Following up on my previous post, the Minister for Racing, Kieran McAnulty, has responded about his report to Cabinet and release of the Racing Integrity Board report:
“The ongoing improvement of greyhound welfare remains a priority for this Government. That is why the previous Minister for Racing, Hon Grant Robertson, initiated the Robertson Review into Greyhound Racing. It is also why, following the conclusion of the Review in July 2021, the industry was put on notice to make improvements.
I received the final report from the Racing Industry Board (RIB) on the greyhound industry’s progress in December 2022. This report will form the basis of my recommendation to Cabinet on the future of the industry, alongside consultation with the industry and animal welfare groups. The report will not be released publicly until it has been duly considered by Cabinet.
I had intended to present my findings to Cabinet in February 2023. However, this year’s significant weather events have made it necessary for the Government to deal with more pressing issues, and as such the greyhound paper has been delayed but will be presented at the first opportunity. I’d like to get it started and I acknowledge this uncertainty may be causing anxiety and intend to release a statement and contact key stakeholders within the next week to provide an update on next steps.“
I am looking forward to hearing about what the Minister’s next steps will be.
Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand
Towards the end of each calendar year, it seems that the NZ Government releases a lot of reports before staff take holidays for Christmas and the summer season. Unfortunately, this also means that the contents of these reports do not always get as much attention by the public and media that they should.
In late November 2022, the Petitions Committee issued its report on the petition of Aaron Cross from the Greyhound Protection League of New Zealand to ban commercial greyhound racing.
The findings of this report are sobering and worth highlighting:
One of our principal concerns about this petition is that the industry’s responses to problems have been slow and do not show that the welfare of dogs is the industry’s main consideration. For example, despite the Hansen recommendation in 2017 regarding straight racetracks, there are still no straight tracks.
We have heard that the industry has focused more on reducing greyhound deaths than on reducing injuries and improving the quality of care. This can result in ill or traumatised dogs that are not suitable for rehoming as pets. We are also concerned for other dogs that do not get into the rehoming programme.
We note that the industry does not have a long-term plan for dealing with the large number of dogs that need rehoming each year. Further, we are concerned at the lack of a plan to track and manage the overall population of racing greyhounds in New Zealand and at the possibility that the industry may be breeding and importing too many dogs. Population management was raised as an issue in the WHK report, the Hansen report, and the Robertson report. We think a carefully considered population plan is long overdue.
We were interested to hear about the RIB’s attention to kennel audits and we hope that they lead to improvements in dogs’ care. We urge the RIB and GRNZ to also look at changes that will reduce injuries.
We are disappointed by the lack of consistent information and we note that this issue has been identified as a focus area in the Greyhound Review. We are keen to hear whether the quality and consistency of data has improved between the time that we received submissions (autumn and winter 2022) and the RIB’s report due next month (December 2022).
The industry’s lack of good systems and data, and the absence of transparency, have been flagged many times in the past but we have seen minimal improvement. This reduces confidence in the industry’s social licence. We believe that investment in systems to provide high quality data is urgent, as one of the requirements for the industry to retain its social licence to operate.
We also urge the industry to ensure that all its people are aware of, and comply with, animal health and welfare requirements.
In our view, the removal of the SPCA from the health and welfare committee shows poor judgement of what is needed for the industry to keep its licence to operate. Shutting out an organisation that, while it opposes GRNZ’s work, is prepared to help it improve its practices, has worked against the industry.
Similarly, we consider the GRNZ comment that methamphetamine may have accidentally contaminated dogs to be disingenuous at best. It indicated a disregard for a real health and welfare problem. A more appropriate response would have been to immediately acknowledge and investigate the problem.
We note that the RIB said it was developing a new animal welfare team to support and monitor each racing code’s animal welfare policies and initiatives and to promote and ensure compliance with animal welfare standards. We would like to know what (if anything) delayed this initiative, and whether (and how) it improves the lives of greyhounds.
We have doubts about whether the greyhound racing industry still has a social licence to operate in its current form. We have serious concerns about the way the industry is operating at present. We urge the Government to be mindful of our comments when it considers the future of the greyhound racing industry following the RIB’s report in December 2022.
