. It can be done people =) you just have to WANT to do it ;-)

Not Fishdoggies but a feel good story

2009-04-11T14:32:00.003-05:00

While the above boys are not Fishdoggies they are hounds who have touched my heart that I want to share with you all.

The photos above are AA Rebel and AA Trojan. These boys entered into my life about 10 years ago. They were just young hounds at age 2 and they came to the racing kennel I was working in at Plainfield, CT. They started their racing careers at Lincoln, RI but the trainer there quickly lost patience with these boys. Reason is these two boys could clear any fence you put in front of them if that lure was going around the track.

No joke, if you had these two boys out in the turn out pen and you walked out that kennel door without them, by time you stepped foot out you were greeted by Rebel and Trojan. They loved to run THAT MUCH!

Fast forward a few years and we changed tracks to B'ham, AL. Rebel and Trojan moved along with us and after less then a year at B'ham the kennel I worked for closed. These boys were suppose to move back up to Plainfield.

Rebel and Trojan were now 4 yrs old and had put in their time. It was retirement time for these boys. And while I almost got myself in tons of trouble for not listening to the owner I took it upon myself to pet these boys out. There was a verbal agreement made a year before that if the dogs did not run under my care they were to be pets. A deal is a deal and I was sticking to my part of that bargain.

So off to the pet world these boys went. My heart broke a bit that day as these boys were such a HUGE part of who I was and what I was all about. While they were some of the biggest pains in the arses, they were my boys that I came to love what pains they were.

I went many years trying to find these boys. Checking out the littermate list and trying to get in touch with the adoption group these boys went to. Just trying to find any info on "my boys" No luck.

About a year ago on a message board I visit often, Greytalk I saw a post by a friend who was looking for help on transport for a boy named Rebel.

I figured the chances were slim to none that it could be my boy but I PM'd Pam anyway just to check. Much to my surprise it was MY BOY!!!

Yes, I had a very good cry then my mind raced. If this boy was not headed to the best home I wanted him back. No way would I loose my boy again. Another surprise, Rebel was going to Joy, an adoption person I knew from B'ham. OK all I asked is if I could have Joy's email addy.

Since that day me and Joy get to share so many fun and crazy stories about, Rebel, now "OUR boy"

Fast forward again to just this past week where Joy contacted me to inform me that my other boy, Trojan, has been found as well.

After many long years My Boys have entered back into my life. Really what are the chances? Both Rebel and Trojan are now 12 years old.

On April 24th I will be traveling up to PA, to attend GiG where I will once again get to lay hands and eyes on MY BOYS!!

I thought these boys were lost to me forever, what a joy it will be to reunite with them again, oh and their humans too ;)

Those other 4 pets from B'ham

2009-04-10T08:45:00.006-05:00

The GUR crew of GFNC along with Heather V can be seen in that first photo. Along with hounds, Voodoo Momma, Lakeville, Crazystreak, and Claire's Alexia. All are retired and awaiting their forever homes. Lakeville, Crazystreak and Claire's Alexia are all resting at the GFNC adoption kennel while Voodoo Momma, now being called Lilly, is being fostered by Cathy.
A+ reports on all the ladies. Friendly, social, more than likely small animal and cat safe. Which is SUPER news. What that means is they will basically be easy placements. I don't expect these ladies to hang around long as they are all soooooooo sweet.
So if you are around the NC area and thinking of adopting again check out these ladies at GFNC. =)

HUGE Kudos goes out to Heather V, (as always helping on transport) Cathy, John, Leah, Reynolds and also the GFNC adoption kennel for allowing these girls to move one step closer to their forever homes.
In the last photo you can see that Crazystreak is getting the hang of home life pretty quick. While bones may not rain down from the heavens, there sure are piles and piles of them laying around for you to chew on.

Good Luck Ladies and I hope each and everyone of you find the best homes ever.

Tomorrow's update? A feel good story that many of you I think will enjoy so stay tuned ;)

What about those 2 pets from B'ham??

2009-04-08T10:04:00.003-05:00

Back on track about the pets of Fishdoggie. On Sat there was a transport done by Heather and I mentioned that there was 6 hounds in transport but only 4 were moving on to GFNC. (I'll chat about those 4 tomorrow)

Above are the 2 girls that moved to their forever home. One is Denim Days. The first photo, Red girl. In that photo you see Denim is giving someone raspberries. Well that someone that Denim is giving raspberries to is now her Dad, Ken.(Heather's DH)

It's actually quite a story of how all things come together for a reason and this is no different with Ken and Denim. Oh, Denim has a new name and it is now Bindi.

