WHO STARTED INJOY?
|
Meet the founder of INJOY.....
Tom Bianchi In his own words..... "My introduction to lure coursing came in 1977 at a three day breed show in Bromont, Quebec. Someone set up a drag (take up) course using a Lure Tronics machine and ran several courses of Salukis and Afghans each evening after the show. (Any historians out there remember who made the Lure Tronics equipment?) I was so excited after that weekend that I just knew I had to get into lure coursing. A month later my wife, Trina bought me our first Saluki puppy, Lando. In 1979, I was at an ASFA trial where a judge did not show up for their assignment. The field chairperson asked the participants at the trial to vote for a replacement judge from a list of judges present at the trial. At the time, I was apprenticing for my judge's license, so my name was included in the list. After the chairperson had put forth the choices for a replacement judge, someone from the crowd shouted, "who the hell is Tom Bianchi." I am Italian and proud of it; formally educated in accounting and finance; am not an engineer but have been a tinker from birth; have been associated with lure coursing since 1977; and the only thing, in my whole life that I ever did right the first time, was to marry a girl named Katrina Brockway in 1969. |
The center of my being is the pursuit of excellence and quality in all my endeavors which includes attempting to treat people in the same way that I want to be treated. I define quality as satisfying 90% of the people 100% of the time. Now you know why I let my ASFA judge's license lapse. I look forward to the WWW giving me the opportunity to pass on what little I know about lure coursing and the proper use of the equipment used for this activity. There is a common misconception amongst dog owners that lure coursing is dangerous. I have seen more dogs injured at breed shows with the careless closing of a vehicle door on a dog's leg or tail than I have ever seen injured doing lure coursing. It is a fact, dogs can be and have been injured while lure coursing. But, if people have the proper understanding of the potential dangers and use proper care when running the dogs, it is a safe and beneficial activity for all canines."
After one of our salukis was injured on the equipment being used at the time, Tom decided he could "build a better mousetrap" and started creating lure coursing equipment on a part-time basis in 1979. He was convinced that he could make equipment that was efficient and safe for use with hounds either for fun or for field trials. Over time, zoos and cheetah preserves discovered the equipment and started using it with their cheetahs, African Wild dogs and other big cats and falconers have also learned that they can use the same equipment to train their birds. Tom expanded his market to include not only customers all over North America, but also dog clubs, zoos, cheetah preserves and individuals all over the world, including Africa, Australia, the Far East, Europe and Central and South America. Tom passed away in September, 2009 but not before he shared his wealth of information about lure coursing and all the equipment INJOY designed and manufactured to Jim Healy who along with Tom's widow, Trina, continue to run the business today.
After one of our salukis was injured on the equipment being used at the time, Tom decided he could "build a better mousetrap" and started creating lure coursing equipment on a part-time basis in 1979. He was convinced that he could make equipment that was efficient and safe for use with hounds either for fun or for field trials. Over time, zoos and cheetah preserves discovered the equipment and started using it with their cheetahs, African Wild dogs and other big cats and falconers have also learned that they can use the same equipment to train their birds. Tom expanded his market to include not only customers all over North America, but also dog clubs, zoos, cheetah preserves and individuals all over the world, including Africa, Australia, the Far East, Europe and Central and South America. Tom passed away in September, 2009 but not before he shared his wealth of information about lure coursing and all the equipment INJOY designed and manufactured to Jim Healy who along with Tom's widow, Trina, continue to run the business today.