A Tribute to My Mentor: Gloria Sanders
By K. Gilley, Dancing Greyhounds
February 2007
Traveling with six ex-racers in a motorhome, eight months out of the year, we meet 20 or so adoption groups on the Dancing Greyhounds� annual show tour. Other Greyhound fans are encountered on the road along the way. A question that is bound to be insightful and an icebreaker is �How did you get into Greyhounds.� Everyone has a story�
Our involvement in pure-bred dogs goes back to the 70�s. We were involved in obedience and conformation. I become registrar for all pure-bred dogs born in the Republic of Panama and liaison to the American Kennel Club (AKC) and the Federation Cynologique Internationale (FCI). In 1989, we left the turmoil of our birth country and came to America. Our family consisted of three dogs we could not leave behind.
In May 1992, I read a Ladies Home Journal in a laundrymat. It told of a man in a New York City apartment with four ex-racers. There was an 800 number. I called. Little did I know I was talking to the person instrumental in getting the American Greyhound Council (AGC) to fund this phone number which would change our lives. Gloria Sanders. She was Greyhound Pets of America National President then as well.
If you think it unusual for a person to be involved in the racing industry as well as the adoption side to the extent she was, you are right. Gloria Sanders is the only person ever to serve both communities at the levels she has. Add to that: Gloria was the first woman to hold a seat on the National Greyhound Association�s (NGA) Board of Directors. She served for nine years! And she is still answering the 800 number after all this time for the Mid-West area.
Entering the U.S. only three years prior, we knew nothing of Greyhound racing. I wanted to meet and get a feel for the breed. Gloria invited us to attend her Greyhound school. We wrote a check to the Iowa Greyhound Association (IGA) and signed up. Her husband, Jim Sanders, was treasurer and teacher at the time. The description on the application read, �Do you want to get involved with a �hands on� learning experience? Then sign up to attend the July school at Raintree Kennel�. You do not have to own Greyhounds to attend. �.Please bring old clothes for working with the dogs�.�
It was one of the most intense times. It was also enjoyable. We reported to Jim before 6:00 a.m. and barely made it home by 9:30 p.m. We learned that a Greyhound farm is not just a job, it is a life and Greyhound people live it 24/7/365. This was a total immersion course and I have remained captivated by Greyhounds since.
As we ministered to the needs of more than 75 sleek, elegant hounds, there were two who caught my heart. One was a tall red-fawn female, with Bette Davis eyes. Jim told me not to think about it. She was Irish and soon to become a brood. The second was a shining, skin-tight, Spandex-bicycle-pants-over-muscles black pup. �Not that one either. She�s almost track ready. Then brood duty after.�
Graduation came. We got our Iowa Greyhound Association diplomas: �Certificate of Scholarship As an honorable testimonial for outstanding participation in...Learning in Boarding, Care & Training of Greyhounds. Gloria was listed as IGA Executive Secretary, a position she holds today and has for over 20 years. This was an excellent program, run out of the Sanders� home and kennels. I�ve neither seen nor heard of another like it. How fortunate we were!
In early 1993, it became time to begin our Great Greyhound Hunt. It was winter. Gloria was in Iowa, we were working our way from Texas to Florida. For two months and 1,500 miles, she had to listen to tales of woe as I was turned down by group after group. My credentials didn�t matter, nor that we had already traveled 60,000 miles with the Panama dogs, two Dobermans and a rescued St. Bernard). What mattered was no fenced yard and an ignorance to think Greyhounds could become traveling companions. Gloria counseled me, �Do not give up!� It was a painful and bitter experience that rankled for many years, but Gloria kept my upper lip stiff. The conclusion was: we knew we had found our breed for life. I have always said, �If your first one is not the right one, it will be the last one.� Our first Greyhound, Sweetness, changed our lives and made us devotees for life.
The second Great Greyhound Hunt, the following winter, was easier. Again, we could not reach Gloria. We went to Birmingham Racecourse, where Gail Hill welcomed us at the McGreggor Greyhound Welfare Center. Greyhound number two. Sleek, black Perfect Letter.
Gloria asked us if we would like to give a talk and demo at the 1994 NGA fall meet. After endlessly hearing about the phenom, Sweetness, who learned advanced off-leash obedience and retrieving in less than four months, and Birmingham Chubby, Gloria thought this would interest those who did not attend the NGA golf tournament.
Everyone enjoyed our show-and-tell at the Greyhound Hall of Fame. During the banquet, Gloria told me the Irish lass was sterile and up for adoption. The next morning we waited in the NGA offices for Gloria to get out of the board meeting. �What do I have to do to adopt her,� I asked. �Follow me home,� she replied. *Crafty Maid (Mandi), (of Bette Davis eyes) became Greyhound number three. The next spring, the black spandex model ended her brood career with a c-section. Right on By (Wayki Breaky Heart) became Greyhound number four.
Then �Mama Gail� from Birmingham, asked if we could do the entertainment for the 1996 Greyhound Pets of America National Convention. The Dancing Greyhound Drill Team was born. Invites poured in. Gloria filled our summer with a 4th of July parade and town demo in Humbolt, Iowa. Our life was never to be the same.
Through the years, now 11, Gloria has supported the Dancing Greyhounds and her commitment to Greyhound adoption with dates at Bluffs Run and Dubuque Greyhound Park. At the same time she has continued to work for the betterment of all racing in Iowa. As the Dancing Greyhounds approach the half-million mile mark, 29 states, 17 tracks, three Canadian provinces and Greyhound number 12, people wonder how we do it. If it were not for Gloria Sanders, our friend and mentor, I would have no answer.
Thank you, Gloria. I don�t know what our life would have been like without you.