“I think the industry needs to re-think the way it homes its ex-racers. It makes a lot more sense to re-home them on a set cost for every dog placed.”
When it comes to greyhound re-homing, there are few in the industry better qualified to comment than Yarmouth’s Stephen Franklin.
As son of the track founder Len Franklin, Stephen was seconded to the Yarmouth track kennels as far back as the late 1950s for some hands-on experience.
After many subsequent years as the track promoter, Stephen handed over the reins to sons Simon and Justin who suggested Dad kept his involvement with the track’s re-homing project, which he had helped start, as a retirement project.
Yarmouth Greyhound Homefinders was founded more than 20 years ago. They have their own re-homing kennels in Hanford, just outside Norwich from which they consistently home between 100-140 dogs per year.
What’s more, Yarmouth introduced their veterinary assistance scheme back in 2000.
Potential owners looking for the perfect pet
For the last two and a half years, Yarmouth have operated independently of the Greyhound Trust.
Why did they choose to leave?
Stephen said: “When Lisa Morris-Tomkins and Steve Dean took over the Retired Greyhound Trust, our committee members started to notice a breakdown in communication. Following on from my negative response to the Trusts Presentation Road Show, early in 2016, we met with the Trust chairman and CEO who were full of great ideas and greatly enthused us. They talked a good game, communications were to be restored, the new forms and working practices were to be instigated with immediate effect, they seemed determined to drive the charity into the 21st century but three months later nothing had happened. “They would make various demands on what we were expected to do, but there was no support and they even failed to send the forms that they demanded we fill in. We decided that becoming an independent charity was our only option
“It soon became obvious to me that ‘Promoting the Brand’ had become more important than homing greyhounds.
“Once we decided to leave it soon turned nasty. Over the period, seven formal letters were received which were probably meant to be intimidating.
“Their greatest obsession was with how much money we had in the account. They sent three people along for a forensic audit. You would think we were looking to defraud them.”
Franklin’s irritation with Greyhound Trust was shared with the volunteers who helped run the Yarmouth scheme and money continued to play a central role.
Yarmouth volunteers and supporters raise a great deal of money locally, and like most of the others, had some reservations about handing over cash to Greyhound Trust head office, only to be allocated back whatever the Trust decided.
But there was an additional issue at Yarmouth. They wanted to retain some cash towards their veterinary assistance scheme and the Trust were having none of it.
Ian Woodrow, the Yarmouth’s accountant, Homefinders Treasurer and chairman of the trustees had his own ideas.
He said: “Due to the breakdown in communication between us and the GT since Lisa Morris-Tomkins took over, they were thinking we still had £120,000 in our bank account.
“When Lisa Morris-Tomkins, Jackie Dunn and Julia Boarer, came to audit our accounts, the intention was to reclaim all the money we had left in the bank account. By the time they came I had spent it all, much of the money went to veterinary assistance.”
There were other issues, though interestingly, Stephen Franklin seems to be in a minority in supporting the removal of the ‘Retired’ from the original title.
He said: “I never liked the idea of ‘retired’ because it implied that the dogs were all too old, but I was keen to hold onto the Yarmouth Greyhound Homefinders title.
“We had built it up over years and had a good reputation locally. But I was told that it would all have to be scrapped. They even told us that our RGT logo on the Homefinders van need to be changed because it faced the wrong way.”
Yarmouth swerved the re-branding issue and all the associated costs by cutting ties. However, it could have cost a great deal of money.
Stephen said: “After all the fuss that was made, I made an effort to visit the Greyhound Trust stand at this year’s Royal Norfolk Show, three years on the only Greyhound trust branding I saw was on two Table Cloths.”
The re-branding issue caused great resentment in many branches. One kennel owner recently related the story of being told to scrap all their ‘RGT’ branded leaflets which would be replaced by equivalents with a ‘Greyhound Trust’ logo. No mention should be made of ‘retired’ greyhounds.
The source said: “The following day, we received a phone call saying we should bin all the new forms, they had found a spelling error. When the new, new forms arrived, the third word on the first page was ‘retired’.
Thousands wasted but applications from the branches to increase kennel fees from £4 per day to £5 per day were rejected by GT head office.
Franklin was also hugely critical of building a ‘flagship homing centre’ at Horley in Sussex.
In October 2018, he wrote to BGRF chairman/GT director Joe Scanlon, with a copy to GBGB’s Mark Bird, not condemning the concept, but the location in the extreme south of the country and within 18 miles of Hove’s thirty dog re-homing centre.
Stephen said: “I wrote to the Hove re-homers and suggested that if they objected it wouldn’t be passed, though I don’t think they ever did.”
Another couple of interesting insights built up over years of experience.
Firstly, although Yarmouth have two ranges, each with the capacity for 14 greyhounds, they try to limit the number of dogs available to around a dozen, or less.
Stephen said: “If you have too many dogs, people are spoilt for choice. Sometimes we might only have eight dogs in the kennel of which four are reserved. We find it is better to concentrate on a few.
“As for the choices, we have always said that the dog chooses the owner. Or you could extend that to say that they choose each other. There are different temperaments for different owners. Some dogs might be more lively than others, but that might suit some owners more than others.
“On that subject, we have never found any credence to the idea that it is harder to re-home black dogs. I think that just exists as a perception because there are so many more of them.”
Stephen also has an interesting view on hock injuries, and their treatment.
He said: “The ‘old time’ vets would often take the view of ‘put it to sleep’ if a dog had a broken hock. These days there are very few who can’t be saved.
“On the subject of hocks, I do wonder whether there is a necessity for so many complex operations for dogs that won’t race again. When the bills come in for hocks that have been plated, we are pleasantly surprised if they come to somewhere between £1,300-£1,600.
“But, depending on who you go to, they can cost several thousand pounds.
“Years ago, we would put them in plaster which was a much simpler and cheaper option. I have even known our local trainer Dick Keable manipulate the bones into place and bandage them.
“When they have gone to the vet for x-ray, we have been told, ‘you don’t need to put it in plaster, it will set perfectly as it is’.
“The only downside with plastering is that the dogs are a little bit sore when the plaster first comes off whereas they heal a bit quicker if they have been plated.’
The greyhound industry needs to re-home roughly 7,500 greyhounds per year. That figure is set to rise within the next year or so due to the influx of extra runners caused by the media rights battle.
Greyhound Trust income was £4.5m last year of which roughly £1.4m comes directly from the British Greyhound Racing Fund, via GBGB.
As was detailed last week, Trust’s re-homing numbers continue to fall and stood at 3,546 for 2017 – an average figure of £1,292 for every greyhound re-homed.
But things are arguably worse than that. Firstly, it is strongly rumoured that the 2018 re-homings are lower still.
Also, the Greyhound Trust includes figures, such as the 200 plus re-homed by the Monmore branch, which is actually funded by Ladbroke Coral.
Yet the Star has carried a series of articles from people such as John Curran at Kinsley, stipendiary steward Pete Rosney and Lincolnshire independent homefinder Kevin Stow who believe there are huge benefits and savings by engaging with recognised and respected independent home finding organisations.
Stephen said: “There is talk of a bond scheme being introduced that would guarantee a £400 pot towards the rehoming of every greyhound.
“There appear to be large numbers of kennels who would be happy to take on greyhounds and provided they are monitored, it might be time for GBGB to re-assess its whole re-homing strategy.
“I am not saying that you don’t use Greyhound Trust, but don’t just give them money carte blanche. Let them compete for funds like everyone else.
“I know that there are other branches out there who would love to go the route that we have gone. If they were to be getting that type of funding directly, they could determine their own futures.”
