I Went to a Greyhound Party

We went to the GPA/Richmond picnic last Sunday. It was fun to hang out with 50 or so similarly-obsessed people and their dogs.

That's Jackson (we think) running at full tilt boogie in the time trial, chasing down the infamous sonic crack game call. The radar gun clocked him at 28 mph, which actually isn't very fast for a greyhound. Jackson has lost some quicks over the last few months. He doesn't get much chance to run these days - lots of long walks, but no sprints. So we're going to move to another house, with a big backyard. And we'll set up a training run, and let Jackson chase the game call. Seriously. We're going to buy a house to make our dog happy. I don't know what to say. What the hell is happening to me?

Anyway, the highpoint of the picnic for us was probably when I let Jackson get loose. He was lying in my lap, and I got sloppy with the leash, and someone squawked the game call, and off he went. Straight to the game call, a hundred yards away, where Stacy caught up with him while two guys pried the game call out of his mouth.

Finally, after everything was packed up, I had to walk Jackson around and through the time trial chute, to convince him that the source of that seductive noise was gone. We aficionados call that a "strong prey drive." Sounds much better than "wants to kill small furry animals."