By A Nose

Here are some concept designs that were submitted for a short animated film funding program proposal.

Tagline: 
It's Spike's first race at The Eight Ball Greyhound Stadium but the other dogs are not going to make it easy for him.

Synopsis:
Night-time, on one of the busiest nights of the year at the Eight Ball Greyhound Stadium and the scene is set for racing fledgling Spike to make his début.  Young, utterly innocent and a little on the clumsy side, Spike is unprepared for the underhand shananigans of his competitors in their ruthless quest for victory in this dog-eat-dog racing spectacle.  Veteran commentary team Mikey "The Mike" Michaels and his tipsy sidekick Mutt Mulligan introduce our contestants as the crowds gather and the dogs parade, eventually lining up to enter their cages before the starting gun.  It isn't long before Wolfgang, the most infamous greyhound champion of all time, is up to his old tricks though. He surreptitiously slips poison into young Spike's water bowl causing him to almost immediately develop a bad case of the hiccups.  Spike's sudden state of intoxication causes him to get stuck in the cage as the other dogs are released from their boxes, speeding off in a canine frenzy. Struggling feverishly, Spike finally breaks free and hurtles off, quickly catching up with the others.  All paws, Spike clumsily crashes into a pile of gas canisters lining the track, sending them rolling out in the path of the other dogs. And the trouble doesn't end there.  There ensues a chain reaction of whacky incidents culminating in a visual inferno – a white-knuckle ride on a mechanical rabbit, a pack of dogs sliding helplessly on an oil slick, a free-rolling giant fibreglass eight ball, a series of deadly ricochets and a firework display that finally catapults Spike to a famous victory.