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| Newsletter, SPRING 2011: Wow what a winter! It is April and officially spring, but winter is still lurking outside in the damp days and chilly nights. The greyhounds here are frisky! They have discovered their abilities to dig holes! Something that doesn't thrill us ... but they do really delight in it! We are in extreme need of homes without cats! We have some of the best looking, well mannered, charming boys of all time but they aren't cat-safe. Please consider adopting or fostering one. Many others are waiting for their chance to grab the life preserver, so please, you know you're used to having two or three or that you haven't fostered in a while, so extend a helping hand now. If you've kept up on greyhounds news, you know that things are happening all over the country that could add to the number of greyhounds in need of a safety net and somewhere to go. Your help is needed now! THE GREAT AMERICAN GREYHOUND GARAGE SALE....yes, we're having one but as I write this I'm not sure where or when...we have a couple of options. After last year's sale being so much bigger than expected, we will be selling trash and treasures for at least two days - maybe three. SO SAVE YOUR STUFF! Mark your calendars for October 8, 2011. That will be this year's Greyhounds,Glamour & Golf! Such a fantastic day of good food, great music, golf if you choose to and lots of greyhounds! More info will be available soon. NEW SHIRTS! Please check out our new heather gray T-shirt with purple print, "Refuse to Loose Adopt a Greyhound (it's a win-win)" ANIMAL RESCUE SITE: SHELTER CHALLENGE...VOTE USA DOG! The latest campaign began April 4 and runs through June 19. Please vote for us. The prize would buy foster food! Vote for - USA Defenders of Greyhounds Carmel, IN GREYHOUND ADOPTER REMINDER: When you adopted your hounds from USA DOG, you signed an agreement to keep a collar with tags, including an USA DOG tag, on your hound at all times! Some of you seem have forgotten that simple step to ensure the return of your hound in the event of an accident. MOST GREYHOUNDS GET LOOSE FROM THEIR HOMES, those with tags are typically returned to their families. The reality of it is that if not killed by a car or truck, with proper identification will bring your hound home to you! If you have lost or misplaced your USA DOG tag, please let me know and we can replace it. As the weather improves and more and more greyhounds suffer from that dreadful disease ... Bunny Fever ... we have to step-up our precautions to keep them safe. Spring is all about the chase! So get those collars back on them as you agreed! That will be just one more thing for which they will love you! STORMS, STORMS AND MORE STORMS! Have you ordered your Thundershirt? These really help calm down nervous or anxious dogs. The greyhounds seem to enjoy wearing them! Please check them out in our PRODUCTS section. KEEPING IN TOUCH: If you have a new email address please let us know! Or if you move or change phone numbers, send us an email to help us help your info current. This is especially important in the event that your hound becomes lost. Remember those USA DOG tags, people DO CALL when they see those tags and we need current info to be able to contact you as quickly as possible! Keep your eyes on Florida, Arizona and Iowa; greyhound laws are on the edge of major changes ... GOOD CHANGES! Hugs those hounds, Sally Newsletter, Fall 2010 So much has happened since I posted the last Newsletter. I had such good intentions of keeping up to date and current, but we all know what has been said about good intentions! USA DOG has been busy. The Great American Greyhound Garage Sale in June was a success. Who knew we would get so much stuff donated? We needed three days instead of one to really sell it all! Deb, Jan and Don continued with smaller sales throughout July & August, and presented us with a check for $1000.00! Our two days were fun, and I swear, gently used toys, clothes and appliances bring out the KID in people you might think were never children! So many laughs and giggles for a good cause! Now we turn our attention to the GREYHOUNDS, GLAMOUR & GOLF on October 23. As our primary fundraiser this isn’t just another fantastic time to be had by all, but it is what keeps us going in the coming year. Please check out the info and if you can’t attend or donate something for the Silent Auction or golf prize, please order an event shirt or send a donation! We’ve had an expensive year with numerous surgeries; some track rot, additional medications as such, so we are running on fumes! We’ve placed a good number of Angel Dogs as well as finding some really great new homes. We’ve also placed a third, fourth or fifth hound with some of our families and in one case, have now placed with the next generation of adopters. We even have one living in El Salvador! I hope to have Holly’s story up on “Our Companions” page of the website soon. Many tracks have closed; some forever and some with shortened seasons. It is almost impossible to keep up with the changes and charges in the greyhound racing industry! The most amusing case being in Alabama where the dogs were stopped from running because of an illegal “bingo” operation in the Poker Room. Alabama has some odd laws, (i.e. the sale of liquor) but regardless, if the situation arises in Mobile or Dubuque, no one wants to have to choose greyhound racing as their gaming partner! Greyhounds are four-legged bandits when it comes to the fiscal well-being of any gambling or gaming establishment! As the industry winds down, information is becoming more available about what has really been going on for so many years. It is easy to get all wrapped up in drawing lines through the names of various fallen tracks, and focus on the number of dogs needing transportation to who, when and where, that we can forget to stop and think about all the dogs that raced, won, lost and died during the years it took to win those victories. Carey Theil of Grey2K USA, has allowed me to post his victory tribute to the generations of Wonderland Greyhound Park dogs that lived and died as a form of entertainment. I think he says it all and very well. Sally Allen, President USA D.O.G. A Final Word for the Dogs of Wonderland by: Carey Theil, executive director, GREY2K USA Wed Aug 25, 2010 at 16:10:21 PM EDT  On an unusually hot summer night at Wonderland Greyhound Park in July of 2002, a greyhound named Die Cut
(click his name to see the injury record) raced for the last time.
