Year: 2020

Misha was born in 2007 and raced at Belle Vue in 2009 and 2010. After she was raced 28 times she was kept at her trainer’s kennels until she was rescued in January 2011 – 10 months after her last recorded race.

Misha had worms, her coat was in very bad condition, she had a number of scars and every time she stretched or got up after sleeping she would ‘crack’.

When Misha was first brought home she was very scared of men and extremely scared of anyone holding a stick – she would position herself so I was between her and the stick. It took about 6 months for her to be comfortable around men she didn’t know.

Over the years Misha’s health in general was good but this all changed in 2017 when she was diagnosed with a sarcoma above her eye.  Misha was subsequently diagnosed with 4 more sarcomas, had them removed and received radiotherapy on two areas.

For the last few years of her life Misha suffered from arthritis and this impacted on her exercise and ability to get in and out of the car. Towards the end of her life Misha could only cope with a short walk of less than 5 minutes. Misha was on painkillers, anti-inflammatory medication and supplements to ease the symptoms and discomfort from her arthritis.

DM, Manchester

My name is Lenny and I’m 2 years old, born in December 2017. I was bred in Ireland and named Ballymac Prancer. I was bought at 6 months old and came to Wolverhampton to race at Monmore. I raced 13 times and won 2 of them. The rest of the time I did pretty badly. We eventually found out that I was inexplicably injured my whole life. My previous ‘owner’ has been in contact with my doggy mum and has said this, “he has always had little injuries but we could never really find out what they were and he left the vets at the track perplexed as well”. If I was injured, why did I run until January 2020? I injured myself in a race and had to rest for 54 days afterwards, before my last qualifying trial. Thankfully I didn’t win. My foster family pre warned my forever family that I had some balance issues and would frequently trip up. Everyone was unsure as to why I had difficulties even walking over flat ground. By the time I came to my forever home (4 months after ‘retiring’) I was mostly okay in walking and running. But I did have physio at my foster home. 

I also have been diagnosed with having degenerative heart failure which is treated by medication for life. We do not know at which point this started but it is highly unusual for my age and breed. Either way, without medication I should not have been racing. 

Also I have a scar on my left flank from being caught in a trap. My teeth have signs of being ground down from chewing on kennel bars. 

I was 29kg when I should have been 34kg. 

As with most ex racer greyhounds, I did not know how to play, how to interact with other dogs. I am reactive if a dog jumps on me and paws at my face or rear end.

K.A. Nottingham

This girl was rescued by one of our members from a trainer who raced her at a flapping (unlicensed) track in Thornton, Fife. She had a degree of brain damage caused by repeated beatings by her trainer. He admitted to beating her unconscious with a metal bowl if she spilled her food. He also admitted to dragging her out and ‘giving her a kicking’ if he came home drunk and in a bad mood. This girl was so unbelievably traumatised by her experience that it took years of hard work to rehabilitate her. Fortunately, she was in a loving home with people who vowed to try to undo the damage caused by her trainer. Due to the severe head trauma sustained, she developed full blown dementia by 6 ½ and sadly had to be put to sleep at 8 years old. She will always be sadly missed.

Ms ER, Scotland

My girl Jenny was a ‘damaged’ greyhound when we rescued her at 4 years old. We rescued her from Sheffield 10 years ago, she was an Irish dog originally who was brought over and  raced at Owlerton until an injury saw her get left at the rescue.

When we took her in she was terrified of everything, would only sleep by our front door, her skin and fur were in terrible condition with hair loss and a huge bald patch on her hind leg. Her injury was a severe sprain on her back leg which bothered her all her life until we lost her last year as it was never treated properly when it happened. Jenny was absolutely terrified of kennels and loud bangs and refused to run in all the time we had her. Sadly she passed away last year at 14 years old but even though she had a rough start to her life we did everything we could to give her a new and better life where she was loved and spoiled rotten. 

Ms E.L., Chesterfield