The current Government promised that the industry was ‘on notice’ for a period of one year. Racing Minister Kieran McAnulty has had another report about the industry from the Racing Integrity Board since December 2022. The issue of greyhound racing was to have been decided at the first meeting of Cabinet in February 2023.
With the change in Prime Minister thanks to Jacinda Ardern’s resignation and the Civil Defense emergency caused by Cyclone Gabrielle, the first Cabinet meeting of February was taken up with other business. But, it’s now mid-March 2023 and it’s time for Minister McAnulty to make a decision – and at a minimum publicly release the Racing Integrity Board’s report which has been kept confidential to this point.
I spoke to the Minister’s press secretary, Joanna Ramsay, this morning and asked for an update on when the Minister will be making a recommendation to Cabinet, and if/when he will release a copy of the Racing Integrity Board’s report.
Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand
AL in humans is affected by genetics and personality, and high AL is a predictor of negative health outcomes including heart disease and cognitive decline. After successfully validating AL in primates, the research team seeks to validate canine AL for the first time.
“Developing a reliable method of measuring chronic stress will help ensure we are taking proper care of working dogs as well as pet dogs,” says CSU association professor, Barbara Wolfe, DVM, PhD, DACZM,, principal investigator of the project. “If successful, this tool could be utilized to predict success in working dogs and identify when working dogs are experiencing unhealthy levels of stress.”
The study will involve analysis of early life events and lifestyle factors that may influence AL in Labrador retrievers raised and trained to be as guide dogs, as well as in Labrador retrievers raised as pets. Researchers will use blood sampling to compare biomarkers associated with AL to these lifestyle and event factors to determine any association between AL and potential stressors.
While many studies to date have used a single biomarker, such as cortisol, to determine canine stress, measuring AL tests multiple biomarkers of stress which allows for a more accurate measure of the accumulation of stress over time.
“This project reflects HABRI’s deep commitment to animal care and welfare,” says the institute’s president, Steven Feldman. “Understanding how to improve the lives of our canine companions is crucial to strengthening the human-animal bond.”
Across the USA, demand for public housing is increasing because of the rapid rise in the cost of living. Unfortunately, housing authorities can impose restrictions on families that require housing with their pets. Breed specific restrictions and higher rentals for pet-owning families are too common.
Everyone deserves to have access to the benefits of pet ownership. The ASPCA has continued to work to advance policy solutions that would increase pet-friendly housing and help keep pets and people together. At the federal level, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) already manages pet-friendly housing within its portfolio of programs, including its public housing program. While regulations require public housing authorities to allow pets, public housing authorities can impose restrictions based on a dog’s breed and size and charge residents more money if they have a pet.
The Pets Belong with Families Act was introduced to Congress last year and, if law, will remove broad and unfounded restrictions on pets in public housing to help ensure that housing is available to eligible families, regardless of their pet’s breed or size.
This is Sox on Tuesday morning. He was scheduled to go to the vet for a fasting blood test and could not have his breakfast. I didn’t think it was fair to eat breakfast when he couldn’t and so we fasted together.
I couldn’t bear the thought of him being hungry watching me eat as normal. He would have thought something was wrong, or he was being punished or teased. Dogs are sentient, capable of feelings and sensation. Feeling hungry and left out are reasonable assumptions in this situation.
Do you fast in sympathy with your dog?
My Sox is well on his way to a confirmed diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease; a condition we cannot cure but can only find a way to manage. It’s tough when he is not yet 5 years old with a lifetime ahead of him. I was told that Sox would regularly collapse after racing with a condition called acidosis. But I also wonder if he wasn’t already showing the symptoms of IBD (with regular bouts of inappetence and diarrhea) which would have zapped his energy stores.
We will persevere and I will update everyone about Sox’s progress in future posts.
Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand
Earlier this month, owner Helen Fraser was found not guilty of a single charge – owning a dog that caused serious injury. Now that the initial flurry of social and traditional media coverage has died down, I want to put my thoughts together about what this case means.
