SOME GREYHOUNDS ATTACK/FIGHT

Image school for referees – those who see and who “do not see”.
Let’s protect health of our racing greyhounds.

       Video from race with Vigorous Brandon box no. 4
click HERE (wmv format) or HERE (avi format)  

All greyhounds are nice, gentle and friendly.  And also fast and competitive.
They have been bred for hunting, thus chasing what is moving, for thousands of years.
The moving “hare” on the track trepans the greyhounds into run and all run to catch the bait. Greyhounds bravely contend for a victory on the track and one is the first to hit the finish line.
However, some have too aggressive spirit and stop following the bait – hare in the run and start attending to its sparing-partner. 
They do not want it to be the first one to hunt down the desirable “hare”.
The bait pursuing instinct of such greyhound turns into aggression against the sparing-partner.
When running they attack, beat and jump on their sparingpartners. In Czech language it is often used more benevolent term that can be translated as "knocking".

Illustration Photo – Preparing for Attack

At the greyhound speed, the physical regularities are similar to those when a fast car driver suddenly turns the steering wheel away from the driving direction. An attacking greyhound provokes very similar situations. Except that the attacking greyhound limits, beats and endangers its partners, reversion of the attacking greyhound in the track turning is risky.
At that moment the attacking greyhound can hurt itself.
The attacking greyhound holds down and attacks the greyhound running alongside.
And this is not the only danger, as the other greyhounds running behind him are endangered, too.
Like on the road – when one starts, a mass car accident occurs.
 

Camera number 2

Camera number 4

Firstly this greyhound was running peacefully his track. Then he realized that his female-sparing partner was beginning to overrun him and he started beating her with his muzzle to her hip again. When the female dog was trying to run away from him he was beating her again - this time from the back to the underbelly until the girl-greyhound dropped and almost sat on the sand.
The aggressor, who was not interested in technique of his running but beating, was stopped by a dangerous fall followed by a salto, a spin and followed by forward rollovers.
Young aggresive greyhound suprisingly, in spite of the horrible pictures, remained unharmed.
At that moment it was also a luck that there were no other greyhounds running behind them.
Videoshots from cameras - from various points around the track - caught this event from different angles which hereby released static shots cannot show to such extend.

Even if attacking by an aggresive greyhound does not end up with the worst scenario – who would like to have his calm greyhound frustrated by being repeatedly beated by other greyhound on the track?
When attacked by other greyhound, some greyhounds still stick to their original beckoning stimulus – following the bait.  Some greyhounds, however, strike back.
The racing organizer’s task is to organize greyhound racing, and not greyhound wrestling.

Illustration Photo – Attack

An attacking greyhound must be disqualified from the racing. Not only for safety reasons –
to avoid the greyhounds being injured – but because the attacking greyhound destroys the entire run, entire contest. 
An attacked greyhound is held down in its run and slowed down, and the greyhounds in the last positions are able to get to the leading positions.
In no case, unintentional collision is not considered as attacking.
Attacking is always intentional assault against a peaceful partner that is simply faster than the aggressor.
The aggressor does not like being second because the attacking greyhound wants to catch the bait by him/herself.
Attacking is evident from the greyhound turning his head towards his co-runner –
such attacking greyhound does not pay sufficient attention to the bait, but to the partner.
In such case, pursuit instinct is deteriorated and aggression gets the floor.
It is a greyound´s racing character defect.

Elita Co Co - 3. Disqualification

Elita Co Co (red cloth) attacked her sparingpartner from the track turning along the straight track as far as to the finish.
No interest in the hare whatsoever.

Elita Co Co (black cloth) -  1. Disqualification

Elita (red cloth) was attacking her sparingpartner from start to finish

How Elita Co Co got a DISQ in race

An attacking greyhound is “disqualified” – Disq. is recorded in its Racing Log
Hardly any owner is willing to provide his calm greyhound as a sparing-partner for the “correction runs” after disqualification (max. 3 times).
A disqualified greyhound has the last chance to be put on racing after the third clean run trial.  
In case of another, third disqualification, the greyhound is disqualified from racing forever. 

How First Co Co run for disqualification

First Co Co was attacking the whole curve, he was not interested in the bait at all.

Zorneagles Karel (black cloth)

Zorneagles Karel was attacking in the 525 m run for the entire turning until injured himself.

If a greyhound is disqualified from the racing for the third time, it is not an accident, the greyhound has this negative character given it cannot be eliminated.  This character is inherited more than often.

Some irresponsible greyhound owners, however, send up a greyhound, that is disqualified by one organization (that issues their own racing licences), to races that are organized
by another racing organization (that issues different licences) that has not disqualified the given greyhound yet.

