Sherry Cotner discusses what happens to greyhounds when they stop racing

Once considered the breed of royalty, greyhound dogs are now part of a $3 billion a year industry – with a dark side. Each year, up to 20,000 retired racers are believed to disappear into medical research labs without either the owner’s knowledge or permission. A network of dedicated volunteers is working state-by-state to ban or regulate greyhound racing and to rescue retired dogs.

Sherry Cotner is a greyhound advocate and adoption representative based in Asheville, North Carolina. She is part of a network of volunteers who discovered a dark side of the greyhound business.

Chat Moderator: Welcome to the CNN chatroom, Sherry Cotner.

Sherry Cotner: Oh, hi!

Question from Susie-CNN: Are adopted greyhounds generally good-natured?

Sherry Cotner: Extremely good-natured, docile, pretty quiet, calm, easy to live with basically. That's why I have five of them! I don't think I could have five of any other particular breed. I'd have more, if it weren’t for my husband.

Question from Ghbliss: What adoption agency are you affiliated with?

Sherry Cotner: Greyhound Friends of North Carolina.

Question from tessie: What percentage of ex-racers is euthanized vs. adopted vs. used for research, etc?

Sherry Cotner: That is almost impossible to answer. For one thing, there's no national tracking system for greyhounds leaving racetracks, so some disappear. Others end up in research labs, and we may not find out about for several years; still others go back to their owners. We don't know if their owners put them down or keep them. Some go back to the "farm," and there's no record if any of those are used for breeding or put down.

Sometimes it's hard for adoption groups to keep track, because we get a lot of returns, so sometimes one dog may be adopted two or three times.

Question from Striker: I understand that the training of these dogs does little to prepare them as pets. Training for the track probably has little to do with training as pets,

Sherry Cotner: Training for the track probably has little to do with training as pets, but the fact that they're kept in tiny cages for 24 hours a day makes them easy to house train. They're social with other animals, the track environment makes them that way. They're used to living with a lot of dogs. I don't know if you can ascribe human emotions to animals, but lots of people say that the dogs seem grateful to be in a home, and get one-on-one attention from an owner.

Question from Own3Greys: Have you seen evidence of any adoption groups or groups based from the tracks being involved in this deception?

Sherry Cotner: I've not seen any evidence of that. It doesn't mean it hasn't happened. It hasn't come to my attention, though.

Question from MissysMistress: How did you find the information which helped you discover what was going on?

Sherry Cotner: I submitted a public records request to a Veterans’ Administration’s hospital in Minneapolis, asking for information on their research on greyhounds. I knew from past experience while living in Tucson, Arizona, that the Veterans Hospital there had been using greyhounds for research. People want to use greyhounds in research because of their docile nature, their deep chest and short fur, and have large hearts, which makes them good for cardiac research.

The fact is that they are plentiful, and they need to be more or less "gotten rid of" in my opinion, when their racing career is over. They need to be moved through the system so winning dogs can take their place.

Question from Marzipan: How much does the average greyhound weigh? Many people live in apartment complexes that have weight limits for dogs.

Sherry Cotner: My three females each weigh 60 pounds. One of my males weighs 74 and the other 77. They're average size.

Question from Rahja: How did you begin to do your searching?

Sherry Cotner: It was about 7 or 8 years ago, living in Tucson, when I adopted my first greyhound. I didn't know anything about greyhound racing. One day, the lady who ran the adoption group there called me and said one of the racing kennels was closing down.

There were maybe 26 dogs that needed a place, or they'd be killed. She needed help. So, we bathed them, begged for food at Petsmart for them, cleaned them up, pulled all the ticks off them. They were a mess - Sores, hair loss, dirty, filthy. That was my initiation.

Question from greyhoundlover: If an adoption group is doing good home visits there should be no need for one dog to be adopted 3 times.

Sherry Cotner: If you've done adoption for any length of time, you'd know that that is impossible, no matter what kind of checks you do. People get divorced, people die; people lose jobs, move, and can't take the dogs.

Sometimes it's the fault of the people who may not wan to work through problems with the dog. People are hard to read sometimes, and the occasionally mislead you.

Question from JUSTGREYS: What more can be done to make the public more aware of the greys and the kind, gentle souls they are, and the wonderful pets that they make?

Sherry Cotner: People involved in greyhound advocacy and greyhound adoption are out in the public all the time, speaking about the virtues of greyhounds. It's a full-time job for most of us. More national attention would help. When there are abuse situations in Idaho, they're not televised in Florida, for instance. The media is localized. We need more national attention.

Question from nhmike: I'm from New Hampshire and spent three years as the deputy director of the racing commission. We have no records like those spoken of in Wisconsin on the broadcast. The racing commission does not know how many dogs come through our state in a year, and, frankly, they don't want to know. What can we do to make them keep track?

Sherry Cotner: I would suppose the racing commission could put any contingencies on the tracks that they want to.

The problem is that even if you monitor the movement of the dogs and the disposition of the dog, unless someone is physically following each dog, there's no proof that the dog is going where it's supposed to be going, as in what happened in Wisconsin.

Question from Huntz: Are greyhound racing teams subject to any state/federal laws regarding the retirement of the greyhounds?

Sherry Cotner: The only state that has a requirement would be Wisconsin.

