by Evi Mibelli
(translation by Sara Matteoli)
Greyhounds training
Greyhounds, dogs employed in tough races, are very often severely abused, although few people know about all this. Very little is said about these wonderful animals, even in those countries where dog tracks and the related betting are legal and very popular. Sometimes they are even encouraged and promoted by a powerful industry that offers such ‘events’ as wholesome entertainment for families, and considers these dogs as “racing cars” to be scrapped when they lose competitiveness or ‘break’. Such people breed them as consumption goods; their killing is daily practice for professionals. No feelings, no mercy. Nothing at all.
The public is unaware of what goes on backstage at dog tracks. They just ignore or simply do not ask what fate is reserved to the thousands of greyhounds that are legally killed every year, after living a life of suffering and imprisonment. Looking deeply into this world, it appears immediately clear that in any case a puppy is bred to have no future, away from races.
Ireland is one of the largest ‘producers’ of Greyhounds, with an annual load equal to 40.000/50.000 puppies: an intensive breeding for the illusory and spasmodic search for the champion that will bring money and glory to the proud owner/breeder. Only half of these puppies have hopes of reaching the dog tracks, because the ‘others’ – the less gifted – are destined to die before 2 years of life.
A greyhound in a cage
Among racing Greyhounds, at least one third is killed in accidents and injuries during workouts and races. The remaining ones have a life expectancy between 2 and 4 years. Then, also for the ‘lucky racers’, the career ends in any case with their suppression. Calling them ‘lucky’ is a euphemism, because Greyhounds spend their miserable and short lives in tiny concrete boxes from which they come out depending on trainings and competitions.
Their training starts when they are about one year old. It is a tough school that denies all freedom and even the possibility to play. They learn only what they need for racing, in order to perfectly follow the lead, travel in the kennel and be handled. They live almost constantly wearing a muzzle, which is not removed even during meals – not because they are aggressive, but because they must not lose concentration.
Concrete and muzzle: these two things characterize their lives, which, when the owner is compassionate, end with a lethal injection. More often they are left dying of hunger and thirst, a method considered far more ‘economic’, or are mutilated and abandoned, transferred for trial as ‘total’ donors of blood (i.e. their blood, which has particular characteristics, is entirely drained), and they are sold to Asian restaurants and exported for races in countries such as Spain, Morocco, Asia, where they will live in appalling conditions.
As mentioned before, these dogs are very little known, and often seen as ‘stupid’. But they are not stupid at all. Greyhounds are rather delicate creatures, gentle-mannered, with a multifaceted personality and a discrete but resolute character. They are never servile. Do not ask them to bring the ball back. They will do it only once, to show they have understood the request, but they will not repeat the action. These dogs live like shadows by the side of those who become their lucky owners. They are never intrusive, never. They are powerful and robust in spite of their threadlike appearance, as well as perfect home companions, quiet and stiff, despite their dimensions. They love to curl up on couches or on comfortable pillows and nap for hours a day. Their needs are exactly the same as any other dog’s.
Greyhound puppies
There is no need to own a garden or to do hours of strenuous hiking. Their devotion is infinite: the physical contact as well as being close to their human companions is, for those who have never known attention or patting, a priceless gift. Some people have been involved for years in relocating ex-racer greyhounds, a commitment brought forward with passion and determination to give a chance of surviving to these beautiful animals. Even though these people are very few, compared to the drama of the tens of thousands of greyhounds mercilessly killed every year, they are precious messengers of a ‘battle’ that seeks to finally pierce the veil of silence that surrounds the reality of greyhounds as well as the world of dog racing. Adopting one of these animals means saving two: the one coming into a family and the other one gaining a safe place in a shelter.
Paraphrasing Baudelaire, “the Greyhound is that noble prince of clouds who does not care about storms, and laughs at the archer. Then, exiled on earth, with its giant wings it cannot walk”.
Some particularly shocking videos are available here: video 1, video 2 and video 3.
(From an interview to Lilian Mazzola – GACI Greyhound Adoption Center Italy)