Such owners, that "spin" among greyhound racing organizers / racing organizations / and their racing tracks, are allowed to have several racing licences for one greyhound issued by various racing organizations e.g. FCI, CGRC, CGRF etc.
Such spinning owner is allowed to ride a race with his disqualified greyhound, regardless of the course of the race and its consequences.
He does not care about both his greyhound´s health and other greyhound sparingpartners,
he does not care whether a race turns to something like "dog fights" and whether he destroys efforts of other people or not.

The catch in such “dog fighting” is not the artificial hare, but a living greyhound – the sparing partner.
The attacked dog is being attacked for a major part of the run, but the referees – do not see.  
Due to a small number of racing greyhounds in the Czech Republic, the greyhound attacks are often knowingly disregarded.  Probably to have as many greyhounds as possible racing here.
 

Vigorous Brandon (black cloth)

Vigorous Brandon was attacking in the 525 m run when approaching the finish line.

Last year (2007) our CGRF racing federation stopped accepting racing applications of greyhounds with any racing licences.
We were obliged to do this step because of the above mentioned reasons and mainly because of our unfortunate experience at Czech International Derby 2007 held by our organization.
At this event one greyhound, whose owner belongs to a different organization and whose racing application we accepted with confidence in this owner, was attacking so intensively that the greyhound hurt himself.

We never can be sure whether a whatsoever greyhound was fighting and whether there is some record about such action in a racing licence kept by some organization .

It is useless to discuss for what reason there is no record about such fighting, whether a jury did not see or did not want to see such behavior or the checkout system simply allows to extinguish this fact. If a greyhound, that is from a different organization, races in two runs
and the greyhound attacks even in the first run, it often happens that the greyhound is "withdrawn" from the race.
Such a greyhound does not advances to the final run, the official results are published only from the final run and nobody gets to know about this situation.
 
However, we prefer believing only what we verify ourselves.

For approx. 4 years we were willing to accept applications, among others from greyhound owners who did not have a racing licence issued by an organization incorporated to WGRF system, but they had other licences (issued by different organization) and they wanted to take part in our races.
We obligingly accepted such licences that confirmed that a greyhound "is able to run" but there was not any necessary data about greyhound´s classification.

Such licences were not acceptable for purposes of our races and therefore, with respect to our rules, we had to verify running style of all greyhounds that had not a racing licence issued by CGRF/WGRF or CGRC/WGRF.
This was the well-known duty to participate in min. 2 training sessions at our track before the racing. We had to verify the running style of all such greyhounds, i.e. whether a greyhound chases the hare in the inner part, central part or outer part of the track.
The clasification is made with respect to the greyhound - with respect to his style that is given.
Such classification, to the widest possible extend, prevents interference of running greyhounds and it precedes possible colisions and following injuires.

You can be sure that we did our best for the “clean runs”, thus for health of greyhounds racing on our tracks.
Even if there are only “two and a half” greyhounds to participate, our runs will always be clean - for pleasure.
There is no place for twisted egos of some here.
It is not our top priority to have the highest possible number of greyhounds or runs. Not at such price.
 

Kengeylfuto Karcsu (white cloth)

Kengeylfuto Karcsu was attacking in 300 m sprint after passing the finish line

Whether in Walthamstow, Cork, Shelbourne Park, Ireland, England, America or anywhere else on the professionally run tracks of the World Greyhound Racing Federation (WGRF), it is absolutely impossible that a greyhound somehow not belonging to the track participates in the racing there.
That the owner enrolls his greyhound for racing that he just happens to like.
The greyhound owners have their greyhounds (including a licensed trainer) bound to a certain track under a contract for the entire racing season. 
Unlike in our country, it is impossible that a greyhound owner just wakes up in the morning and decides to race with his greyhound in Cork and next weekend perhaps in Shelbourne Park, while he would like some place in Australia for the following weekend, arriving there with his greyhound to “have a run” on their beautiful track (this happens in our country pretty often, and even across various organizations, often with incompatible racing licenses).

The WGRF’ care is so thorough (Mark Sulliwan also states this in his book The Ultimate Greyhound) that there is a rule established, saying that if a greyhound even belonging to a certain track happens not to race for certain period of time, must be first qualified (prepared)
by a trainer for the racing before he returns to the track.
They do not let it immediately join the properly managed racing dogs in the racing.

Although we are an amateur organization, we also do not want our greyhounds to be endangered by other greyhounds, that we do not have our own experience with.
The racing of greyhounds of the “wide racing public” along with greyhounds of our organization members cannot be held at our track anymore.
Our greyhounds are verified, tested and thoroughly monitored.

We do a proper verification and the results are trustworthy,
whatever a disappointed owner might say.
Although his greyhound does not attack, but just “plays” on the track. 
In order to be able to reliably determine an attacking greyhound, we use ten electronic eyes
 – ten race referees.
Doubts or mistakes detrimental to an attacking greyhound are impossible.
Records made by ten videocameras placed around the track are archived from all races.
We can observe in detail any place of the racing ciurcuit from several different angles.
 It is possible to replay them anytime, or take snaps, etc. anytime.

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