All of their ex-racers are supposed to either go to adoption, back to the owners, or to breeding farms. They've proven that they can't monitor that. There are too many dogs moving from one place to another by too many people,

Question from Ghbliss: Is there anything we can do to help with the Shonks trial?

Question from spittlehead: Can't they get him for some kind of conflict of interest law?

Sherry Cotner: Wisconsin has reported to us that they're still under investigation. The USDA has completed their investigation, but this is the 3rd Class B dealer in the last 10 years selling greyhounds without the greyhound owner's knowledge, who have been caught by greyhound advocates. The USDA has not filed any criminal charges in the past. So, we are not confident that they will file any criminal charges in this case.

What has happened in the past, the last Class B dealer that the advocates caught, the dealer gave up his USDA license to sell dogs, and then sought another license under a different name, and continued to sell greyhounds to labs. Greyhound advocates caught him again.

Question from Jtomsic: Can greyhound racing be banned - or is it demand-driven?

Sherry Cotner: I think it can be banned. It has been banned in Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Virginia, North Carolina, and Maine. Currently, there is an initiative on the ballot in the great state of Massachusetts to ban greyhound racing. That state currently has two racetracks in business.

Question from LCR_DPM: Don't you think that the research labs are the wrong targets for the overpopulation of greyhounds? You should be angry with the breeders who are the ones seeking the money in the first place.

Sherry Cotner: Yes, greyhound advocates are angry with the breeders. But there's nothing we can do with them; we have no control over the breeders. We are angry with some of the tracks which don't support adoption. Also, trainers and kennel owners who don't support adoption. But unfortunately, they just write us off as a bunch of animal rights fanatics, and they have a vested interest to keep greyhound racing alive.

Question from rapidk9: If we all wanted to adopt a greyhound...of course as a pet who would we get in touch with?

Sherry Cotner: Most greyhound adoption groups have websites.

If you search under "greyhound adoption" you can find a list of greyhound adoption groups, by state. You could try http://www.greyhoundog.org, for instance.

Please make an informed decision, though, as to whether the breed is suitable for your family. We don't necessarily want people to adopt because they feel sorry for the dogs. There are certain things about greyhounds that may not fit with your family lifestyle. The more education you do, the more successful the adoption will be.

Question from Tariat: My friend runs a greyhound rescue in mid Michigan. We get our dogs from Wisconsin. What do you demand from each new adoptive family?

	MESSAGE BOARD
Animal world

Sherry Cotner: That the dog be kept safe, be a member of the family, be given medical care; definitely kept inside, in a fenced yard or on a leash when outside,

and given a lot of love.

Question from Guest55192l: If this guy was making that much money from the dogs, do you fear for your safety after exposing him?

Sherry Cotner: Yes, I do. I've been in situations in the past where I've been concerned, but this is so national now, if anything happens to me, it will be obvious. :)

Question from Ann: What about the breeders themselves? And specifically, in Texas, where you have lip service from the TGA about tracking dogs from birth to death and yet there is no enforcement. Furthermore, you have inspectors that are related to breeders who do not properly do their job. No one seems to have the authority to properly monitor any of the activities.

Sherry Cotner: That's true for most animal situations. Animal rights seem to be low on the agenda. There seems to be a lot of "good old boy" networking, and I'm sure the situations we know about are not all the situations occurring. I'm talking about abuse situations.

Question from LCR_DPM: What do you think should happen to all the greyhound which can't be placed in homes??

Sherry Cotner: If I had my wish in the world, there would be maybe one greyhound track, a lot less breeding, and the number of greyhounds controlled so that every one of them could go into a home, if it was a perfect world.

I definitely believe that if two-thirds cut down the number of greyhound tracks, we could get all the dogs adopted. And that would be only if the breeders, trainers, and owners would put them into adoption programs, which is not the scenario currently.

Question from Allie: Can’t we initiate a national anti-dog racing move across the country?

Sherry Cotner: That would be a big job. It's easier to do it state-by-state.

Question from Jtomsic: We are ready to start a Georgia chapter of Greyhond Friends. Can you help?

Sherry Cotner: Greyhound adoption is hard work. It's emotionally draining. You have to have some place to house the dogs temporarily, foster homes.

Those are not always available.

Dogs come with varying medical problems. You'll end up taking money from your own pocket. You'll spend countless hours on the phone, talking to potential adoptors. People are unpredictable. Some will return dogs.

Question from tlds1: Sherry, I adopted "Smiley" in 1997 at the Hollydogs in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I' ve been trying to obtain Smiley's records, but I have not had any luck. Where can I obtain his information? Is there any search by using his tattooes ears?

Sherry Cotner: You can call the National Greyhound ASsociation at 785-263-4660, and give them the dog's ear tattoos. They'll tell you the owner and the telephone number. You can call the owner to find out the dog's racing records.

I haven't done that with my dogs, because I know they were losers. That's why I have them. :) And I'm happy to have them.

Chat Moderator: Do you have any final thoughts for us?

Sherry Cotner: Please keep the greyhounds in your hearts, and wish them well. We're working hard to make their lives better.

Chat Moderator: Thank you for joining us today, Sherry Cotner.

Sherry Cotner: Thank you so much! Bye!

Check out the CNN Chat calendar
Post your opinion on our message boards

Greyhoundog.org

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.