This post is entirely my opinion as a Fear Free certified professional; I am not a veterinarian but I work with dogs every day in my canine massage and rehabilitation practice. I specialise in in-home care and my caseload of clients with reactive dogs is steadily increasing. One reason for this is that I receive referrals from a reputable dog training business which recognises that some behaviours may be caused by pain and discomfort. Referrals from previous clients with reactive dogs are also common.
You can disagree with my opinion. If you do simply be kind, courteous and professional when making comments.
The charge under the Dog Control Act was laid by the Tauranga District Council after vet Dr Liza Schneider was bitten by Chopper on 14 October 2021 when he was brought to her clinic for de-sexing. Dr Schneider fractured her arm, requiring screws and a plate to fix it, and had consequent nerve and muscle damage.
Dr Schneider was injured badly and no one has disputed that (nor should they). I have great regard for Dr Schneider because she was an early adopter of integrative therapies (her practice is called Holistic Vets). She is the President of the Complementary Medicine branch of the NZ Veterinary Association. She is knowledgeable in her field and is well-respected by her colleagues.
After the incident, Chopper was seized by the Council and kept locked in the Tauranga Pound – all up he was kept there for 271 days.
The issue before the court was whether Ms Fraser had taken all reasonable steps to ensure Chopper did not hurt anyone. Judge David Cameron had to weigh up the evidence including statements from witnesses; these statements were conflicting including differing information from Dr Schneider and staff working at her practice about what instructions Ms Fraser had been given for when she arrived at the clinic.
In his decision, Judge Cameron felt that Ms Fraser’s account of the incident and the circumstances she, her son, and Chopper found themselves in was more believable. With the not guilty verdict, Chopper has been allowed to go back to his family.
Care of impounded dogs , the Animal Welfare Act, and the Save Chopper campaign
Advocates for Chopper have sought, in my view rightfully so, to highlight the conditions Chopper was kept in. During his confinement, he was never allowed out to exercise and, having been labelled as an aggressive dog, he was kept in an enclosure measuring 4x4m, 2.5m high. The enclosure would be hosed out to clean it with him in it and it was reported that Chopper developed pressure sores from being kept in the enclosure with only a plastic bed for bedding. Ms Fraser was allowed to visit (many councils in New Zealand do not allow visitors) and so she witnessed him living in these conditions many times.
Anyone who has ever called the SPCA about a dog left outdoors in all weather conditions will know that the definition of what is shelter, food and water is so basic that dogs are frequently left in poor conditions around New Zealand on a regular basis with no one able to legally intervene on their behalf.
Since dogs are not allowed out on bail, like humans accused of crimes are, supporters of Ms Fraser and Chopper started the Save Chopper campaign to highlight Chopper’s situation.
It has been said that from this case there are No Winners because Dr Schneider has been hurt and suffers lasting damage, Chopper has likely been emotionally scarred from his time in captivity, and his owners have had to incur legal costs to defend themselves. These are the lowlights.
In my opinion, however, there are also some highlights:
#1 We now have some case law that looks at the merits of the circumstances leading up to a dog bite.
This is critically important for animal welfare advocates. If you are appalled by the conditions Chopper was kept in, please understand that this was allowed in large part because in New Zealand, it is assumed the dog will be destroyed at the end of the case with a guilty verdict. Judges rely on case law – the collective body of knowledge of all decisions made in the past, considered to be a powerful source of law. Previous cases have always resulted in a guilty verdict (that is, if the dog owner has even defended the charge in the first place); therefore having a case with a not guilty verdict is incredibly powerful.
#2 Ms Fraser was doing the right thing – it’s lost in the media, but let’s remember that she was taking Chopper to the vet to be neutered. This has now been done at another clinic since Chopper’s release. The spay/neuter message is critically important to managing the number of unwanted animals in NZ.
#3 The case is a wake-up call for animal professionals about the principles of working with potentially anxious and stressed dogs and the need to educate staff and clients so they can work as a team. It’s an endorsement of the Fear Free approach, too.
