track, her feet barely leaving a mark as she touched down, then leaped forward over and over again. Other times she looked like a toy, wound up with a spring, then suddenly released to run chocka-chocka-chocka around the track, kicking up soil, eating up the dirt, and throwing clods of earth everywhere. And as she got closer to the finish line, she sounded like a distant, rhythmic freight train.
“Why do they have to have the muzzles on?” asked Ben. “None of them seem to be very ferocious.”
“We put them on just to keep them safe,” said Bev, putting her cowboy-booted foot up on a lower rail. “Sometimes, dogs being dogs, they get excited and nip at each other. This just saves some of that wear and tear, keeps them healthy so they’re not distracted by anything. These guys are pounding along at forty miles an hour: they can’t be thinking about nothing else other than chasing that lure. They’ve gotta be focused on running, and running to win.” Bev climbed over the railing and went onto the track.
Ben leaned against the rail, kicking at the dirt. The three of them watched as Bev’s helpers herded the dogs back to the kennel area to cool off.
“These dogs love to run, eh?” said Ben. “How did people start racing them?”
“Ah, lad, they’ve been racing greyhounds since ancient times, more than two-thousand years.” Mahoney was clearly warming up to a topic he really enjoyed. “The Egyptians used to keep them and feed them the best of foods, and they treated them like gods. Watching greyhounds chase down game was a great sport back then. Then the Romans brought them to the British Isles, and they started a sport called coursing, where the dogs would chase after rabbits and other game across a wide-open field. It was all about letting the dog run, using its sight, instead of smell, to track the prey. As people became more concerned about animal welfare, the game animal was changed to a bag that was dragged across a field, and that’s the way they do it in many places today. They actually raced greyhounds and lurchers.”
“What’s a lurcher?” Danny interrupted.
“A lurcher is a mixed breed. Looks a bit like a greyhound, but with frizzy hair. They’re a cross of greyhound with a collie or deerhound. Anyway, one of the English queens, many years ago, was quite a fan of coursing and it became known as the ‘Sport of Queens,’ same way that horse racing is sometimes called the ‘Sport of Kings.’
“Coursing was brought over to North America with some English immigrants in the 1800s. They was used to hunt down game for food, not just for sport. And, of course, people would breed the dogs for the type of running they wanted, and that was a really well-muscled, strong, and wiry animal that could spot its prey and run fast over short distances.
“By the early 1900s, greyhound racing became a popular sport here, with the dogs running on tracks rather than across a field, although there’s still coursing in a lot of places. A good, healthy dog will run for three or four years, and they reach their prime when they’re about three years old. After age five, most dogs are ready to retire.
“I started training Long Shot when she was young, only about a little older than a year. You give them a chance to run, and you give them some training, but it would be foolish to say that you teach the dog. Really, they already know what they want to do, they just need a little guidance.” He smiled nostalgically, surveying the hillsides beyond the track. “The thing they really need to learn is how to come out of the starting box. These pups, they love to chase after things. They watch for anything that moves, and if it looks like something good to chase, then they’re off, chasing after it! So it’s not hard to get them interested in chasing after small stuffed animals, and then a mechanical rabbit on an electric guide rail.”
“How do they know the distance to run?” Ben asked.
“You start them
“Why do they have to have the muzzles on?” asked Ben. “None of them seem to be very ferocious.”
“We put them on just to keep them safe,” said Bev, putting her cowboy-booted foot up on a lower rail. “Sometimes, dogs being dogs, they get excited and nip at each other. This just saves some of that wear and tear, keeps them healthy so they’re not distracted by anything. These guys are pounding along at forty miles an hour: they can’t be thinking about nothing else other than chasing that lure. They’ve gotta be focused on running, and running to win.” Bev climbed over the railing and went onto the track.
Ben leaned against the rail, kicking at the dirt. The three of them watched as Bev’s helpers herded the dogs back to the kennel area to cool off.
“These dogs love to run, eh?” said Ben. “How did people start racing them?”
“Ah, lad, they’ve been racing greyhounds since ancient times, more than two-thousand years.” Mahoney was clearly warming up to a topic he really enjoyed. “The Egyptians used to keep them and feed them the best of foods, and they treated them like gods. Watching greyhounds chase down game was a great sport back then. Then the Romans brought them to the British Isles, and they started a sport called coursing, where the dogs would chase after rabbits and other game across a wide-open field. It was all about letting the dog run, using its sight, instead of smell, to track the prey. As people became more concerned about animal welfare, the game animal was changed to a bag that was dragged across a field, and that’s the way they do it in many places today. They actually raced greyhounds and lurchers.”
“What’s a lurcher?” Danny interrupted.
“A lurcher is a mixed breed. Looks a bit like a greyhound, but with frizzy hair. They’re a cross of greyhound with a collie or deerhound. Anyway, one of the English queens, many years ago, was quite a fan of coursing and it became known as the ‘Sport of Queens,’ same way that horse racing is sometimes called the ‘Sport of Kings.’
“Coursing was brought over to North America with some English immigrants in the 1800s. They was used to hunt down game for food, not just for sport. And, of course, people would breed the dogs for the type of running they wanted, and that was a really well-muscled, strong, and wiry animal that could spot its prey and run fast over short distances.
“By the early 1900s, greyhound racing became a popular sport here, with the dogs running on tracks rather than across a field, although there’s still coursing in a lot of places. A good, healthy dog will run for three or four years, and they reach their prime when they’re about three years old. After age five, most dogs are ready to retire.
“I started training Long Shot when she was young, only about a little older than a year. You give them a chance to run, and you give them some training, but it would be foolish to say that you teach the dog. Really, they already know what they want to do, they just need a little guidance.” He smiled nostalgically, surveying the hillsides beyond the track. “The thing they really need to learn is how to come out of the starting box. These pups, they love to chase after things. They watch for anything that moves, and if it looks like something good to chase, then they’re off, chasing after it! So it’s not hard to get them interested in chasing after small stuffed animals, and then a mechanical rabbit on an electric guide rail.”
“How do they know the distance to run?” Ben asked.
“You start them
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