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Philadelphia Greyhound Connection, Inc. |
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RaceForAdoption
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RaceForAdoption Selects
Philadelphia Greyhound Connection by Bob Fine Part 1 of 2 One of the biggest challenges for adoption groups is raising money to pay for both ongoing as well as extraordinary
expenses. Most groups are creative in this area and luckily, PGC does an excellent job. Almost two years ago, a new idea was conceived to assist adoption groups with special funding. RaceForAdoption is a
simple but effective concept in which an owner selects an active greyhound and donates a portion of that dog’s earnings
to the adoption agency of their choice. Usually the group is one who helps to place the owner’s dogs. Group selection
is entirely up to the owner. 2006 was a lucky year for Philadelphia Greyhound Connection. First, in August, we were informed that we would receive
our first RaceForAdoption dog, Echo The Dreamer, a beautiful red female. Echo is currently running at Corpus Christi in Texas.
She has gotten off to a slow start but we are still hopeful since she is under the care of one of the great old time trainers. Echo’s sire is Spiral Nikita, an Irish dog who had a very successful career in Ireland and her dam is Tech Shock
who achieved grade A in two tracks in West Virginia. Echo is very lucky since her post-racing career was planned before she even went to the track. Upon completion of her
racing career, she will go to a top-notch farm in Texas where she will be well cared for on a temporary basis, with no rush.
She will then be cat tested and if safe, she will be going to live with one of her owner’s in Boston who has five cats.
If she displays a higher prey drive, arrangements will be made to bring her to Philadelphia where Sheryl will find her a loving
home. While most groups would feel lucky having one RFA dog, an incredible stroke of luck came our way in November. We received
a call from Buddy and Carrie Scitern, breeders, who offered to donate a pup that will be raised and trained entirely at their
expense. Their only stipulation was that the dog’s earnings be donated to adoption. PCG was fortunate to be selected
as the recipient group for this pup. As an interesting side note, the total cost of a pup from breeding to track ready is
about $5,000. Buddy is one of the county’s premier breeders and trainers so our pup could not be in better hands. Since this
is a young pup, Buddy and Carrie wanted the group to have the opportunity to select the name and watch his development to
provide the thrill of ownership. Since our little guy is only four months old, the following is some background on him that we hope will be of interest. Breeding Decisions: Successful breeders will literally devote hours to select proper breeding. Many factors go into the decision including
the race records not only of the sire and dam, but their littermates as well, a review of all successful offspring and similar
crosses of the bloodlines. Care is taken on adding new bloodlines and how this will look on test mating and if similar combinations
have been beneficial. Other considerations include breeding speed to speed, distance to distance or speed to distance all
of which come from the traits of the parents. This Breeding: The sire, Trent Lee, holds the two fastest 5/16 track records at Derby Lane in St. Petersburg, Fl which is a very competitive
track. His top time was 29.59 seconds. Trent Lee’s sire is Brett Lee, an Australian dog who holds multiple records down
under. Brett Lee’s accomplishments are so numerous that he commands the highest stud fee, which is approximately five
times that of American studs, and his semen is no longer available in the U.S. The dam, Whistler’s Kick was from a litter of three dogs. She was extremely fast on the farm but unfortunately
broke a leg during training. Buddy felt so strongly about her abilities that he held her on the farm for a future breeding
and this is her first litter. Kick is four and this is the first time she came into heat. Her two siblings both achieved AA
at Wheeling, which is considered the toughest track. Kick descends from a tremendous bloodline including her father, Craigie
Whistler, Molotov and HB’s Commander who was the first stud to sire over 1,000 pups in one year. Many of our adopted
pups descend from HB. In addition, Kick’s litter sister is Whistler’s Betty who started the RFA program. Pregnancy: The average gestation period is 60 days from insemination to whelping. Registration: All breedings must be reported to the National Greyhound Association within 10 days. Whelpings must also be reported
within 10 days including the number of male and female pups, or a miss. Upon receipt, the NGA assigns the five-digit litter
number (Left ear). Late registrations are accepted but the breeder must pay a penalty. Tattoos are done at three months old. At this time, an Individual Registration Application must be filed with the NGA
for each pup. All markings, colorations, features and the right ear number, with letter are included on the report. Selecting Our Pup: If an owner/breeder is selling pups from a litter, it is usually done on a draw once the pups have tattoos with their
individual letter. Buyer’s names are put in a hat and randomly drawn for A, B, C etc. Naming The Pup: The name can be registered with the NGA from this time up to prior going to the track. Three name choices must be submitted
on the Registration in case choice one or two is taken, or in poor taste. Names are restricted to 16 letters, no numbers or
Junior can be used. Sheryl and Ray came up with a neat name “Philly’s Finest”. Although it is an unusual practice, we
did check with the NGA who said the name should be okay. As of now, he is affectionately referred to as Phil. His official
name will be submitted after he is six months old so he can be registered as Texas bred. We are very lucky not only to have this pup, but also that Buddy does a fantastic service for owners by making fabulous
videos available to watch their progress. As new videos of Phil are available, they will be featured on the PGC site for all
to enjoy. In the next newsletter, we will discuss the training from four to eighteen months. Please join us in extending our sincere thanks to Buddy and Carrie Scitern for making this excitement and opportunity
possible. PGC is fortunate to be the only group in the Northeast in the RaceForAdoption program.
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