Friday Hound Blogging

Recently we told you about overlord Jesse Burgess who packed a dog trailer twice as full as it should have been and set off on a merry 12 hour trip to Mexico through the desert southwest. When he got there he found that the dogs were in bad shape and eight had even died.

Burgess had been an overlord for twenty years so you can imagine his surprise when he realized the dogs had not weathered the trip well. "I just don't understand it," Burgess said. "The trailer was air conditioned and I took the turns really gently. Maybe I should have stopped once or twice and gave them water or something."

When the story hit the press...OK, because the story hit the press overlord central went all medieval on Burgess' buttocks fining him for this and banning him from that. "I wish these guys had told me there were rules before," said Burgess just before his job interview at Walmart.

After dispatching the "bad apple" the overlords' overlord announced that once again greyhound racing could return to the wholesome cleanliness of good family fun that it was. Oh, and you can gamble too.

Well, maybe not.

Animal Control worked late into the night to remove almost 100 greyhound dogs from a holding facility. Many of the rescuers had to wear protective gear due to the massive flea infestation of the dogs.

John Rippetoe, who owns the kennels where the dogs were seized said, "What a bunch of girlie men those Animal Control guys are. Afraid of a little flea. I go in there every day in just shorts and a shirt. Well, maybe not every day. Ok, I was there a couple of months ago and it wasn't so bad. Most of my bites healed right up. Come to think of it, I fill their water dishes with a fire hose from about thirty yards away now. Yeah, maybe we do have a small problem."

Now, astute readers of this blog (Big shout out to you Ma Mere) might begin to wonder why, when the overlords go on and on about how these dogs are investments, how they are pampered athletes, how they represent years of training and care, why it is that they are treated like yesterday's garbage.

Well, as almost anyone outside of the industry will tell you--and by outside of the industry we mean people who graduated from high school in less than six years--the answer is here and here for starters.

Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park decided to put some of its land to use by selling it to a company that wants to build a refuse transfer station on it. "We think it's quite appropriate to have a trash dump on our property said Gary Temple, Raynham Taunton Track Manager. "Plus it will make it easier to get rid of the dogs when they can't turn a buck anymore. Oops. Did I say that last part out loud?"

Wonderland Greyhound Track is shutting down the kennels as it battles a long slide in business. "Animal exploitation just isn't the draw it used to be," said a track official who asked not to be identified because "My friends all think I sell used cars. They'd lose respect for me if they found out I was in greyhound racing."

Eh...maybe you can get on at the trash dump. In the meantime, here's another hound who underwent the benevolent care of the overlords and survived. Meet Devie's Kodiak:

Kodiak is quiet and loving. He is a real love sponge. He likes to lean against you and will press his head right against your body for attention. When his foster mom sits with him on the floor, he will put a foot on her leg so he is touching her. He looks at his people with his big loving “doe” eyes that melt your heart. He loves to look at his reflection in the mirror. 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.