Originally posted by true
-it bothers me that i see dogs infested with fleas and ticks from the track. it bothers me that so many have to be wormed before they can go into a home. its sad so many of the dogs have parasites.
I have seen literally hundreds of dogs come right off the truck when I volunteered for my adoption group. My experience is that dogs in the condition you describe are the exception. If they come straight from the track they were immaculate. If they were kept temporarily at a farm and then shipped, there was a greater likelihood of ticks and fleas. We rarely encountered a wormy dog.

-im saddened that someone (who works her butt off for the dogs btw) down at a track in florida said that just recently they got up to only 50% adoption. white light to the other half.

-all the euthenization records from 2003 and 2004 that i have flipped thru from a southern track make me sad as well[
Even if the 50% figure were true it would not be typical. 95% of the problems in greyhound racing are concentrated in a handful of low-end tracks. These are precisely the tracks that are being targeted by RaceForAdoption.com.

-hearing a track kennel owner point to a few dogs and tell me that their owners wanted them put to sleep after they broke their legs makes me hurt inside[
I know this happens, but again, this is not typical.

-the recent case in iowa where a man neglected 33 dogs til they had no food and water and were full of parasites makes me sad (thank god they did suspend the guy. too bad it got this far
I called the NGA and this farm was inspected twice in 2003 and once early in 2004. The state of Iowa inspected it annually for a total of three per year and this year was the first year a problem was noted. The farm passed every inspection it ever had until this last one. I don't know the details yet, but whatever changed this man's way of operating must have been dire. A previous article suggests he was very ill.

The system worked. A substandard farm was shut down and his license to breed greyhounds suspended. It looks like he will lose his racing license as well.

-the stench that i have smelled at a new england track kennel that made my friend almost puke was nto a good thing. i have been to other kennels that did not have this problem, but this one did, so it can happen)
We've been through this one on GT. This is not typical, either. I have been to several turnout pens and a number of farms and never encountered a similar smell. If you ever come across this again, SAY SOMETHING. It is not the norm and is unnecessary.

-there have been several tracks that i have visited that have had no pamphlets, no posters, no nothing but a quick reference in the program to greyhound adoption. at two tracks i went ot the info coutner to ask aboutadoption and they had no info to give me. each place someone looked up in a book and wrote down the number on a scrap of paper, yet they had information and flyers at the booths for lunch specials and betting events. there was one track that did have an amazing adoption program that was very well promoted. i wish all tracks were like that. these other tracks tho, had posters for other things and none for greyhound adoption.

-the number of track websites that i have been to that have almost no information or info that is pushed to the side as an afterthought about greyhound adoption is pretty large. this saddens me in that having an extra web page and a big link to it on the track site would cost them not a single extra penny. i did an evaluation several months ago on all the track web sites if anyone would like to see it.
True and I have been through this one on GT, too. At least one of those tracks, Lincoln, already has 100% adoption. Further promotion would not improve their numbers.

Several tracks run adoption fairs and special events. Recently Southland, Shoreline, Wonderland and Raynham, just to name a few, had big, festive events featuring greyhound adoption.

-whenever i see an adoption group having a raffle or auction or begging for donations reminds me that the people who are making money off the dogs (tracks, the state, kennel owerns, racing dog owners) are NOT covering all the costs of adoption. that doesnt mean that no one ever gives any money towards adoption of course, but the vast majority of dogs are vetted and palced by non profit adoption groups that have to work their behinds off to raise funds.
This often has a great deal to do with politics. I know that most racing owners would rather give their dogs and a donation to a pro-racing adoption group than give them to an AR group for free. There are some cheap bastards who want to save some money and give them to anybody who will take them, but won't give a nickel to a group who is against racing. Imagine that.

Additionally, profit margins in racing have dropped substantially over the years. Part of it is because greedy politicians have taxed the gambling industry so heavily that bettors have a hard time making any money. Another part is the fact that ARA groups have slandered racing so badly that sponsors, TV and media shy away from it altogether because they fear the deluge of negative mail drummed up by those groups. This has hurt business, reduced profits, and ultimately worked against the dogs.

-personally i think its sad now that they do surgical insemination so taht bitches have larger litters than they naturally would. i didnt learn about that from AR people, rather from industry sites. also, wehn i look at a greyhound on greyhound-data.com and see that a bitch had litter after litter, pretty close together. it makes me sad.
This is a misinterpretation. The female releases only so many eggs per season. Regardless of what insemination process is used only so many puppies can be whelped. A sire with strong semen will impregnate as many eggs as surgical implants. Surgical techniques increase the likelihood of insemination and increase the number of eggs fertilized where a sire's semen is not necessarily strong or when the draw has been split a number of ways. When semen is frozen it is often split five ways so one ejaculate can impregnate five bitches. The "larger litter size" is meant where a sire's semen isn't strong or the ejaculate has been split a number of times.

-i know someone who has seen a trainer hit their dogs on the head with metal bowls. (dont tell me to report it, this person either has or hasnt, but that is their business, not mine, since i didnt witness it).
Hearsay. I'm not disputing that it happened, just that one could hardly say that one incident is typical of everything. The problem with relating a story like this is that it suggests that this sort of thing is typical. It's not.

-i see and know of so many dogs with broken legs. generally the same leg. it happens over and over. i know that pets can break limbs, but it feels so wrong when you see the same injury happening all the time. .
The right rear leg is the one that takes the most stress in racing. I think some breeders have made a mistake breeding dogs who have had this injury to bitches who also have. I prefer sires and dams with long, healthy careers to make for solid pups.

AGTOA has spent millions on research for a safer, more forgiving surface. Based on recent returns it looks like that is paying off.

-i hear from different industry people that i know (and wont name for this reason) that they see people being cast out of the racing society for whistleblowing.
It would be interesting to hear an instance of this. I have not heard of it and my guess is I know dozens more foiks in racing than True.

-things are getting better, but dogs are still put down, dogs are still mistreated, i still see dogs in poor condition. and how can i support an industry while i still see that?

when there is 100% adoption and 100% financial responsibility by the industry, then i will no longer have to fight for the welfare of the dogs.
They are much better. It looks very possible that full adoption could be achieved by 2007. If that happens then there will be no major breed of dog that can make that claim. I think the outlook for the breed, adoption, and even racing is bright.