OK so on to the story. Ken's love for the greyhounds started down in TX. A special racer he use to follow was a girl named Slatex Shell. Who just turns out to be Bindi's Grand Dam on her Dad's side. Ken didn't know this when Bindi stole his heart over a year ago. What a shocker it was for Ken to go home and look up Bindi's info on Greyhound Data and find out the relation. Yup things happen for a reason.

Now on to that photo of that black dog. Who is she? Well, she is a very special girl to many, especially me. Her name is Lighting Lee. LL (shorting for typing purposes) Anyway, LL has been a Fishdoggie for many years. She started out her racing life in our Mobile kennel. LL has always had a bit of a shy side to her. Even being a shy girl she has been a super racer and retired at just shy of her 4th Birthday. Which actually TODAY is LL's B'day. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

I knew that Heather had followed along with LL just as much as I did and many others. Also Heather would always visit with LL anytime she was at B'ham picking up hounds for transport.

I just dropped an ever so slight hint to Heather that if she really wanted to take LL home that it would be OK with me.

Sure enough Heather could not leave this special girl behind so along she went to live with Heather and Ken and the rest of their pack.

CONGRATS to Heather, Ken, Bindi and LL.

Birthday Party

2009-04-06T12:42:00.006-05:00

You say it's my Birthday? Well then, lets PARTY!!
Three years ago on April 3rd a very special litter of pups were born on a farm out in OK.
Above are photos of our super special boy FlupasCrackerbox aka Cracker. Along to celebrate Cracker's Birthday party is Judy and Mike. Of course JT, our trainer was there as well.
A good friend Nancy, (who adopted Fishdoggie Tru Calling aka Pooter) mailed down a Birthday cake and also cookies for the whole kennel to celebrate.
It was a fun day for all and I'm just sad I couldn't join everyone for the celebration
Thanks goes out to Nancy, Mike, Judy and of course JT.

Some of you may be wondering, OK what is so special about this boy Cracker. Let me fill you in ;-)
Cracker is an All American. What that means is that out of all the greyhounds racing in the country Cracker has been included in an elite list of 16 greyhounds who are basically the best of the best.
Of course we are extremely proud of our home grown super star.
Not only is Cracker an amazing racer he also is one of the sweetest boys you will ever meet. He just has a very calm demeanor about him and way that steals every one's heart who meets him.
Happy Birthday Cracker!!

Tomorrow I'll share some photos of those 2 hounds I chatted about yesterday that moved to their forever homes. To tempted you a bit more their names are Denim Days and Lightning Lee
stay tuned =)

Sat was a busy day for the Fishdoggies

2009-04-05T10:07:00.002-05:00

No photos as of yet but I'll have some by the end of the day.
On Saturday, once again, my bestest bud Heather, headed over to B'ham to pick up 5 hounds. 4 hounds will be moved on to GFNC.
In all reality 6 hounds moved out yesterday. More to come about that later ;)
Today Cathy, John, Leah and Reynolds will head on over to Heather's home to pick up the GFNC hounds. (Heather drove to B'ham picked up 6 hounds, carried them back to her home and also held them over night) I believe that 2 are going to be fostered and the other two will move to the adoption kennel.
The hounds that are on the move today are Lakeville, Voodoo Mamma, Crazystreak and Claire's Alexia. Lakeville will be fostered by Cathy and I believe that Voodoo Mamma is going to be fostered by Leah and Reynolds.
A BIG OLE THANK YOU goes out to all of you between yesterday and today helping move these hounds one step closer to their forever homes.
Two of the six hounds that moved out of B'ham yesterday are already in their forever homes.
Adoption moves for the Fishdoggies has been pretty busy lately but should slow down for the next few weeks. As of right now we have ZERO pets at our Southland kennel and just 3 at the kennel we race at in B'ham.(Toomanyhounds kennel)
So far 2 of the 3 hounds at B'ham already have a group that will be taking them in.
Over the next few weeks I should be able to update on several of the Fishdoggies that have already found their forever homes.
Also, while this is not really adoption news, tomorrow I will be posting about a Birthday party that was held at Southland for a very special boy on Saturday.

Sting in home life

2009-04-03T15:48:00.007-05:00

Rooftop Sting is now in his forever home and reports are in. Sting pulled a fast one on us all. While yes, he is startled by new and crazy things, such as umbrellas he's settling well.
Carol supplied me with the above photos and as you can see Sting isn't looking too stressed. Thoughts of Sting freaking out and taking a dive out the big windows have been abolished. LOL
He's enjoying his giant yard and also has friends to buddy around with.

