Bobby is such a dear old chap. He trusts me totally and is so grateful to be here and have some home comforts at last especially during the winter months. Bobby loves to be wrapped up in a cosy blanket. He will lie for hours sleeping peacefully once he is snug and comfortable. When the weather is mild, he will lie out on the grass during sunny days. He really does ask for so little in life and it is unbelievable that this dog was left to rot in kennels for so many years without the chance of a home. He is so good-natured and will allow the smaller dogs to curl up beside him in his bed.

We did not expect Bobby to have long when he arrived so we are pleased that he has done so well and is really happy and enjoying his new life. He has Rimadyl tablets for the pain in his legs and also has fish oil and vitamins. He must have suffered so much when he was cold and lying on wet hard bedding. Now he looks forward to his walks, which tend to be a bit limited as his legs are a somewhat shaky.

He does like to potter around sniffing the exciting hedgerow scents and watching the rabbits. He makes no attempt to chase them but just walks past and they carry on eating the grass unperturbed by his presence.

I have to feed Bobby in his bed if he is feeling a bit wobbly though this is infrequent and he always tries to get up to eat in the kitchen. He has problems standing still for any length of time though walking is not so much of a problem. His bladder is becoming a little weak and he needs to go out every couple of hours or so. We are giving him Propalin syrup, which is helping him to get a good night’s sleep by not having to get up so much.

Bobby is such a sweet affectionate dog. It is scandalous that he has had such a grim life. Apparently he was once the UK Greyhound champion and won the cup at Brough Park! Then he was condemned to a miserable existence as his reward. Someone somewhere must have that cup – maybe on their mantelpiece. I wonder if they ever give a thought to what happened to the brave dog who won it for them.

'We knew nothing about killing fields'

The racing industry has been thrown into turmoil after David Smith was accused of killing up to 10,000 dogs and burying them near his £220,000 detached house in Northdene Terrace.

The dad-of-three, who runs a builder's merchant and newsagent's in Lord Street, charged £10 a time to shoot dogs, allegedly for 40 trainers, because they were too old to race and too expensive to home.

Animal rights campaigners said they believe most of the slaughtered dogs would have been raced at Sunderland and Brough Park stadiums ­ both owned by bookmaking giant William Hill.

"William Hill knew about this," said Tony Peters, of Greyhound Action. "They've know for years this guy Smith has been killing dogs that come from their tracks."

The firm denied the allegations.

A spokesman said: "William Hill stadia hosts a responsible and regulated sport and has no reason to believe that any owners or trainers from our tracks have been involved with this activity.

"We find the revelations abhorrent and will welcome and support any investigation into the activity to identify any miscreants who may have chosen to euthanase their greyhounds by these means.

"Should an investigation identify any individuals have raced greyhounds at our tracks and who have then engaged in this activity, these individuals will be banned from having any further association with our tracks immediately and will be reported to the NGRC (National Greyhound Racing Club, which regulates 31 licensed tracks)."

Durham police have twice spoken to Mr Smith since revelations of his activities came to light over the weekend

A spokesman said: "We have received no specific complaints about Mr Smith's activities and we have no concerns about the bolt gun and we have now established it is quite legitimately held."

On whether the alleged mass dog grave posed a public health hazard, District of Easington Council said: "We will be working with the Environment Agency to ensure there will be no long-term contamination of the land at Mr Smith's home.

"There are potential health issues surrounding the disposal of animal carcasses and we would therefore strongly advise people to use pet crematoriums or contact the council for further advice."

The NGRC said its North East stipendiary steward Eric Vose would investigate.

But Greyhound Action fears any investigation may be worthless unless the one-acre plot where Mr Smith allegedly buried 10,000 dogs is dug up.

Death threats to dog killer

DOG killer David Smith has been forced to boost security at his Seaham home after receiving death threats.

Since the allegations were made against the businessman, malicious phone calls have been made to his businesses and Northdene Terrace home.

Some of the sinister calls were answered by Mr Smith's wife Maureen and his daughter.

To protect his property and family, Mr Smith hurriedly installed CCTV, floodlights and other security measures after the allegations received national attention.

"I am devastated by all of this," said the East Durham builder's merchant.

Durham police said they were not aware of any death threats, but confirmed the Smiths had received a number of malicious phone calls.

Killings 'common knowledge'

PEOPLE in Seaham have backed David Smith, who has received death threats for allegedly killing thousands of greyhounds.

Many people said it was common knowledge dogs were being put down.

"Everybody in Seaham knows what he does" said Frank Prest, of Seaham Pet and Garden Centre. "And have done for a long time.

