“12 Greyhounds Free To Good Home”

Many of you will have heard of the Retired Greyhound Trust (RGT), and will probably be aware of the good work they do promoting the virtues of and rehoming Greyhounds who have come to the end of their racing career. Every year many thousands of Greyhounds never make the grade to race or have their career on the track terminated due to injury, age or simply because the dog fell short of expectations. In 2009 alone, the RGT has found new homes for 4,725 of these ex racers.

What many people don’t realise is that this figure represents only one quarter of Greyhounds bred to meet the demand generated by British Greyhound tracks. The other three quarters are either put to death, not always humanely, or rehomed independently by the owners.

The reasons for this are purely financial. The RGT has to charge the owners a nominal fee for looking after the dogs before they are rehomed – for things like neutering, food, and admin costs. And when you consider that a vet may charge around £35 to euthanize a track dog, the attraction of advertising a greyhound ‘free to good home’ is all too apparent. Even having the animal shot is not without cost and may result in disciplinary action. And with the survival of racing increasingly dependent on professional trainers, and survival for the trainers increasingly dependent on running a large number of dogs, such costs are now a key business consideration.

Margins are very tight even for successful players, a point Oxford champion trainer Michael Peterson touched on in conversation last year: “The finances in this sport are piss poor. A lot of trainers are basically just covering their costs which to be honest with you I am. I am not making bundles of money, I’ve got a young family and I have eight to nine dogs here that need homing.”

The result is frequently the independent and indiscriminate homing of greyhounds. But the owners rehoming dogs this way are not taking the dog’s best interests into consideration. Not surprisingly, many such dogs see a quick succession of ownership and many are later found neglected, abused and abandoned.

In the sleepy Suffolk town of Leiston during May, shoppers may have spotted an advertisement in the town’s pet shop window for “12 greyhounds free to good home(s).” The ad offered both sexes and a variety of colours to choose from and all were said to be of excellent temperament.

What was not asked was the character of the people phoning up to offer them homes. A reporter called the number to see how her enquiry would be handled: “The trainer didn’t ask any questions about my situation concerning such matters as my work, home and garden. In theory I could be living on the top floor of a block of flats or banned from keeping animals. And whilst he was led to believe I had never previously adopted a greyhound, little advice was given.”

The Greyhounds advertised in the above pet shop were being off-loaded by a local trainer. When interest was expressed in homing two of the dogs the trainer reportedly sounded delighted. No home check would be carried out and needless to say none of the greyhounds would be neutered prior to homing. “He had the uncanny ability to tell from my voice that the dogs would be well looked after” and the opportunity to get rid of one, possibly two greyhounds, quickly at zero cost was all he was interested in.

The Greyhound Board of Great Britain (GBGB) Rules of Racing states that when a greyhound is sold or found a home this action is to be carried out “responsibly” (Rule 18, 1e). No definition is offered as to what exactly this entails.

A simple amendment to Rule l8 that would help eliminate the above scandal was put to the regulatory body back in 2007 but dismissed out of hand, and whilst very evident apathy prevails so the tragedy will continue. The trainer was reported to the GBGB but is unlikely to face disciplinary action.

Officials no doubt appreciate the difficulties facing trainers and it suits the industry to turn a blind eye. A greyhound indiscriminately homed is still a greyhound homed and collectively the national homing figure receives a significant boost without any funding from the industry. This data can in turn be used to promote greyhound racing. The trainer wins, the industry wins and who cares about the welfare of greyhounds.

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Tags:  Animal Charities, Animal Cruelty, Animal Welfare, greyhounds free to good home, Social Issues