Greyhound Tips!

Keeping Your Greyhound Safe By Keeping Your Contact Information Current

At least monthly I receive a phone call from someone telling me “Hey, I’ve got your dog!” Technically, they really don’t have my dog. What they do have is a greyhound that has been adopted from American Greyhound. They just think it’s mine because my telephone number appears on the tags we assign to each dog.

The first thing I ask them for is the ID number on the tag. I can then access our database and determine who that dog belongs to from that number (they are usually right around the corner from the caller) and begin the process of getting the hound back home.

However, once in a while the telephone number, address, or other contact information in our database is incorrect which can make reuniting that hound with his or her family much more difficult, if not downright impossible.

For that reason, it is very important that if you move, if you get a new phone number, if almost anything about your contact information changes, that you notify us as soon as you can. We aren’t being nosy. We just want to be able to get your hound back to you in the easiest, quickest manner if they are to ever get out.

You can get us your information by email at membership@americangreyhound.org or by mail at American Greyhound, PO Box 598, Hobart, IN 46342.

Thanks for helping us keep our records current and your hounds safe too!

Year Around Heartworm Preventative

Don’t forget, even with the cooler (it really can’t be called colder with the mild winters we’ve been having) weather, it is still important to treat your hound for heart worm.  There is a small likelihood that with milder weather, we see a mosquito hatch and heart worm could be contracted.  Or, your hound could contract them on a trip to the south.  And, most heart worm preventatives also contain preventatives for intestinal parasites, so you will be seeing benefits even if no mosquitoes are encountered.

Retractable Leashes

When walking your hound, do not use a retractable leash.  For a couple reasons, this is a very dangerous practice and it promotes poor walking skills in your hound.  The dangerous part-your hound can accelerate from zero to full speed in about three strides and may be going nearly forty miles per hour by the time they reach the end of the leash.  If you are able to hold the handle when they reach the end, your hound may experience neck and throat injury, if not you’ve got a loose hound.  And, when the leash retracts with your hound loose, the loud noise it makes may spook your dog and cause them to run further and faster than they had been running, ultimately making recovery that much more difficult.  The poor walking skills part-walking should simulate the pack (you and your hound or hounds) traveling.  And when the ”pack” travels, the leader should be out front.  Now, I’ve seen a lot of people walking dogs of all sorts with retractable leashes and I have yet to see those people out in front.  In those cases, I always think to myself “who is leading who?”  When walking, your dog should be right next to you, effectively following you, not the other way around