Friday Hound Blogging

Another week has passed in the exciting world of dog racing, or as the overlords like to say "Getting our share of other people's social security checks." And what's the big news this week? Well, no one went to jail. At least not yet. A jury has been unable to reach a verdict on central corruption charges against two former executives of the Lincoln Greyhound Park, including the then chief executive Nigel Potter.

Professor Andrew Horwitz, a law professor at Roger Wiliams University said, "With the jury [evenly] split, I would expect in this kind of a high-profile case they would retry it. There is a significant public interest in this prosecution because these guys are as crooked as a dog's hind leg. Ha Ha. Get it? That's a joke. See because these guys race dogs and I said they're as crooked as a dogs hind leg. It's funny. It really is."

Elsewhere the overlords are engaged in a campaign to increase the popularity of racing by diverting people's attention from it. Greyhound racing has been fading for more than a decade, accounting now for just a nickel of every dollar bet in the country. Breeders say if the Kansas Supreme Court orders the Legislature to spend significantly more on education, state lawmakers may be more inclined to support the idea of putting slot machines at dog tracks.

"We don't have a whole lot going for us," said Vince Berland, a greyhound breeder, "So we'll try anything to keep from having to work for a living."

Speaking of working for a living, the 1000+ greyhounds that were recently down sized as a result of the closing of their track in Connecticut have apparently all found homes. Or maybe not. By the end of May, the track told reporters that most of the dogs were accounted for, and headlines appeared to celebrate the happy ending. The public was told that the dogs were either adopted, sent to other tracks to race, or sent back to the farms. Sadly, the track had not provided authorities with their active and inactive racing dog inventory as requested when the track's closing was first announced, a list necessary so that those involved in their welfare would know exactly how many dogs were really at risk and some sort of independent tracking and verification system could be put into place.

"It's like you don't trust us or something," a track official who didn't want his name used said. "Now it's true some of the dogs were sent home to Alabama, but hey, home is home."

Well, here's a dog who wants a home like yours. Meet Conundrum:

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Conundrum is happy, vivacious, friendly, and exuberant. She is a real leaner. She likes to rest her head in your lap for attention. She is playful and energetic, but is also well mannered. She likes to throw toys in the air and she will hide them in her crate. She sometimes gets excited and will jump straight up and down on all four feet. She is a typical greyhound collector, and she has decorated her crate with wrapping paper. For more information about this dog, and other rescued racing greyhounds looking for homes, go here. If you don't know about the plight of racing greyhounds go here.