Dawn

Polly was beautiful and Harry was such a lovely little boy who obviously loved his dog very much It was the first time I have judged at the show and Polly and Harry made it a very easy choice tho I didn't know who you were, which is at it should be I suppose There were many beautiful dogs there but your Polly is something special

Snatch was such a character Sleep tight sweetie

16

12 pounds please

Very sorry to hear about your Mum Mindy

Phebe I am so very sorry to hear of your loss. Thinking of you

Follow up article http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2281781.html Greyhound 'cull' trainers suspended Daniel Foggo TWO greyhound trainers face being banned from the sport after being photographed taking dogs to be slaughtered by a builders’ merchant and buried in his back garden. Sid Fenwick and his daughter Gillian Young were caught on camera by The Sunday Times taking two greyhounds to be destroyed by David Smith. He is said to have killed 10,000 dogs and buried them in a plot of land at the back of his house in Seaham, Co Durham. The two trainers have been suspended by the National Greyhound Racing Club (NGRC), the sport’s governing body. Young’s husband, Graeme, has also been suspended from his job as an assistant racing manager at Pelaw Grange, a licensed dogtrack at Chester-le-Street in Co Durham. Both Fenwick and Young now face formal stewards’ inquiries by the NGRC. The body has the power to fine them up to £5,000 each and to impose a lifetime ban from attending racetracks. NGRC rules stipulate that only vets can put down greyhounds. The NGRC’s action comes a week after The Sunday Times exposed for the first time how healthy greyhounds were being slaughtered simply because they were no longer considered fit enough to race. The killing of the greyhounds, some of which were aged only four or five and could have lived another 10 years, had long been suspected but never before proved. Alistair McLean, the NGRC’s chief executive, admitted he was “flabbergasted and appalledâ€. Each year trainers retire around 10,000 licensed greyhounds from racing, but homes are only found for about a third of them. The remainder simply “disappearâ€, according to animal welfare groups. Yesterday campaigners mounted dozens of protests outside tracks and betting shops throughout the country. In parliament last week, politicians raised concerns that the government’s forthcoming animal welfare act will not regulate the dog racing industry quickly enough. The government is delaying until at least 2009 proposals that would make it illegal for a greyhound to be put down by anyone other than a vet using an intravenous injection. The dogs buried in Smith’s so-called “canine killing field†were slaughtered by shooting them in their heads with a bolt gun, which is not at present illegal. The carcasses were then tipped into a hole in his plot before he used a mechanical digger to cover the “graves†with soil. Smith told an undercover reporter that it took him three years to fill his one-acre plot with bodies, at which point he started over again. It was also said Smith had been providing a £10-a-time dog-killing service for sections of the greyhound industry for up to 15 years. The scandal has caused widespread alarm within both the racing industry and also among the general public, as well as sparking inquiries by the government, the RSPCA and the tax authorities. The Environment Agency, which has voiced concerns over the possible health implications of so many bodies buried in such a small space, is attempting to gain access to Smith’s land in order to excavate the plot. Fenwick, 73, who was photographed arriving at Smith’s makeshift abattoir with his 44-year-old daughter and two greyhounds 11 days ago, revealed last night that the location was known to people in the industry as “the Garden of Edenâ€. He said he had taken the dogs to be killed because they were too noisy and “a menaceâ€, but insisted he had never visited Smith before and had not realised how he disposed of the bodies. Fenwick said he was not the dogs’ trainer and claimed that he did not know their names although he estimated them to be four or five years old. He said an unnamed man had given him the dogs, which were lame, and he had intended to keep them as pets before becoming irritated by their constant barking. “I just got them off this chap, he’s not a trainer, he’s an owner I think,†he said. “He gave them to us because they were a menace, barking and barking and barking, and I knew I’d get reported by the residents. “I was going to keep them as pets, but it was private houses where I had got them and they were barking so I was talking to a chap as to the best way to put them to sleep and he said ‘the Garden of Eden, you can take them any morning’. But I wouldn’t have taken them there if I’d known [what happened there].†He added: “I’d never been there in my life and one of the chaps said . . . if you take the dogs there they are put to sleep. He [smith] has his own incinerator, the greyhounds are burnt and then the ashes are put on the land. “Well, when I saw in the paper what he did with it I would never ever have taken a greyhound to be shot. I am totally innocent.†Fenwick, who said his daughter only accompanied him “for the ride†and to help unload the dogs, insisted he normally used a vet to kill dogs humanely. Last week Smith was visited by the police, who have satisfied themselves he was acting within the law. Bolt guns, which kill by firing a metal rod into an animal’s skull, have not required a licence since 1997. Paddy Sweeney, a retired greyhound vet, said he knew Smith well and was aware he had been killing dogs for about 20 years. He said Smith provided a cheap and humane service, but he was critical of the greyhound industry for causing dogs to be frequently injured, necessitating their destruction. “Without a shadow of a doubt Dave Smith puts down dogs that have been injured at licensed tracks,†he said. “He is a good man but the people who exploit the dogs are vermin, they are lower than a snake.†Harry Williams, a licensed trainer who has previously expressed concern over the welfare of retired dogs, said the industry’s problem with them being killed was linked to an increase in demand for greyhounds to fill bookmakers’ race programmes. “The trainers are not interested in quality dogs, they just want cheap ones to fill race cards and, once they get injured, it is not worth their while to get them treated by a vet. We now have the advent of the disposable greyhound, thrown away like disposable nappies.†Jeff McKenna, owner of the Pelaw Grange racetrack, said he had suspended the Youngs and Fenwick as soon as he was made aware of the allegations. The NGRC has no jurisdiction over Graeme Young, but McKenna said he had suspended him because of his family links to the trainers and would carry out his own inquiry. “We take the welfare of the dogs very seriously,†he said. McLean said that as a result of a hotline set up to elicit more information, the NGRC now had “quality†tip-offs on about 30 trainers. The kennel books of trainers showing where retired dogs have been sent are now being scrutinised by officials. “This is a very serious matter. It has brought the reputation of the sport into disrepute,†said McLean. “We will do whatever is necessary to clean up our industry even if it takes six months or a year. We are extremely grateful for the assistance provided by The Sunday Times.â€

Sorry but I dont feel that it is paramount that GA are with us, sure it would be great if they were, but if they aren't it doesn't make the march any less valid or credible, why should it?. If anyone asks me on the day what I would like to see as a result I will tell them I want an end to racing as no doubt will the majority of others. If GA were organising this I would still be going - to me the important thing is not who organises it but that it takes place

Half an hour! What kept him? My Jack walked through the gate and went arse over tit into the pond before we had even got in the cottage We loved Little Dumpledale, we took 6 greys and lurchers and 2 kids in February last year. Loved every minute.