by Joan Dillon ©
With the growing popularity of greyhounds
as pets and the mushrooming of adoption groups across the country, it now
seems hard to believe that greyhounds were once considered vicious dogs
incapable of being pets. Yet, in the early 1980's greyhounds were always
pictured wearing muzzles; therefore, quite naturally, the public assumed
they must be vicious. Not only did greyhounds have an image problem to
overcome but some of those most outspoken against making pets out of
former racing greyhounds included greyhound industry employees,
veterinarians, animal rights movers and shakers, the media, and even the
general public.
An October, 1980 issue of Animals, a magazine published by the
Massachusetts Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (MSPCA), carried
an article by journalist Sandra Rappaport entitled "Greyhounds, Racing to
Nowhere" which quoted a handler as saying, "Yeah, look at that, that's a
greyhound. Bred to be killers," he brags, "One of these is better than a
Doberman." In the same article, Dr. Richard Rogers of Harvard University's
research lab, an experimental facility in Southborough, Massachusetts,
reported that as many as 60 greyhounds had been donated for cardiovascular
research the previous year. Dr. Rogers went on to state that the dogs were
confined to small cages in groups of two or three and wore muzzles as,
"without them, competitive conditioning results in fights and serious
injuries." (Dr. Rogers would later testify as to this aggressiveness of
greyhounds to others of their kind and their unsuitability as pets at a hearing
held at the Massachusetts State House in connection with a bill that had
been proposed by the New England Anti-Vivisection Society which
unsuccessfully sought to ban the use of greyhounds in research.)
"Although they are friendly to people, racing greyhounds seldom make good
pets," the Animals article further stated. "Training has ruined their
tolerance for every day life with people or other animals. Most experts
believe that a retired greyhound would have to spend every minute in a run
or on a leash."
One such expert, naturalist author Mildred Teal, is quoted as saying, "We
had a racing greyhound, but not for long. Its running back and forth tore up
the lawn. On its first day with us it ripped apart my daughter's guinea pig
cage and killed her pet. Then it jumped on a child who was down on the
floor...we had to have it put to sleep."
The article then stated that the MSPCA puts thousands of unwanted dogs of
every kind to sleep every year and quoted one official as saying,
"Unfortunately, no one wants a burned-out greyhound when there are so
many other dogs to choose from."
In an interview with Turnout Magazine in January, 1983, John Hoyt,
president of the HSUS, made the following interesting statements: "I don't
think the humane movement would be quick to condemn the humane
destruction of these greyhounds, though we would certainly insist that it be
done humanely. We would rather object to their having been bred for a
purpose that was so short-lived it was necessary to destroy them. We would
much rather see them humanely destroyed than to see someone attempt to
perpetuate them on a farm for retired greyhounds for years and years to
come."
"We're not in the business of trying to help legitimate industries out of
business," Hoyt added. We're in the business of trying to help legitimate
industries perfect their uses of animals. Once the training of live animals
was eliminated and we felt that everything possible was being done to assure
that the greyhounds were being humanely disposed of both prior to and after
they had lived out their usefulness, greyhound racing would effectively no
longer be targeted for any major actions or endeavours by an animal welfare
organization."
During the early 1980's, incidentally, it was not an uncommon occurrence to
see articles in various animal rights publications opposing the placement of
racing greyhounds as pets by stressing that greyhounds would be dangerous
around children and other animals. A number of greyhound owners were
also hesitant to allow their greyhounds to be placed as pets as they had
concerns about liability due to the fact that the majority of greyhounds in the
early eighties had been trained on live lures, usually jackrabbits.
One of the most graphic items to appear in a newspaper during this time
frame, however, wasn't an article at all but a paid advertisement. This
advertisement in a January, 1983 Revere, Mass. newspaper had been paid
for by a Vera Curcio of Revere and consisted of a quarter of a page reprinting
a front page article from the August 20, 1935 Evening Item and
headed "Saugus Man Saves Girl Attacked by Six Greyhounds." The ad in big
letters stated "DISASTROUS HISTORY AT WONDERLAND--MUST IT
REPEAT AGAIN?? Read the tragic story below and most importantly, attend
the Public Hearing on Monday, January 24th at 7 PM at the Revere City Hall
and let Your Voice Be Heard to 'your' elected councillors that they not create
a law allowing Vicious Dogs to be boarded in our City!"
