I received a letter from The Retired Greyhound Trust today to let me know that Ringo, the greyhound that I have been sponsoring, has been happily homed in Wales. I make a small monthly contribution to the RGT to help them with the cost of caring for and rehoming abandoned greyhounds. It’s not as rewarding as owning a greyhound myself of course but it’s the best I can do at the present time, and it’s great to hear about “my” greyhound a few times per year. I know there must be several people sponsoring each dog, but I don’t care about that; they need all the help they can get.

Now that Ringo has been homed, I get to sponsor another dog. RGT have chosen Whiskey (racing name: Beat Them Java!) for me and I’m very happy with their choice. He reminds me a lot of my first greyhound pet, Tom. Tom didn’t like other dogs much either. Whiskey’s been at the RGT kennels for four years and realistically because of his lack of tolerance for other animals he will probably stay there for the rest of his life, unless he can be united with someone who has the time and patience to properly care for him.

It’s a real shame because there is no inherent reason why a greyhound cannot get along with other dogs, or even other animals in general. Whiskey will have ended up this way because for the first four years of his life he will have been kept in a cage with no experience of the world other than humans taking him to races. As a result he most likely is bewildered by anything that’s alive and not human-shaped — it’s prey or competition. If someone had been willing to put in the minimum effort then Whiskey could have spent the last four years as a loyal companion and family pet, but instead he’s lucky he hasn’t been euthanised or worse.

Greyhound Data lists Beat Them Java’s pedigree and racing record which is interesting reading — his best time was 365 metres in 28.8 seconds; that’s over 36 miles per hour. It’s sad that the site only exists because of the money involved in the cruel sport of greyhound racing, but then, that’s the only reason why greyhounds exist today also. Still I wish I had known about it when I had Tom.