Greyhound racing has long been a topic of controversy, yet Rayetta Holder, who owns a shelter for retired racing dogs, stresses the benefits of the sport for both the people and animals involved. 
One of Rayetta Holder?s greyhounds takes a run around her yard just outside of Waldport, Oregon. Holder has placed over three thousand greyhounds since she opened Homes for Hounds in 1991.
The greyhounds break from their starting boxes, hearts pounding as they race around the track. The animals fix their eyes on the fuzzy, toy-bone lure, and after twenty seconds, the finish line is in sight. They race down the home stretch with their ears flat against their skulls to drown out any noise as they run. The crowd screams at them, fully engaged in these last few seconds of the race.
Rayetta Holder is among the audience, cheering for her dog. She?s on her feet, bouncing up and down with her hands in the air, excited that her greyhound is in second place. A red-brindled greyhound that Holder didn?t bet on, number six, crosses the finish line and the race is over. The crowd moves toward the exits, while the dogs slow down and walk back to their trainers. For the audience, the experience of the race is over. For the greyhounds, however, it?s only half the day?s torture.
?Racing greyhounds endure lives of nearly constant confinement, kept in cages barely large enough for them to stand up or turn around,? says Christine Dorchak of Grey2kUSA, an East Coast-based, non-profit organization that lobbies for greyhound protection laws meant to stop the cruelty they believe racing dogs endure.

Holder sits with one of her favorite greyhounds that she has decided to keep inside her home. Many greyhound racing venues have closed in the United States with the only remaining ones in Florida, Arizona, Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Alabama.
When asked the same question about the confinement of greyhounds to their cages, Holder rolls her eyes. According to her, trainers do keep the dogs in kennels that the track provides?standard crates that allow for the greyhound to stand up, turn around, and lie down?and each greyhound is given ample room to run around during the seventy-two hour resting period required after a race. Animal rights activists, she says, just skew the details to gain favor with the masses.
Many trainers work hard to condition the perfect greyhound racer, using the most humane methods possible. But animal rights activists claim the greyhounds are being exploited and abused?used only as tools to make money for their owners. Recently published photos on animal rights activists? websites depicting malnourished greyhounds in undersized cages are fuel for the escalating controversy.
Activists claim these photos provide concrete evidence that the sport should be outlawed, but Holder disagrees. She says that the people trying to outlaw racing, such as the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), don?t see what goes on behind the scenes at a track, and therefore only assume that abuse is happening. Holder goes on to say that Oregon has some of the toughest greyhound racing laws in the country and few verified cases of abuse.
Holder is the president and founder of the Homes for Hounds greyhound adoption agency, located two miles south of Waldport, Oregon. Holder says she has placed over three thousand greyhounds with families since establishing the agency in 1991. She adds that she has yet to place a greyhound into a home where the greyhound was neglected or abused.

A caretaker at the Homes for Hounds adoption agency plays with a greyhound in the exercise yard. The dogs are let outside two at a time and wear muzzles to protect the dogs during any playful roughhousing.
The three staff members at Homes for Hounds work to negotiate adoptions for newly retired greyhounds from Florida, one of the seven states that continue to allow greyhound races. The other six are Arizona, Texas, Iowa, Arkansas, West Virginia, and Alabama.
Holder explains that the dogs travel from their home state of Florida to Oklahoma, where they rest for a few days before heading to Kansas. From Kansas, they continue on to Holder?s adoption facility. Under her care and discretion, each dog is placed with a family in Oregon, California, or Washington, which provides a forever home?a permanent, loving family.
Bending down to pet one of her greyhounds, London Designer, Holder lets him out in the kennel yard?the fenced, sand-filled backyard of her green beach house?and unclips his leash. The dog breaks from her grasp, barking happily as he tears around the fenced yard. Smiling, she says she can tell he wants to be on the racetrack, but since the tracks are slowly being shut down, the retired racers need new homes.