"As long as he's doing it humanely, he's providing a service. If he didn't do that, they would just smack them over the head with a brick."

Deborah Rochester, 29, from Ropery Walk, said: "I don't agree with the methods he's using but I can't see why everyone is putting up a fuss about it now because he's been doing it for years."

Her friend Angela Peel, 30, from Dawdon, said: "He's not doing anything illegal and people have been using him for years."

They both said greyhound owners should take more responsibility for their dogs.

Pauline Yates, 41, from Seaham, agreed. "It's up to the owners to look after them until they die," she said.

Fifty-year-old Alan Savage, from Parkside, also said blame for the situation should lie with the owners. "It should be the owners held up as well, not just Dave Smith. They're the ones making money off the dogs then just getting rid of them."

Racing told to clean up its act

THE greyhound industry has been told to "clean its act up" by the Government.

Animal Welfare Minister Ben Bradshaw said killing a dog with a bolt gun breached the rules of the National Greyhound Racing Club.

"The National Greyhound Racing Club must launch an immediate investigation," he said. "It must discipline or expel any members who have broken its rules by disposing of their dogs in this way."

"The Government believes racing greyhounds should only be put down by a vet.

"We have long felt self-regulation within the greyhound industry is the most effective way of policing animal welfare.

"If they can't clean up their act, Government will intervene."

Meanwhile, campaigners have called for commercial greyhound racing at stadiums such as Sunderland and Easington to be scrapped.

Greyhound Action says replacing real dogs with computer-generated virtual racing is the only way to ensure thousands of greyhounds a year do not end up prematurely killed.

The drug stops dogs winning because it "fries" their brains, preventing them from running on top form, and crooked punters cash in by betting on the doped greyhounds to LOSE.

There have been four cases of dogs testing positive for cocaine —and none of them finished first —but it is feared many more have gone undetected.

In an exclusive interview, Noel Thompson, security co-ordinator for the National Greyhound Racing Council, said: "People are giving drugs to dogs which they know will stop them."

Cocaine is a stimulant in humans, but when the drug is mixed in with a dog's food, its nervous system is overstimulated and the animal becomes disorientated.

"A doped greyhound will often struggle to go round bends and lose vital ground," said Mr Thompson. "Certain drugs will take the edge off a dog."

He added that the callous fixers are cruelly playing with the dogs' lives."They are giving them poison, because that's what drugs are," he said. "An overdose could kill a dog, just as it would a human being.

"We know for sure a number of gambles have taken place involving a greyhound which later tested positive. Inevitably gambles have been landed on greyhounds that were not tested."

Trainer

Around 10,000 dogs a year are tested and in 2005 up to 30 were found to be doped with drugs, including cocaine. The most recent cocaine case involved Dark Ranger at the Pelaw Grange track near Chester-le-Street in Durham last September. Both his trainer and kennel-hand were fined £1,000 and disqualified after the 7-4 chance finished third.

Mr Thompson said: "It's unlikely that a dog is ‘got at' without a trainer or someone on the staff being involved. People are definitely trying to buck the system."

He added: "Apart from cocaine, another big stopper is Cyclizine, the travel sickness pill.

"Beta-blockers, heart drugs, chocolate and amphetamines have all been used on greyhounds, I believe."

Another trainer, Andrew Gardiner, was severely reprimanded and fined £1,000 after his dog Emma The First was doped with beta-blocker Propranolol at Brough Park stadium, Newcastle upon Tyne, in October.

And greyhound agent William O'Donoghue was reprimanded and fined £400 after theophylline, an asthma treatment, and caffeine were found in a urine sample taken from Kiel Sensation at Perry Barr, Birmingham, last July.

Even the 2003 Greyhound Derby winner Droopys Hewitt tested positive for a painkiller in the third round of the competition, although the result was not known until after he had won the £75,000 final, two weeks later, when it was disqualified.

Millions of punters bet on greyhounds in betting shops, at dog tracks every day and on TV worldwide.

Annually greyhound racing generates a colossal £2.3 billion in off-course bets, and £87.5 million in Tote on-course bets at the UK's 31 tracks.

Wrecking

Online betting exchange Betfair—who offer punters the chance to gamble on greyhounds to lose races—has teamed up with the National Greyhound Racing Council to hound out the crooks.

When Betfair spot suspicious betting patterns they alert NGRC investigators who launch an immediate probe.

Mr Thompson says the sport's security squad is doing its "absolute best" to stop the dopers wrecking the country's second biggest gambling sport after horse-racing.

