Lush against Greyhound racing

Kinski

Lush have started a campaign against Greyhound racing :T

http://www.youtube.com/lushcosmetics#p/a/u/1/lXVZlnPHp0s

BitterAndTwisted

I'm not sure that there's any particularly wrong with greyhound racing per se although I do think there's something profoundly wrong with SOME breeders and owners.

I'd love to adopt an ex-racer one day *sigh*

Tropez

To be fair, a lot of the information that Lush are referring to here is out of date.

The primary greyhound organisations in the United Kingdom, namely the Greyhound Board of Great Britain and the British Greyhound Racing Fund have implemented a number of regulations and schemes in the wake of the David Smith case to properly ensure the safety and well being of racing dogs, both while they're active and once they have retired. All professional circuits now have to adhere to these rules which are some of the toughest in the world and the tracking of dogs once they have been retired from racing is more thorough than ever. The Retired Greyhound Trust works very hard to ensure that the dogs are treated well and homes are found for them, and many tracks run their own adoption schemes in conjunction with respected schemes run by prominent charities. There is a lot more to greyhound well being now than there was just five years ago.

Of course, regardless of how well the dogs are now treated there will always be the arguments that making the dogs race is wrong in itself and there will sadly always be some unscrupulous a-hole who does mistreat his dogs, particularly once they are no longer competitive racers and whether one supports greyhound racing or not is purely a personal viewpoint just as whether one can agree with Lush's support of militant and violent animal rights groups can be morally acceptable is also a personal viewpoint.

Personally speaking, I think greyhound racing has some place in society but I dislike the way it is run as a business. I would much rather it were a low-key, semi-competitive thing such as the majority of lure coursing is in the UK but unfortunately it isn't the case. I do think that perhaps the regulations need to be tightened further still and the events themselves more closely scrutinised but I'm not sure whether a full ban is actually going to help anything. Like many things, I believe it will just force it underground and the sport would become poorly regulated again, which would lead to untold misery for many dogs - there's just too much money and time already invested in greyhound racing to let it die, even with a ban - and let's remember here, the Fox Hunting Ban, a noble cause, has actually resulted in more foxes being killed, although admittedly that is in part to the ridiculous way that "ban" was implemented.

YorkiePud_3

There is absolutely nothing wrong with a greyhound racing ... the trouble is with greyhound owners and the people doing it for a business and to make money. They run their dogs relentlessly into the ground at three or four racetracks a week ... ridiculous.

Having said that, you CANNOT make your dog run .... a greyhound LOVES to run, it lives to run ... it will chase a ball, a toy, a leaf blowing by ... so there is absolutely nothing anyone can do to MAKE it run!! When you see a greyhound running or racing, it is doing it for the love of it. That's the only good thing about it, knowing it isn't being forced to do something it hates.

As with all sports, if the rules were better enforced and the greyhound's welfare paramount in the whole game, then it would be better run and you wouldn't have so many of these wonderful dogs in rescue centres.

A lot of the "older" greyhound men see this is a way to make money ... and they'll even bet on their dog losing.

There are ways to "slow" down a greyhound so they run a slower race, get a better head start on the others in their next race (the boxes they race from can be staggered, so a dog who ran slow last time might get a yard or two start in its next race), and hopefully win.

We have had greyhounds in our family for years (and I have to say I have never made a penny on them but that wasn't the point of us taking them!) .... they have been the most pampered pets ever but, mainly for exercise, now and then we used to race them.
When I say now and then, I would say once or twice a month.

If anyone has ever taken a greyhound to a racetrack, they will know how much the dog loves to race ... they can go into an absolute frenzy before a race and love every second of the chase.

Rather they burn up some energy on a racetrack where they are muzzled and cannot hurt any other dog than let them loose at a park where they may chase someone's little dog and possibly hurt it.

Their chase instinct is so high (not so much to kill, but to chase anything smaller .. having said that, my last two lived happily in a house with a tiny chihuahua and yorkie and numerous caged birds) ... but we found that to give them that burst at the racetrack now and then and the rest of the time being pets in the house just seemed to fulfill something in them and they were completely content.

The problem is, (as ever with most problems with dogs), with the owners.

I've known men leave their dogs in the car parks at racetracks because their dog's lost and they've lost a bundle of money. More fool them, I say. These gorgeous dogs are noble, loving, devoted (and bone idle!!) ... if you take on a grey, then you forsake all rights to sit on the sofa ever again!! People think they are built for speed to chase, but it's so they can race to claim the sofa before you do!!

I've also known men take their dogs to open land and shoot them for not winning a race they were "supposed" to win. (And I've reported a fair number of them over the years too.)

But, to take a much loved pet to a track and see it enjoying every second of having a race .... to feel it quivering in excitement beforehand and end the race with its tail wagging like mad ... well ... it really is wonderful!

Greyhound racing is exhilarating ... the dog doing what it loves to do, the excitement of watching them ... if there was more emphasis put on the welfare of the dogs, then it really would be fabulous.

foreign_correspondent

I have no issue with greyhound racing in itself.. however, I do have an issue with the poor conditions in which too many racing greyhounds are kept, the putting down of dogs who have become injured (when its an injury that could be fixed, and the dog could go on to live a healthy and happy life as a pet, but couldnt race again) and the numbers of greyhounds that go missing - many more are born than are ever retired off into pet homes, and it is not known where a lot of them end up - though sadly, greyhounds are sometimes found dumped (dead or alive) with their ears cut off - as their ears are tatooed with numbers which would identify their owner.

Daniel Foggo, a journalist, has written some very good exposes around the greyhound racing world, which are well worth reading.

cinderellacomplex

YorkiePud wrote: »

People think they are built for speed to chase, but it's so they can race to claim the sofa before you do!!

I like this

YorkiePud_3

The ear tats were done to allow registered greyhounds to race at the NGRC racetracks ... the ones mine ran at were just small local tracks. Even if I had been into racing in a big way, there is no way on earth I would have had their ears done.

Conversely, I have known of people burning the ears to obliterate the ear tattoo so they can take a really good, fast dog known at the NGRC tracks to a smaller track and "clean up" with the bookies.

foreign correspondent ... totally agree with you ... the state some dogs are kept in ... well, it's dreadful.
I started out with my last two in sheds outside in the back garden .. but when I say sheds, they had large indoor sleeping areas and outdoor runs; they had carpets down inside the shed, big baskets to sleep in with plenty of cushions and umpteen big fleecy blankets that were washed weekly.
They had plenty of toys, carpets to cover the windows of the shed at night time and didn't want for anything.
In fact, I spent more time laid inside with them than in the house!

Of course though, as anyone with greys know, they had me feeling sorry for them even though they were fine out there! ... they lasted outside for a fortnight before coming to live indoors ... ha ha!

cinderellacomplex, it's true, I tell ya!! They have this inbuilt sense which tells them which is the comfiest place and they stake their claim straightaway!