Greyhound Tails

THE GREYHOUND ADOPTION MOVEMENT
Changing an Image
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. It’s 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 endeavors 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 councilors 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, Massachusetts. 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.