500 greyhounds need homes

[jcsperson]

Originally posted by lizbud
I'm still glad the track is closing & look forward to the day this
practice of racing dogs for gamblers exists only in history books.
Greyhounds will do just fine without "racing to live" instead of
loving to run for their own enjoyment.

So what of the breed? The AKC breeds 160 greyhounds a year. They are hideously inbred and nearly incapable of coursing game, the very thing greyhounds have been bred to do for 5,000 years. You seem willing to throw that away overnight.

Anyone with a thimble-full of knowledge of dog breeding knows that 160 greyhounds per year are not enough to maintain a viable gene pool to sustain the breed into the future. Today, AKC breeders know they can outcross to NGA lines when their dogs become too inbred. What happens to the breed tomorrow if that option is gone?

The only true greyhounds in America, those capable of coursing game as they have for millennia, are racing greyhounds. AKC breeders know this. When they breed for coursing they use NGA bloodlines. Their current Field Champion is 7/8ths NGA blood.

Nearly every breed we have today was bred to do a specific task. The minute dogs are no longer bred to the needs of that task the breed begins to regress. The longer they are the worse they are at it. The American version of the German Shepherd has become such a genetic nightmare police departments here often buy them directly from Germany where they are still used in the field.

Your thinking is extremely short-sighted and ignorant of the bigger issue of breed survival.

[jcsperson]

Originally posted by Kfamr
-deep sigh- Not this again.

Yup, this again. This discussion might seem unnecessary to you, young lady, but it is extremely important to a great number of people. Among greyhound racing, adoption, and pet people, this single post on one web site generated 1,000s upon 1,000s of e-mails that put a lot of people in a panic. If it's not important to you to get to the bottom of such scare-mongering you have no business on this thread. If you don't like it, don't read it, but spare us your insincere indignation.

[jcsperson]

Originally posted by dukedogsmom
Oh good grief! Karen, please lock this thread before all that gets started again.

Translation: I disagree with what this person has to say so I want the thread locked so he can no longer say it. I see the Pet Talk PC monitors are hard at work.

[Karen]

I am going to close this thread, as there is much confusion and misdirection about the original claims made by the original post from that website.

As far as I can tell, the greys are all safe, none will be shot over this, and greyhound rescue folks are hard at work.

Applaws to the rescuers and lovers of greyhounds.