Greyhound Racing

P

purr

At the Start
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
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Location
Dorset
I've always been a horse racing girl but I have never really had an interest in greyhound racing. I went to the dogs for the first time last night (no comment please) with a group of friends.

Unfortunately there was a very nasty incident in the 5th race where a dog collided with the inner rail and fell, taking down the 6 dog at high speed. The dogs both got up but it was soon clear to me that the 6 dog had hurt her foreleg, I was shouting for her to stop running. She eventually stopped, the handler caught her and she was carried off the track.

We made enquiries and were very sad to learn that the dog had had to be put down.

I've only ever see one horse hurt in all the race meetings I have been to, and it was a shock to see it happen to a greyhound on my first track visit.

I was aware that dogs do sometimes have to be put down following track injuries, although this fact was somewhat alien to my friends. They were all asking me why a dog with a damaged leg has to be put down.

Now, I know the reasons why it is more humane to euthanase a horse with a broken leg. That the type of injury is often such that it will not mend - bones shattering rather than fracturing. That a horse cannot tolerate box rest or taking the weight off his leg. There are veterinary and quality of life reasons for this.

I don't know if this applies to dogs - I'm not sure why they are not easier to treat than horses. It could be a lack of knowledge on my part - I'm not trying to suggest that all is not done to help the injured dogs. But I would just like to know the reasons why it is so hard to do so.

Can anyone shed light?!
 
In many ways I feel such a hypocrite. I love horse racing but cannot stand greyhound racing. I've worked in cat rescue for seven years, and in that time have done bits and bobs for dog rescue too, in particular a greyhound rescue. The levels of neglect and sheer cruelty involved in greyhound racing is shocking. But on the other hand many of the problems with racing dogs also apply to racing horse, yet I chose to bury my head in the sand because of my love for horse racing :( Far too many puppies being bred, far too many puppies being 'disposed' of, careers all too short and then the dogs being 'disposed' of afterwards. I suppose the same could be said for horses.

I'm sorry to hear about the dog last night. If the leg was broken beyond repair then in the majority of cases dogs can live quite happily on three legs. The same cannot be said for horses.

I've lost friends since I started working for a bookies again. Friends who work tirelessly for retired and abused Greyhounds. I'm sorry for this. I'll continue supporting those who are still speaking to me :lol:

Linky to a Greyhound charity that I have friends involved with
 
I'm sorry Griffin, but in many ways I disagree with what the website you put the link to is saying. Sites and charities like that grossly over-exaggerate the supposed 'cruelty' and paint a dismal, and inaccurate, picture about the way things are. It is ludicrous to assume that all racing greyhounds are treated cruelly, which is what is being implied on the site. While I have no doubt that some are not treated in the best way possible, there are many, many more that are treated very well, the same also applies for horseracing (which I notice the site is also against).
 
Couldn't agree more Griffin, if only 25 % of the stats were true, they would still be regarded as shocking in any unbiased mind
 
Purr, I'm really surprised you've only seen one horse hurt in all the time you've gone racing. Do you not go to jumps meetings? I'd guesstimate that one in three meetings ends in a fatality or a career-ending injury for one horse - and there are many more horses who leave in the equine ambulance and are later put down at home, or immediately retired, when they fail to recover from an injury. There are many more injuries than one in three meetings, though, which require long-term rest or veterinary attention.

Even on the Flat, there are shattered legs and heart attacks, especially in the summer, due to a combination of suddenly-hard ground, and (as per today here dahn sahf) suddenly very hot weather, bringing on respiratory distress, or rapid dehydration and collapse, if loads of water isn't immediately available. (Curious, that: when I was taught to ride, we were told NEVER to give water to horses who'd just worked, in case it gave them colic. Now the notion is to give it to them directly after hard, fast galloping!)

