Friday, October 21, 2005

Friday Hound Blogging

We've written before (here, here, here and here. Oh heck, here and here too. Yeah, and let's not forget...well...you get the picture) about the great lengths the overlords go to in the care of the units...er...the dogs.

So, having established the high degree of professionalism and deep sense of responsibility the overlords have, you can imagine how much of a shock wave crashed through the industry when this happened.

A faulty ceiling fan sparked a fire that killed 73 greyhound racing dogs at a private kennel. The dogs, which had multiple owners, were kept in cages inside a 60-by-14-foot trailer.

We admit to no love for mathematics (nor much skill in it either), but even our meager calculating ability determines that 73 dogs in a 60-by-14 foot trailer means each dog lived in an area a little less than three feet on a side. This is for a dog that could weigh upwards of seventy pounds and stand about three feet tall at the head.

"I wasn't real happy with that setup," Brooke County Sheriff Richard Ferguson said of the trailer. "That guy gives idiots a bad name, but there is nothing I can find in the law that says being useless is illegal."

"We had inspected the facility and found it to be acceptable," said a racing industry representative. "Of course 'acceptable' for us means the owner is current in his dues."

A woman who answered the phone at the home of the kennel's owner, (Eds. Note: we are not making this name up) Edward Zeroski, refused to comment or to take a message. "I ain't seen that pile a trash since he took off with the rent money," the woman said.

Zeroski had another deadly incident at a kennel he owned in 2000, the Sheriff said. An air conditioner malfunctioned, and 50 dogs died. "Yeah. I remember that," Sheriff Ferguson said. "Seems like every time the mortgage is due, or taxes or something like that there's a fire or something. You know, come to think of it, that's pretty weird."

Tell us about it. So the guy's name is Zero ski and he ends up as a dog racer. The Ironicus is Maximus, right Vinny?



Vinny is a very affectionate young dog. He is what is known as a "Velcro" dog which means he likes to be where you are at all times. He approaches everyone for friendly contact and attention. He is a young dog so has lots of energy therefore should live with a more active family. He is not a typical couch potato right now but isn't over exuberant either. He knows some manners already but is still in the learning stages of how to be a housedog. Rather then being shy around new things Vinny seems to approach with curiosity. He likes to investigate things he does not know or understand. He has an easygoing personality but is always ready to go somewhere when you are. Vinny has a long Roman nose and one ear that flops forward while the other one flops back. He would make a wonderful companion for an active family. 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.

1 comment:

James Brush said...

Appalling isn't it. We're adopting a another grey this weekend, and it just makes me ill what these beautiful animals endure. And sad that I can't take them all. I like your blog, by the way, especially the "Friday Hound Blogging" posts.