Friday Hound Blogging

We here in the marbled halls of IM Central would like to propose a debate. Not between President Obama and Bob 2.0, but between Tucson Greyhound Park CEO and General Manager Tom Taylor and Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (Wally's College of Veterinary Medicine and Truck Driving School, class of '95) Joe "Needles" Robinson the track Vet.

Now you might say wait a minute Ironicus, we've met Tom  Taylor and Joe  "Needles"  Robinson (Wally's College of Veterinary Medicine and Truck Driving School, class of '95) before. Between them they have the IQ of a tablespoon, and you want them to debate?

Exactly. But the purpose of this debate would not be to defend a position, or to elucidate a policy, but to see, in a given period of time who could say the most stupid things about greyhound racing and the care given the units...erm...dogs.

Uh huh. Uh huh. Now you're saying "Whoa. That could be quite a competition." Right. We'd have to give the early edge to Taylor simply because of his experience saying stupid things about how the greyhounds are cared for. We thought he couldn't top that whole Taj Mahal thing he said a while back when he was refusing to let reporters into his kennels to look around, but we'd have to say the "birth control" explanation for why he has the dogs trucked out of the city for steroid injections has got to come pretty close. Wouldn't you agree Ward 6 Councilman Steve Kozachik?

"Those dogs are muzzled, and they're kept in kennels they can barely stand up in for something like 18 hours a day. Then you've got some moron like (track manager) Tom Taylor saying the dogs like it this way, and that people like me just don't understand how to train a dog to be an athlete."

Councilman please. Leave the personal insults to the professionals, OK? Besides, calling Tom Taylor a moron is like calling Mitt Romney's positions on the issues "flexible." It's kind of true, but it just doesn't seem to carry the linguistic oomph the situation requires. Sort of like saying Rory Goree has some intellectual challenges instead of dude's dumber than a bag of dryer lint, man.

Now Joe "Needles" Robinson (Wally's College of Veterinary Medicine and Truck Driving School, class of '95) on the other hand, doesn't have the track record of public asininity that Taylor has, but if you listen to his colleagues in the field, you can get a sense that this guy is no slouch when it comes to embarrassing his profession, violating his oath and just generally giving Veterinary Medicine a bad name, right Arizona veterinary board Executive Director Victoria Whitmore?

Robinson has had troubles with the state veterinary board in the past. He was placed on probation by the Arizona State Veterinary Medical Examining Board in 2010 for a medical records violation. He was ordered to get a premise license for his practice and to take some continuing education classes. Robinson got the license but refused to take the classes, so his probation was extended a second year. A few weeks ago, Whitmore said, the board resolved the case by fining Robinson $1,000 in lieu of the education courses.

Well of course he refused to take the classes, wouldn't you? We mean, classes are where you go to learn stuff. Joe "Needles" Robinson (Wally's College of Veterinary Medicine and Truck Driving School, class of '95) had the same problem in Vet school where they also wanted him to learn stuff. How much do you need to know to shoot a dog full of steroids, or look at a greyhound who just fell on the track and has a bone sticking out of its leg and say, "Yep he's done for?"

See, that's the problem with people who have never been to a track and so don't know about greyhound racing. They have all of these unrealistic expectations, right Super C?

Super C is a very sweet, patient and gentle boy. He wants to be close to you and loves attention. He is housebroken. He will go in his crate but does not like it. He is not cat safe and shows a bit too much attention to small dogs. He is a big goofy boy who runs into things and trips on rugs. Super C would do well in a working home. He would do well with older well-behaved children due to his clumsiness. He may accidentally knock small children down. He would do well as an only dog or in a home with dogs his own size. 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.