(EP.48) What is the Greyhound Protection Act & how it can affect you! Get involved today!

In the episode I sit down and try to give a brief overview and explain the Greyhound Protection Act and what it is. I also, go over how they are trying to make using, "live lures" for dog training illegal. This can be a problem for people that train dogs. This could affect anyone that wants to have a bird dog and train that dog with live birds. Below, is the link to let your legislators in your state that you can use to let them know that we want the wording "live lures" removed from the bill. We must maintain our hunting heritage and freedoms. Please take a minute today to send them your opinion and let others know. Thanks and have a great day! Link below!

https://www.akc.org/legislative-alerts/u-s-congress-amendment-to-farm-bill-could-threaten-akc-events-hunt-training/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

An amendment to the House Farm Bill (HR 7567) proposed by animal rights groups threatens the future of AKC performance events and recognized hunt training techniques.
Please join AKC and leading sportsmen’s organizations in defending responsible dog enthusiasts, sportsmen and trainers. Please contact your member of the U.S. Congress and respectfully ask Congress to remove language derived from the “Greyhound Protection Act of 2025” (HR 5017) from the Farm Bill before final passage. 
Scroll down for easy ways to make a difference.
Why This Matters 
While the stated intent of the Greyhound Protection Act is to address concerns related to commercial greyhound racing, the provision attached to the Farm Bill is overly broad and risks eliminating or banning standard training and event practices for certain field trials, performance events, lawful hunting with dogs, and other widely accepted training methods used by responsible dog owners and handlers.

AKC is a participant in affiliate advertising programs designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to akc.org. If you purchase a product through this article, we may receive a portion of the sale.
In fact, the amendment goes well beyond “commercial” greyhound racing – which currently only exists in one state; it also bans live lure training, use of live lures, and open field coursing events involving live animals.
Because these terms lack clear statutory definitions, they could be interpreted in ways that affect lawful hunting activities and traditional dog training methods. For example, controlled exposure to live birds, or other game animals, is a widely accepted and essential component of preserving unique breed characteristics and training bird dogs, retrievers, hounds, and other working dogs. Dog trainers and hunters commonly use farm‑raised birds such as pigeons, ducks, or pheasants to teach scent recognition, steadiness, retrieval skills, and humane handling of game. These practices help ensure that hunting dogs perform their work effectively and minimize harm to wildlife during hunts.

Without clear exemptions, prohibiting the use of live animals in canine events that showcase breed characteristics, responsible hunting, or dog training could effectively eliminate long-standing, responsible training methods.
These restrictions could easily be interpreted or amended to severely impact or eliminate:
    •    Field trials,
    •    Hunt tests,
    •    Earthdog competition,
    •    Barn Hunt,
    •    Nite Hunts, and
    •    Other organized dog sports/events that are conducted under carefully controlled conditions.

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Introduce your dogs to guns and start them out right or help

