Rescuing the Queen

In May 2015, a NSW state-wide inquiry found widespread misconduct and animal cruelty in the greyhound racing industry. Despite the fact that Mike Baird back-flipped on his proposed ban of the sport, the inquiry brought a lot of media attention to the cruel nature of the industry; and saw a boost in popularity of people choosing to adopt greyhounds who had been retired or deemed unfit for racing.  I spoke with Ashley Heath, who adopted a six-year-old ex-racing dog by the name of Queenie in July last year.

James: Why did you decide to rescue a greyhound?

Ashley: I had whippets growing up and they were such good pets. I loved the look of sight hounds, but whippets were so high energy that I knew I couldn’t get one of them. I went to one of my favourite bars in Brisbane, The Scratch, and one day they had a pop up of Friends of the Hound (FOTH). I met a hound called Bazz and he was such a gem. I heard a little bit about the industry, the nature of greyhounds and I knew from that day I was in.

James: How did you find Queenie?

Ashley: After the pop up day with FOTH, I knew I wanted to rescue a greyhound. I did some research on the organisation; saw that they take all hounds, no matter their behaviours etc. Some organisations only take hounds that can be ‘green collared’ meaning they are safe around smaller animals, and I thought “yeah okay, but what about the others?” so I went with FOTH.

I applied, and soon had a house inspection. I had a backyard, no other pets, was happy to have an indoor or outdoor dog and had no kids. Basically I was in a spot where I felt like I could have any dog and they would fit. So, I said give me a dog that you are having trouble placing. They called and said “We have a 5 year old dog. She’s failed at one home because they thought she was too rough with kids. She’s incontinent but you can medicate her. Please, she’s been in foster care for 3 months”. I was hesitant but thought, why not bring her over? As soon as she walked in, she jumped on my lounge. Love at first sight.

James: Tell me about some of the health complications Queenie has endured as a result of their racing past? Were her ailments easy to fix or did they require on-going medical treatment?

Ashley: Dear god, where do I start.  Some of her teeth were filed down and others fell out; the result of a poor diet. She currently requires annual care, no different to others, but it’s likely she will lose more teeth.

The end of her tail is missing, when I first got her I had to put a lot of balms on it to stop the end from cracking. She had kennel coat; matted, clumpy and dry skin. A good diet and regular brush has helped remedy this.

She had an ear infection that wouldn’t budge. We couldn’t figure out why it wouldn’t go away. She got it flushed and they found a massive black mass and a series of polyps around it. The next step was to get a CT scan to see if this was a tumour. The scan showed that the mass was not actually body tissue. They checked it out and realised that the mass was actually debris that had never been flushed out of the ears. Her body had begun to encase it and it attached to her eardrum. She has lost a little hearing but now after the mass has been removed its fine, although the whole ordeal cost me nearly $2000 in vet bills.

Our vet has a theory that Queen was given anabolic steroids when racing; when you look at the size of her it is hardly surprising. This can cause chronic inflammation of the cervix and therefore impact continence. She has had a few infections as a result and is still medicated for incontinence.

James: After having to go through all of that, how would you describe Queenie’s personality?

Ashley: Her name suits her! That’s for sure. She’s a funny little diva; sleeps next to me, follows me everywhere if I am sad and won’t let me out of her sight at home, but if I don’t take her for a walk or give her medicine she will give me the cold shoulder. She is incredibly loving and gentle with kids if they are gentle with her. She loves to be around people and other dogs, but her prey drive is very strong so we need to be careful around small fluffy dogs.

James: What advice would you give to anyone considering adopting a greyhound?

Ashley: Do it. They are the most amazing, weirdest, pointiest and loving dogs alive. Tell adoption agencies what you want in a pet; they WILL match you with a hound just for you. Queenie rescued me. I love her to bits and adopting her was the best decision I have ever made.