Greyhounds off-leash area identified by City of Launceston council

Now, Spock the greyhound is set to live his best muzzle-free life after his owner, Ms Saville, rallied state parliament last year to change the laws.

However, her work was not completed there. For the past 12 months she has been working to allow the "lovable lounge lizards" to be allow in designated off-leash areas.

City of Launceston councillor Andrea Dawkins moved a motion in June asking the council to request the government change the Dog Control Act and allow greyhounds to be unleashed in designated areas, and for the council to identify an appropriate area of land for a greyhound off-leash area. The motion was approved unanimously.

Now the state laws have changed, the council has been able to continue with its plans.

The council has identified an appropriate area, and will advertise the relevant amendments to its Dog Control Policy to allow greyhounds in specific off-leash areas within coming weeks.

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Ms Saville said before all the changes there was a stigma towards greyhounds, especially with them having to wear muzzles.

"People would not come up to you in the street because he had a muzzle on. They didn't believe that he was friendly being a greyhound," she said.

Ms Saville said greyhounds are the "most cat-like" of dog breeds because they sleep up to 23 hours a day.

The law relaxations will encourage more families to adopt greyhounds, Ms Saville believes.

"It has been something that has made people not want to adopt them because of the stigma. They have been treated differently than other dogs and so people's expectations are that they are different and they're not," she said.

Cr Dakins said she was absolutely delighted by the changes.

"It's gone from being quite a partisan issue, to something that really crosses a lot of people's mind now as it should, because it should be about the animals and not point scoring," she said.

"I'm really happy that I've been able to work with somebody who understands that. And also that the government listened."

Ms Saville said greyhounds have been bred for 4000 years.

"The racing industry and commercial racing has been around for about 100, so what people don't understand is that these dogs were Lounge Lizards and people's pets way before commercial commercial racing started," she said.

It is expected that the amendments, including public submissions, will come back to the council early in the New Year.

The Council has allocated funding for the project in its budget next year, however it's not expected to be a costly project.

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