Transcript

Speaker 0:49

Hey everyone. Welcome to the Bird Dog Podcast. My name is Tyce Erickson. I will be your host today. Thanks for listening in and hope everyone is having a great day and, uh, you're enjoying the spring weather. It's a beautiful time of year to be training dogs. I love training dogs in the spring and fall. Um, and summer, um, spring's nice for your upland training. And fall is nice for your upland training. Uh, summer's nice for your water training with your retrievers. And um, I just enjoy the seasons. You know, winter makes it a little trickier to train when it comes to the water work, but it's also a great time for upland training, getting those pointing dogs, flushing dogs out on upland game birds, and obviously putting them in the field and getting them hunting so. Training season is underway. I know we're busy with training and uh, I'm just trying to sneak this podcast in for you guys and, uh, hope it will be. Beneficial to you guys. So, um, first wanna just, uh, talk about some of our, uh, people that help us out. I want you to check out nda.com if you're looking for an awesome cot, um, that can go inside your dog run if it's indoors or inside your house if you're dog to hang out on. They're the most, um, destructive one that I have found. Um, there's a link in our show notes if you, if you go into the show notes and you use that link, it helps us out. So we really appreciate you guys. Those little things do add up and, and helps, uh. Kind of motivate you to put some time in these podcasts and give you guys some good information that can hopefully help you guys out in your lives and in in training. So, um, also, um, check out gun shy fix.com if you need some help with a gun shy dog, or want to introduce gunfire, um, to a puppy. Um, go ahead and check that out and give it a try. And they'll let, let us know what you think and how, how that went with your dog and helps your dog out. We, if you have dogs that are gun shy, um, you know, that's something definitely you could use as a, as a tool to help your dog, um, get over a gun shyness. So, um, anyhow, let's, uh, let's jump into, well, actually I'm gonna backtrack here. Sorry, I got a lot of thoughts in my mind here. Um. If you wanna follow us, you can check out us, check our website out at Utah bird dog training.com. That's our training website. That's what we do for a living is train gun dogs day in and day out. Um, you can check out field bread golden retrievers.com. That's our breeding website for hunting goldens. Um, we hopefully are gonna have some nice, uh, litters this fall. Um, currently don't have any on the ground. And then, um, you can follow us on Instagram at the Bird Dog Podcast on, uh, Utah Bird Dog Training and Field Bread Golden Retrievers. So, if there's any topics you want to, um, have us talk about on the pod, have us, me or me and a guest talk about on the podcast. Go ahead and, uh, you can send us a, a DM or you can email us at the BirdDog podcast@gmail.com and, uh, I'll try to talk about those topics with, uh, for you guys and try to get those questions answered. So, um, today I wanted to jump into something that maybe you guys have seen out there on the internet, um, going around. Um, and, uh, I dove into it a little more before I got on this podcast. So the information I'm sharing with you, um, is hopefully correct and, um, I can get you guys, um, on board with what is going on here. So, um, this is in regards to the Greyhound Protection Act. Greyhound Protection Act. Um, not sure if any of you guys have seen that, but essentially there there's the Greyhound protection. Act of 2025 was sponsored by a Democrat outta California. Um, uh, Salud. Carbajal. Um, he's a democrat, democratic politician serving as the US representative for the California's 24th congressional district since 2017. Anyways, he sponsored this bill in, in, in the groups that were supporting him. In sponsoring this bill is the Gray 2K USA worldwide and Animal Wellness Action. So I'm gonna go ahead and click on the link here in my notes. If it'll pull up, but, um, basically the GR two KU, I'll just give you a brief overview. It's an organization that's basically trying to get rid of greyhound racing, so racing greyhounds, um. Uh, and uh, and I didn't know this, but in most states, greyhound racing is actually banned, so you can't even, there's one state that's doing it currently. Um, and I think it was like, let me see if it was Virginia or something. Let go back in my notes here and see if I can find. Where it's at. Just bear with me. But basically in this, in the country, they're trying to get rid of Greyhound racing. Um, I've never been to a Greyhound race, being a dog guy, honestly, it sounds like it'd be pretty cool to watch. Um, they don't even use, uh, live rabbits anymore. And most of it's a mechanical, little furry thing, rabbit that runs around the course. And then the dogs, um, you know, obviously chase it around and, um. And, uh, and, uh, a lot of gambling, I'm sure just like horse racing is, is behind this. So, um, depending how you feel about that, that's, um, they're trying to get this, this organization is trying to get greyhound racing banned, and it is actually banned in most US states. It says, as of now, only West Virginia still has active racing. A few states allow it legally, but no tracks are operating so. Um, I think, uh, let's see if I have, I think it was Texas that had, there was a few other states here. Um, it doesn't really matter anyways, but West Virginia, um, and, and 40 states, it's