Friday Hound Blogging

Regular readers of this blog know that hope is a four letter word...er...we mean know about George Carney, overlord extraordinaire and frequent focus of our attention. It seems Mr. Carney's state, Massachusetts, has been less that appreciative for all the years of wholesome entertainment he has provided. In fact, they appear to be downright ungrateful.

Well, a fella can only take so much and now Mr. Carney has had enough.

With less than four weeks until election day, Raynham-Taunton Greyhound Park owner George Carney is launching a counterattack against a state ballot question that would shut down his race track by January 2010. "Come out to the track some afternoon," Carney told reporters at a hastily called news conference. "Take a look at the kind of people who come to a greyhound race, and then ask yourself do you want those people wandering around your neighborhood with nothing to do?"

Carney's effort to defeat the so-called Greyhound Protection Act - Question 3 on the Nov. 4 ballot - is being led by media consultant Glenn Totten, who owns his own computer. When asked
why the late start for those who want to keep the dog tracks open, Totten said, "We assumed the question wouldn't get on the ballot." Asked if the narrow defeat of a similar proposal in 2000, the 150,000 signatures collected to get the measure on the ballot this year and the court decision weren't clues, Totten replied that he "didn't have cable at home so I miss a lot of the news."

Carney has said that his operation has 650 full- and part-time employees and that there are 1,000 jobs supported by dog tracks statewide. "And in this economy, where are these people going to find low wage no benefit jobs?" Carney said last week. "Especially given the fact that most of them don't have any skills."

Both sides are also debating the number of greyhounds that are adopted when they retire from racing. Carney recently paid for a newspaper ad that said 100 percent of the greyhounds that are adopted from his track are adopted. "I stand by my statement," Carney said.

The Committee to Protect Dogs recently released a statement that 800 dogs were injured at Massachusetts tracks since 2002, suffering broken legs, paralysis, and even cardiac arrest. Totten didn't dispute the committee's figures, but said the group doesn't provide the whole picture. "They don't tell you about the dogs that get hurt in the kennels, or in fights due to lack of supervision, or become ill because of poor sanitation and diet." At that point Mr. Careny stepped in a took the microphone explaining that Mr. Totten appeared to be somewhat unclear on the "concept of public relations."

Oh, we don't know. Maybe it's Mr. Careny that's unclear. What do you think Whistler?

Whistler is friendly and outgoing. He loves attention. He is pretty calm and pretty confident. He is very affectionate and loves cuddling and following his family around the house; he’s a shadow. He is a Second Chance at Life Dog from the Coldwater Prison Program. Whistler would do well in a working family home with well-mannered children, 5 and up. He is good with other average to larger size dogs and would probably be fine as an only dog. 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.

And if you 'd like to know more about the good work the Second Chance at Life program is doing for the dogs, and the prisoners, go here.