A ROAD LESS TRAVELLED

John Jamieson’s journey to becoming the first ever established animal chiropractor in Australia and master animal healer he is today began in Sydney at the age of 5 when he was first introduced to greyhound racing through neighbour and close friend at the time, Raymond. Raymond was a barber side lining in owning and training greyhounds and would often enlist John’s help with the tending to and walking of his racers. Over the years through this regular association John’s experience in all aspects of the greyhound racing industry would become thoroughly cultivated and his natural curiosity and intuition growing up would have all the exposure it required to rapidly develop. It turned out that John had a natural talent for intuitively analysing the behaviour, movement, posture, gait, and performance of the greyhounds and thus he began to question the patterns and inconsistencies he observed. During pre-race parades John’s inquisitive mind would query:

“Why are that dog’s front legs crossing over each other when it walks?”
“Why is that one walking with it’s head hanging low?”
“Some dog’s backs are dipped and some are arched – what’s going on there?”
“Why does that one walk with short steps?”
“Why does this dog look so sad?”

Even at such a young age it was easy for John to see the disparity between common and ideal conformation so these kinds of questions came naturally. After watching a race one day John asked his mother “How can a dog be 10 lengths in front then ease off on the bend, run wide, and then lose the race?” to which John’s mother responded “You’re going to figure that out one day son,” then at age 10 John’s mother bought him his first greyhound. Now with his very own greyhound John began studying in earnest to develop his knowledge and understanding of canine anatomy and biomechanics.

EARLY DAYS

As a child John would wander about the racing venues and, with his keen observation being well ahead of his years, would often pickup on the chatter of racing officials and board stewards conspiring to fix races. In those days adults seldom paid any mind to young children so John was able to keep up this eavesdropping operation for a time long enough to become well wise to the underhanded tactics industry personnel would employ to manipulate race results. His racing savvy coupled with his unique gift for identifying the nuance in canine mobility, it became evident early on to those around him that John possessed a knack for accurately predicting the outcomes of races. As such John was regularly sought after by those looking to make a quick buck.

As his anatomical understanding of canines grew John had begun to assimilate a chiropractic aspect into his development which later became the core of his repertoire. Unbeknownst to his neighbour Raymond, when he was older around 14 years old John began putting his talents into practice on the greyhounds he was regularly tending to. When Raymond’s greyhounds suddenly began winning races John was spurred on to develop his chiropractic skills further. Unfortunately there was no curriculum or resources at the time for canine chiropractic or attaining the level of perfection in canine health John was seeking so he pioneered his own curriculum using whatever material and resources on the subject he could find.

By the time he had turned 22 John had achieved what no one before him had by establishing a thorough understanding and ability to manipulate the canine skeletal form into perfect chiropractic alignment. Compared to the “muscle manipulators” of the time John was able to achieve far superior results without any need for pharmaceutical pills or injections. Later John grew his repertoire furthering it’s development into a variety of disciplines including laser acupuncture, magnetic therapy, Reiki, and even Holographic Kinetics.

People began referring to John using names such as the ‘canine chiropractor’, the ‘K-9 dog man’, the ‘canine doctor’, and ‘Doc Jamieson’. The Doc Jamieson name was one the one that stuck and became a business brand.

THE DARK SIDE OF GREYHOUND RACING

Throughout his early life and career having spent a majority of his time involved with greyhound racing John inadvertently became privy to the darker and unpublicized aspects of the industry.

Australian greyhound racing is a lucrative industry beneath which flows the tides of very big money to the tune of billions of dollars. Every year some $4 billion is spent on gambling alone whilst the industry spends over $900 million in expenditure and generates over $1 billion in economic worth. With this kind of turn over and greyhound racing being an unregulated industry there is extensive profitable opportunity for officials to take advantage of. Under the table dealings are commonplace with the conducting of race fixing and other immoral and illegal practices, for the right price, being allowed to secretly transpire without penalty. As such there is considerable financial reward for officials in turning a blind eye and enabling criminal activities to take place virtually unrestricted, as well as the profitability of knowing the outcomes of races beforehand.

