THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. DONATUS, Iowa — She curls up with the new pups and the world ceases to spin for a while. For greyhound breeder Stacy Junk, time spent in the kennel is more calming than soaking in a steam bath surrounded by fragrant potpourri.
“For me, to relax is to lie in there and have them crawling on me and licking on me,” she said. “It’s basically my relaxation time. People send them here just for the love and attention.”
As she comforts the cuddling pups and their nursing mothers, Junk finds herself in need of some reassurance.
Greyhound racing is an industry running on wobbly legs as other forms of gambling have siphoned its revenue.
Since 2008, greyhounds no longer run in Colorado, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. In Iowa this spring, Harrah’s Inc. offered the state millions of dollars to amend a law requiring live racing at Dubuque’s Mystique Casino and Harrah’s-owned Bluffs Run in Council Bluffs. Had it become law, the bill would have guaranteed the slow death of Iowa’s greyhound industry beginning July 1. Although the bill didn’t make it to the floor for a vote, it isn’t the first time lawmakers have discussed the issue, and it won’t be the last.
To Junk and about 1,300 other Iowans who earn or supplement their living raising or racing greyhounds, the discussion is about more than money. Junk, 45, has been an accountant, has operated her own hair salon and has hung drywall. That’s just a few of the hats she’s worn.
“I feel like I’ve finally found my niche because I love what I do,” Junk said. “A greyhound is born and bred to race and chase. It brings tears to my eyes just seeing them do what they love to do. I really thought come July, we were done.”
Stacy Young heard the debate in Des Moines and also concluded Dubuque’s track was history. She acted proactively.
The Dubuque woman visited Greyhound Park with her parents as a child and continues to enjoy the races as an adult. She adopted her first greyhound in August 2009. She adopted a second in May.
“I was really concerned the track was closing,” Young said. “I really love my dog, Nick, so I thought I’d get another one. They’re such a beautiful dog.”
Should the Iowa Legislature some year bring live racing to an end, Corey Mihalakis, who has been adoption coordinator at the track for seven years, will need more people like Young. While many of Dubuque’s greyhounds would be transferred to other tracks, some would not. Fewer tracks reopen each year, and the number of greyhounds needed to fill them declines.
Nathan and Robin Borrett, of Marion, Iowa, visited Mystique’s adoption kennel on May 29. A trip to Charleston, S.C., piqued their interest in the breed when they met a representative of the Charleston Greyhound Association at an outdoor fair. The dogs’ friendliness touched the Borretts, and they began investigating the breed and adoption possibilities when they returned home.
“We always knew about how many of them are racing and how many are put down,” Nathan Borrett said. “I was adopted myself as a child, so it’s kind of cool to adopt one. It’s kind of a kindred spirit.”
The Borretts adopted two greyhounds, and Mihalakis said repeat business is common. Like the old Lays potato chip commercial, greyhound lovers say you can’t have just one.
“Once they get one, maybe two months or a year later they come back,” Mihalakis said. “There aren’t too many cons about these dogs as pets. There truly isn’t.”
Mihalakis recommends potential adopters research the breed before making a commitment. Greyhounds aren’t a perfect fit for all families.
“If you want a dog that’s going to roll around on the ground and play with the kids all day, then you don’t want a greyhound,” Mihalakis said. “They’re loving dogs, but my two at home, you usually don’t even know they’re there unless they need to go outside or their water bowl runs dry.”
Some adopters compare owning a greyhound to owning a cat. When they want attention they’ll find you, otherwise they’re mostly content on their own.
“You rarely hear a peep out of them, so in that way they really are cat-like, and they are couch potatoes,” Young said. “I think they’re really good for older persons. They’re not a lap dog, but they are really good to sit with.”
During the racing season — late April through late October — Mihalakis averages about one adoption per week. All of her dogs are owned by kennels that race at Dubuque and each greyhound must have competed in at least one Dubuque race. The track requires each of the 14 racing kennels to have 35 greyhounds available at all times. Each kennel also can house two greyhounds in the adoption kennel. Between 100 and 150 greyhounds pass through Mihalakis’ doors each season, and she works with other greyhound adoption groups to find homes in a timely manner.
“Whoever is here the longest gets top priority,” Mihalakis said. “I don’t want to see anybody sitting here for a long time.”
Mihalakis recently transferred six dogs to the Quad Cities Greyhound Adoption Kennel in Maysville, Iowa, which finds homes for about 100 greyhounds per year. Most of them are bred in Iowa and Illinois, but greyhounds find their way to Maysville from across the country. When Dairyland Greyhound Park in Kenosha, Wis., closed at the end of 2009, Karen Kowley, co-director of the Quad Cities kennel, expected no fewer than six greyhounds, and perhaps as many as 20.
“We were poised and ready, but we didn’t get any,” Kowley said. “It was actually kind of a letdown.”
Kowley said Dairyland’s closure received national media attention, and adoption groups coast-to-coast poured in to support the dogs. Kowley shares a concern with many in the field. As tracks continue to close, she wonders if the time will come when a glut of greyhounds on the market outnumbers potential adopters.
