Friday Hound Blogging

Man, 2008 has not been kind to the overlords. Well, truth be told, neither was 2007, 2006, 2005...you get the point. Tracks close, overlords go to jail, more tracks close, more overlords go to jail. Racing's just not the 24/7 money making juggernaut they were led to believe it was at the job fair. Of course, to be fair, anyone who goes to a job fair being held out of the back of a '62 Dodge Dart station wagon in a K Mart parking lot probably deserves what they get, but that's not our point.

Our point is the latest slap in the collective faces of the overlords, videlicet: Massachusetts.

Voters in Massachusetts will soon decide whether greyhound racing should continue there, though the real question might be whether the once-popular sport dies a quick death or a slow one.

Ouch. Rock, meet hard place.

Across the country, the legions of blue-collar fans the industry relied on have been lured away by casinos, lotteries, online gambling, better nutrition and improved dental care.

"It’s certainly changing," said Gary Guccione, executive director of the National Greyhound Association. "It has downsized in recent years. We’ve seen a decrease in the number of tracks and dogs being bred. And by decrease in dogs being bred I mean increase. I was never very good at math."

Since the end of 2004 alone, 13 U.S. tracks have closed or ended live dog racing, according to the Committee to Protect Dogs, which is leading the campaign for the Massachusetts ban. It has raised nearly $400,000 since January 2007, nearly 10 times as much as opponents of the ban have raised. "Well, in our defense, it's hard to get money from people when you're responsible for them having to eat cat food," Guccione told reporters. "Kind of complicates the relationship if you get my drift."

Gary Temple, general manager Raynham Greyhound Park in Raynham, is leading the opposition to the ballot question. He calls backers "zealots" who are misleading the public about track conditions and the treatment of dogs. "I am animal lover myself and I would never allow an animal to be mistreated here," he said. "Which is why I make sure slow dogs are shipped off to low end tracks."

Activists say there’s no way to monitor what happens to the dogs sent to tracks in other states — and even Temple concedes that "after they go to another track it’s up to that track. Pretty tricky huh? I learned stuff like that in law school, it's called plausible deniability."

Yeah. Too bad he didn't learn human compassion in law school too, huh Jake?

Jake wags his tail a lot, even to people that he passes by in the park. He plays with a furry squeaky toy on his own. He’s very calm and quiet. He can be goofy. He will push the family dog away at times; when she is right there next to him, he will push her with his butt. He’s very sweet. Jake would do fine in a working family home with well-mannered children over the age of 9. He gets along with other dogs, but he would probably be fine an only dog. Jake can jump a standard fence, so he needs a home with a privacy fence or with a family who will always walk him on lead. 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.