Greyhound racing is a relatively younger sport than horse racing. It was only about a hundred years ago that racetracks designed for dogs were built along with mechanical hares for the dogs to chase. Compared to the hardships that racehorses have endured, greyhounds get off relatively easy. In countries where dog racing is professional, animals are more critical regarding the welfare and treatment of greyhounds. Greyhounds retire relatively early, between the ages of four and six. The best dogs are kept for breeding and there are industry-supported adoption groups that work to get retiring racers permanent homes as pets.
2020 has been a bit of a rough year, considering not so many people are going to the racetracks. Though there are ways of watching the races remotely. But some dogs will be too old to participate in the races the following year so some of them went into early retirement. While the National Greyhound Association was working on getting some of these racers into homes, the idea for an experiment came to them. What better way to make sure the greyhounds were doing well than by asking them directly? Surely some uplifted greyhounds would be able to help confirm that their brethren were being treated right.
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Judy gave the greyhounds a dubious look. A good part of that was out of instinct. These dogs were specifically bred to chase after fast prey, particularly rabbits. But she had dealt with predators before. Another reason for the dubious look was that she was looking at a list with the dogs' names on it. "Shootin' Off? Like a Deer? In a Nanosec? Swoosh? Who came up with these names?" asked Judy.
"Well, you see, there are certain naming conventions regarding greyhounds," said the NGA representative who had brought the dogs here, "All names may not contain any more than 16 letters including spaces. The name must be tasteful. The use of the word “The, Jr., Senior, 1, 2 is not allowed. It may not mislead the public as to the pup’s breeding or be similar to any dog previously registered in the past 10 years who was not used for breeding purposes. The name must be approved by the Keeper of the Studbook.”
"And I take most of the good names have already been taken?" asked Judy.
"Greyhound owners have been struggling with originality for a while," said the NGA representative, "Though that's not nearly as hard as what racehorse owners have to deal with."
"How hard is it to name a racehorse?" asked Judy. The NGA representative wordlessly handed Judy a paper. Judy read down the paper before saying, "You've got to be kidding."
"And trust me, I've seen worse racehorse names than what these guys have," said the representative.
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The uplifting afterwards went very smoothly. Quite noticeably, the males, Shootin' Off and In a Nanosec, were not as bulky as a lot of male Animalians. They were more of a streamlined, athletic build, not unlike cheetah Animalians. This also applied to the females, Like a Deer and Swoosh. While they did get considerable curves, they weren't as amazonian in build as others.
After the greyhounds have gotten themselves sorted out, the NGA representative asked, "So, how are you all doing? Are you ready to begin a new life?"
"Yes, and the first thing we're going to do is get better names," said Swoosh, the one grey greyhound.
"At least I have something to work with," said In a Nanosec, who had an orange-brown coat, "But some of us aren't so lucky."
"I mean, really, Shootin' Off," said the black and white Shootin' Off, "You know how embarrassing that sounds now?"
"We didn't mind when we were just dogs," said the fawn-coated Like a Deer, "But now we can tell they're dumb jokes."
"Well, the naming regulations..." started the representative.
"We're not race dogs anymore," said Swoosh in annoyance.
"Oh, I don't know," said In a Nanosec, "I wouldn't mind running like this."
"Well, the IAC Games are coming up," said Judy, "You'll have enough time to train and practice."
"Sounds good to me," said Like a Deer, "I think I might sign up for that."
"After we get new names," grumbled Shootin' Off, "I just know people are gonna make innuendos about my name."