There are things we can do to reduce the stress of a clinic visit and that is well beyond the ‘muzzle the dog and keep them in the car’ evidence that was discussed in the court proceedings. Anxious dogs can be given a pre-med at home, for example, to help reduce their starting point before they even arrive at their vet’s clinic. This is called the Chill Protocol in some of the practices that I deal with, and it is something I often recommend to clients to talk with their vet about.
Fear Free veterinary professionals learn about the concept of Considered Approach, understanding a dog’s body language, being prepared to take your time, and also being willing for the owner and the professional to delay procedures while visits are undertaken to de-sensitise the dog to the fear of the clinic and unfamiliar people wearing masks. All of these things could have, in hindsight, been implemented to help with Chopper’s reactions on the day. (It should also be noted that owners have to be willing to fund the time it takes for professionals working with them using Fear Free principles, something that I have found is not always the case.)
Like it or not, Ms Fraser and her family have a lot resting on their shoulders. They need the right support to ensure that Chopper is able to recover from his ordeal, set him up to succeed through training and the gaining of good dog citizen/life skills, and to never-ever have another incident where Chopper bites or hurts another creature. If that happens, all the case law in the world will not save him and the animal welfare agenda in NZ will be set back for years to come.
From what I understand, the family has already sought assistance from a trainer and had Chopper fitted for a muzzle. Fingers crossed, they have started a long and effective journey together.
It is said that the Tauranga District Council is considering an appeal. I hope they do not and I hope that organisations like the NZ Veterinary Association do not push for an appeal with the goal of a guilty verdict so that Chopper can be destroyed.
Instead, it is my hope that these organisations will use the verdict as a learning opportunity – working together to help dog owners and animal professionals to understand their obligations and what they can and should do to set up all dogs for success and to keep humans safe.
Will my hopes be realised? Only time will tell.
Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand
In the Netherlands, thousands of dogs stay in a shelter every year. Despite the good care, a shelter can be a stressful environment for dogs. Researchers at Utrecht University investigated if the amount of the hormone cortisol in hair indicates the levels of stress that dogs experience before, during and after their stay in the shelter.
There is no difference between the cortisol levels of dogs when they enter the shelter and the control group of domestic dogs. After six weeks in the shelter, cortisol levels in the hair appear to have increased by one-third (on average from 16 pg/mg to 21.8 pg/mg). In measurements six weeks and six months after adoption, cortisol levels lowered, moving in the direction of the values at admission to the shelter. The results were published in the scientific journal Scientific Reports on 21 April 2022.
Cortisol in hair
The stress hormone cortisol accumulates in hair, in humans but also in animals. By measuring cortisol levels in hair, researchers can get an idea of the stress response and recovery over weeks or months – depending on the length of the hair examined. This technique has been used extensively in humans and other species, and some fifteen scientific studies have been carried out in dogs so far.
“In addition to the cortisol measurements in hair, we also measured cortisol values in the dogs’ urine. This gives a short-term picture while the hair measurements show the long term”, researcher Janneke van der Laan explains.
To the shelter every day
The researchers examined hair of 52 shelter dogs at four moments: just before admission, after six weeks in the shelter, six weeks after adoption and six months after adoption. They compared the cortisol values before admission with those of twenty domestic dogs, which were similar in terms of breed, age and sex.
Van der Laan: “We took daily measurements in the shelter for over a year. After adoption, the new owners – after clear instructions – cut the dogs hair and sent it to us. They were helpful and enthusiastic, and were very interested in what their dog had experienced before adoption.”
For the cortisol measurements, hair from the same location on the body was used every time. The researchers shaved the area and allowed new hair to grow during the period in which they wanted to measure the stress hormones. This is called a ‘shave-reshave method’.
More cortisol in small dogs
A surprising result is that smaller dogs generally have higher cortisol levels than larger dogs. “We have also seen this pattern in previous studies, for example in a study on the resting pattern of shelter dogs. We don’t have a clear hypothesis about why that is, but it is interesting and is an area of focus for future research.”