About dog racing - we need Trevor to come in on that one, as the dogs expert. I can't see the reason why retiring dogs aren't treated in the same way as our three racehorse retraining centres assist retiring racehorses. Does the dog racing industry not have anything like that in place? The adverts I see for rehoming stress how easy they are to care for, and I know of several people who had ex-racing dogs for many years following their retirement. Maybe there are just too many dogs being overbred by irresponsible and stupid people anyway - why the RSPCA hasn't railroaded the Govt. into insisting on the registration of ALL dogs, including all mutts, and the neutering of all those who shouldn't be breeding, I don't know. They neuter the ones they rehome, but it isn't cheap to buy a rehomed dog - a friend of mine forked out £80 for a 9-month old mutt, and maybe cost factors put off some people. I think they should be given out free, but on a lease system, like the racehorse centres do, so that regular checkups can be made and the animal retrieved if all is not well.
 
Greyhound Action don't assume that all greyhounds are badly treated, but they are very very concerned with the sheer numbers being bred both in the UK and Ireland that don't live long enough to be registered, that don't make it to the track, the ones that are not humanely destroyed, the ones whos ears are hacked off to prevent their tattoos being read and those unfortunate enough to be shipped over to Spain.

In some respects my opinions on racing dogs and horses are the same. There are too many being bred, and that needs to stop. I'd much rather a horse or a dog was put to sleep in familiar surroundings than be shipped off to Christ knows where to be raced to death.

My friends in Greyhound rescue work their arses off to save as many dogs as they can, but more and more dogs are needing their help in Ireland too. The council run pounds over there are atrocious. Greyhound trainers know that they can dispose of their dogs for free there. Greyhounds are not put up for rehoming, they're put to sleep asap. Why pay a vet to do it when you can get it done for free at the pound? Those dogs stand no chance.
 
Doesn't Ireland have the equivalent of the RSPCA (the 'R' for 'Republican', of course!)? What is it doing to change things? I don't think there's as much sentiment over animals in Ireland, especially in rural areas, where every animal's supposed to earn its' keep or be put down. A lot of the overbreeding of cats and dogs is down to the mawkish sentimentality of owners, especially in the UK, who think the animal 'wants' to have babies, or will live an unfulfilled life. :confused:

I would support any effort to bring serious weight to bear on both the Irish and the British governments to demonstrate that we value all animals' lives in all respects. That does include extremely quick and humane despatch, whether it's for food purposes, or due to illness or injury beyond repair.

I'd hope to see the day where owners of all animals didn't 'own' the animal at all, but merely had it on a lease from a monitoring body specializing in the species. With regular and rigorous checkups, the animal (whether it was Koi carp, a budgie, a dairy cow, or a Rottweiler), would be immediately retrievable if it was suffering, or if the owner was incapable of caring for it any longer. Maybe draconian, but so far, just hoping that everyone who buys or obtains a creature is uniformly caring and responsible, isn't enough to guarantee the creature's welfare. You'd be, in effect, leasing the animal in the same way as you lease a property from a freeholder. You'd pay all of the animal's costs and obtain all of the benefits from the animal's existence - whether in racing prize money, or slaughter for meat, and even have the right to sell on the animal, but with the 'freeholder' body still checking up on it.
 
Fair enough, Griffin. I'm still of the opinion that their propaganda is very misleading at best, though. I'm curious too as to why they are trying to get greyhound racing banned, especially if they don't assume that all dogs are treated badly (which was not the impression I got from the site). Each to their own, I guess - but I do object when people try to get sports banned because they perceive them to be cruel.

Incidentally Kri - regarding the matter of giving the horses water after they run, although they are given it afterwards I have always allowed them controlled drinking only, for the reason you mention; the possibility of bringing on colic. Many of the good lads that work in racing do the same - let them have a drink (but not too much), then remove the bucket for a little bit before letting them have another drink, rather than sinking a couple of buckets at once.
 
Ah, so, Dom! I was amazed to see horses bunged a bucket of cold water directly after racing hard, but perhaps it's as you say, just a few gulps to help the immediate dehydration.
 