He added: "I think it is awful and disgusting for anyone to dope greyhounds, and our stewards look at it in the same way

HEART RUMBLE's positive sample following his run in the Northern Puppy Derby at Sunderland last year - which on Tuesday led to his Irish trainer Paul Hennessy being severely reprimanded and fined £800 by the NGRC - came about after he was treated for kidney problems.

In a written statement, Hennessy explained that the dog had suffered renal failure and had been administered `laurabolin' by his veterinary surgeon in November 2004. He apologised to the Stewards for the positive sample, which was found to contain the banned substance nandolone, and stated that every precaution would be taken in future to ensure that there would be no recurrence.

In other inquries this week, greyhound trainer Stan Dow had his license withdrawn following the positive analysis of a urine sample taken from Billis Picture at Peterborough in November; while former trainer Dean Steward was fined £1,000 and made a disqualified person for failing to look after greyhounds in his care.

Romford handler Kim Marlow was fined £750 and severely reprimanded after the positive sample taken from Charity Case at the Essex track in November, while Sittingbourne handler George Andreas was fined £1,000 after the positive sample taken from Ill Get Him at the Kent circuit in January.

In a separate inquiry, the racecourse executive at Brough Park was fined £750 and reprimanded after Pocket Rocket ran as Pocket Power at the north-east track in January.

A greyhound owner is suing a North track after his prize- winning dog died in a horrific accident during a race there.

Spectators at Brough Park in Newcastle looked on in horror as tragic Coolanga Okee crashed into a steel box used to protect the mechanical hare.The force of impact broke nearly every bone in its body and the animal had to be put down at the side of the track.

Furious owner Terry Welsh, 46, said a similar accident occurred just a couple of weeks before in which a dog also died.However, while confirming that a second incident did occur, Kevin Wilde, director of greyhound stadia for track owner's William Hill, would not say whether the other dog had been put down as well. But Mr Wilde did admit that since the accident involving Coolanga Okee last August the company had spent a fortune on safety improvements.

Terry, 46, of Walker, Newcastle, paid £4000 for the greyhound just three months before the accident and is seeking damages from Brough Park. He said: "The box is a big steel mechanical thing which comes down after the second lap and lets the hare disappear."But on this occasion it was too close to the rails. The hare passed through it and my dog smashed straight into it."I went and got him off the track myself. Everyone was horrified."I had to have him put to sleep. The vet said afterwards he had broken almost every bone in his body."I am not bothered about the money but I feel disgusted that no one will accept responsibility for this."

After the accident, the steel box was removed from the track at Brough Park.Mr Wilde, said: "It was a freak accident but the fact is it shouldn't have happened."He added: "William Hill took over the stadium in March 2003 and I identified a number of problems at the track."In my opinion the box was badly designed but we have the same system operating all over Ireland and there hasn't been a problem."Since August we have spent more than £300,000 improving safety issues at the stadium, with £100,000 of that being on the track itself."

Meanwhile, Terry has not returned to the track since. He said: "I was absolutely gutted and everyone at the track was horrified."This dog was only 18 months old and was showing a lot of promise. He had only run 10 races and won seven of them. I haven't been able to go back to the track since."Terry's solicitor, David Johnson, of Shaw and Co in Newcastle, said: "We have made a claim and William Hill's insurers are investigating."If a suitable settlement is not offered we will be issuing proceedings to sue them for breach of contract."

"In fact the Brough Park racing manager, in my opinion, deliberately "wrong boxes" dogs to create trouble and I have on more than one occasion seen carnage resulting in serious injury because he has placed a dog that moves off at the bend in
an inside box .........."

(Greyhound Action comments in italics)

"To all owners and trainers of open racers who intend trialling for the All England Cup (at Brough Park) - beware, there is considerable racing office incompentence. When you book trials three days before, as my trainer did, and have them accepted and told when to weigh in etc, please, before you travel, confirm before setting off, as I and my trainer found out on arrival that there were no kennels for our dogs and so we were turned away. On remonstrating was told by racing manager that they have problems(what that meant is anyone's guess) and on talking to trainers at the track that they also had brought dogs that had been booked in and had no kennels and were to sit it the vans until after the bags meeting was over some five hours later. On asking the trainers, this is par for the course. They said it was choas with the racing office......"