Well-being in shelter
All the examined shelter dogs were in the same shelter, the largest in the Netherlands. Of course there are significant differences between shelters, not only within the Netherlands but also internationally. In The Netherlands, dogs are usually kept individually, while in other countries they are often kept in groups.
“We know that a shelter is not a stress-free environment for dogs, even though staff members do their best to achieve the highest possible welfare,” Van der Laan says. “Even if you organise a shelter in the best possible way, there are still stress factors, such as crowds of other dogs and not being able to go outside as often as usual. And most important: the dog is gone from their old, familiar environment.”
The shelter in this study has a pioneering role in improving the welfare of dogs: they use glass walls instead of bars to reduce noise pollution for the dogs, for example. “The fact that we measured an increased amount of cortisol even in this shelter, suggests that this will also be the case in other shelters,” Van Der Laan said.
Dog breeds are often recognized for distinctive traits — the short legs of a dachshund, wrinkled face of a pug, spotted coat of a Dalmatian. Unfortunately, the genetics that give various breeds their particular attributes are often the result of inbreeding.
A study shows the majority of canine breeds are highly inbred, contributing to an increase in disease and health care costs throughout their lifespan. (Getty)
In a recent study published in Canine Medicine and Genetics, an international team of researchers led by University of California, Davis, veterinary geneticist Danika Bannasch show that the majority of canine breeds are highly inbred, contributing to an increase in disease and health care costs throughout their lifespan.
“It’s amazing how inbreeding seems to matter to health,” Bannasch said. “While previous studies have shown that small dogs live longer than large dogs, no one had previously reported on morbidity, or the presence of disease. This study revealed that if dogs are of smaller size and not inbred, they are much healthier than larger dogs with high inbreeding.”
Inbreeding affects health
The average inbreeding based on genetic analysis across 227 breeds was close to 25%, or the equivalent of sharing the same genetic material with a full sibling. These are levels considered well above what would be safe for either humans or wild animal populations. In humans, high levels of inbreeding (3-6%) have been associated with increased prevalence of complex diseases as well as other conditions.
“Data from other species, combined with strong breed predispositions to complex diseases like cancer and autoimmune diseases, highlight the relevance of high inbreeding in dogs to their health,” said Bannasch, who also serves as the Maxine Adler Endowed Chair in Genetics at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
The researchers partnered with Wisdom Health Genetics, a world leader in pet genetics, to obtain the largest sample size possible for analysis. Wisdom Health’s database is the largest dog DNA database in the world, helping researchers collect data from 49,378 dogs across 227 breeds — primarily from European sources.
Some breeds more inbred
So, what makes a dog breed more inbred than others? Bannasch explained that it’s often a combination of a small founding population followed by strong selection for particular traits in a breed — often based on looks rather than purpose. While she has always had an interest in the population structure of some of these breeds, she became particularly interested in the Danish-Swedish farmdog several years ago. She fell in love with their compact size, disposition and intelligence, and ended up importing one from Sweden.
Bannasch discovered that Danish-Swedish farmdogs have a low level of inbreeding based on their history of a relatively large founding population of 200, and being bred for function, rather than a strong artificial selection for looks. And according to the insurance health data on breeds collected from Agria Insurance Sweden and hosted online by the International Partnership for Dogs, the farmdog is one of the healthiest breeds.
The study also revealed a significant difference in morbidity between brachycephalic (short skull and snout) and non-brachycephalic breeds. While that finding wasn’t unexpected, the researchers removed brachycephalic breeds from the final analysis on effects of inbreeding on health.
Preserving genetic diversity
In the end, Bannasch said she isn’t sure there is a way out of inbred breeds. People have recognized that creating matches based solely on pedigrees is misleading. The inbreeding calculators don’t go back far enough in a dog’s genetic line, and that method doesn’t improve overall high levels of population inbreeding.
There are other measures that can be taken to preserve the genetic diversity and health of a breed, she said. They include careful management of breeding populations to avoid additional loss of existing genetic diversity, through breeder education and monitoring of inbreeding levels enabled by direct genotyping technologies.
