Why, you ask? Well, it was Jake. He was actually a lurcher, but I didn't know enough at the time to really care one way or another. And, he was amazing. Jake came to live with me at the age of 3 after having lived in a cement kennel without a name for three years. His "owner" would chain him and his littermates to an ATV to condition them for underground racing. When the owner was arrested, his dogs came to an adoption group and were placed. That adoption group, while no longer in existence, was very anti-race. That was my indoctrination to greyhound racing and adoption.
I am a reformed AR person. There may even be a G2K flyer lurking somewhere in my house. But I watched, I listened, I met industry people and I educated myself. I saw the blood, sweat and tears that people pour into these amazing animals. There is no glamour in working the tireless hours in a kennel, pouring into a dog that is so well socialized that vet visits are a breeze, so that they get off a hauler, tail wagging, looking for the party. This industry, these people are the safe haven for these dogs. They are the reason that I have more of them in my house than is probably adviseable.
Do we believe that racing will stop if it becomes illegal? Most definitely not. Then the real worrying will begin, as underground racing becomes more prominant and more dogs live like Jake lived the first three years of his life. Will the activists be the boots on the ground when that happens? I think not, I think the people who have seen the dogs through hurricanes and nuture and protect them every day and make them the incredible dogs that they are will be the ones who will choose to step up and pick up the pieces. So, yes, I am a reformed AR'er, a treehugger in many respects, but on this issue I stand with the United States racing community, for they are the ones truly advocating for the dogs. So I stand for Jake. I am so very grateful for the 11 years I had with him, but I will not stand by and watch us create an environment where there are more nameless, faceless dogs living in cement kennels, without the regulation and protection that the racing industry in the US affords.
Jennifer Castlen
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