Short post for today as tomorrow will be a busy day for the retired Fishdoggies. 5 or 6 hounds will be on the go tomorrow. I'm sure my post will be later in the day/evening as I like to post photos of all the action going on.
Also Kevin and I have a Golf Tournament tomorrow. Lets hope for clear skies
Until tomorrow

No transports today, more on Sat

2009-04-02T10:31:00.003-05:00

As today is a slow day and there are no more transports going on until Sat I figured I would expand a bit about what I chatted about yesterday. Shy dogs.
Above is 2 photos of retired from track racing Fishdoggies. Photos complements of Lindsey Lobree The brindle girl in the photo is Willow owned by Jennifer Ng, and the white and brindle girl is Addie owned by Karen (sorry don't know Karen's last name)
Looking at these photos you would never believe that Willow was a SUPER SHY girl while in the racing kennel. No joke, I visited with Willow a few times while she was in our kennel and this girl I questioned if she would ever adjust to pet life. Everything just seemed to freak her out.
Now there are all sorts of reasons that greyhounds are shy or spooky. Some of it comes from breeding, some can come from lack of socialization as young pups and some you just can't explain why. I do believe that your TRUE spooks come from breeding. Something that no matter how hard you work with socializing them that they will never overcome their certain fears. And while these hounds may not make wonderful Meet and Greet hounds they still can make wonderful pets.
But back to Willow. Willow I feel her shyness was strictly due to lack of handling as a young pup. But since Willow moved to retired pet life and Jennifer adopted her she has BLOSSOMED into such an amazing hound.
In the photos above really show how far she has come. Willow is actually ranked 4th on the ASFC, American Sighthound Field Association. Also to brag on the Fishdoggies a bit there is another Fishdoggie on the list. Ranked #9 is Susan in Charge
Where am I going with all of this? Shy/spooky/reserved hounds are not always that way when they figure out home life, when they are socialized and shown what the outside world is all about.
Don't turn up your nose at a hound just because they are a bit shy at first meeting, because you never know what they will blossom into.
Willow is a story that I love to share as I wasn't sure how she would take to home life. Then I heard Jennifer was thinking about coursing her and honestly I thought she was out of her mind LOL
These are the cases I love to be proven wrong

Rollin Rollin Rollin

2009-04-01T17:31:00.005-05:00

Rollin, Rollin, Rolling, get these doggies moving...... Just be thankful you can't hear me actually sing that :P
This morning Mike headed over to Southland to pick up Wanna B and Sting. The 2 hounds I chatted about the other day. Mike did visit with a few other special hounds before he headed out and I'll chat about that another day. Because today is all about Wanna B and Sting!
From all reports Sting was a very shy boy and while he does have his shy moments you can see that he handled his transport just fine.
GOOD BOY STING! and reports are that Wanna B is just as sweet as can be and also a very good co-pilot for the ride.
Mike was meeting up with Carol, Lou and Mona for the hand off. From what I hear Sting is not crazy about change so precautions were taken and Sting was carried from one vehicle to the other. Always better safe then sorry and this is why I enjoy working with this crew of people. I know that all hounds are in the best hands and no chances are ever taken.
All hounds and humans have made it to their final destinations and are all back home safe and sound.
It's been a long day for both hounds and humans and I want to say again a big THANK YOU!
If there is a lesson to be learned today it is don't give up on a hound just because they are shy, or what some perceive to be shy. Some hounds don't do well in certain situations and sometimes those situations are the racing kennel. Seems odd or strange but it does and can happen. As Sting has proven to us that while the racing side was just not for him I have a funny feeling that retired life is going to tickle his fancy. I will do updates on Sting just so others out there can see that a shy hound can and does make a good pet. Time and understanding goes a long way with these hounds.
As far as Wanna B, well thoughts are at this time that she is going to move to a forever home very fast. She's just a very social, outgoing, friendly and cute as a button little peanut.
WELCOME TO RETIRED LIFE WANNA B AND STING!!!

