Smokey’s Page

Our beautiful blue boy came to live with us on the 10^th of September 2002 and I can’t believe that it’s been 1 year already. Smokey is our first adopted greyhound and he was born on the 6^th of September 1998. He had a fairly successful racing career I’ve been told under his racing name of Elder’s Boy but I’m afraid to say that I never saw our beautiful boy run any races. That wasn’t important to us anyway because we have a wonderful new family member which makes him a winner in our eyes already.

Smokey came to us from the Queensland Greyhound Adoption Programme (GAP) and waiting for that plane to arrive was really hard, actually I think harder still was waiting the 5 days from the time they said we could adopt him until the day he arrived. Then of course I’d never collected an animal from the airport before so I hoped I was waiting in the right place. I had seen a photo of Smokey on the Queensland GAP website but until that day had not seen Smokey in the flesh, and when I finally saw him coming out of his travelling crate I thought he was the most beautiful dog I had ever seen.

Smokey was originally supposed to go to a nursing home where he would have been spoilt rotten I’m sure but there were a few complications and through no fault of his own the adoption couldn’t go through. You know that saying of one persons loss is another persons gain well it certainly came true for us. Four days before Smokey came to live with us we found out it was his birthday and of course having a 5 year old daughter I knew we were going to be having a belated birthday party for a certain boy. Brooke decided the best thing to do was to make him a little cake or maybe one out of meat, so candle and all Smokey had his fourth birthday with us even if it was a few days late. We didn’t own our digital camera at the time but there will be some birthday photo’s on his next birthday.

When Smokey first came in to foster care he wasn’t very well but his very first foster mum Carly soon had him healthy and happy. ( Thankyou Carly ) Greyhounds being sight hounds can see things at a great distance and for this reason must wear a muzzle out in public, this tends to make people think they are aggressive which couldn’t be further from the truth. Yes they have the instinct to chase but most dogs will chase something if it is running from them the only thing different about the greyhound is it’s fast enough to catch it. Thank’s Fiona. (Fiona’s Fast Dogs)

It’s true to say that not all greys appreciate small dogs or cats but then all dogs are different just like people, take a look at this photo for example.

Smokey’s racing weight was 31kgs and when he arrived I was told it was okay if he put on a couple of extra kilo’s. He is currently after living with us for a year at a weight of 36 kilo’s.

I was really concerned about this in the beginning but as you can tell from the photo at the top of the page he is still in great shape and the vet said he was fine too. The photo was taken on the 3^rd of March 2003. Smokey stands 73cm at the shoulder which is a good height for him but poor little Samantha who is now 2 1/2 years old learnt very quickly to put her hands to her head if he walks past and his tail is in helicopter mode. I must admit I’ll be glad when she is a little taller.

I recently contacted the Greyhound Racing Authority in Queensland to find out if Smokey had any brothers and sisters still around. They sent back his racing information and the the names of his litter mates that have racing records. They are as follows:

1. Black & White dog race name Crazy Ivan.

2. Black dog race name Scott’s Island.

3. Black dog race name Wrong Bid.

4. Black & White bitch race name Aquilina.

5. Blue & White bitch race name Barclay Blues but there is no performance on file for her.

I am hoping to find out some information on any or all of these other greyhounds so if anybody has any info whether it be good or bad I would love to know.