“There are only so many places for the kids to go,” Kowley said. “We’re kind of waiting with bated breath to see if that ever hits. But, yeah, the state of Iowa is a scary proposition for everybody because we have two tracks.”
The greyhound industry peaked in the late 1980s and has been in decline since. A corresponding rise in greyhound adoptions has softened the blow. There are now more than 300 greyhound adoption agencies in North America and as situations like Dairyland have become common, they’ve learned to network.
Gary Guccione, executive director of the National Greyhound Association, said about 3,000 greyhounds per year were adopted in the late 1980s. That number reached 20,000 last year, after holding steady in the 18,000 range for the prior two years.
“The adoption groups have been through track closures a number of times now and they seem to be able to mobilize quickly and efficiently,” Guccione said. “That’s a far cry from the way it was in the 1980s. The safety net for the greyhounds has really been strengthened.”
During greyhound racing’s peaks, Guccione said 50,000 young greyhounds annually were registered to race with the National Greyhound Association. That figure has declined to 15,000, as the NGA has recorded double-digit decreases in each of the past four years. The number of euthanized former racers also has fallen. While estimates vary depending on who compiles them, they range from about 4,000 to as many as 12,000.
Carey Theil, who 11 years ago co-founded Grey2K USA, an organization dedicated to eliminating greyhound racing in the U.S., said he doesn’t put much stock in the figures. Anti-racing activists and racing proponents, he said, have never conducted scientific studies comparing the number of births to the number of euthanasia cases. What he does know, though, is euthanasia and greyhound births are both on the decline.
“It’s almost like a perfect storm has led us to this point,” Theil said. “The industry is dying. It has been cut in half in five years.”
Only seven states still have greyhound tracks: Florida has 13, Alabama three, Iowa and West Virginia each have two, Arizona, Arkansas and Texas have one apiece. Theil’s organization, based in Somerville, Mass., worked tirelessly to place a greyhound racing ban on the ballot in Massachusetts, and it succeeded two years ago. It passed, and then the work began.
“We didn’t just want to end racing, we wanted to do it responsibly,” Theil said.
The ban provided people dependent on greyhound racing 14 months to phase out their operations. Grey2K worked with track and kennel owners on programs to transition workers into new fields. But when it came to the dogs themselves, he experienced a different attitude.
“The one frustrating thing is that the breeders weren’t interested in working with us,” Theil said. “Having said that, I have to give credit where credit is due, the industry has done a good job of transitioning greyhounds out when tracks close.”
Theil believes greyhound racing will come to an end in Iowa. He already has contacted state Humane Society officials and the Animal Rescue League of Iowa to prepare. When the time comes, he also hopes the greyhound industry will join forces with anti-racing groups.
“We’re not going to agree on every issue with kennel owners and breeders, but when it comes to the welfare of the dogs, that’s where everyone should set aside their differences and work together,” Theil said. “My experience has been this issue gets politicized and the dogs get held hostage.”
Theil also fears the trickle of greyhounds entering the system could become a tsunami if the industry collapses all at once.
“The solution in Iowa is for Harrah’s, breeders, the state and adoption groups coming together to solve the problem,” Theil said.
Mystique President and CEO Jesus Aviles said it doesn’t appear the Iowa Legislature will act on the issue in the near future, but should that day come, Mystique will take an active role in finding homes for the greyhounds.
“I’m an animal lover, and I really love dogs,” Aviles said. “I know these dogs make great companions and great pets. We will support any, any adoption program should it ever happen.”
Guccione doesn’t foresee a time when the number of adoptable greyhounds will overwhelm the number of potential adopters. The breed is gaining followers, he said, as more people come into contact with it through the growing number of greyhound owners.
At some point, he hopes industry downsizing will bottom out and begin to enjoy some sort of renaissance from a public bored with other casino and entertainment options.
“Iowa is doing pretty well,” Guccione said. “Many other states’ breeders are hurting a lot more than Iowa breeders. We really need Iowa. It is key to the future of greyhound racing.”
Perhaps that thought provides some comfort to breeders like Junk, who are simply scratching out a living on family farms across Iowa.
“I would like some way, somehow to continue,” Junk said. “We got into this business because we wanted to be Iowa agriculture farmers, and that is what the state deems it, agriculture. We were the beginning of the casinos. I’d rather have the gamble of trying to raise these dogs and see them be successful rather than pull a lever. When I send my pups off for training it’s like sending my kids off to college. I hope they do well.”
Junk has toyed with the idea of opening an adoption kennel on the farm, but some logistical issues have prevented her from pursuing it, so far. The breeding kennel and the adoption kennel must be kept separate, including a requirement that she change clothes before entering one building from the other.
“If racing ended it would take a long time to adopt out all of these dogs,” Junk said. “I’m sorry, but it’s not like a dog can’t run so it deserves a bullet in the head or whatever. I would like to have my own adoption facility sometime. My husband thinks it’s a little crazy.”