More Fishdoggies on the move

2009-03-31T11:42:00.003-05:00

Above is a photo of another way hounds are transported. While this is not the exact photo of how our hounds are traveling today it should give some an idea.
Today we have 11 Fishdoggies in transport. They are traveling from the race track Gulf, in TX, all the way up to B'ham.
Of the hounds traveling today 5 will continue on to race at B'ham with Toomanyhounds kennel. The other 6, 5 will be moving on to adoption groups this weekend. MUCHO thanks goes out to my bestest bud Heather V and her hubby Ken. They are making a trip all the way to B'ham and back to pick up these hounds.
The hounds that Heather and Ken will be transporting are, Lakeville A very special girl to our trainer in Southland. Lakeville was JT's favorite girl and to the point that she became spoiled. JT would walk into the kennel only to hear the roo's and crazy dance of Lakeville wanting her cookie. Lakeville has been nicknamed Cookie Monster for those reasons.
Voodoo Mamma Sister to Lakeville. Crazystreak
another sister to Lakeville and Voodoo Mamma. Claire's Alexia and Denim Days
All but one of these hounds will be moving on to GFNC Where another one of my good friends and also a Fishdoggie adopter, Cathy, will oversee their placements into foster homes and also in the adoption kennel with GFNC.
You may be wondering where that one hound not going to GFNC is going. Well she already has a very special home all lined up. But that is not for me to share just yet ;-)
The last one of the pets being transported is Lighting Lee A very special girl to me and many others. LL, just to keep it short, has been with Fishdog Kennels since her very first days of racing. She tends to be a shy girl but she is just so sweet and just a special girl. LL will be moving on to GPA-Nashville. If Kevin and I hadn't just added Duck to our pack LL would have surely been coming home to Gulfport =)
I also would like to give a SHOUT OUT to Mo, racing name Mystical Moment Today is Mo's Gottcha Day. To those that might not understand. What that means is Mo has been in his adoptive home for one year, so HAPPY GOTTCHA DAY Mo!
Also a big CONGRATS goes out to Pam and Dave. Dave finally talked Pam into the fact that he was already in his forever home. Pam signed the papers last night.
More news tomorrow as we have 2 more Fishdoggies on the move and I'm sure I'll have some photos to share

Fishdoggies on the move

2009-03-30T11:40:00.004-05:00

There are all sorts of ways to transport the retired hounds to their forever homes. Sometimes the groups come right to the tracks and kennels to pick up hounds and other times we work with friends to help transport.
The above photo was taken by Heather V. She was helping transport some hounds from B'ham on over to the Carolina's. If you look closely in the background you can see the B'ham track.
On Wed we have a very similar transport going on. Once again friends, Mike and Judy will help 2 more Fishdoggies closer to their homes.
Rooftop Wanna B and her brother Rooftop Sting will be moving on out of our Southland kennel and head on their way to GPA-Nashville.
Carol will be adopting Rooftop Sting and Wanna B will be placed in a foster home. CONGRATS Carol!!! I look forward to posting about how Sting is doing learning home life
While these are not hounds bred or raised by us, they did race in our kennels and that just sorta makes them "mine" Just like a momma hen I guess ;)
Sting and Wanna B are both pretty shy hounds and made it perfectly clear that racing was not their forte. OK the hounds have spoken and we are listening.
Good thoughts go out to Mike, Judy and also Carol for a safe transport on Wed. Also a HUGE thank you for those who are always there to help us out with placing these hounds. With out all of you we couldn't do what we do.
Please check in tomorrow as we have MORE news about Fishdoggies on the move. It's never a dull moment!!

Welcome to our new Blog

2009-03-29T12:53:00.000-05:00

HELLO and welcome to our Fishdoggies blog. What I plan to endeavor upon with this blog is to keep everyone up to date about what is going on in the Fishdog/Team Greyhound world of adoptions.
First a bit about why the name. Fishdog has been our kennel name for quite a few years now. Recently it was changed to Team Greyhound Southland LLC but as many know us as Fishdog I'm sticking with that for my blogging.
Now how did our pets and racers affectionately become known as Fishdoggies? To be honest I'm not sure how or when that came about but someone on one of the message boards I visit tagged them as such and the name stuck.
Basically any hound that has been bred or purchased by Team Greyhound and ran in our kennels is known as a Fishdoggie. There are also some owned by other people who chose to race their dogs with us and they also fall under the umbrella of being a Fishdoggie.
We try our best to do right by the hounds and we feel this carries on to their adoption homes as well. We only work with adoption groups when placing our hounds. We feel that while we are the experts in the racing and breeding we are smart enough to know that our knowledge doesn't necessarily carry over to the adoption part. So we rely on adoption groups to be the experts at placing our hounds.
I'm taking today as just the introduction and tomorrow I will move on to what this blog will be all about. The comings and goings of our adoption dogs. Who has retired and is awaiting an adoption group, those who have been moved on to adoption groups and those that have already found their forever homes.
I will share stories and photos of those hounds who have found their forever homes and basically some of the things that you don't often get to follow along with in normal kennels.
To me these hounds retirement life is just as important as their racing life with us. I want to share all of that with you. So thanks for stopping in and hope everyone will enjoy my blog as much as I will enjoy sharing all of this with you