Yup, not the best to let them drink loads after running! I daresay that plenty of people who don't know better would allow them to drink what they want - for example, that wise horseman, Mick Quinn, doesn't take their water buckets away from the horse's box before they run as he sees no harm in them sinking a bucket of water half an hour before they run. <_< :rolleyes: But, in the main, any lad worth his (or her!) salt knows better than to let them have more than one 'slurp' at a time straight after a race.
 
Yeah, I remember when only a kid seeing a certain horse being given an entire bucket o'water only an hour before he was due to run (not, of course, in this bastion of propriety, but in the raffish colonies). He never ran better than fourth in his career, as far as I know, and that day he was exemplary in running stone last. Gosh, I wonder what could've stopped him? :brows:
 
Hi Guys

Just a quick reply for now as time is short.
Griffin is correct, that at the moment far too many pups are being bred in the search for success.
As Kri says they are all registered either here or in Ireland.
SL is also correct in the fact that people over play the cruelty aspect as the same applies to all animal sports, there are good people and bad people.
Getting back to last night for Griffin, it would depend on how serious the injury was and how much the owner, if present wanted to keep the dog. They have qualified vets at each track to advise.
The Greyhound welfare is far too overworked at the moment, but it aint cheap to get one rehomed the proper way, over £300 if it is done correctly.
We as a sport will hopefully improve, but I would not hold my breath.

Cheers
Trevor
 
Just had a proper look at Greyhound Action's site, and I'm delighted to see they totally outed the scum who tortured and shot, but failed to kill, poor 'Rusty'. Oh, that the punishment should fit the crime - not that I'd have the bastad Gough shot, but only because I'd want him to go through the rest of his miserable life showing off his neatly-amputated ears. :)
 
I don't know why it is that I have only seen one horse fatally hurt, to my knowledge, in the meetings I have been to. I mostly go to local NH tracks and point to points, but also some Flat meetings. I think I have just been very very lucky, as I am all too aware of how horribly often it happens.

It still seems such a horrible shame for the dog last night, if she was able to get up and still run for half a lap before stopping it seems odd that she could not have been treated further. Yes, I saw that she had hurt her foreleg, but it didn't seem obviously broken in the way that horses' legs appear. Poor thing.
 
The overproduction of greyhounds and racehorses is not a problem that Britain has created, it's an Irish one.

If only British bred greyhounds and horses were allowed to race in this country, half the races would be walkovers!
 
Seeing what Trevor has written about the unfortunate bitch, Purr, I wonder if the vet advised euthanasia instead of having her live as a crippled dog who very likely no-one would want to adopt, since it sounds like she wouldn't have mended well enough to race again. If the owner didn't have the ability or space to keep her while she recovered, there mightn't have been much he could've done. It seems very, very sad that a nice young dog was put down, but perhaps the vet considered there was no real alternative. I've seen smallish dogs do well on three legs, but I wonder if the larger breeds do? Perhaps not so well?
 
Greyhounds manage perfectly well on three legs. I know of several who have had legs amputated, and some due to the neglect they have suffered at the hands of their owners/trainers :angry: They can still run pretty fast with three legs :lol:
 
Just wondered, as it suddenly struck me, reading this topic, that I'd never seen a larger dog on three. Cheers.
 
Well, I own a racing greyhound here in the UK, and I have to say that the care the dogs in my trainer's kennel get is second to none. They are all bouncing with health, and if what I've seen of the other owners is anything to go by they are much loved by their owners too. What's more, at the end of their careers our trainer and his owners go to great lengths to find suitable retirement homes for their dogs, and have been pretty successful at this so far. Our dog is guaranteed a home for life with us when he's finished racing - he's not the best dog in the world but he tries and tries for us and owes us nothing. I've seen nothing to suggest that greyhound racing is in any way inherently cruel - all the dogs seem to love it (as far as I can tell!)

