Apparently the Authority's and the GBOTA say it promotes a bad image and they think the same in regards to FOL racing here in NSW, I say both organisations have NFI and they constantly prove it.

However, we all live in a society governed by politics and rules.

The plain fact of the matter is that dog people mostly trainers and the like live in a world of their own and resent any interference in how they do business. Like WDA, I pointed out that reflected the culture of that group of people and therefore how they interacted with the rest of society. I got thumped for that thought, too, but that does not make it any less true.

Live hare coursing was banned because it did not fit in with society standards. Live baiting has long been banned but some people still did it, thereby almost causing the entire industry to be shut down. Animal skins on lures got banned for the same reason, yet many participants still complain, which indicates they have not got the message. They may consider the rule excessive and theoretically they may be right. But thats not the issue.

The key is how the industry is seen to operate within the society. If it looks good, people will support it. If not, they wont.

Baird and Grant decided that greyhound racing had exceeded its brief and so tried to can it. At the core, they were right, it had abused societys trust by failing to respect community standards on
animal welfare. But their error was to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Effectively, they threw all the cars off the road because a minority broke the speed limit. Stupid and it cost them.

But what have dog people learnt from all this? Not a great deal, it seems. Following a huge shemozzle, they have failed (or many have) to go back to scratch, analyse where they stand, recast their priorities, update their techniques and go bravely into the future. Instead, they want the world to come back to them and meet their nominated needs. It will not happen guys. Never. And, until that culture changes, the industry will not go ahead. What more evidence do we want than that owners are no longer buying pups?

All this is why I nominated in earlier posts the danger of ignoring the essential task changing industry culture. The hangover from live baiting is still there. So get rid of it. It will take a while but it must start now.

Until you do, all the blood, sweat, tears and frustrations that go into putting a dog into the boxes will be wasted. Training skills are being short-changed. Your dollar will be returning only 75 cents.

Worse, it leaves a void that will continue to be occupied by anti-racing groups spouting their own lies and exaggerations, largely because enough members of the public see their story as better than ours. Only a concerted, unified effort from the industry will be able to combat that.

What the hell is going on?????

Sorry for being off topic.

We don't necessarily have to call it a sheepskin boot.
We can call it an "Ugg" boot as it is colloquially known as.
What a joke.

PS: Bruce, I am not sure who you speak to in "high places" but next time you talk to them ask them why the use of the whip rule has been relaxed in horse racing? It was the flavour of the month when the do-gooders started whinging that it was punishing the animal but now it appears there is no limit. I can't see the AJC employing someone to count the number of times each horse is whipped in a 24 horse field.

The greyhound industry has not allowed common sense to prevail.
Is a stuffed toy, purchased from K Mart in the shape of a rabbit, allowed as a lure for greyhounds?? Probably not, but the PTB expect our dogs to chase a piece of kitchen curtain or a used handkerchief.

Soon our greyhounds will hesitate jumping from the boxes let alone running 500 metres.

It really depends on the material of the handkerchief and the composition of the snot, Tony.
The handkerchief must be made of imitation ONLY material, eg non-organic.
You might run into a few problems with the snot factor as well, because particles sniffed up the bugle might contain organic matter.

Moral of the story...Don't blow your bugle into a rag of SYNTHETIC without first giving it a good old hose out with a pressure hose.

Reply to your 1st paragraph
Bruce you have a high opinion of yourself and for a person who has been around greyhound racing (form analyst and not the animal itself) you still need to learn more. All due respect, I guess that you are struggling with your business because you don't know a great deal about the greyhound. You think you do, but every time you write something, you seem to misunderstand what the basic skills of a trainer and canine are, so that they can race under race and trial conditions, that sometimes, are not necessarily suitable to them e.g. big track / little dog. Your Token Prince error is just one of many errors you have made and there are too many to list. I've had to obtain more credit on my laptop just to answer some of your pro-government, pro-WDA, ill-informed notions of what a greyhound does and needs to race e.g. smell, sight and sound. A very small amount of time (5%) you surprise me with your `writings'. I'm afraid to write that the rest is rubbish. You get a `F' from me.

Reply to your 2nd paragraph
Thanks for the reminder. Why do you think we are fighting against the Coalition who did ban us and now slowly destroying the industry. The new CEO wasn't the best applicant and has $380k training wheels that wasn't even advertised. They will go around the State telling everyone what they are going to do, even though he doesn't know much about the industry hence the training wheels. He will divide and conquer some.

Reply to your 3rd paragraph
Most of us don't resent any intervention. We just have had so much of their BS that is repeated and we despise some of the unnecessary changes. You must have gone to the same school as them (Antis). The school of guessing. Again, you provide no facts to your BS claims. We are arguing logic from a trainers point of view and representing greyhounds who cannot speak. You still support their `writings'.

