Exercise? Me? No Thanks

Someone said to me once "if greyhound racing ends, greyhounds as a breed may become extinct. People will not chose to have a greyhound as a pet because of all the exercise that they need". Luckily most people today know that the exact opposite of that is the case. Greyhounds are the laziest dogs of all. They would be quite content to lie on a couch with their legs in the air all day. Of course, I am not advocating that you don't take your greyhound out for a walk, but I am saying that they don't need lots of exercise as this person thought they did.

We have four ex-racers here at home with us and I take them out for a twenty to thirty minute walk after breakfast. If it is raining it's a heck of a job to get them to step outside, however, most mornings we take our walk in the woods and they amble along at my side, and I just know that they are thinking, "come on, let's get home, I want my sleep now". So, that person who thought that greyhounds need a lot of exercise could not be more wrong.

When greyhound racing does finally end, and it will soon because more and more people are becoming aware of the terrible cruelty that is an inherent part of it, greyhounds will be very much in demand as a treasured pet, a status that they have deserved and failed to achieve for so very long. There are so many reasons for this, their placid nature, their laid back temperament, their desire to please you and their loving ways for a start. A further bonus is that they don't shed their coat very much and have no "doggie odour" at all. People who are unable to have other breeds of dogs because of allergic reactions can usually tolerate greyhounds very well.

At the time of writing this there are only 13 states in the USA that still have live greyhound racing. In the other 39 states there is either no greyhound racing at all or it is virtual, computerised racing. The people who are working towards making the USA a compassionate country for greyhounds are winning their fight. Every year one or more of the remaining states to have live race tracks are closing them down. We in Britain must all do our part to end this barbaric industry as well, and the way to do that is simply to tell everyone you know to never support greyhound racing by placing a bet on it. Let's see if we can make Britain free of this cruelty before the USA, let's have a friendly race to do that, and don't worry, there will still be lots of greyhounds around, just as there was before all this started in the 1920s, but they will be here as loved pets, not as exploited and abused racing machines.