While rounding the first turn, the three-year-old black dog was bumped
by other greyhounds and collapsed, his back legs paralyzed. In the
final moments of his life, Die Cut was removed from the track and
euthanized.Last week, Wonderland Greyhound Park announced its permanent closure. There is no doubt that Wonderland - which was once the most popular dog track in the world - had a profound effect on its surrounding community over the past seventy-five years. In the wake of its demise, however, we should take a moment to reflect on all of the dogs who competed , and sometimes died, at this fabled institution. We know very little about the greyhounds who raced at Wonderland in the first fifty years of its existence. We know that in the very early years, greyhounds were transported to Boston by self-professed "dog men," who would move from track to track while taking greyhounds with them. We also know some details of the early champions. For example, we know the story of Rural Rube, who was so iconic in 1939 that 1,500 people reportedly honored him at a Copley Plaza dinner where he was given a golden collar. But for every Rural Rube, there were undoubtedly countless greyhounds who lived tragically short lives. Tens of thousands of greyhounds passed through Wonderland during this period, and during these years virtually no greyhounds were adopted when they became unprofitable or suffered career-ending injuries. Then, in 1983, the non-profit adoption group Greyhound Friends was formed in Cambridge. The formation of this group, and others like it, surely made life better for greyhounds. Nevertheless, dogs would continue to suffer and die at Wonderland for another three decades. Things began to change in 2000, when a coalition of grassroots activists collected enough signatures to place a question to end dog racing before Massachusetts voters. Even though the measure was narrowly defeated, 51% to 49%, it marked the beginning of a broad movement to end greyhound racing in our state. Perhaps more importantly, it also ushered in a new era of accountability for the dog racing industry, the results of which would ultimately help seal Wonderland's fate. Shortly after the ballot question was defeated, the legislature passed a new law requiring that Massachusetts dog tracks report all greyhound injuries to the public. At the same time, the dog racing industry began to disclose unprecedented information to the public on its methods and operation, in an effort to defend itself from public criticism. This included the release, starting in 2005, of videos that were filmed inside the Wonderland kennel compound. Ironically, this footage would later appear in television ads - as documentation of the daily confinement greyhounds endured - during the successful 2008 campaign that ended dog racing for good. As a result of this reporting legislation, the industries' own self-reporting, and increased media scrutiny, we know much more about the dogs who raced at Wonderland in its final years.  For example, we know that in late 2003 and 2004, a greyhound at Wonderland tested positive twice for cocaine. We
also know that in the Spring of 2005, nineteen greyhounds died at
Wonderland from a mysterious illness that was later proven to be a form
of horse flu that had never before jumped species.In these final years, we also learned much more about the daily life racing greyhounds experienced than we ever had known before. For the first time, we saw the cages that dogs were kept in at Wonderland, thanks to photographs the track took itself in 2006. Based on industry statements, we learned that greyhounds at Wonderland were confined in these warehouse-style kennels in stacked cages for twenty or more hours per day. Also from industry statements, we learned that the dogs were fed so-called "4-D" meat to reduce costs. This meat is deemed unfit for human consumption and contains denatured charcoal. Perhaps most importantly, in these final years the public finally gained access to the first-ever reports on greyhound injuries at Wonderland. Between 2002 and 2008, 316 greyhound injuries were reported at the track, including 206 reports of dogs suffering broken legs. Other reported injuries included spinal cord injuries, paralysis, a puncture wound, and an amputation. These reports, however, were more than just mere statistics. They brought to life the stories of individual dogs, like Die Cut. Over the course of its existence, as many as one hundred thousand dogs may have competed at Wonderland. Most of them were there for only a short time, before being sent to tracks elsewhere. All of these dogs had names, and their own stories. Most of these stories have been lost to time, but a few, like Die Cut, are still with us. Wonderland will always be a part of our history as a state. It became an institution that was ultimately ended because our values as a society changed. Let's make sure that the when this iconic track is remembered, the dogs of Wonderland are included in the story. Newsletter, Fall 2009 This is our first Newsletter on our new site, which somehow made me think about newsletters from the past. In 1988, they were cut and pasted, typed with an IBM Selectric typewriter. Copies were snuck on the office copier after hours; then hand collated, stapled and stamped. So, the production of our Newsletters has made lots of changes. They were sent only to our adopters and only made public by those who loved or hated us. November/December 1993 caught my eye: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Here in central Indiana, our first snow of the season arrived on Halloween. So it is not out of line for those of us in this area to be