been banned outright, I guess. Um, and I can totally see where the this is coming from. You have these dogs that, you know, they're trying to create cream of the crop and if the dog doesn't make the cut, they're not the fastest. They, um, they sometimes will euthanize'em, they'll try to re-home'em. They keep'em supposedly in smaller cages and just not a good environment for dogs. It's kind of solely for the sport and for the gambling. And, um, that's kind of the, the, the, what I've delved into it and why they're trying to get rid of it. So, I don't know. I mean, you can take one bad operation of greyhound racing and, you know, and someone. Take some pictures of it or whatever, and they think everyone's that way. But I know people with race horses, they spend a lot of money on their horses and they spend. A lot of time and training and those things for horse racing and um,'cause they're worth a lot of money and so they get a lot of care. The greyhound world I have, I'm, and I'm not trying to say one way or another, I don't know anything about it, but if, if they're banning it outright, obviously the gambling reason behind it. But if they're also, um, you know, just banning it out. Um, uh, there must be some inhumane practices that have gone on or issues there that they're trying to get rid of that. So if you guys wanna dive more into that, you can. But, uh, when I dove into it, they were saying just kind of, you know, raising'em. If the dogs didn't make the cut, they were euthanizing some of'em. And then all of a sudden also the dogs are running like 40 to 60 miles per hour and if they crash or wreck with another dog, they can break bones or have or sustain injuries. And so the risk of running these dogs is, I guess, high. And so they're just trying to get rid of this, this sport. So, um, the animal wellness action, they're also an organization, um, that are. F uh, trying to protect animals and animal we welfare and they're kind of anti, um. Hunting and these type of things. Right. So, um, anyhow, in this, uh, Greyhound Protection Act sponsored by Salud Carbajal, um, it was inserted into the larger farm bill called the Farm Food and National Security Act of 2026. And this was basically put into there. And the problem with it is the. It's the, the, the wordage, the verbiage in that, um, in that protection act is what is causing a problem. So, um, it. What the bill says is um, and it's HR 5 0 1 7 and again, I'm not a lawyer, so bear with me and as I'm trying to get through this stuff, but hopefully you guys can understand what it means. It would make it unlawful to, I'm reading this unlawful to knowledge knowingly engage in commercial greyhound racing. Live lure training or open field coursing events in which any Greyhound is moved in interstate or foreign commerce. It also says it's unlawful to conduct open field coursing. Live lure training with the use of any bait that is not an anate object. The bill also covers betting on greyhound races and trafficking greyhounds for those purposes. Some of these animal right Act groups, the problem they'll try to do is they'll try to sneak verbiage into these bills. I believe knowingly. Maybe it's unknowingly, but. I doubt it's unknowingly just being, uh, you know, living in the world that we live in. But what they, they're trying to put this in this bill where live lure training, and that's where it affects people that like hunting with dogs like you and I. So. Um, if you use, you know, pigeons or pheasants or ducks or chucker or anything like that to train your dog, which these dogs are predators and naturally they, they naturally want to chase birds. That helps build, drive and desire, and no one is trying to be. You know, unkind or unethical to these birds. But it is part of a training progress process that's been around for hundreds of years. And so to basically put in this act, this, this, um, uh, HR 5 5 0 1 7, this Farm Bill Act sneak in their live lure training is banned. That can affect. You know, people that use birds for training. So live birds for training that can affect your field trials, your hunt tests where they're using live ducks. Um, any of your upland game tests, anything like that, or just you in your backyard training dogs? A trainer like myself, you know, using birds that. We use these birds to help train your dog for clients and so they can have a wonderful experience hunting their dog and keeping this traditional alive that's been around for hundreds of years and something we're so passionate about that the dogs love and that they enjoy doing and using live birds as part of the training process. The fear is with this, if this live lure section stayed in there and it goes to federal law, well then that will. Make it a federal law that you could be held accountable for if you use live birds and um, get caught using live birds in dog training. So if you're out there throwing a pigeon for your dog or a duck or a pheasant or anything like that, there could be consequences for that. So the A KC and some other organizations, Sportsman's Alliance, I believe it is. They're trying to obviously change the. Change the verbiage in the farm bill. Um, so that live lure is taken out and that's where we need you guys to, to, to help out with this. So, um, the live lure language is what we want removed the greyhound racing. Depending how you feel about that, you can have your opinion on it. They are trying to get it banned. In the United States. And so that's why they're, they're trying to sneak this into this big farm bill, which is, um, the