Holder bonds with one of the greyhounds in her program, Homes for Hounds. When greyhounds are bred for racing, they are tattooed on the inside of each ear: one with their birth date and the other with their litter number.
Holder has been working with retired racing greyhounds for twenty-one years, until Oregon?s Multnomah Greyhound Park was closed for good. She explains that if an owner abuses the dog, the abused animal won?t perform well; and without winning, the trainer?s profits will suffer.
?These dogs earn people?s livings. They pay for humans? meals, medicine, and life. It?s their responsibility. If you mistreat a dog, you don?t make any money,? she says.
When told that many people who oppose greyhound racing claim the dogs are routinely forced to wear muzzles all day and night, Holder shakes her head. She insists that the humane muzzles are taken off when the dogs are in their cages and are only left on when they are in the training yard with other greyhounds; the breed likes to play rough and the muzzles prevent injuries.
Greyhound racing began several decades ago, but today each breeder must follow strict guidelines regarding their care and training. After a litter is born, the breeder has forty-eight hours to report the number of newborn puppies to the National Greyhound Association (NGA). The NGA then sends an association official to check on how they are being treated. When they are six weeks old, the dogs are tattooed with their date of birth on one ear and their litter number on the other.
Holder explains that there is always a paper trail so the NGA can keep tabs on each dog. She says some trainers euthanize their dogs if an injury prevents racing in other states. Even though running comes naturally to most greyhounds, some dogs aren?t interested in racing. The paper trail ensures that the trainers won?t euthanize the dogs that won?t race, or dogs that race but perform badly.
?You can?t teach a greyhound to run. You can?t teach a greyhound to chase. They have to want to do it,? Holder says.
Luckily, most greyhounds want to run, as running is the core of their personality and is what makes them a unique breed.

A greyhound at the agency watches as other dogs are let outside for exercise. The cage that each dog calls home is meant to be a temporary solution while each awaits adoption.
Holder explains that people look at dog racing as a horrible sport, but she insists that the dogs that want to race love it. ?As far as I?m concerned,? she says, referring to one of her dogs, ?the retired athlete has had the best of both worlds. He got to do what he loved to do, and then he goes into someone?s home and is treated like a king.?
Holder says greyhounds become uniquely attached to one particular crate.
?They won?t go in another crate. They know which crate is theirs and they enjoy spending their time there. They don?t view it as a place that they?re forced into. It?s the place that they feel the safest in,? Holder says. Inside their crates they often have dog toys and bones so they don?t become bored.
The dogs are shuttled back and forth between the track and the kennel, nomads for most of their careers. Each dog is given a racing name?something catchy and unique, meant to illustrate why that dog is a good pick to win, such as: Fuzzy?s Grady, Alcindor, or Starz Lazy Red. These memorable names stick in a gambler?s mind, hopefully helping them remember which greyhound has been on a winning streak lately and which one they should bet on.
When the greyhounds retire, they are usually given a kennel name to simplify their racing name, and many times their name seems to fit their personality perfectly. For example, Starz Lazy Red, a six-year-old, red-brindled greyhound whose kennel name is Starz, acts just like a star: She hoards attention and always takes up all the room on the couch when she and Holder sit down to watch television.

One of Holder's greyhounds lounges on the floor of her home just outside of Waldport, Oregon. Holder keeps two greyhounds as pets and runs the adoption agency out of her garage where she has space to house fifteen dogs that are up for adoption.
?After a racing career, they appreciate a home much more because they didn?t have it before. It?s something new to them, to have a forever home, and they bond very quickly. Ninety-nine percent of them think kids are great,? Holder says, gesturing to one of her dogs curled up in a patch of warm sunlight.
The greyhound, despite being the second fastest animal in the world, is an incredibly lazy breed. Many times Holder finds her dogs curled up on couches, chairs, and rugs in front of the fire. Still, she says assimilating from the world of racing to living in a home is a scary and often rocky experience for the first few weeks. When they first come to Homes for Hounds, they always seem to want keep running, says Holder.
?Racing dogs are not pets,? says Holder.
?They?re retired athletes. They?re treated very well, but they?re not like puppies that you buy or get and have as a pet.?
While most trainers practice humane methods of training, greyhound racing is not without its bad seeds. For example, Ronald Williams, a Florida trainer, abandoned thirty-seven greyhounds after the racing season. Williams pled not guilty to thirty-seven counts of animal cruelty. In March 2011, he was fined $170,000 and his training license in Florida was suspended.
Isolated but well-publicized cases such as Williams?s make it easy to lose track of the good in the industry. For example, track gambling profits are often put straight into education or building funds, according to Ann Church, the senior director of ASPCA Government Relations. Slot machines have been added in many of the greyhound tracks in order to provide an instant gratification for the customers gambling, since many customers don?t want to wait for the race to begin. These same tracks also provide an entertaining race between members of the second fastest land species in the world.
?It?s really too bad that dog racing isn?t around anymore. I loved the atmosphere and knowing that the dogs were fulfilling something that they were born to do and love to do,? Holder muses as she pets London Designer?s black coat. She takes the squishy toy bone out of his mouth and tosses it to the other side of the yard. He races after it and attacks the stuffed bone, shaking his head. Running back to Holder, he looks overjoyed at being able to do what he loves to do?run.
Source: http://www.fluxstories.com/2011/05/greyhound-racing-humane/
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