WWTBAM Bored

I was listening to pros & cons on a ballot question coming up about whether to vote dog racing out of Massachusetts.

The pros of course give you all the data about greyhounds being euthanized, the cons claim they're euthanized for "the same very severe maladies that would have you euthanize your pet" (obviously, the quoted person here doesn't include that a lot of people, me included, get their pets medical treatment for even quite severe maladies, rather than have them euthanized). The other big con is the loss of about 500 local jobs if the Wonderland track is closed down. Of course, Fidelity, which doesn't own a dog track, is rumored to be about to lay off 4,000 Boston-area employees. Yes, I know, Fidelity employees are generally more employable in the big wide world out there than Wonderland employees.

However, a veterinarian consulted did make a point that a byproduct of breeding greyhounds for running gives you dogs that are prone to many kinds of severe bone fractures that other dogs just don't get, because their bones are less fragile to begin with.

ghostjmf wrote:I was listening to pros & cons on a ballot question coming up about whether to vote dog racing out of Massachusetts.

The pros of course give you all the data about greyhounds being euthanized, the cons claim they're euthanized for "the same very severe maladies that would have you euthanize your pet" (obviously, the quoted person here doesn't include that a lot of people, me included, get their pets medical treatment for even quite severe maladies, rather than have them euthanized).

The cons didn't mention that any number of breeders/owners -- okay, not all -- also euthanize the dogs that cannot earn their keep in race winnings. They are the reason that so many greyhound rescue groups have sprung up across the country. (That's not even counting the puppies killed by breeders because the little dogs don't present the characteristics that spell a likelihood of success on the track. Annie may have been one of those puppies, as she was found in a small town close to several greyhound farms. She might have escaped her intended fate at the tender age of six weeks.)

ghostjmf wrote:The other big con is the loss of about 500 local jobs if the Wonderland track is closed down.

I do feel sorry for people who lose their jobs when a track closes. I don't even have a problem with the races themselves, if all the shenanigans of the owners and breeders who want "to maximize profits" could be eliminated. The fact is that greyhounds were born to run, and they seem to be happiest when they are going full speed.

ghostjmf wrote:However, a veterinarian consulted did make a point that a byproduct of breeding greyhounds for running gives you dogs that are prone to many kinds of severe bone fractures that other dogs just don't get, because their bones are less fragile to begin with.

I had not heard this statement presented exactly this way, but it makes sense. If racehorses break legs because they have been bred to have thin legs and a big chest, I cannot be surprised if greyhound breeders are following that example. I have never considered my dogs to be particularly fragile (with the exception of the time Annie wrestled with the SUV), but that's probably because I compare their legs, however skinny, with the far thinner bones of the whippet.

Please keep me posted on the election outcome for the proposal. Thanks for posting this.

I went onto the Greyhound registry site and looked at some of the Greyhounds that were owned by the person who bred Zap. The dogs that weren't breeding seem to have been sent to rescue groups all over the country. Zap's owner seems to be a responsible breeder that wants to give his dogs a chance at a good life and I wish that all of them were like that.

I wish that Greyhound racing didn't exsist, but if I didn't I wouldn't have Zap, nor would I have met many of the dogs who have made our lives more pleasant, dogs like Xamine, Timmy, Art, Poppy, and Static.

I can attest to the fact that Greyhounds love to run. Zap is wearing a grove into my previously beautiful backyard, running from one end to another.

silvercam says:

The cons didn't mention that any number of breeders/owners -- okay, not all -- also euthanize the dogs that cannot earn their keep in race winnings. They are the reason that so many greyhound rescue groups have sprung up across the country. (That's not even counting the puppies killed by breeders because the little dogs don't present the characteristics that spell a likelihood of success on the track. Annie may have been one of those puppies, as she was found in a small town close to several greyhound farms. She might have escaped her intended fate at the tender age of six weeks.)

I was surprised that the feature story didn't go into that, but I believe it was because the ballot issue is about the track itself being put out of business or not, not about breeders. I can believe that once the dog is raised & trained, the track veterinarians & other medical personnel who the story was interviewing really wouldn't euthanize a dog that didn't have severe injuries. I certainly have read & heard other stories emphasizing that breeders & owners certainly do kill (I certainly wouldn't call it "euthanize"; the dogs are not in any pain) dogs they have no use for; pups that don't "make the cut", old winners who are no longer winning.

My sister is the foster-person of a puppy the neighbors don't want to keep but don't want to give up either; this pup was a grandmother's last gift to her grand-daughter, who doesn't like the pup (grandmother's dog is her favorite dog; pup was supposed to be sort of a "because you can't have my dog" present), but the mother doesn't want to give pup up because she relates the pup to her Mom, the kid's grandmother, who died tragically a few months ago.

This dog is a beagle, & to my eyes some kind of miniature beagle, because the beagle I knew & loved 30 years ago was so much bigger (& way more Snoopy-looking). This beagle is hell on wheels, but she eventually calms down if you act calm around her. The neighbors, whose dog she technically still is, take her back for a few hours at most, rile her up & then get upset that she's baying. Such a loud, loud sound from such a tiny little dog. At any rate, though I can't prove it, my guess is she's the result of a bad breeding experiment; someone wanted beagles to be smaller, but didn't take preserving their generally even temperament into the bargain. The breeder who sold this supposedly full-breed beagle to my family's late neighbor sold her "without papers" for far less than a full-breed beagle is supposed to cost.

I am suspicious enough to think the "without papers" really was so that no-one would be tempted to breed her, once they saw her way-too-hyper temperament. At least this breeder wasn't killing "the pups that didn't turn out the way they were supposed to", but they weren't being honest about what the "no papers" defect was, either.