Why greyhounds must, but should not have to, wear muzzles in public
October 4th 2010 07:09
Of course greyhounds aren't vicious. Show me the politician who made me wear this thing, however, and I might be tempted to make a point.
By Jennie Alcorn
In Australia, greyhounds are required to wear muzzles when in public (with exceptions in some states involving Greyhound Adoption Program screening - more on that later).
According to my research, muzzling laws were introduced in Australia in 1927. Research shows there are no requirements for greyhounds to wear muzzles in public in the US or the UK, and as I cannot find any reference to such laws on Google maybe that was always the case.
What is not generally understood about greyhounds and muzzles is that wearing them was never about the breed's chase instinct, or about any danger greyhounds pose.
Muzzles were introduced on racing dogs because greyhounds always race with their mouths open, and if the hounds bump into each other in a race, those open mouths, at the speed they are moving, are like chain saws let loose. You can imagine the amount of damage that could be inflicted.
So the muzzles protect the dogs from the rough and tumble of racing, not from any aggression of nature.
However, you can't just put a muzzle on at race time and expect the dogs to concentrate. They have to be trained to accept that the muzzles are a normal part of life from the time they start training, so they are walked and exercised in their muzzles.
At some stage some politician obviously decided that it would be a good stunt to make it compulsory for them to wear muzzles in public - probably another bit of "Children Overboard" sleight of hand to distract the gullible public from a politically inexpedient issue of the time - and now we're stuck with it.
Trainers of racing greyhounds aren't bothered by the legislation as they want their hounds to wear the muzzles. The dogs that suffer are ex-racers looking for adoptive homes. In South Australia, Victoria and (recently) Queensland, they can go about in public unmuzzled if they have been through Greyhound Adoption Program screening. There is a lot of effort going into amending the laws in the ACT (I think it's got as far as draft legislation there) and in NSW, so hopefully it won't be too long before it isn't an issue for any GAP hound.
If they haven't been through GAP in Victoria, South Australia and Queensland, and even if they have in all other states, these gentlest of dogs remain the victims of political convenience.
Perhaps we would be better off if it was politicians who were muzzled.
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Zoomies guest writer Jennie Alcorn lives north of Adelaide, South Australia, and has a lot of experience and inside knowledge of both the greyhound racing and greyhound adoption communities. She has one husband (a country GP), four children, two greyhounds and a never-ending stream of foster hounds.
Previous posts by Jennie Alcorn
Research proves greyhounds are lovably useless guard dogs
The right dog for you - greyhounds come with a guarantee
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