Electronic Voting for the Board-of-Directors

Can't make it to the election meeting on June 10th?  Well, you can still vote electronically from the website. It is fast and easy!

First off you must be a member in good standing with Southern Arizona Greyhound Adoption. Your not!  You can join...and this is fast and easy too.  Fill out the membership application at the SA Greys' website.

Okay...now we are set.

Just click this link to cast your early voting ballot.  Mark your ballot, fill in your name and submit.  Remember one official ballot vote for each paid membership.

If you plan on attending the election meeting for the Board-of-Directors, you can cast the usual paper ballot at that time. Hope to see you there, the date is June 10th, at 2PM at the Tucson Police Department Midtown (NW corner of 22nd and Alvernon).

SA Greys Election News

In an effort for the organization to foster an open and member-driven organization, the steering committee reopened the nomination period for Board positions. This  resulted in two changes in the slate of candidates for the SA Grey's Board of Directors.

Lori Riegel has been nominated as Funding and Development Director, and Dawn Heineman has been Nominated as Member-at-Large. Their candidate statements are available for review on the website.

Now it is up to you to vote! Just as you determined the slate of candidates, your vote will determine the Board of Directors.

Remember to vote, you must be a member of SA Greys!

Many of you are already members in good standing. If you waited to join, now is the time! It is simple and fast to signup on the SA Greys' website. Become a member and you have a voice in the future of your organization.

Meeting notice

• Date: June 10, 2012
• Time: 2PM
• Place: Conference Room, Tucson Police Department Midtown (NW corner of 22nd and Alvernon)

Voting will be at the election meeting or if you cannot attend electronic balloting will be available. There will be additional information sent to the membership regarding electronic voting.

Greyhounds and Starbucks

Circle Saturday, May 19th on your calendar!

You can stop and pet some SA Greys' greyhounds and at the same time have a cup of coffee at Starbucks at I-10 and Cortaro. The greyhounds will be on the patio from 9AM until noon. Can't get any better than this. See you there.

Why Does My Greyhound Have Those Tattoos?

As much as tattoos and piercings are in today, your greyhound's tattoos are utility not fashion. Every greyhound that is a potential future racer must get these by 3 months of age while still on the greyhound farm with mom. Only pups that are from "oops" litters (unknown fathers) or who may have some physical problem that would keep them from racing are not tattooed. These are the pups that end up in adoption groups as puppies. The greyhound breeder must register each litter with the National Greyhound Association (NGA), the formal registry and overseer of greyhound racing in the United States.

The NGA assigns a litter registration number for each new litter. The left ear of each puppy in that litter is tattooed with this 5-digit number.

The right ear is tattooed with a combination of numbers and a letter.

• The first number is the month the puppy was born (Jan = 1, Feb = 2, Mar = 3, etc.)
• The second number is the last digit of the year the puppy was born (0 = 2000 or 2010, 1 = 2001 or 2011). It is quite evident seeing the dog that it would be 12 or 2, 11 or 1 years old.
• These numbers are followed by a letter A, B, C, etc up to the number of puppies in the litter. If there are 12 puppies in the litter, not unheard of, the letters would go from A to L. Each dog has its own distinct letter. Some people mistakenly believe the tattoo letter signifies birth order. It rather signifies some orderly way of catching the rambunctious puppies to tattoo them.

Example: Our Kasey's numbers are L ear 49047. He and all his litter mates have that number. His R ear is 78G, meaning he was born in July, 2008 and was the 7th puppy tattooed in his litter.

These tattoos are checked before each race to assure the proper dog is assigned to that race.

Now that you know about tattoos, what can you do with them? you can go to The Greyhound Racing and Data Base, put the numbers in and find your dog's racing name, litter mates, how many races the dog was in, where he / she raced, and much more. 

In fact, you can trace your grey's lineage and go back many generations. Putting Kasey's tattoos in, show his racing name as Algoa Bagwell. You can see why he was renamed. His sire and dam and relatives go back many generations to around 1809 in the UK. His litter mates names are listed.

Kasey has no recorded races. It just wasn't his cup of tea. His litter mates don't have much in the way of race records either. Sometimes you may not find your dog's records. This probably means your dog never even got to the schooling races at the track because of no interest in racing or perhaps an injury aborted its race career. Other times it may mean that the dogs tattoos were hard to read and an error was made in recording them. Even if you can't find your dog's history, you still have a wonderful companion that surpasses anything he / she did in the racing world.

Written by guest blogger Mary Freeman, greyhound adopter

The Storm Defender Cape

Is it a bird?  Noooooo

Is it a plane?  Noooooo

Is it Superman?  Noooooo

It's the Storm Defender Cape!

What is the Storm Defender Cape? It's a red apron coat of sorts lined with a silver material that shields dogs from static buildup. If you have a sense of humor, you can also pretend your dog works at ACE Hardware as this apron resembles their uniform.

The inventor's name is Tom. He's a super smart guy who has degrees in psychology and electrical engineering. His dog freaked out during thunderstorms so with his educated curiosity, he began to research. He came across a theory that the static charge before and during thunderstorms was the trigger that upset dogs. Voila! So, he developed a cape with a special metallic lining that discharges the dog's fur and shields him or her from the static charge buildup.

Dogs are not able to leap tall buildings in a single bound while wearing the Storm Defender Cape but fortunately they are able to chill out during a storm. Leaping tall buildings is so overrated anyway.

The most important thing about the Storm Defender Cape is timing. Do not wait for that first crack of thunder or flash of lightning or the cape will render itself useless or in some dogs, less effective. You might not be able to sense that a storm is one hour away but your dog has more receptive powers. If the weather guy says a storm is coming at 4 p.m., put the cape on at 2:30 or 3 p.m.

My three greyhounds would go berserk during storms. They would tremble, pant, and try to hide under the bed. The Storm Defender Cape worked for all of them as long as they donned the cape in advance. During recent high winds, the capes came on in the beginning and the dogs were relaxed throughout even though chairs blew over on the patio. I wish there was a cape in my size.

I talked to a few greyhound adopters who said the cape didn't work for them. The good thing about the cape is customer satisfaction guaranteed. If you try it three times and it doesn't work, you get your money back. There is about a 95 percent satisfaction rate.

The garment is patented, washable, and lightweight even during Southern Arizona's muggy monsoons. I am not affiliated nor do I get kickbacks. I know the cape helped my dogs and hope it will help yours too.

Written by guest blogger Suzy Sheldon, greyhound adopter

Dog Food Recall

Additional brand name dog foods are being added to the recall list. Solid Gold was added to that list this morning by FDA. The foods on recall are: 4Health, Apex, Canidae, Chicken Soup, Country Value, Diamond, Diamond Natural, Kirkland Signature, Natural Balance, Premium Edge, Professional, Taste of Wild, Wilderness and Solid Gold.

If you use any of these brands, go to the brand-specific website for information on production codes and expiration dates. If you have recalled food, stop use immediately and consult your veterinarian. Handling dry pet food infected with Salmonella can infect other animals and humans.

Check the FDA list frequently. For additional information reference blog: What are You Feeding Your Greyhound?  May 5, 2012

Election News for SA Greys

The time and place for the SA Greys Board of Directors elections has been announced.

• Date: June 10, 2012
• Time: 2 PM
• Place: Conference Room, Tucson Police Department Midtown - NW corner of 22nd and Alvernon)

The slate of nominees is available for your review on the SA Greys website.

Voting will be at the election meeting or if you cannot attend electronic balloting will be available. There will be additional information sent to the membership regarding electronic voting.

Remember you must be a member of SA Greys to vote. For membership information and to apply visit the SA Greys website.