‘Nitro Red Dawn’ Could Be Mascot For Greyhound Protection Measure

     It is all about the dogs.
     That is why Falmouth resident Anne K. Restino sat for hours outside PetSmart at Falmouth Plaza in the fall collecting signatures to ban greyhound racing in Massachusetts. And that is why she submitted her dog, Dawn, to serve as a “spokesdog” for the marketing effort for the ballot question, which will face voters statewide at the November election.
     Now Dawn, an 8-year-old rescue whose sweet, affectionate demeanor belies her fierce former name, Nitro Red Dawn, is one of three finalists in the competition.
     Organizers gathered more than 120,000 signatures last fall in order to get the question to ban greyhound racing on the ballot, Ms. Restino said, and the Greyhound Protection Act will be Question 3.
     Ms. Restino, who submitted Dawn just for fun two days before the close of the spokesdog contest, is waiting to see whether her beloved pet will be chosen. But more important, she said, is the effort to raise awareness about greyhounds and rescue efforts for the dogs.
     Mr. Restino adopted Dawn from River Bend Farm Kennels on Sandwich Road, which has been adopting out rescued greyhounds for many years.
     Ms. Restino had had the urge to adopt a greyhound ever since she went with some friends to the Raynham greyhound race track years ago as a college student. The visit had a lasting impact.
     “I had never been up close to one before. I saw their soulful eyes and found out they needed homes. Back then, I thought, ‘Someday I’m going to rescue one of those,’” Ms. Restino said.
     A few years ago, she saw a man in Falmouth with a greyhound and took the opportunity to ask him where he got it. He had adopted it from River Bend, and Ms. Restino got in touch with them the next day.
     Her main concern when she first met Dawn at the kennel was whether the spindly-legged creature could go up stairs.
     Upon asking the question, Ms. Restino was startled when Dawn immediately raced up and down the steps in the kennel three times.
     “I think she is answering you,” the kennel manager said with a laugh.
     After adopting Dawn, Ms. Restino was interested in researching her career as a racing dog. She found out that Nitro Red Dawn was bred from a distinguished line, and her father had sired 3,667 offspring.
     Dawn’s racing career consisted of 73 races, with nine first-place finishes, 14 second-places and 10 third-places.
     Ms. Restino also learned from a friend of a friend, Paul A. Lefebvre Jr. of Waquoit, what the life of a racing dog is like.
     Mr. Lefebvre, who now works as a research associate geographer in the Amazon for the Woods Hole Research Center, worked as a teenager at a greyhound race track in New Hampshire.
     He said the experience back then, more than 20 years ago, left him somewhat depressed, seeing how the business of dog racing is operated. Most of the dogs were destroyed after they stopped winning races.
     Ms. Restino quoted figures from greyhound advocates that there were more than 800 dogs that were seriously injured in races between 2002 and 2008, with nearly 80 percent of those suffering broken legs.
     But there is a school of thought that it is the race tracks that actually maintain the greyhound breed, an ancient breed seen on Egyptian hieroglyphics.
     Dr. Frank J. Alfano of Deer Run Veterinary Service in Teaticket serves as the official veterinarian for River Bend and is also the vet for Dawn.
     He said that the dogs are bred to run and if they are not racing, there are fears the breed may “fade away.”
     But he said, in the many years he has been working with them, he has seen that greyhounds make great pets. As for Nitro Red Day, he called her “a very nice dog.”