From: toolan@stsci.edu
Subject: Re: How do you fight a race track?
Organization: Space Telescope Science Institute
Distribution: world,na
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 20:49:30 GMT

In artic[Ale <8273.83.uupcb@cutting.hou.tx.us>, 
(Kathleen Brewer)  writes:

> Where do you get your information that racing Greyhounds are abused?
> I have a friend that has racing greyhounds, these dogs are pampered,
> well fed(they are given a special diet that includes dry kibble, meat
> and cottage cheese) and in excellent health. He pays top dollar for
> these dogs and when he breeds the stud fees are in the range of $10 to
> $15,000. You don't put out that kind of money to abuse a dog. Yes, you
> willl have the occasional person that is crazy enough to abuse the dogs,
> but they would be doing that anyway because they are crazy. But for the
> most part the people that have these dogs, love them.

	Your friend is one of the good owners.  It's not the good owners that
ruin the dogs and the sport, but the bad ones.  If you haven't heard of the
abuse that exists in the world of Greyhound racing, you must not be watching
TV or reading newspapers and magazines (or r.p.d. for that matter, for I know
I've posted some of this before).  The rescue groups are trying hard to raise
public awareness, so please become aware!  Try to get ahold of the August 1992
issue of Reader's Digest and read "Hidden Shame of an American Sport."  If I
had the time and it wouldn't be a copyright infringement, I'd type and post
the article.  Please, accept the fact that I'm not trying to flame anyone, but
I'm trying to wake people up to the plight of these wonderful dogs.

	I have two Greyhounds, one that must have been an excellent racer 
(since she retired at age 4.5) and one that was not.  Both my dogs had been 
abused, to different degrees.  And incidentally, both arrived "racing fit," 
which apparently means skin and bones.  If they'd been fed prime food during 
their career, it sure didn't show.

	Amber, speedster that she was on the track, fled in total blind terror 
when my husband picked up a stick in the back yard.  He was going to put it in 
the trash can; Amber obviously thought he had other intentions, so she hid 
behind trees, shaking like a leaf.  Since we've never struck her, obviously 
something had to have happened in her past to have her react that way.  

	Topaz, my poor baby, arrived horribly scarred, physically and 
emotionally.  At age 2, she had no less than 15 very obvious scars, from her
head to her rump.  She was scared of her own shadow.  She wouldn't go anywhere
near a man, which just about broke my husband's heart, because he'd never hurt
an animal...  13 months later, she's much better, thank you.  It's been an
awful lot of work, trying to gain her trust.  There are still times she takes
off at top speed when someone moves suddenly.  Her hair has grown back and 
covered some of the physical scars, but I don't know how long it will take for 
her psyche to heal, if it ever totally will.  No animal deserves to have its 
spirit broken as hers has been--you could never find a more submissive dog.
But she will hold her head up now; she generally will not hide shaking behind
me when we're at a GPA booth--tail wags and kisses are more the norm now.
I sure wish I could get ahold of the so-and-so who mistreated her so.

> If you want to see what goes on, find a tour group, talk to the trainers
> and the owners. You might just go away with a different oppinion.

	Do you really think a tour group would be shown the problems?  The
backyard breeders who hope for a winner, and starve and mistreat the dogs if
they aren't?  (and most aren't)  Those folks aren't on a tour!

	The Reader's Digest article speaks of a track that was forced to
close due to unsanitary conditions (over 100 dogs were sick--vomiting and
some bleeding from the rectum).  Handlers blamed the conditions on a virus 
caused by tainted meat.  Would there be a tour at that track?
(Fortunately 175 of those dogs were rescued for adoption.)

> There are several Greyhound Rescue Groups, talk to those people. They
> would not be placing abused dogs. 

	I volunteer with the Maryland Chapter of Greyhound Pets of America.
What I'm saying in this posting is what we tell anyone who asks.  While we do 
not intentionally place obviously abused dogs, some slip through--like Topaz.
The person doing the screening must have been a woman; Topaz would have fled
in terror from a man.  I like to feel that she was meant for us.  She was
accepted in the screening (where rejection probably would mean death), and
she came to us, and not someone unable to handle her terrors.  And we love her
silly; as she loves us--maybe my son and myself a little more than my husband;
she's still reserved with him, but Chris and I are routinely given enough doggy
kisses to qualify as a bath!

> People that adopt these dogs are very
> happy with the dog they are getting, if the dogs were abused they
> would be a uproar from the new owners.
> 
	That's why the dogs are so carefully screened, as are the prospective
owners.  But that doesn't mean the abuse isn't there.


> Kathleen Brewer@cutting.hou.tx.us
> ---
>  . OLX 2.1 . As I said before, I never repeat myself.
>       
                                                                             
and in response to Charlie (older than dirt) Sorsbie....

	I've never been to Greyhound races, but I know the dogs run for the 
sheer joy of it, and their training amplifies that joy.  Greyhounds are one of 
the oldest of breeds, and running is truly in their blood.  My two girls go 
blazing around the yard with joyful abandon on a daily basis.  What a beautiful
sight to see!

	I see no wrong in Greyhound (or horse) racing, so long as it is 
properly regulated to keep abuse of any kind from occuring.  In Wisconsin,
tracks are required by the state racing board to have in house facilities to 
teach the dogs "domestic life" and to bring the public and the Greyhounds
together.  If Greyhound-racing states would strengthen laws in two areas,
I think most abuse would cease, and the dogs could joyfully run to their
hearts' content:

	1) Mandatory farm & kennel inspections, with harsher penalties for
	   cruelty and neglect.

	2) Mandatory adoption programs at all tracks, like the system in 
	   Wisconsin.

	I apologize for the length of this, but I feel it all needed to be said.

		*	*	*	*	*
				*
	Sharon Toolan		*	My opinions are my own;
	toolan@stsci.edu	*	no one else would want them!
				*
		*	*	*	*	*

	      Make a fast friend--adopt a Greyhound!

"Mom" to Amber (8 yr old rescued racing Greyhound) and
         Topaz (3 yr old rescued racing Greyhound)

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