An evening "at the dogs"

I like to help out at the kennels. One of the things I do is help out with fundraising and a good place to do this is.....Greyhound Stadiums. Its not my place to go on about the "sport" anyone who has an interest in our wonderful hounds has to make up their own minds so I'm just going to tell you what it was like for me to go.
So I pick up a homeless hound from Hersham, I took Hiho. We don't know each other, I tell him he is strong on the lead and he looks at me as if to say, well at least I've got still got fur on the top of my head- what happened to yours? He is very striking, a big white dog with black speckles and black patches on his head. He jumps in my car just fine and travels well. The stadium is quite busy, its not well lit outside so no one noticed Hiho having a quick wee in the car park. The place looks a little run down in parts, many of the ground staff were foreign but friendly enough. I go through doors to a foyer type area. Straight ahead of me are double doors leading to the terraces and track, to left is a corridor to a bar and betting area, to the right are corridors to the kennels and trainer's area. I am with a group of people, we all have hounds, after I've said hello to everyone and Hiho has sniffed all greyhound bottoms available I team up with Carol from the kennels and we hit the terraces. She has a bucket with Greyhound welfare on it and knows how to use it, she was brilliant and few escaped from having a bucket thrust at them.
There are all kinds of people here, lots of young couples, families- lots of children coming up to Hiho "Mummy look a dalmatian!" Some people had greyhounds at home of their own and made a big fuss of Hiho, others just pushed past us. There were a surprising number of men in suits around, some were very generous- a fiver here or even a ten pound note but one guy put a note in the bucket and whipped it out again going "haha!" Yeah real comic brilliance.
Lots of people were asking us about what happened to the dogs after racing and were shocked about how young they are when they retire, a few seemed shocked to actually meet a greyhound. The terraces were about one third full and the size of the track is surprising large its actually quite impressive. Seeing a race is quite something, the lure shoots past and you can hear the dogs thundering past- so very fast! No matter what you hear the dogs love to race, its been bread in them I suppose. Hiho was sooo excited to see the dogs run, he was straining on the lead, letting out the odd whine bless him. Anyway we had reached the middle of the terraces and the stadium announcer was telling everyone that the welfare was here and what a good cause it was. I felt well chuffed, then I heard this collective "eeeehhhuuukk!!" and "hahaha!" from the crowd in front of me. Hiho had chosen the announcer's blurb as a queue to do the biggest runniest dump ever....I was in the middle of my ..."they make great pets.." speech to someone and had to do the frantic search for poo bags dance. Time to hit the crowds inside the stadium.
The people inside are different to those outside. Inside are some hard betting types, they will watch big screens showing the racing sitting by tables full of lager glasses. More than a few ignored us but most gave Hiho a glance or a stroke and asked questions.
The stadium gave us a homeless hound parade and when Hiho felt the sand under his feet- he just wanted to......run! Glad to say I hung on to him, had visions of the parade being the first ever retired greyhound derby!
This isn't a blatant plug for Hiho, well okay maybe it is but I have to say he was as good as gold. All these strangers touching him, lots of different smells and noises, a longish trip with a stranger and lots of hounds he hasn't met before, what a brilliant sweet boy and all well past his bed time! All the greyhounds from the welfare there were the same, happy to be with people, especially if a fuss or even a treat was in prospect. They ask for so very little, the look on the faces of some of the children there who stroked a hound perhaps for the first time was really something. This was the third time I've been to the stadium. Please remember that they don't have to have us there at all but there we were, it was good for them "Hey we do care about what happens to them after racing" It was good for us- we raised some money but most of all awareness and some people did come to the kennels. And it was good for the people who go there- one lady had a good hard look at Hiho, her partner kept pulling at her to go to the terraces but she seemed fascinated by him. Here was a live being, with a character and soul of his own and not just a blur on the track or a silly name and a list of odds. All that we do in a lifetime of choices has consequences, maybe she was thinking about hers.