mita

Only news I'm still waiting for .... that the Board and its Chairperson are also replaced.

Baby tibbie (click, enlarge):

Friends looked after a Tibbie who'd been rescued from a puppy farm in a RSPCA raid. Her legs had turned an orange colour from standing knee-deep in urine & faeces. Normal bathing didn't at first shift that imbedded stuff & smell. Some drops of Nil Odor in both the bath & rinse water worked very well to get a fresh smell. Nil Odor can be bought at the supermarket & is highly concentrated, that's why only drops are used. The orange colour just gradually faded with normal shampooing. But I like BC's tip about Sard Wonder Soap.

Comet is adorable. Sounds like his name fits, too. :)

Flossie is adorable. I vaguely remember something called Seniors for Seniors, where some group placed senior dogs with senior people. Is that still around somewhere?

A fair comment, raineth. But in the NW Brisbane case where the police issued a warning to residents, they had evidence & witnesses that a group of people were involved. Since then, I've erred on the side of caution. Our tibbies are never in the front yard. Only in the backyard (with side fences & solid boundary fencing) when we're home. When we're out, they're on a locked verandah deck (access into house) with access via a doggie door to a small purpose built high fenced, locked courtyard, for toileting. We share this with neighbours' tibbie. If they're out for the day, she comes to join ours.

Few years back, the local police put a notice thro' the local newspaper that people owning small, attractive dog breeds, should keep them away from the front of their yards. In NW Brisbane, a group of people were going around stealing dogs like this from yards. Presumably to sell as there's a ready market. Couple of years ago, Tibbie boy on the Gold Coast went missing. Family searched everywhere. The dad got his microchip details amended to add 'MISSING'. 8 months later a Tibbie was dropped at the AWL 'on behalf of owner who couldn't look after him any more'. When staff did the assessment, they were surprised when his microchip came up with 'MISSING' & the name of another family. They phoned that family who piled into their car & raced to the AWL. As staff said, it was so clear he was their dog.... he flew into his family's arms. Not a dry eye in the house!

Good to hear. There sure was v popular lure coursing already in Qld. A registered breeder we got our first tibbie from, in the Darling Downs area, used to take her tibs to local lure coursing. With their hare feet, like the sighthounds, some tibs can run like the wind (my sedate girls excepted! :) ) I hope lots of pics get posted, too. Dogs of all kinds look fantastic in full flight.

Agree, this thread is a joy. The pics are amazing!

Went looking for any statement of Ethical Guidelines for those involved in greyhound racing...like the Kennel Clubs have for p/b dog breeding. Couldn't find any but they have an Animal Care & Ethics Committee. I'd expect such a committee should have Ethical Guidelines as a core document. I stumbled on a paper from Southern Cross University on greyhounds in racing, from an Animal Law perspective. Lot of points already made in this thread, but worth a read. I was gobsmacked by the money involved ... $1.035 billion wagered on greyhounds in NSW during 2012-13 financial year. Also seems Australia is the 3rd largest producers of racing greyhounds in the world. Behind the US and Ireland. Given our small population by comparison with the US, we're not all that far behind them...big implications for the 'wastage' & rehoming issues. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:aCLLdlL1yIsJ:http://scu.edu.au/law-justice/download.php?doc_id%3D15433%26site_id%3D63%26file_ext%3D.pdf%2BNSW+Greyhound+Racing+Animal+Care+%26+Ethics+Committee&hl=en-AU&gbv=2&&ct=clnk

The only kennels we'll let our precious tibetan spaniels go to (& our shelties before that) is the Samford Pet Resort. Not cheap but they're worth it, IMO. They have a free pick-up & returns organized from a lot of vet clinics across the Brisbane area, as an option. There's a map on their website showing where these pick-up/drop-back places are. Click on there to find info. Or you can choose to drive out to the Kennels. We usually drive our girls out to Samford but use their drop-back service to our local vet clinic. They also have a 'sister' Pet Resort at Redcliffe: http://samfordpetresort.rtrk.com.au/?scid=50649&kw=4607552&pub_cr_id=22249843974

The purpose of the greyhounds is to run as they enjoy. The problem is that the context is not just a hobby, as with other dog sports. It's associated with a commercial, gambling industry where to be viable, money takes first place. And that means each greyhound in the industry is not just a dog doing what it enjoys, it's an economic unit, about which major calculations have to be made. How to balance that with modern expectations about dogs' welfare is the challenge. And, then, how to monitor & police given that they're kept on private property. I wonder how much parallel can be drawn with the purebred breeding world. Interestingly, some US research showed that the 'best raised' dogs for social purposes and, hence, long-term welfare ... came from registered breeders who regard what they do as a personal, loved hobby, not a business. These breeders are usually living up to the Ethical Guidelines set by Kennel Clubs. Of course, they still have to make economic considerations about their dogs. They'd be foolish & irresponsible not to. But priority can still go on the dogs & their breed. If only greyhound racing could be re-visioned as a hobby dog sport in a similar mould & with appropriate Ethical Guidelines. With expectations they're to be followed, & monitored, as far as humanly possible.

