Dogs With Jobs: Racing Greyhound Puppies!
We’ve got another installment of the famous Dogs With Jobs feature! So far you’ve met dogs employed by the Federal Government, State sponsored police dogs, dogs who assist the infirmed and elderly and even froofy cute show dogs who prim and pose for treats, among other cool animal jobs. Today we’re highlighting another kind of performance job: greyhound racing dogs!
With extra long bodies, sleek and slim for superior aerodynamics, these amazing animals zoom around tracks like racing horses, except there’s no jockey tiny enough to ride these adorable pups, unless you trust little monkeys to ride on them. Little monkeys however can rarely be trusted so however fun it would be we’ll save that for the circus and let the dogs direct themselves. So from the time they are tiny, these greyhound racers are trained rigorously to be the very best and fastest they can be! Of course in our gallery below we’re focusing on those early months when these soon-to-be-track-stars are tiny, fuzzy and cute and not quite so long and slender yet.
A dog’s racing career may last as long as 4 years or more while the elite sprinters are in their prime. Hopefully the dogs find a good home after they retire from racing as they can live around 13 years. In the United States there are 46 racing tracks operating in 15 different states.
Now that we’ve got a few jobs listed, we’re wondering: what’s your favorite K9 job?
Greyhound racing is cruel and inhumane. Greyhounds endure lives of nearly constant confinement, kept in cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around. While racing, many dogs suffer and die from injuries including broken legs, paralysis, and cardiac arrest. And many greyhounds are euthanized every year, as the number retired from racing exceeds the number of adoptive homes.
At racetracks across the country, greyhounds endure lives of confinement. According to industry statements, greyhounds are generally confined in their cages for approximately 20 hours per day. They live inside warehouse-style kennels in stacked cages that are barely large enough to stand up or turn around. Generally, shredded paper or carpet remnants are used as bedding.
An undercover video recently released by GREY2K USA shows the conditions in which these gentle dogs are forced to live: http://www.grey2kusa.org/azVideo.html
For more information on injuries these dogs suffer, please view:
http://www.grey2kusa.org/azInjuries.html
http://www.grey2kusa.org/eNEWS/G2K-022811Email.html
Dogs play an important role in our lives and deserve to be protected from industries and individuals that do them harm.
V Wolf Board Member, GREY2K USA
Thanks for commenting V Wolf. It sounds like racing is not a good job for a dog at all and that organized racing for dogs is in such a sad state that it shouldn’t happen anymore.