The article in question told of an incident in which an eighteen-year-old girl
fell "screaming" into a pack of seven unmuzzled greyhounds which were
being walked on leashes by an eighteen year old boy and reported she was
bitten by two of them. A garage operator hearing her screams came to the
rescue and was acclaimed a hero as "it took plenty of nerve and courage to
battle the savage animals."
Evidently Ms. Curcio's article achieved the desired result as, to this day,
Wonderland Park does not have on-track kennels. Instead, greyhounds are
kenneled at a privately-owned facility in a neighboring town.
As late as April 24, 1984, Red Hoffman, a publicist at Wonderland for 17
years and a respected sportswriter for the Lynn Item, was quoted in an
article in the Worcester Gazette (Mass.), cautioning people against "buying"
greyhounds for pets. In the article he states, "Some people do, but they're
trained to kill. Some trainers even feed them live rabbits to try to pump
them up before a race."
"They're treacherous and suddenly turn on owners," he said.
Yet, there were some individuals who recognized the pet qualities of racing
greyhounds even before the establishment of adoption groups. Many of
these worked with greyhounds at tracks or on farms and, knowing what
greyhounds were really like, kept favorites as pets or gave them to friends,
but these were a minority.
The first track to promote greyhounds as pets may be Seabrook Greyhound
Park in New Hampshire. In an issue of Post Time, a newspaper
distributed by the track to its patrons, dated February 12, 1981, there
appear two articles promoting greyhounds as pets. The first one entitled,
"Looking for a Pet? How About a Greyhound" by Elaine Tarmy states "Many a
former Seabrook racer has found a happy home with a family. I, myself, have
one I acquired five years ago, and he is a wonderful pet." The second article,
"Greyhounds Pampered Says Pauline O'Donnell" states as follows: "Despite
propaganda from anti-greyhound forces they are very affectionate and love
people, especially children. They make good house pets too and owners
have become so attached to some of their dogs, they have made them
housepets. Such was the case of Yellow Printer, the great Irish racer and
stud dog whom Mrs. O'Donnell took into her Hialeah, Fla. home after his
racing days were over. He remained there until the day he died at 12 years
of age and was buried under the tree in the backyard."
There were also two photos of greyhounds and children with captions
promoting greyhounds as pets.
In 1982, the Greyhound Racing Record carried a small article reporting that
a St Petersburg, Florida man by the name of Ron Walsek had started a
greyhound adoption organization called REGAP which stood for Retired
Greyhounds as Pets. According to subsequent articles, Ron had come to
know and love greyhounds by working on a greyhound farm and at a local
track. His idea soon spread to other parts of the country and, since
greyhounds as pets were still unknown to the general public, most of the
early adoption advocates and volunteers were either directly (as owners and
breeders) or indirectly (through relatives or friends) connected in some way
with the greyhound industry. These pioneers of greyhound adoption while
struggling to change the public perception of greyhounds from that of racing
machines to family pets could never have foreseen that fourteen years later
there would be more than 200 greyhound adoption organizations in 43
states placing an estimated 16,000 greyhounds as pets in a single year.
Despite the hard work of these early volunteers, however, the adoption
movement could never have been a success without one very important
prerequisite--the winning personality and adaptability of the racing
greyhound which has won the breed so very many supporters over the last
fourteen years.
The author is a member of the Dog Writers Association of America and
resides in Randolph, Mass. A greyhound owner since 1979, she became
involved in the adoption movement in 1982 and currently serves on the
board of The Greyhound Project, Inc. This article is copyright Joan Dillon,
1996, and is reprinted by permission of the author.
by Joan Dillon ©
Prior to 1982 it was highly unusual to see a
greyhound anywhere other than the side of a bus or at a racetrack and any
racing greyhounds kept as pets were usually the favorites of owners,
breeders or trainers and seldom seen in public. Although there were some
AKC greyhounds, the breed was never particularly popular. Even in 1995, a
year which saw an estimated 16,000 retired racing greyhounds placed as
pets, only 147 greyhounds were registered with the AKC, causing them to
be ranked 125th out of 140 recognized breeds.
