5 Feb 08 Tuesday
Tuesday is a “dark” day at Raynham (no racing is held) and it’s living up to its name. I stand in the empty and unlit track lobby looking out onto the silt, sand, and clay track as the rain falls and imagine some of my dogs and many of yours during their racing days here. In my mind I hear the excited, happy barking that begins when the lure starts then see them flying out of the boxes and down the track in joyous pursuit. Why am I here today?
The place is closed- but it isn’t.
I’ve been offered a very special chance to work for a week here as a kennel helper, and I can’t wait. Today, I will meet Linda Jensen who will introduce me to Henry Chin, owner and trainer of Ryan Racing. Henry, brave soul that he is, has agreed to take on yours truly as a volunteer, let me hug his dogs, teach me how things are done properly, answer my endless questions, and help me understand every aspect of kennel work and the care of racing greyhounds. We sit down to lunch in the Grille Room. Many people in the greyhound industry come from generations of dogmen. Not so Henry. He tells us that he came to the races many, many years ago for the first time with some friends. He loved watching the dogs but most of all, he really wanted to know where they went when they were done for the day. He had to find out: working in his family’s restaurant, he saved up enough money to go to a “greyhound school” in Taunton that trained students as greyhound trainers. His face lights up as he tells of his education there- he still keeps the big notebook he compiled in class with him in the kennel all these years later.
Linda had told me that the dogmen tend to be shy people. But here was this man who could not stop smiling as he animatedly told us about his dogs. He did not speak of their wins or track records- he spoke of their personalities and temperaments, of how each learns differently, of who likes what, and how he learns to read what they are trying to say, be it a change of tailset or the droop of an ear. He loves his dogs and works endlessly to keep them happy and healthy- it is the joy of his life. I am the happiest volunteer in the universe and have learned more in three hours with Henry and Linda than I have in years.
Tags: adoption, greyhounds