Outcrosses are being proposed or have already been carried out for some breeds and conditions as a measure to increase genetic diversity, but care must be taken to consider if these will effectively increase overall breed diversity and therefore reduce inbreeding, Bannasch said. In particular, in the few breeds with low inbreeding levels, every effort should be made to maintain the genetic diversity that is present.
Last week, a new review report into the greyhound racing industry in New Zealand was released. As most of you know, greyhound welfare is a topic near and dear to my heart because Izzy is an ex-racer.
This review, by the Hon Sir Bruce Robertson, is not the first review of the industry. It’s not even the second (but the second, known as the Hansen report was a whopping 93 pages. I discussed that earlier report in my blog post How many hounds needing a home?). The 2021 review is the third review of greyhound racing in this country.
So the report made some headlines last week in the news because the Minister of Racing, Grant Robertson, says he’s putting the industry ‘on notice.’ Frustratingly, none of the mainstream news sources provided a link to a copy of the actual report. Being the information geek that I am, I tracked down the report and read it thoroughly over the weekend – with highlighter pen in hand.
Before I go into some of the key findings, you should be aware that a major reason why this review was undertaken is that Greyhound Racing NZ (GRNZ) wrote to the Minister for Racing in June 2020 stating that all 20 recommendations stated in the Hansen review had been successfully implemented and so they would no longer be providing progress reports. The National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee felt that the information provided was insufficient and, with more deaths and injuries of greyhounds on the track, this review was commissioned.
I like this review, for one reason because it is PITHY. 19 pages including the appendices, it gets straight to the heart of the matter.
Key points:
Kennel audits were supposed to have been undertaken regularly; GRNZ reported that audits were done annually. This review says that comprehensive information on both the regularity of the audits and their outcomes is not available.
The database on greyhounds was to have been updated to ensure it is easily accessible, and contains accurate information on every greyhound born in NZ or imported into New Zealand until it is de-registered. This review found that not only are the data difficult to access but even the National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee cannot obtain even the simplest of information. “There does not appear to be any reason why information regarding the welfare of greyhounds should be outweighed by reasons of privacy, commercial confidentiality, or otherwise.”
The first review of racing recommended that dogs privately re-homed (as in, not through an adoption agency), should be audited to verify their whereabouts. Yet, through submissions to this review, it was found that there is not sufficient information to give any true assurance about the welfare of these dogs.
GRNZ has expanded re-homing efforts BUT it has not established any form of public reduction targets, population projections, or estimated the number of dogs needed for the industry each year. In other words, there is nothing to stop the unchecked breeding of greyhounds for the industry which expects others to take care of their dogs for their lifetimes once they are no longer deemed suitable for racing. The Hansen report clearly said that re-homing alone was not going to solve the industry’s problems.
The negative impacts of racing on overall health often do not present until a dog is settled into a new home.
“No reason given” is still the most common reason for euthanising a greyhound – and by a significant margin.
It is unclear what education and experience standards are in place for individuals employed to assist with breeding and managing kennels.
Conclusions
It has become clear that no matter the outcome of this report, or any reports henceforth, the social license of the industry will continue to be challenged for the foreseeable future. If GRNZ wishes to secure a future for the industry it governs, then it must set out to demonstrate the decency of the greyhound racing industry at every possible opportunity.
GRNZ has made its job harder by unnecessarily obfuscating information and pushing back against those with an interest. All information should be recorded, and it should be available. Arguably GRNZ has data to support its stances on the issues raisedin this report but is seen as unwillingto share this.
For those of you who have an interest, I encourage you to read the report in its entirety and share it with others. The current NZ Government says the industry is on notice and must report by the end of 2022 on its actions in response.
My view is that greyhound racing has been banned in many countries because of the animal welfare considerations. New Zealanders must ask themselves why those animal welfare issues don’t exist here. Because clearly this review has found that they do.
Kathleen Crisley, Fear-Free certified professional and specialist in dog massage, rehabilitation and nutrition/food therapy, The Balanced Dog, Christchurch, New Zealand
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