Pooch Palooza

Pooch Palooza was a much smaller event this year with the ongoing COVID environment, but the attendees seemed to enjoy their day, running the lure chase, the FastFetch qualifiers, eating pie, and more. As we look to a brighter future, the annual Pooch Palooza dog festival will return to the Spring. Unfortunately, the Fall event proved to be way too warm on the dog's paws during the games in the sand, and we watched many seek shade during FastFetch runs and take breaks during lure chase. Nevertheless, the festival is their day, so we will do what is best for them, and we need a cooler environment for the canine fun. We want to thank our sponsors, Gateway Subaru, Precious Paws Animal Hospital, Concord Pet, and Frontier Town Theme Park & Campground. We could not produce the festival without you. Pooch Palooza returns Saturday, May 14, 2022! As of press, we are still awaiting images from our photographer, but we do have a few sneak peeks for you to enjoy.

The FastFetch Qualifier

by Larry Bowersox

The Greyhounds Are Coming!

Twenty-seven years the first greyhound gathering was held in Dewey Beach, Delaware, on Columbus Day weekend in 1995. Again this fall, the greyhounds will be a common sight in town as they return to the Dewey and Rehoboth Beaches the same fall weekend. While that first gathering was just a small group of friends with greyhounds who met up in Dewey Beach, today, the event fills the entire Rehoboth Beach Convention Center for four consecutive days. The event has been managed by The Grapehound Wine Tour, Inc., a Delaware-based non-profit for the benefit of greyhounds, since 2015. Greyhounds Reach the Beach® (GRtB )is the fourth largest event staged all year inside the Rehoboth Beach Convention Center. As I speak with strangers about our love for greyhounds, they will often tell me of an unusual sight they came upon one fall day when traveling down Route 1 through Dewey Beach. They drove through Dewey, surprised to see the streets filled as far as the eye could see with hundreds of greyhounds on leashes and their owners. Shop keepers have opened their stores yearly, and restaurants have opened their decks and patios to the greyhounds. The breed’s remarkable calm make these large, gentle dogs a welcome addition to those businesses where dogs can be allowed, as they usually just come in, lie down on the floor, and snooze. During Columbus Day weekend, dozens of Greyhound vendors travel to Rehoboth Beach for festival doggie shopping from all over the country. They come from Florida, Vermont, Virginia, New York, South Carolina, and even as far away as Kansas. You can find custom dog coats, collars, leashes, beautiful original artwork, portraits, decals, car magnets, decorative greyhound T-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and other human apparel too. Experts on all things greyhound also come to Rehoboth to speak about dog topics of interest. Veterinarians

present talks on greyhound health, including topics such as whether grain-free diets are unhealthy and more. There are general “Ask the Vet” sessions to ask specific questions about your pets too. All dog lovers in the area are welcome to come and shop the doggie vendors in the Convention Center on October 7th, 8th & 9th. You only need to register for the event if you wish to attend, listen to the speakers on dog-related topics, or participate in other events like the Delaware Bay boat tours with your dog. (Your registration helps greyhounds find loving, forever homes.) Other speakers at GRtB include celebrated greyhound authors, who write on all sorts of topics related to the history and adoption of greyhounds. In The Reign of the Greyhound, Cynthia Branigan, one of this year’s speakers, explains that greyhound images adorn the ancient Egyptian pyramids and appear on Greek vases from 5,000 BC, that the greyhound is the only dog mentioned by breed in the Bible (Proverbs 30: 29-31). Who knew that Christopher Columbus brought greyhounds with him on his voyage to the New World? Or that Queen Elizabeth of England wrote the rules for hunting or coursing with greyhounds? Or even that General George Custer, of Little Bighorn infamy, traveled the western plains with a pack of greyhounds? While many people think greyhounds are racing dogs, they have been bred for centuries as hunting dogs. They run to catch the mechanical rabbit lure that runs around the racetrack. Gentle while in the home, greyhounds are ferocious hunters. Over the years, they have been used to capture and kill all sorts of prey, from large stags to nimble rabbits. Ms. Branigan will be speaking at this year’s event about her newest book, The Last Diving Horse in America, telling the story of the last diving horse at Atlantic City’s Steel Pier. Other speakers at Greyhounds Reach the Beach ® include talented dog trainers who use humor to provide tips on getting our greyhounds (or any dog) to behave the way we want. Many states have closed their dog racing tracks in recent years, and racing greyhounds, a breed beloved by many, have been harder and harder to find and adopt. Some worry that these unique racing greyhounds may become very rare. They worry that the cottage industry of greyhound

Article images courtesy of GRfb

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