Bred mainly for the show ring, AKC greyhounds tend to be larger, heavier
and less muscular with longer backs than their racing counterparts in which
speed and a lack of aggression toward other greyhounds are more important
than appearance. Breed flaws like stand up ears neither affect a greyhound's
running ability nor its ability to become a pet. Owners and breeders of AKC
greyhounds, however, have viewed the rising popularity of greyhounds as
pets with some apprehension. Since greyhounds have occasionally been
transferred from the NGA to the AKC, they are concerned that an influx of
NGA greyhounds would have a negative impact on AKC greyhounds. To help
allay these concerns, NGA owners should not permit anyone to transfer a
greyhound to the AKC unless it is an outstanding physical representative of
the breed able to hold its own in a show ring.
The greyhound adoption movement is usually considered to have begun in
1982 when Ron Walsek of St. Petersburg, Florida founded REGAP (Retired
Greyhounds As Pets), an all volunteer non-profit organization, to educate the
public as to the true nature of the greyhound and find homes for greyhounds
that retired from, or failed to qualify for, the racetrack. Yet, years before
Americans began to accept the notion that retired racing greyhounds could
make a career switch from athlete to couch potato, greyhound adoption was
already a fait accompli in Great Britain!
In 1974 the NGRC Retired Greyhound Trust was formed as a registered
charity with its head office located in London at the offices of the National
Greyhound Racing Club. In addition to providing administrative and
secretarial staff, the Trust acknowledges donations, handles general
enquiries and correspondence, and places ads in pet magazines and on
television. It also provides funds, obtained from a percentage of the first
time registration fee for a greyhound, as well as legacies, charity race
meetings, etc., for kenneling greyhounds pending home placement. The
Trust relies on regional groups of volunteers, many of them owners of racing
greyhounds, to do the actual "homefinding" and organizing of advertising
campaigns and media coverage to locate suitable homes. These regional
representatives meet several times a year at the office of the Trust with
representatives of racetrack management and veterinarians.
Even prior to the establishment of the Trust, however, the British Union for
the Abolishment of Vivisection had a sanctuary for retired racing dogs run by
Ann Shannon who started homing greyhounds in 1956, and later developed
a network of contacts across the country. With the formation of the Trust,
this responsibility passed to the NGRC. British teacher Johanna Beumer, a
Trust homefinder at the Walthamstow track in London, began homing
greyhounds in 1965. Another Trust homefinder was Gee Lebon, a prolific
writer with a regular column in Turnout magazine and articles in Dog World,
who corresponded regularly with many early American adoption pioneers
sharing ideas for fund raising and her knowledge of greyhounds as pets.
During the 1980's, the American greyhound racing industry was booming.
NGA membership climbed and more and more greyhounds were being bred
to meet the anticipated demand of new states and new tracks. Racing
greyhounds, however, were always pictured muzzled and placing them as
pets was not only uncommon, it was news! Newspapers and magazines
published a plethora of articles on the subject and TV interviews with
adoption representatives and adopters slowly began to change the public
perception of greyhounds. Tracks started permitting adoption groups to
distribute information and hold on-track pet exhibits enabling the public to
actually meet a greyhound. A donation check was often presented to the
group resulting in positive publicity for the track in the local newspaper.
Articles related what to expect when adopting a greyhound and how to go
about it. Some also provided historical information about the breed and
general racing information. Adoption success stories were popular. Yet,
even though thousands of greyhounds were being routinely put down,
articles were generally positive both with regard to the greyhound and to
the greyhound industry.
