Monday, August 30.

My first day, my “practice” day at staying home writing all day. The girls spent the day peaceably in their crates after a really long walk this morning. Now it’s almost time for another really long walk before it gets dark and the kamikaze bunnies come out.

While I was waiting for articles to publish so that I could promote them on FB and Twitter, I googled Splash by her registered name: Starz Lee Splash.

She raced 20 times, and finished in the money five times. She won a single race, on the 4th of November, 2009. She placed (ran 2nd) twice and showed (ran 3rd) twice. Her last race, according to those stats, was May 2, 2010, at Palm Beach where, from post position #1 running in a red blanket she was “up early, [but] drifted back.” She finished in 6th place nearly 01:20 seconds off the winning time. There’s even a video link on the site for each race.

I didn’t want to watch her run. And I had to watch her run. I had to know. It’s the only way that I will understand this dog. 1:20 seconds and an overall losing record is the difference between racing for a living, and retiring with a chance to discover the couch. She came with a red collar and lead, but after seeing her in that red blanket, I’m not sure she should wear that color in her new life. She does look pretty good on a purple lead. Or maybe she should take red back, make it her color and not a track blanket color.

I found her pedigree, too. And a database entry that, if you scroll down, shows that her dam had 18 pups, and Splash was part of the “S” litter – six sibling greyhounds, 3 dogs and 3 bitches, who all went to the Florida tracks. Secret, Shyboy, Spirit, Steel, Super – and Splash.

What a life you’ve led until now, hija.

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