by Julia Cockram, animal behaviour consultant, CPG
In Australia, greyhounds are stopped from catching the lure at the end of a race by being funnelled into a catching pen while the lure continues around the track. This leads to hyper-aroused greyhounds slowing from speeds of around 80 km/h and intensely frustrated from not being allowed to catch the lure.
The physical damage
In the catching pen, dogs collide with each other, the rail, the pen gate and even with trainers. They also stumble and trip and suffer injuries for which they may be euthanased. Sometimes they collapse and die from exhaustion or heart attack.
11% of the greyhounds killed in Australia in 2021 suffered their fatal injuries in the catching pen.
The image shows three-year-old greyhound Skintight just before his death in the catching pen at Casino NSW on 14 October 2021. The stewards’ report stated that Skintight “collapsed after coming into contact with a trainer and was unable to be revived“.
The psychological damage
For dogs, like humans, hyper-arousal is healthy behaviour in terms of it keeping them alive in a life-threatening situation. Their minds and bodies are flooded with chemicals like adrenaline to keep them aware and alert. This is vital in helping them stay safe and survive when they are under imminent threat.
Hyper-arousal is unhealthy behaviour when dogs are unnecessarily and regularly put in a threatening situation over which they have no control. Over time, neural pathways are strengthened and the dogs start to reach their threshold of arousal more quickly. Eventually, this becomes a default response to a particular situation.
A fight for their lives
In the case of the catching pen, the dog is taught to perceive off leash situations as a fight for their lives. It is extremely traumatic for some greyhounds. It also undermines the communication between dogs with their appeasement behaviours repeatedly ignored.
A hyper-aroused dog doesn’t react to subtle signs – the adrenaline and cortisol is pumping – the physiological (the body) starts making choices, not the brain. This will cause some dogs to ramp up their behaviour to growling, lunging and biting to escape the threat posed by another dog or dogs.
This is called the canine ladder of aggression.
“Dogs may progress to overt aggression within seconds during a single episode if the perceived threat occurs quickly and at close quarters, or learn to dispense with lower rungs on the ladder over time, if repeated efforts to appease are misunderstood and responded to inappropriately.”(2)
The industry keeps betraying greyhounds
The greyhound racing industry breeds six times more dogs than it can rehome. There is a never-ending supply of young greyhounds who need homes post-racing. Creating this sort of fight or flight response in off-leash situations means that many dogs need extensive rehabilitation before they can socialise with other dogs – if they ever can.
A dog that has been taught it needs to bite to get space in a catching pen may bite in a home. This is why we NEVER punish a growl. You don’t want a dog to default straight to a snap, lunge or bite.
As you can see in this video of the catching pen, dogs are hyper-aroused and being intimidated. There’s a definite pack mentality kicking in and group bullying.
Hyper-arousal can very easily spill into a fight. There are dogs in this video that are clearly displaying fear and trying to avoid a threatening situation.