somewhat concerned about the severity of the winter weather yet to come. However, my dismay about such an early snow was not shared by any of the greyhounds here, foster or permanent residents. THEY LOVED IT! One from Florida seem positive that the sky was falling for the first few minutes he was outside, but then he was bumped by one of the others and soon was ripping around the yard with no more worries about the weather … just impressing the girls with his speed! Greyhounds are so easy to entertain. This has been a very busy year [1993]. Because of the increased attention to some of the more recent industry travesties, we have responded to over 6000 phone and letter requests for information on our program and the standard practices of the greyhound racing industry. Additionally, we've handed out some 10,000 info packets at various public events. And as the year winds down, we suspect that we'll surpass our previous record for the number of dogs placed in homes for a 12 month period. Of course, all of this is done by volunteers willing to donate their time, energy and resources to help save a few more greyhounds from the dog racing industry's current retirement program. Death. Without the countless hours of Sharon Murphy, Diane Gamble, Nancy Wallace, Shirley Kuzmicz and JoAnna Turpin, the plight of the racing greyhound would not be known to nearly as many Americans. And as the saying goes, knowledge is power … and that is what gives each of us hope for change … change to a time when sweet greyhounds just like our own are no longer killed; day in and day out. Social change seldom comes in one swift swoop. Generally, it takes years, decades, even centuries to see real, socially accepted change. The death of the greyhound racing industry will be no different. Those of us who prefer a day when all greyhounds are pets rather than the tools of a trade, will find the process much more frustrating than either those who don't care or those within the business. There will be advances and there will be setbacks; but change and perhaps even the death of this industry is inevitable. 1993 has been a year of advances and setbacks. Three tracks have closed. Numerous others totter on the brink of failure. Attendance is down for most, as is the amount of money being wagered. Some tracks have attempted additional days of racing to lure in more money, while others have gone from year-round racing to 6 or 4 months. A new idea is to add other sorts of gambling to the dog track environment. This is to appeal to those who want to gamble, but not play the puppies. The Green Mountain Track in Powell, Vermont, opened in 1976. It closed early this year in controversy … cruelty to the greyhounds was a major issue. Fox Valley in Kaukauna, WI, opened in 1990; it closed in August ('93) due to a lack of interest, AKA attendance. But Waterloo Greyhound Park offers the most interesting story. It opened October 15, 1986. The record attendance was set April 15, 1987. It bottomed out sometime this past winter with fewer than 200 in attendance. According to various newspaper and wire stories, the track never closed a racing season in the black. And while I assume the National Cattle Congress, the owner of the facility (mortgagor) is large and wealthy, it does in fact want either a return on the investment or the investment returned. So after a semi-dramatic closing forever stunt the last day of May this year, and a summer of posturing and politics, Waterloo Greyhound Park will once again have live races for 13 weeks beginning December 26. Why? In order to bring in slot machines. The idea is that slot machines will compete with the Indian gambling that is currently the rage and doing so much damage to the Midwest dog tracks. The Cattle Congress wanted a full-blown casino, but was approved for slots and simulcasting. Ridiculous? Unbelievable? Perhaps. But definitely desperate. So, if you were offended or sickened or angered by the idea of these dogs running for their lives to make people money … don't spend too much time thinking about them running for their lives as a warm-up group for slot machines! For no longer is it enough to give up their lives for the sake of entertainment, now they must die to pave the way to mechanical gambling devices. I wonder how many dogs will die for each one-armed bandit? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That was November/December 1993. Newspapers, wire services, spies, the grapevine, the telephone, that was how information was gathered and passed along. Very few people had access to the internet or car phones. Wow, it was primitive. And TV was just beginning to discover the visual effects/impact that greyhound racing stories could provide. Today, Fall 2009, our ability to communite has in many ways surpassed our ability to think, and most certainly to behave. Three days of “balloon boy” is getting pretty dumb. Yet, greyhound racing remains in the news: Phoenix Greyhound Park to halt live racing December 19, 2009.
Live racing to end in Massachusetts December 31, 2009. Tuscon, AZ track caught using illegal anabolic steroids. Twin River Greyhound Park in Rhode Island files bankruptcy and may not reopen for 2010 season. In 1993, two tracks closed. Since then, 26 other tracks have closed, leaving 30 “operating” in the US and the one ghastly, gruesome Aqua Caliente, Mexico, where they go in but they don’t come out. This, I guess, brings us back to change. And while no one could have said it better than Epictetus in 200 A.D. “No great thing is created suddenly.” You gotta love that silly little ant with “High Hopes!” Sally Allen, President USA DOG, Inc. formerly known as Indiana REGAP |
Carmel, IN 46082