The Colonel

Have you ever thought you knew something, then out of the blue that knowledge turned out to be false? For the longest time Jess has told a story about when she was eight years old and would go to the dog track in New Hampshire. At this track the lure that the dogs chased was called “The Colonel”. So since this was the only dog racing track she had ever been to she thought that all lures at all dog tracks were called “The Colonel”. I have never been to a dog race, so when she relayed this story to me the idea of all dog racing lures being called “The Colonel” seemed reasonable to me. For seven years I have lived with this notion. When ever we would be following someone we would say, “There goes The Colonel!” During the last visit with the friends that would take Jessie to the dog track, the subject came up in conversation. They asked what a Colonel was and Jessie said that is what the dog racing lures were called. Our friends laughed and said that is what that particular track's lure was called, not all dog racing lures.

I'm EXTREMELY anti dog racing. In researching for the proper name for the thing the dogs chase I found this gem on the Greyhound Racing Association of America website.

The Most Exciting Dogs in the World:
Look at the muscles and see the excitement in their eyes! You don’t get that kind of power by sitting around in a crate or being a “couch potato.” You get muscles like that from exercise. You get the energy to run from good nourishment provided by a good trainer. You get a shiny coat from being washed and groomed.

Remember: Nobody forces Greyhounds to run. As anyone who raises them can tell you, that’s impossible. Greyhounds are as opinionated and different from each other as we are – and if there was a way to make them run like we want them to, we would have figured it out long ago!

Greyhounds aren’t horses with riders on their backs telling them what to do. They are not African cheetahs running after gazelles because they are starving. Greyhounds are running for the sheer love of it!

Oh yeah, I'm sure they just absolutely love it. Idiots.