Reply to your 4th paragraph
Some still rape and murder. WDA hasn't written a report to change their ways e.g. death, castration. These felons do `live baiting' preying and stalking at night and wait until the victim is isolated and then they attack and kill. The government, AA, AJP and Greens should be concentrating on more important issues, but I appreciate some people were caught live baiting. Prosecute them. Don't persecute the entire industry. You see, politics are at play here. They don't want us. They want the T'Breds to prosper at our expense. Some imbecile in the lower hunter area threw domesticated puppies up against a tree to get rid of them. Killed all but one. Did he do time ? What was WDA's opinion ?

Reply to your 5th paragraph
Hello ! Obvious !
We are a popular industry and a certain age group, I think 20-35 year olds, love us more than the others. If we took away the `spin' and the $11 millions wasted on the Special Commission (Oh we've forgotten about those recommendations, except one) the offenders would've been prosecuted, GRNSW and RSPCA wouldve been `on notice' (when they were asleep) and the tax payers of NSW would be better off. However, this Gov't just loves to waste tax payers monies.

Reply to your 6th paragraph
They were wrong ! Remember, they got it wrong ! `I got it wrong' Baird said.

Reply to your 7th paragraph
You haven't learnt much at all !

Reply to your 8th paragraph
You're a headache.

Reply to your 9th paragraph
You wouldn't know what it is like.

Reply to your 10th paragraph
If we don't reply to your posts, readers might think you know what you are talking about. Sometimes, you are just as ill-informed as the Antis. It took the last sentence of your last paragraph to agree with you, but I hasten to add that you probably borrowed it from all of us !

We will get on better if you do not put words in my mouth.

"Social License" is a term manufactured by the McHugh Commission even though it had no idea what it was, nor did it conduct any research or investigation into the subject. It is meaningless.

I have referred to "society (or community) standards", which are generally made obvious in the laws of the land and in formal writings. Hence I attached the phrase to comments on live hare coursing, live baiting, etc.

In any event, whatever words you choose, greyhound racing has to be governed by community standards, amongst other factors. If it doesn't, it will fail.

Right, wrong or indifferent, you think skins on lures should be allowed, despite the fact that it has been made illegal. You also have plenty of mates who say the same thing.

I have already said I think the rule is excessive but it matters not a hoot what you or I think, or not unless you can get the rule changed (which is highly unlikely). Move on.

As I understand it, the whip rule has been changed marginally a couple of times but it still exists in a fairly strong form and jockeys are being thumped because of it. So actually the ATC (not AJC) does employ people to do the counting.

Otherwise, (a) the lure rule has been changed - get used to it, and (b) they are already chasing curtains and handkerchiefs, and have been since the new lure started.

I imagine a KMart bunny would be fine so long as it is made of synthetics. I hope that helps you but you should have known that anyway.

People in "high places"? Sadly very few of them talk to me now, probably because I have criticised them too often. Emails seem to go straight into the bin.

I have always had a policy of replying to comments about my writing.

But not to inaccurate or abusive rants.

Go and ask someone who trains greyhounds to let you help them for a few months. Oh, thats right, you cant. You have to obtain a handlers licence just to hold a racing greyhound. Maybe on their property you dont need one. Youll get a better understanding of a greyhound than you will ever from reading n writing about it.

P.S. Bruce, you cant use a K Mart bunny because it looks like a bunny. Ask WDA why we arent allowed to use it

P.S.S. MG, thats one of your best.

Bruce are you related to the FLINTSTONES ???

Was that an attempt at humour there, Bruce?

And failure to get the dogs to chase is a huge welfare issue.

Apart from some ignorant reasonings of a particular 'outsider' there have been some interesting reasons why people think the 500 dog pool is shrinking.

1. Less dogs coming through...breeding downturn

2. Breeding?

3. Lack of chase incentives(Synthetics)

4. Trainers not trying hard enough

5. Diminishing old fashioned rearing

6. Restrictions of breeding

So, what about the injury factor?
I've lost count the amount of times I've had a dog ready to step up and it gets an injury which requires time off, then you have to start again. Get a few injuries like this and a large chunk of their career is over. I'm mainly talking about injuries from CORNER STARTS.
There are more corner start races than ever and I think they are a reason in themselves that hinder more dogs progressing to the 500.

BITCHES-SEASONS.
Since the rule of banning hormones, are there actually LESS bitches out there on the race track?
It's a bloody big problem because half of the race pool is BITCHES!!!
If you have a 6 monthly bitch, what chance do you have of getting and keeping it racing over the 500? Take into account a few injuries here and there and it is now lucky to have a career at all.
Some don't go on nanderol, in fact I have a line that loses 10 lengths on it, so I have no choice, they get nothing.
I would love to see some figures on bitches racing over 500 PRIOR/POST hormone prohibition.

now that's a really exceptional thought, cos if it's true (no reason at all to suspect it's not), that will spell massive problems for the future of the industry.

here comes another study......different interpretations nowadays on what is chase........which dogs get rubbed out, which don't.........omg what a minefield Simon

Bruce,

You have been a scribe for a long time.
Getting dogs to chase a "dummy" instead of schooling them on something more "natural" is like asking you to throw your PC in the bin and reverting back to a pencil and a notepad.
Would that motivate you to remain a scribe or would you be jumping up and down demanding the better option?