Friday Hound Blogging

Hey you know what? We haven't been down to visit friend of the blog Tom Taylor for a while. For those of you just joining us, Tom Taylor is the head overlord at the only dog racing track left in Arizona, or as we like to call it, Tucson Death Camp for Greyhounds.

Now, to say that 2012 was not kind to old Tom is like saying Paul Ryan just missed qualifying for humanitarian of the year. First the Arizona legislature cut him loose from using them as an excuse to race more dogs; then there was the...how to say this politely...Needles Robinson incident that drew attention to the fact that "putting the dogs' welfare first" meant trucking all them over the state trying to find a place to pull over and shoot them full of steroids. And while all this was going on there were the occasional investigations and the ongoing questions about the number of injured greyhounds, as well as the fact that someone in the Pima County Animal Control office suddenly realized there were dogs at the dog racing track, and none of them were properly licensed. They were shocked we tell you SHOCKED!

So yeah, not the kind of year you want to put in your scrapbook, but through it all Tom took the hits like a real trooper, until finally he put his foot down and said, enough! If the public was going to be deprived of watching innocent living creatures risk their lives so the local overlords wouldn't be forced to jump into the labor pool swamping it with a bunch of no skill losers with substance abuse problems and anger management issues, it wasn't going to be on Tom's watch.

So how is our noble defender of heartless animal exploitation faring against the slings and arrows of outrageous animal rights wackos?  Eh. Not so good.

Saying restrictive new laws are hurting business, Tucson Greyhound Park will reduce its racing schedule from six days a week to four. There aren't enough dogs to run six days a week anymore, said park CEO Tom Taylor. Dog owners have told him "it's not worth doing business in Tucson" because of new bans on giving anabolic steroids to female dogs to prevent them from going into heat.

Hey Tommy. Got something for you:

What's that you said Jax? You'd give him the finger but you don't have fingers? Here, borrow one of ours.

Jax Ireland is a very sweet and affectionate girl. She loves to be around and meet new people. Jax prefers dogs her own size. She is interested in cats but would be okay living with them and could learn not to play with them. Jax would do well in a home with a working family or with someone who is home with her. She  would do well with older, well-behaved children.  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.