Question 3

[richips.livejournal.com]

Forgive my ignorance, but now that the ban on dog racing thankfully has been passed, what happens to the dogs?
Will they be put to sleep? Go to the mspca? Did they have a follow up program prepared?

If not, can we start something? Because we will need to act fast to make this vote not be in vain if they don't already have a plan.

Comments

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

I don't believe this goes into effect until like 2010 (I'll have to look up the exact dates). There are adoption programs in place and I imagine they will be adopting out all of the dogs over the next couple of years.

[ron_newman]

I don't know the answer to this question, but the racing ban doesn't take immediate effect. It starts on January 1, 2010.

[rufinia.livejournal.com]

A lot of them will be put to sleep.

[jellobiafrascat.livejournal.com]

where are you getting this information from?

[kpht.livejournal.com]

There are already racing greyhound adoption groups in the state that I'm sure anticipated this and will be ready, and like everyone else pointed out, there is another year and a few months before the tracks actually shut down. If you want to help, I'd suggest donating money, time, or a foster home to

http://www.greyhound.org/

[richips.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[imvfd.livejournal.com]

Certainly Wonderland has been giving up greyhounds for adoption for a while so I imagine that these efforts will be stepped up. Although I imagine that like any animal rescue effort, if the dogs don't get adopted within some time frame, they will be put down. The tricky part is that greyhounds are very much moving around dogs and have medical issues due to being bred for speed so finding good homes for them is going to be a bit more of a challenge than with other dogs.

[jellobiafrascat.livejournal.com]

yes, a lot of the dogs that will be put down are ones with too many medical issues to be properly treated. It's a sad reality, but the upside is that after 2010, this will dissolve into an issue we won't have to deal with ever again.

[geekpixie.livejournal.com]

I'm amused by the "very much moving around dogs" statement :) Greyhounds are the biggest couch potatoes I have ever had the joy of being an owner of. They love running in the park if you take them out, but they'll also sleep on a couch for 6 hours at a time. I wouldn't be able to speak to the health issues, as ours were healthy as..well horses to be honest :) But our two brindle girls were retired racers and the sweetest things I've ever seen. They make good city dogs,as they are quiet and well trained for crate and travel (no matter how unfortunate the originating circumstances were) and I've seen a lot of people with them locally. I was somewhat involved in fostering when I lived in Western MA. with Greyhound Options, and they didn't seem to have a lot of challenges finding homes, so hopefully that hasn't changed as this comes to pass! I also hope that breeders prepare for this eventuality and slow down breeding programs locally. *fingers crossed*

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

greyhounds are lazybutts

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

depends on the rescue.

most rescues are actually different from shelters in that dogs don't get put to sleep simply because they aren't adopted. they live with families as a foster dog, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

They go to another state.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_mattt/]

That's my understanding. Desirable dogs will simply go on to race elsewhere. A valuable dog is still a valuable dog.

Re: They go to another state.

[richips.livejournal.com]

oh god i hope you are wrong.

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Look at it this way: a dog doesn't start racing until it's about what? 2-3 years old? Maybe 1.5? At one they're still an adolescent, and while they might be fast, their bones/muscles are still growing. So litters that are in progress now won't ever race. Thus breeding will stop instantly, and young pups will either be dumped at shelters or put up for adoption or killed outright, because why should breeders pay to bring up/train dogs that won't ever get them money?

Now, greedy dog owners will want to keep training up and coming dogs so they can still have "good racing stock" up until the very last race, on Dec 31, 2009. But they won't want to waste their time on sub-standard dogs that they might have wanted to work with more if racing was to continue.

There's also the people who think that this ban will be overturned, and will keep going at their old pace. And remember, chicken fighting is outlawed, but there's still fights. How much you want to bet some dog racing goes underground too?

[ron_newman]

It would be hard to operate something on the scale of Wonderland racetrack illegally and hidden from public view. Even if some illegal dog racing and wagering continues, it would be an order of magnitude less than what we have today.

[nungnung.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine who adopted a greyhound through the Greyhound Rescue of New England is already making plans with them to step up adoption awareness programs. She'll be bringing her beautiful (and sweet!) dog with her to meet-and-greet events, and encourage them to consider greyhound adoption.

[gwodder.livejournal.com]

Well if I had a lot of money invested in racing dogs, I guess I'd probably drive 'em over the border to one of the states where it's still legal to race dogs, and keep racing them.