This. I'd elaborate on my support of this but.. I've been saying these things for years and no one listens anyway so.. I remember someone posting on the rescue forum that even the so-called No Kill rescue movement believed that around 10% of dogs would not be rehomeable for valid reasons. But the movement's label remains misleading, given they're actually talking about No Kill of Rehomeable dogs. There was a quote from Nathan Winograd, the guru of 'No Kill', pointing to the great success of a US Shelter that'd achieved a 90% rehoming rate. The guru was thrilled with that. How that particular percentage (10%) stacks up, would be open to discussion, as would what constitutes 'rehomeable'. But to say all dogs are rehomeable is out of touch with reality.

M-j, our friend & neighbour admitted that his humane approach, where his greys' welfare came first, was because he could treat the racing as his hobby, not a business. His job was a senior public servant, so he had a good salary to support his interest . He got pleasure when his greys ran well & they won prize money. Any bigger amount, he'd donate part to greyhound rehoming. It also meant that he'd happily take in, as a pet, a hopeless runner like Boofy, who'd been about to be shot as an economic liability. He loved Boofy (we all did). But, in an industry where money counts hugely, thanks to gambling ... and to so much economically riding on the greyhounds' backs, he admitted he was not the majority. I wish there were a way that greyhound racing could simply become a hobby dog sport ... not connected with an 'industry' & gambling.

You will, of course, take some pics of the Daisey girl. :) Saw in the weekend Brissie newspaper, a lovely pic of a rehomed greyhound called Banjo with his doting new dad...Tim Nicholls... who was the Treasurer in the Newman Government. Tim sings Banjo's praises... so loving & placid, wonderful with the children & excellent with their other pets. Wishing Daisey a future just like that!

That's the one! I enjoyed it, too.

The owner/trainer we knew would agree with you on the first & the last. He said the live baiting was not necessary because the greys already had a strong urge to run & chase, and other training & opportunity could bring it out. He didn't worry if one of his greys was still just not 'into it' as he'd rehome it as a pet. He loved greys as a breed, even those who didn't shine on the track. Which was why he also supported greys being shown. Even on the good sand tracks, he said greys can be prone to injury. His rule of thumb was to retire his racing greys, before injuries started to build up ... & rehome as pets. While I agree with you that rules are useless without policing them, I can't see how what owner/trainers do with their greys on their own private property or in bushland areas, can ever be policed.

NSW's frame of reference sounds good ... the whole caboodle, including welfare issues for the dogs.

Sorted.

The Greyhound Walk at South Bank by the greyhound rescue groups, not only got all the TV channels turning up to film for their News ...just heard that one TV camera man is enquiring to adopt one of the greys (a girl).

So pleased, Kitt. Bless that someone!

It's comments like that bloke's which show the truth of what the decent trainer told us suburbanites years ago. The use of live baiting was a well known 'training technique', not a shady secret only known to some. Which makes the protestations of the Greyhound Racing authorities that they're shocked & horrified to find it exists.... very hollow.

Great news! Hope they look at the Board, too. I've posted what I think are less than impressive comments from the chair of the Board.

Yes. Good to see groups going public to advocate for fostering & rehoming ex-racing greyhounds, now that numbers are just generally being dumped. Greyhound rescues in Qld had a morning walk at South Bank to show people how their assessed & fostered greys were lovely dogs for rehoming. On one rescue's Facebook page reporting on the event, people are offering to bring along their small dogs to the next one, to break a misconception that greys will invariably not be suitable around the smallies. I've offered to take my tibbie girls. I also gave a statement on how my own precious dog was a smallie tester in a thorough assessment process with GAP. Not once did any of the ex-racers who'd got up to that test, show the slightest inclination to do any harm. Funniest thing was when she had to trot/then run along in front of them, they just tried not to fall over her! Also delighted to see that AWL Qld, who's a practical supporter of rehoming greyhounds, has opened an up-market collectables/antiques store, name The Cat and Hound, with a greyhound form on their fancy sign. On the swish opening night bash, gorgeous greyhounds were special guests of honour. The pics are divine! https://www.facebook.com/thecatandhound?fref=photo

Exactly, DB. We ordinary, suburban plebs, who've never been to a greyhound race, knew that live baiting was used. Because long-term trainer neighbour told us. Not even in the context of shock-horror, but as a technique that some used, but he & his mates didn't. He didn't think it was necessary because the greys already had their levels of prey drive. As well as it being cruel. He told us there was another technique where greys were kept hungry on the belief they'd be more motivated to chase the lure. He didn't think that was necessary, either, because the greys were athletes who needed good nutrition & food as fuel for energy. He thought that was cruel, too.