Cindy's Story

Cindy's official AKC name is 'Cinderella May a Holly Grey' (ILP # 97333). 'Holly" refers to her adoption home and 'Grey' is slang for the greyhound breed. Cindy was born in December of 2000 from an unscheduled breeding of two racing greyhounds at a greyhound track in south Florida.  Since the breeding was unscheduled, Cindy and her litter mates were not eligible for Para mutual racing. As a result, the trainer gave some of the puppies away to friends for pets, and gave the rest of the litter (including Cindy) to Hollydogs Greyhound Rescue for placement in loving homes. Hollydogs gave her the name Cinderella.

Everyone knows that puppies have a lot of energy. Greyhound puppies are no different; in fact, they are probably more energetic and mischievous than most puppies.  A family in south Florida initially adopted Cinderella. Like many puppies, Cindy was crated during the day when the family went to work.  However, Cindy had way too much energy and drive for being crated, and after about 3 months her adopted family decided that Cindy needed a home environment different from what they could provide and returned her to Hollydogs Greyhound Rescue.

June of 2001

At the age of 6 months, Kathy Conroy and Kate Long of the Village of Palmetto Bay (Miami area) adopted Cindy. Colleen, a smooth Collie, who is 2 years older than Cindy, was already living at the home and was instrumental in picking Cindy as the new dog for the household. Kate, who is retired from the Air Force, was able to keep the time Cindy was crated to a minimum. Since Colleen was actively involved in dog agility competition, Kathy and Kate decided to channel Cindy's energy into this activity and began training her with Sally Roth and Lourdes Edlin in Miami, Florida.

Agility Paves the Way

Cindy began agility training in June of 2001 and competed in her first novice level agility event in January of 2003. Within 3 months, Cindy completed her Novice titles in agility and moved on to compete at the open level.  Cindy received her Open Standard Title and her Excellent Jumpers Title. She is now competing in the Excellent classes.

Cindy demonstrated exceptional jumping abilities during the early stages of her agility career. She had an efficient jump arc, never dropped a bar, and could make sequential jumps with great speed and athleticism. Sally and Lourdes recognized this special, natural jumping ability and decided to also begin training Cindy for competition in the freestyle high jump events.  Her formal high jump training began in March of 2003 at a beginning height of 36 inches.  At an amazingly fast progression, by July of 2003 Cindy was comfortably jumping at 56 inches - a height where most dogs reach their maximum jump.

Recognizing that Cindy was an exceptional jumper, she was quickly entered to compete at the last 2003 regional final for the Purina Incredible Dog Challenge competition.  On August 2nd at Grant Park in downtown Chicago, newcomer Cindy took first place in the freestyle high jump and, at the same time, set a new Purina Incredible Dog Challenge high jump record at 60 inches.

At this point both Sally  and Lourdes agreed that Cindy had the potential to challenge the existing 63 inch free style high jump world record and they began to adjust her training to reflect the new quest for the Guinness World Record. Click here to continue Cindy's Story