What does can run a drum mean in dog racing?
From this developed the phrase to run a drum meaning ‘(of a racehorse) to perform as tipped’. The phrase is now almost invariably used in the negative – he didn’t run a drum meaning the horse didn’t perform as tipped.
A Day In The Life Of The Racing Greyhound
by Clifton Gray
During the summer months, the dog’s day will start at 5:00 or 5:30 AM to try and beat the heat as much as possible. In the winter we’ll start at 6:00 or 6:30. First turnout lasts about 45 minutes; while the dogs are outside, we clean the kennel, pull all the bedding and check for wet rugs, otherwise known as “couldn’t hold it”. In our main building, where we have 48 dogs, there will be 8 to 10 wet rugs each day, so the majority of them are “housebroken”, so to speak. Dirty rugs are washed in mild bleach water and hung to dry. Each dog also has their own water can, all of which are washed every 3 days on a rotating cycle.
After first turnout comes morning workouts. On Mondays and Fridays, we are at the track by 6:15AM for morning schooling. Young dogs who have yet to start racing gain experience running with 2 or 3 other dogs from a smaller starting box during this time; also, we run short, 2 to 3 dog races from the backstretch (about 290 yards) for dogs who are returning from injury or are just in need of a confidence boost. We also have access to a sprint field, which is a deep sand path about 50 yards wide and 200 yards long, where the dogs can get out for a good, strong run between official starts at the track. Since our kennel is right next to the track and it’s gigantic parking lot, we also “truck walk” on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (Park and Swap operates on Friday thru Sunday mornings as well as Wednesday night, leaving the parking lot a huge mess on Thursday morning). four people will be situated in one of our trucks – the driver, one in the passenger seat, and one in each of the two back holes of the dog box. Each person takes a group of 5 to 7 dogs on leashes, using hooks located on all 4 corners of the dog box, and takes care to keep them away from the wheels as we cruise slowly around the parking lot for a distance of .6 to .7 of a mile, never going any faster than a brisk trot. This “moving treadmill” exercise is wonderful for many common ailments, ranging from ankle or hip discomfort (the low impact repetition of movement is as good as a massage) to difficulty in urinating (found almost exclusively in males, occasionally the stress of racing leads to being “tied up”, which if left untreated can lead to kidney problems – but the slow morning exercise of truck walking combined with natural diuretics such as ground uva ursi leaves, cranberry juice, or potassium supplements eases the discomfort within a day). Typically, they love to truck-walk-Georgia Peach, who can be seen on my webpage, runs out in front of the peloton and walks to the very end of her lead all the way around the lot (which is how she earned the back half of her nickname, “The Hard-Workin’ Li’l Dog”).
Basically our workout program is as such: Each dog has an official start approximately every 5 to 6 days. While I don’t work dogs who are running tonight or the next day or who ran the previous night, I try to ensure that no active dog goes any 3-day period without some form of workout(truckwalking, sprinting, or short races at morning schooling) to help keep them in shape and to spot any minor injuries between starts that could lead to a larger malady were they allowed to run on it. (For example, a dog with a sore shoulder might develop a hitch in their stride by trying to take pressure off of the sore muscle, which would in turn cause them to strike their legs together each time they stride and causing a bone bruise on the rear leg on the opposite side of the body from the sore shoulder. Thus, instead of remedying a tender muscle, which takes usually no more than a week’s rest and a few good liniment massages, we’d be healing a bone bruise, which can take two months).
Here in the summertime, we try to be off the parking lot by 7:15AM when truck-walking, and through with sprinting before 8:00. The next hour or two is taken up by grooming time in the kennel, where we go over last night’s racers checking for injuries, and applying any liniments or poultices where necessary. With 4 benches going at once, we can check over 40 dogs in an hour, clipping nails and combing their hair.
Around 9:00AM we turn everyone out again. After half an hour outside (or less if it’s real hot already), we bring them back in and weigh tonight’s and the next night’s racers (they must be within 1 1/2 pounds of their set weight, over or under, at weigh-in time before the races in the evening, so we can adjust their feed accordingly if they’re in danger of being under/over the limit). Then we feed.