Obviously I can't speak for other owners and trainers. Mind you, the impression I've got as a relatively new owner is that the greyhound racing authorities are much hotter on rehoming than the horse racing authorities. As a new greyhound owner, I got a welcome pack in which our responsibility for the greyhound at the end of his career was very strongly emphasised, and there was lots of info about the Retired Greyhound Trust and their work. Having also registered a new horse in training recently, the contrast was stark - the info pack from the BHB said absolutely nothing about looking after the horse to retirement. There are lots of RGT centres all round the country, but only the three ROR centres as far as I'm aware. We have already rehomed two ex-racers ourselves from the RGT and will do it again when we have space.

If all Greyhound Action were doing was lobbying for good welfare across the board for UK greyhounds, I'd have no argument with them. But so many of their supporters seem to have as their aim the total cessation of greyhound racing in the UK - every closed track is a victory in their eyes. Surely that's going to make the welfare position even worse, particularly in the short term?
 
Hi Vixen

Must agree with you, I have 4 syndicate greyhounds who get nothing but the best care and attention. Hope your lad keeps enjoying his racing, wether it be in an A10 or Open race.

Best regards
Trevor
 
As you know Trevor, we are seriously contemplating having a greyhound running for Escorial Racing in the not too distant future. I would not even contemplate this if I thought that any dog of mine would not be given a life of luxury, and would be well looked after if he is not good enough to make the grade racing. I must admit I do not know too much about the industry, but I have been doing some light research in preparation.
 
Thanks Trevor, I hope you have similarly good fortune with your dogs, too. (Our boy won a little race yesterday, his first for a couple of months!)

Just to pick up on the general after-racing welfare issue, I came across the following letter in a regional newspaper. It's tempting to think of it as coming from someone who's just slightly unhinged, if basically well-meaning...

Sir - My wife and I have been involved with the welfare side of horses for 30-odd years. I am concerned that Mary Tapping has regular features on polo, yet not one word about how the ponies may suffer. It may be argued that things have improved in recent years, but only because of pressure from welfare groups like Redwings - not the International League for the Protection of Horses which seems reluctant to interfere with the blood sport fraternity.

In polo there is still unnatural stress put on the body of ponies with various aids, and still a culture of secrecy with mostly no independent vet, other than one from the blood sports fraternity examining animals.

We are also involved in other abuse issues and think the Western Daily Press does a good job campaigning against them, but concentrates on suffering inflicted by only one section of the community.

It may not be politically correct to criticise polo because of who it may affect, but any sport involving other species has to be scrutinised without favour of show of deference.

If the WDP can be criticised by Robert Readman for giving the oxygen of publicity to council estate yobs, surely it can be criticised for doing the same for wealthy blood sports yobs, who have had pages of sanitising publicity.
Click to expand...

(Original of letter)

Now, I'd never really thought of polo as a "blood sport"...but apart from that, the same thinking could so easily be applied to racing. We know all about the massive books some stallions are covering, and the difficulty of finding suitable homes for horses at the end of their careers...ironically, polo is a good outlet for quite a few of them, or so I've been told. Is racing just too big and powerful to be susceptible to this type of campaign - is greyhound racing being targeted because it's seen as weaker and more vulnerable? Or is this a taste of things to come? There is a body of opinion out there that considers the use of animals for human entertainment, and especially for gambling, as being beyond the pale...
 
I reckon you're not very far off the mark there, vixen. I'd also like to believe that the person who wrote the letter was slightly un-hinged but unfortunately this kind of attitude is getting all too prevalent. I wouldn't mind so much if the people who lambasted such sports actually knew the first thing about how they operate, but they don't appear to.

I have to say it (even though I know I'm going to be ridiculed for it) that foxhunting was just the start. I was labelled a scaremongerer for daring to suggest that shooting/fishing/racing et al would be targeted next - now look what happens. There are active campaigns underway at this moment to have shooting/fishing/greyhound racing/horseracing and more banned now that they have 'won' over the hunting issue. Give the bloody tree-huggers an inch & they take a mile. Not content at stopping at hunting, they won't be happy until the rest of their ludicrous opinions are being imposed on society too. I'm sure that it won't be too long until there are attempts to outlaw eating meat, too, just for you, Tom!!! :P
 
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