By the end of 1986, in addition to Ron Walsek's original REGAP in Florida,
REGAP clones existed in a number of other states. On April 4, 1987,
representatives from REGAP groups in Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Connecticut, Virginia, Ohio, Iowa and California (participated by telephone),
met in Oxford, Massachusetts to form Greyhound Pets of America – a
national organization with one board member per chapter and with
democratically elected officers and policies. By the end of 1987, all known
adoption groups with the exception of Ron Walsek's original REGAP in
Florida, REGAP of Arizona, and Greyhound Rescue Society and Greyhound
Friends in Massachusetts, had joined GPA. REGAP of Connecticut, originally
interested in being part of the new organization, later decided to remain
separate. Most notable about the mid to late eighties, however, was the fact
that greyhounds as pets were no longer considered oddities.
Up to this time, the majority of people placing greyhounds had either been
connected in some way with the greyhound industry or had direct contact
with people who did. They recognized that the greyhound industry was
made up of more good guys than bad and that far more could be
accomplished to help the greyhounds with industry support and assistance.
As more and more people became active in promoting and placing retired
greyhounds, the adoption movement spread from racing states to non-racing
ones and greyhound adoption groups soon covered virtually every part of the
country except Hawaii, and had crossed the border into Canada as well.
While organizations in racing states still had first hand contact with people
in the greyhound industry and tended to take a neutral stance toward
greyhound racing, some of the newcomers, particularly those in non-racing
states, did not. Influenced by anti-racing animal rights advocates, they
began to attack the racing industry in the media and, although incidents of
greyhound abuse have always been in the minority, any that did occur (even
if years before), were sensationalized and expounded upon. The HSUS,
whose president in 1983 stated, "Once the training of live animals was
eliminated and we felt that everything possible was being done to assure that
the greyhounds were being humanely disposed of both prior to and after
they had lived out their usefulness, greyhound racing would effectively no
longer be targeted for any major actions or endeavours by an animal welfare
organization," has since become extremely vocal against greyhound racing.
Given a choice, most adoption groups would prefer positive articles to
negative ones. Negative press brings potential adopters out of the woodwork
all wanting to "save" a greyhound but, since this is a spur of the moment
decision, they seldom have the commitment needed to make an adoption
work and are all too ready to return the dog if they encounter adjustment
problems.
Some people in the greyhound industry, particularly at racetracks, continue
to leave themselves open to negative publicity by not keeping better controls
on those who handle the greyhounds. For example, when greyhounds
trucked to an adoption group arrive loaded with ticks and covered with
fleas, people assume that this is the norm at all tracks and that all
greyhounds are in this sad condition. In addition, anyone affiliated with an
adoption group who has spent hours de-ticking greyhounds, or any adopter
or foster home dealing with a flea infestation caused by the arrival of a
greyhound, is not going to look kindly on the greyhound industry and is
likely to believe all rumors of greyhound abuse.
In some ways, negative media attention may actually have benefitted the
greyhounds by influencing some in the greyhound industry to change their
attitude toward greyhound welfare from lip service to active support. The
late eighties and nineties have seen a steady increase in the number of
greyhound holding and/or adoption kennels at many tracks, as well as the
formation of the American Greyhound Council, the giving of grants to
greyhound adoption groups, the establishment of the greyhound adoption
fund administered by the ASPCA and, most recently, during the current
period of greyhound industry downsizing, the providing of direct physical
and financial assistance to facilitate the transporting of greyhounds from
closed tracks to adoption groups across the country.
The greyhound adoption movement is a success. The good news is that,
with fewer greyhounds now being bred and with over 200 adoption groups
across the country, more greyhounds are now being placed as pets than put
down. The bad news from a greyhound industry standpoint is that, despite
all they have done and continue to do to help the greyhounds, they just seem
to attract more and more adverse publicity. Somehow, in view of the
increasing support they have shown for greyhound welfare, this doesn't
seem fair.
Joan Dillon is a freelance writer and member of the Dog Writers Association
of America who resides in Randolph, Mass. A greyhound owner since 1979,
she became involved in the adoption movement in 1982 and currently
serves on the board of The Greyhound Project, Inc. This articl