John Parker's Tribute to Spooky

SEEGOLD SPOOKY 1996 - 2008
It is with sadness that I report the passing of Denise Lawson's Seegold Spooky today. I have put her photo on the home page. Many of you may know Denise - she is the sister of Jen Bachelor,is a longtime SEGC member, and has provided the artwork for some SEGC and SEGAevent logos in past years. Denise keeps her horse Lester here at SummerWind and so Spooky has been a fixture here for many years. I brought her back as anadoptable Greyhound after one of our first Birmingham Race Course field trips. We were then taking a number of Greyhounds from trainer Jim Watson, who ran the Blair Kennel there. Jim had in his charge anumber of "Seegold" Greyhounds, owned by Jack Seeley and Phyllis Mangold (the Seegold was a combination of their last names), who wanted all of their racers placed as pets at the end of their racing careers.When I first met Spooky on the field trip, Jim told me she had sustained an injury in a race, which he was pretty sure was a fractured leg. Spooky was in a cast up to her hip on her right rear leg. Jim asked if we could take her since we had previously taken other Seegold Greyhounds. I hadn't planned to bring a dog back from the field trip, but like others on field trips over the years, I liked the look of Spooky and felt we could place her quickly if her leg injury wasn't too serious. When we got back to Newnan, I arranged to have her seen by Dr.Toby for a full work-up and possible cast change. Lo and behold, x-rays showed no fracture, so the working diagnosis was a soft-tissue injury, possibly to a ligament. Toby felt that the cast had done its job and now it was time for her to do some streching and get mobility back in the leg. Off came the cast, and Spooky came back to the farm with me.In the meantime, Denise had seen Spooky when she had come to the farm to ride Lester, and she also liked the look of her. Before long,the decision had been made by Denise that Spooky was a "keeper."Spooky took to Denise immediately, and was always her shadow whenever Denise came to the farm -- she was the perfect "farm dog" because shewould always stay nearby,whatever Denise was doing. She loved tofollow behind Denise and Lester whenever they took a ride around thefarm. She never looked back from her leg injury, and never had any residual deficit from it -- she could run fast in the tightest circles you could imagine. Since Spooky was black, she tended to get hot in the summers, but always had the solution at hand -- she would simply lay down in one of the ponds, with just her head and neck visible. When she came out -- what a muddy mess ! Into the horse wash stall she would go for acomplete hose-down.In the last couple of weeks or so, Spooky developed pain in her back and hindquarters, and it was thought she had sustained an injury when she slipped on an icy sidewalk in the recent snow. In a shorttime, she became more painful and was having difficulty walking. Today, she began hemorrhaging, and what had been thought to be an injury was now more likely to be cancer that had spread to her internal organs. Denise had no choice but to let her go, and she was put to sleep. Spooky was a fine hound, always fun to have around, and never any trouble. Denise gave her a good and full life, and she will be missed by all of us. John