Friday Hound Blogging

Frequent reader(s) of this blog will recall the promise of youth turned ashen over the years and now blown about by the desultory winds of time...erm...we mean will recall that when we last looked in on the overlords of West Virginia (Motto: We thought East Kentucky was taken) they were explaining their state of the art medical procedures and training methods because you know these dogs are highly trained athletes who have enormous amounts of time and money invested in their development and in order to perform at their best they must continually receive top notch care plus we love and respect the breed and think of them almost as members of the family. Well, if by members of the family you mean like children of your wife's first marriage who never really accepted you and go out of their way to make your like difficult with their constant disrespect, insolence and even though you bend over backwards to get along with them are noting but spoiled brats who should have their pampered little fannies blistered until they have to eat dinner standing up for a week. That kind of family.

Which brings us to today's chapter in Care And Feeding of the Racing Greyhound for Profit (because why else would you want one of these flea bags around?)

The State Racing Commission revoked the license of a Mardi Gras Casino dog track worker for alleged greyhound abuse earlier this fall. Cory Fisher admitted to pulling a greyhound down by the collar and pushing its head in a rough manner on Oct. 23, according to ruling issued by the State Racing Commission. Surveillance cameras allegedly caught Fisher abusing the dog in the paddock area of the racetrack.

"What you call 'abuse' we call standard training protocols," Mr. Fisher told the Commission. "These dogs are not pets," he continued. "They've never been thrown a ball, or given a toy, or allowed on the couch. They have no frame of reference for that experience, so to them being choked and having their faces jammed into the ground is just another day at the office."

We don't know about you Mr. Fisher, but if we worked in an office where our boss tried to choke us it would probably be an indication that someone should call Human Resources. Come to think of it, if our boss locked us in a closet for 18 to 22 hours a day, fed us diseased meat and, at our retirement party tried to give us a lethal injection instead of a watch we might want to have a word with the union Steward too.

Fisher told the commission that he was having a bad day, according to the ruling.

Mr. Fisher, seriously. If you're an overlord you aren't having a bad day, you're having a bad life.

Grey2k USA, a nonprofit dedicated to ending dog racing released a study on greyhound racing injuries in September, finding that 4,700 greyhounds were injured at the state's two dog-racing tracks within the past five years. More than 1,400 of those injuries were catastrophic, career-ending injuries, according to the study.

"Yeah, but those are injuries that happen on the track," Mr. Fisher said. "It really doesn't count when we hurt the dogs off the track, does it?"

Hmmm...so Mr. Fisher is having a bad day and he takes it out on the unfortunate unit who happened to be closest to him. Kind of gives a whole new meaning to therapy dog, huh Dew?

Are you looking for a care free girl that can let the wind blow through her ears (check her in a car with a moon roof!) and is still respectable enough to introduce to your mother? An independent girl but still VERY affectionate? A girl with the usual talents , yet also adventurous enough to try new things, such as a cake walk and walking off with the first prize? Beautiful Dew just might be that special lady to add to your life. She is in foster, doing great with house rules and has been enjoying her retirement. Come meet this special girl. 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 here.