"...... Read the Racing Post tomorrow, as Brough Park will be under attack. They harrowed the track yesterday and the running surface was a shambles. A dog trialing for the All England Cup broke a bone in his foot, the dogs were sliding all over the place. They have had six or seven broken hocks in the last two weeks, a trainer at the track was saying"

"When I was there trialling a few weeks back, the track was absolutely sodden. Obviously this was to make sure BAGS racing was okay and to hell with the other runners. Friends of mine also trialled there a week after me and were disgusted with the state of the track to the point they will be strongly thinking about running their dogs there again."
(BAGS racing consists of race meetings held in the afternoon for the purposes of betting shops)

Brough Park has taken immediate action to remove a steel box used to protect the hare at the end of races after the Gordon Rooks-trained Coolanga Okee suffered fatal injuries when crashing into in at halfway in an A3 graded event on Friday, writes Jonathan Kay.

"He was leading into the back straight and might have just been caught from behind," said Rooks yesterday. "For whatever reason, he stumbled, fell and ended up smashing straight into this big box, which was far too close to the running area. It's the second time it's happened to one of my dogs in the past six weeks.

"It was absolutely horrendous, the dog was virtually killed stone-dead," added Rooks. "The vet said afterwards that he's broken virtually every bone in his body including his neck."

The steel box was removed on Saturday and Kevin Wilde, director of greyhound stadia for the track's owners William Hill, said: "It was a freak accident, but the fact is that it shouldn't have happened and I really feel for the connections of the dog.

"At our other track Sunderland, we have a similar system to Brough Park but the box is actually outside the track and cannot possibly be hit by a greyhound. There are plenty of things wrong at Brough Park that need putting right and this is one - until we have a perfectly safe system in place, we'll just leave the box off."

Rooks said he had been reassured after meeting with Wilde on Saturday. "I don't want to be slagging Brough Park off because it's my livelihood and we need to support the place," he said. "Kevin was very apologetic for what happened and promised to get it right, but it shouldn't have taken this to happen for something to be done about the situation."

Greyhound Action comment:-

If this was the second time a dog had crashed into the steel box, why wasn't it removed after the first time? Indeed, why was it there at all? It seems pretty obvious that it presented a danger to the dogs.

If "there are plenty of things wrong at Brough Park that need putting right" and they don't yet "have a perfectly safe system in place", why are greyhound races taking place there at all?

How long until the next "freak accident"?

Despite the horrendous death of Coolanga Okee, Gordon Rooks still supports Brough Park. Obviously his "livelihood" is more important to him than the fate of the greyhounds he trains.

Kevin’s dogged pursuit of tickets

EXCLUSIVE by Murray Scougall

A CELTIC fan desperate to attend the UEFA Cup Final in Seville is making a bizarre offer in exchange for a pair of tickets — his prize-winning greyhound.

Kevin Muir, from Billingham, near Sunderland, hopes the strange proposal will leave similarly frantic fans in the traps as the search intensifies for the gold dust tickets. With touts continuing to demand exorbitant prices, Kevin tried a different approach and is offering interested parties Raggazeus — his champion greyhound worth almost £2000.

The 35-year-old, originally from Edinburgh, said, “I wondered what I had that I could offer in exchange for tickets and this was what I came up with. He’s the greatest possession I have in my life and I’ve had great times with him.”

Three-year-old Raggazeus won the Ladbroke’s Casino Stakes race on his debut and was crowned track champion last spring by a greyhound magazine after winning a succession of races at Brough Park, Newcastle. He won 10 races in 2002 and has already won twice this year — well over £1000 in prizes.

Kevin said, “I’ve been involved with greyhound racing since I was a teenager. For me, getting rid of him is a massive thing to do. “This dog’s always been very special — he was unbeatable last year. He’s in great condition and has no injuries. But this is a one-off and at the end of the day, business is business. Celtic are my life and I’ve waited 35 years for this moment.

“When I lived in Scotland I never missed European games at Celtic Park. Even though I’m down here now, I still attend as many as I can. In the last few years I’ve been to Hamburg, Lyon, Paris and Belgium.” Kevin’s wife, Heather, and nine-year-old daughter, Laura, are also huge fans. Kevin said, “Whether we get tickets or not, we’re still going. We’ve booked a week in the Algarve and we’ll go to Seville for the game and stay overnight.”

Anyone interested in a swap can e-mail Kevin on kmuir24782@aol.com

Greyhound Action comment: Yet another example of how greyhounds are regarded as mere commodities by those in the racing industry. Note also Muir's use of the word "possession" to describe Raggazeus. If a "very special" dog can be swopped for a pair of football tickets, one fears for the fate of those considered not so special.

Update: within a day of this article being posted on another site, Kevin Muir had received 96 emails of complaint - amazing really. He has now retracted this 'offer'