House Farm Bill, which is a huge bill that's trying to go through and they're just trying to sneak it in or trying to work it in real quick.'cause this whole bill has to be passed and hoping that that verbiage will be kept in there and then. People that use animals or birds or live lures can be held or are in trouble. The problem with this too, I see is when we, we start giving away some of these rights, it's hard to ever get'em back. Um, I've had some clients that hunt in Europe and these other areas and. I mean, they'll be heckled if they're out hunting geese or something like that in a field. People will pull up and basically protest them hunting. They'll yell at'em. They're afraid to post things on social media that they hunt. They almost have to do this stuff in secrecy. And that's, and if we allow these laws to slowly happen that like this, it's just a matter of time, you know? Well, now you don't. You don't have, you can't use birds to train your dogs. Why do you need guns now to go hunting? You can't even, you know, and it's just a trickle down effect. And so we need to hold, hold our ground. This is a country of freedom, and this is if you believe that we should have the, the freedom to train our dogs with live lures, with these animals that I believe God put on earth for us to, to be respected, to be also used for man. So, um. Again, this is my opinion on it. And the a KC, the American Kennel Club, they're on board on, on getting this verbiage changed. Now, if you just like, say, wanna have the Greyhound stuff taken out, you can have your opinion on that. But the main thing I would like to see removed is the live lure language. So, um, if you're, you're listening to Bird Dog Podcasts, hopefully you're into bird Dogs and you're into Bird Dog. Hunting with an ice bird dog, you're into bird hunting. Um, we need your support on this. So in life, something I've tried to live, live by is if I don't do it, nobody else will. And if you ask yourself, oh, that's just something that sounds, sounds interesting, I'm just gonna do my thing and not worry about it, that's not what makes changes. So what we need you guys to do is to stand up and like, Hey, I'm gonna take. 10 minutes outta my day to day, and I'm gonna voice my opinion. Use that freedom to vote, use that freedom to make decisions that will only affect our own personal lives, but affect our kids and generations to come. When these laws again get passed, it's hard to unwind them. So we don't, we wanna have a hard stance on this otherwise. Uh, bird hunting with dogs. Gun dogs could be, you know, could possibly be affected in the future, or, you know, or become something we can't do. So anyhow, um, to get to the point again, that's where it came from. Hopefully that gives you guys a brief overview. There's a couple organizations that are obviously anti-hunting, anti lure, anti greyhounds, and they want, and they got this, snuck this into the, the farm bill, um, under the Greyhound Protection Act is what it's called. HR 5 0 1 7 and it was sponsored by a Democrat outta California. And the verbiage, live lure in there is what we want to get removed. So. What do we do from here? So, um. Live lure training, and I'll read, this is actually kind of interesting. It says the phrase, live lure training is the flashpoint. The bill title and findings are aimed at greyhound racing and coursing. But opponents argue that the statutory language is broad enough that regulators, courts, or future amendments could apply it more widely than supporters claim a KC government relations say that. Wording, risk banning or disrupting hunt tests, field trials and accepted hunting dog training methods that use controlled exposure to live birds or game. So that's how it affects us. Anyhow, what do we do from here? If you go to akc.org, I'm gonna put a link to in the show notes. They have built, uh, a system where it's really easy. You click on a link, you put your name, phone number, address in there, and then it's gonna send, send it to our house of house representative here in Utah. Um, and also to our two state senators here in Utah. And um, and I believe if you go to akc.org and you click on that also. No matter what state you live in, this isn't just a Utah thing where I live. This is a, a federal law. They're trying to pass here and sneak into this bill. So wherever you live, if you go to akc.org or go to the link in these show notes, you should be able to find the link that allow you to put the information in, put your zip code, and it'll pull up your, uh, house of representative for your state and also your senators. And then that you can send, um, you can type something in or they have pre-written in there. Um, you know. What they believe in imposing, uh, opposing this live lure verbiage. And that will go to them to, to give us a voice, to let us know we want this changed and that the country is just not silent. So, um, that's gonna be it for the podcast today. I want to really focus on this. I haven't had a chance to put this out there, so I'm gonna. Whatever platform I'm on, obviously I'm gonna throw this on our Instagram, our social media. I'm gonna put this on the podcast. I want to get that word out to you, my fellow hunter friends, that we can hopefully get this changed so we can continue on doing, um, training dogs and doing something that we love, that we're passionate about and that we've done for hundreds of years. So, um, hope you guys have a great day. Thanks for listening to the podcast and, um, and we'll see you guys in the next show.