Greyhound Racing Programme

There was just a nod to rehoming in the programme on greyhound racing on Radio 4 this morning.

It did give an insight into the lives of the trainers, owners and bookies though. The programme is available on the listen again webpage on the BBC. (It's choice of the day at the moment, or look for "Lives in a Landscape" in the alphabetical listings. It should be available for a week).

It's well worth listening to if you want a flavour of greyhound racing without actually visiting the stadium.

I do think it's a bit of a shame that Alan Dein didn't spend a few minutes talking about one of the rehoming charities such as the Retired Greyhound Trust. There are two branches specifically dedicated to rehoming Walthamstow hounds - and I think the programme should have asked what happened to the hounds once the stadium had closed. Sure, he followed one of the trainers to Sittingbourne stadium, but not all of the dogs are racing elsewhere.

Greyhound Racing Programme Radio 4

There will be a programme about the closure of Walthamstow greyhound racing stadium on Radio 4 this Monday 27 October at 11am.

Listen along - or I'll blog about it afterwards. I'm hoping they'll mention something about greyhound rescue and rehoming.

NEWSFLASH: Dogs are good for you

Quick news update. The Dogs Trust says that owning or interacting with dogs is good for your health.

I can certainly corroborate that. I've often gone to walk the dogs at our local greyhound rehoming centre in a foul mood. I could be worrying about where the next commission or next piece of work will come from, have been rained on on the way to the kennels, or just got out of the wrong side of the bed.

On the way to the station I'll be muttering to myself: "Oh, I really can't be bothered to do this today."

Five seconds after picking up Nicky, or another dog, for the first walk of the day - or even before, because one of the hounds is doing something daft in the paddock - all my worries are forgotten and I'm gently chatting nonesense to my canine companion.

Plus all that walking keeps your fitness up. You can take any number of dogs out that you like or a walk, I tend to go for 5 walks with either a single dog or a pair, meaning I get nearly three hours of fresh air, and around two hours of walking.