They'd still be MINE after all.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, being sold to people who use them in other places seemed like the most likely outcome to me. Or being raced in illegal/underground races.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

A little known fact about question 3: It also legalized greyhound fighting

[ron_newman]

Say more please?

another thought on this

[giazz-40.livejournal.com]

And another thought, these dogs are bred to race? We took that away from them, so now what? I think that these dogs need to get out and have fun races, anything planned for that?

I'm all up for adoption, but I can't because of the fact that I live in a condo, and money is tighter than ever. If we put out word now, that these dogs need to be adopted out, we should help promote that in anyway we can.

Re: another thought on this

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

see above. greyhounds are actually largely couch potatoes. they do not 'need to race.' they need regular care and exercise, just like any dog :)

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to find info on the number of dogs at the 2 MA dog tracks and couldn't find it. My google-fu isn't working. Anybody know?

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I believe what will happen to them will be the same as if Q3 had not passed, except that going forward, we'll have fewer dogs to deal with.

[jamiesquared.livejournal.com]

I have heard rumors of this and was curious if any of you know more factual info...supposedly since greyhound racing is going away fewer and fewer greyhounds will be bred and eventually they will be gone. How accurate would you say this is? Are there enough people breeding them for pets instead of just racing animals?

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

The bred is not going to go away even if racing is ended in all States (and the industry as a whole is less than half of what it was in the 80s). People like greyhounds and will have them as pets. There will be lots of fewer animals however.

They get shot.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

See what you did? :)

Re: They get shot.

[richips.livejournal.com]

Did? I can't vote.

[purpless77.livejournal.com]

OP. Knowing animal rescue, I'm sure they will do all they can to find homes for the healthy dogs and those they can help. They will most likely adopt out dogs to surrounding states, NH, VT, ME, RI, CT, NY, etc. This is a common practice when a large amount of animals are being rescued. When the ban is put in place these dogs will gain a lot of media coverage and bring a lot of interest not only to the breed itself but to the dogs who need homes. They also usually have criteria to meet so the dogs won't end up back on the track or in homes who shouldn't have them.

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

I'm sure they will do all they can to find homes for the healthy dogs

The dogs have owners. The owners want to make money from the dogs. They are not going to turn the dogs over to rescues; they are going to race the dogs elsewhere or sell them to people who will.

Most of the dogs will certainly stay on the track, and probably on less-well-regulated tracks than the Massachusetts tracks.

[clevernonsense.livejournal.com]

So I just read some random junk and it seems many/most of these dogs aren't even owned by the tracks, but leased/borrowed.

"McKinnon said that most of the dogs now housed at the dog track won’t become house pets. They will simply be shipped to other states to continue racing."

It's still the fact that there will be less demand, which means fewer.

I have to say though, I will be sad if that means fewer greyhounds being adopted in MA (dur to fewer being around to adopt).

[icecreamempress.livejournal.com]

Welcome to the Law of Unintended Consequences.

When legal greyhound racing ends in Massachusetts in 2010, the greyhounds currently racing at Massachusetts tracks will either be shipped off to tracks elsewhere, or will have aged out/gotten injured and been put up for adoption.

The ones who are still racing will probably have even fewer protections, in terms of oversight into their conditions, than they do currently. Massachusetts greyhound tracks were considered among the best-regulated in the world, and the MSPCA worked hard to ensure that the dogs weren't mistreated. Now they'll be shipped to other states or other countries (Costa Rica and the Phillipines both have big greyhound-racing industries).

This may well be a net gain in the long run, as closing venues for greyhound racing decreases demand for the sport, but in the short term it will have some negative consequences for individual greyhounds.

People who are concerned about the individual greyhounds should adopt and support greyhound rescues all they can. However, to address the plight of the individual greyhounds who are still young and fit enough to race, people are going to need to buy them from their owners rather than have them shipped off to still-legal venues elsewhere in the world.

It would be great if the people who put so much effort into collecting money to sponsor this ballot question would keep up the initiative to make that part of it happen.

Exactly...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Make it illegal, and it will still take place underground, without any regulations.

[madrigal.livejournal.com]

Me too.
It's great for the dogs (except now I'm reading that they will just be shipped elsewhere).
Some of those people have been working there 30-40 years. An article I read said they would receive job training, but a lot of those people are 60-70 years old.