My feed tub looks something like this, for the 105 dogs in my 3 buildings: 180 pounds of raw ground beef, thawed overnight; one 50-lb. sack of Purina Hi Pro;a stock-pot’s worth of cooked rice and pasta (about 6 pounds uncooked), for complex carbs; 2lbs. of Sweetlix dried molasses, for simple sugar carbs; a gallon-size can of diced tomatoes or a few cups of vinegar, if the meat is too fatty, or boiled chicken necks, if the meat is too lean; 1 1/2 lbs. of electrolyte powder, to promote total hydration; and enough water to bring it all together, usually 4 to 5 gallons. females get about 3 pounds of feed apiece, while males get about 3 1/2 pounds worth. We also have numerous supplements at our disposal, ranging from calcium and potassium tablets to a squirtable vitamin syrup given to the next day’s racers. Dogs racing tonight have their feed placed in the fridge and are fed after they run, working on the same general principle as “don’t swim right after you eat”, we want all available blood to be carrying oxygen to the muscles, rather than working on digesting a belly-full of food.
We’re out of the kennel by 10:30, and we get back at 4:00PM. After soaking the turnout pens to battle the blazing sun, we give them a quick, 5-minute turnout. It may seem short, but they understand the urgency of it – they run out, do their business, and are all waiting by the gate to come back in within those 5 minutes. Over the next hour we go over that night’s racers on the grooming bench, making sure they’re free of any and all parasites before they head to the track. Weigh-in is either at 5:00PM,or 6:00PM, depending on if there’s qualifying races before the official races (which usually occurs on Monday and Friday unless there’s a steaks final on said Friday, in which case they hold qualifiers on Thursday or Saturday instead). All racers must be in the track’s kennel room “by one hour prior to the start of the 1st race”, to quote state law, which translates to 6:30PM. This is the last time we’re allowed to touch them until they come off the track after the race.
Each race’s 8 entrants are led out of the “ginny pit”, as the track kennel is called, by track employees approximately 25 minutes prior to the post time for their race. They are walked around a dirt area in the paddock for two purposes: to help them loosen up before their race, and also to collect urine samples. Each dog is walked around for 5 minutes or so until it “provides a sample”, which is collected by the lead-out using a high-tech device known as a cup attached to a stick. The state veterinarian stores the samples collected in his office until after the race; if the eventual winner did not “provide” before the race, the trainer is provided with a cup-on-a-stick and they are supervised by the vet as they walk the dog in the grass briefly to see if they’ll go. If not, the vet will select a random sample from those who did supply, and the trainer of the dog must sign-off on a sample, which is then sent off for drug screening. The list of banned substances would make a major-league baseball player cry – it covers everything from painkillers (running a dog while hurt could constitute an attempt to fix a race, aside from just being irresponsible to the dog’s health) to certain medications (running a dog while sick…well, see irresponsible) to any and all stimulants, including and ESPECIALLY caffeine and ephedra (closed beverage containers ONLY in my kennel, as a caffeine bad test results in a $250.00 fine, forfeiture of all money paid for the race, and a possible trainer suspension). The thing about painkillers and medications is, if the dog is so sick or hurt that it needs to be on banned substances while it runs, you probably should have scratched it in the first place. Most of the liniments we use, such as Flex-All, Absorbine, Tuttle’s, or just good old rubbing alcohol, are test-safe. Anything that will cause a bad test, such as DMSO or Bigeloil, is for use on non-active dogs only.
For non-racers, late turnout is 9:00PM, and they’re out for another good half-hour. It may not seem on the surface like they get out of their crates enough, but in reality, when they go outside, for the most part the whole lot of them are laying down in the sand within 5 minutes anyway, and when they come in, they plop back down and fall asleep right after going in their crates. New pups may take a few weeks to settle into this routine, but especially after they get onto the standard working plan, they start saving their energy for race days. One little trick we have for our racers is we take them out, two at a time, during grooming time in the morning, and give them a towel-bath with slightly soapy water then take them for a leisurely stroll around the kennel grounds(we have a circular driveway that’s about 1/5 of a mile in circumference). We’ve been doing this for years, and it seems to engender a somewhat Pavlovian response in the dogs. They seem to know that if we go for a “hand walk” in the morning, that means there’s a race later in the day, and typically they’ll lay down and not complain while everyone else around them gets to eat at the regular time.
Hopefully this has helped to give you a glimpse into the everyday routine of a racing greyhound.
What are 3 important things to remember if you want to get started with canicross?
All you need to get started in canicross are three items; a waist belt for you, a harness for your dog(s) and a bungee line. There are a few brands and styles out there that all do a great job but we appreciate it can be a minefield.