Illegal activities include performance enhancements such as blooding and doping, swab and urine test fixing for passing drug tests, race fixing practices generally involving the sabotage of selected greyhounds using poisoning, over-feeding, drugging, various other underhanded tactics, and mass greyhound killings where disposal is the cheap and convenient alternative to rehoming dogs who are no longer fit for racing or just never made the cut.

These and many other nefarious practices are commonplace and allowed to continue due to greyhound racing being a corrupted and self-regulated industry where officials are able to turn a considerable profit under the table.

The discovery of such atrocities would be enough to turn just about any good hearted animal loving person away from wanting to be involved in the industry at all, but not John Jamieson. It was for precisely these reasons that John decided he would situate himself directly within the industry that so desperately needed justice and work to expose and eradicate the corruption so that all animals involved, innocent as they are, could receive the welfare they deserved. John had a vision that greyhound racing could be good clean fun, a vision that could be quite easily and practicably achieved were it not for said corruption. John knew he could prove that greyhound racing performance could be vastly increased and injuries could be easily avoided all with proper training and regular chiropractic maintenance thus proving the savagery and murder of innocent animals in blooding, aside from it being a flagrant affront to animal welfare, is completely unnecessary. Later John would prove that the killing and disposal of greyhounds was little more than heartless laziness by rehoming all of his retired greyhound racers.

John could not accept that such heinous villainy be allowed to exist and it would never sit right with him until it was stomped out and those responsible brought to justice. With eyes opened to the truth and his humanity thoroughly assaulted John embarked on a lifelong journey to answer the despairing cries of the animal collective and to set just and right an industry thriving on the slavery and murder of innocence.

CAREER DEVELOPMENT

CAREER

DEVELOPMENT

John began his chiropractic business advertising and volunteering at greyhound tracks to prove his ability which, due to the improvement in greyhound racing form he was achieving for trainers, quickly lead to his gaining a reputable following of clients from all over Australia.

1994 DARWIN

NORTHERN TERRITORY

1996 SOUTH AUSTRALIA

MOUNT GAMBIER

KENNEL CLUB

MOUNT GAMBIER

KENNEL CLUB

As his reputation grew John began treating show and working dogs while travelling the dog shows along the east coast of Australia. Putting his skills to use for the greater canine demographic the Doc Jamieson name eventually became synonymous with the highest in peak canine performance as John set a new bar within canine industry and was fervently sought after by greyhound owners and trainers, trainers in all manner of working dog disciplines, and domestic dog owners alike.

1997 - 2000 TULLY

NORTH QLD

2003

LOGANHOLME CLINIC

John kept the ball rolling with his development expanding his repertoire to include other kinds of animals such as cats, livestock, horses, wildlife, and even alpacas. Great success followed and eventually the title of his profession evolved to become “Animal Chiropractor” and later “Animal Chiropractic Specialist”.

2004

2005 - 2006

WILLOVALE &

GYMPIE CLINICS

WILLOVALE &

GYMPIE CLINICS

John’s success as an animal chiropractor was unparalleled. From 1998 to 2005 John was the Queensland Canine Control Council’s resident canine chiropractor and by the height of his career he had opened multiple animal chiropractic clinics, ran boarding and rehabilitation kennels, operated an animal transport business, and was regularly consulting and treating for a host of working dog disciplines including detector, sniffer, retriever, flyball, attack, show, agility, obedience, and hunting.

PHOENIX RISING

pHOENIX

rISING

Spending years providing his services indiscriminately and building his enterprise and reputation John set the standard for animal welfare and stewardship. John competed in the show ring with his own greyhounds and would occasionally enter his dogs into the races. Knowing that extreme or inhumane training methods were completely unnecessary John practiced well beyond orthodoxy. With his empathic connection to animals, unequalled level of mastery in canine health care, and unique training innovations John produced unbeatable show and racing greyhounds that dominated the competition. John would rescue the biggest losers in racing whom nobody wanted, saving them from disposal and death, rehabilitated them and turned them into champions. John treated his greyhounds as part of his family allowing them to socialize, play, experience loving human companionship, and even allowed them to mingle with other animals proving that harmony between species was very achievable.

FROM RESCUED

TO CHAMPIONS

HARMONY

IN THE HOME

John powered through the ascension of his career with steeled and focused determination all the while never losing sight of his ultimate goal, patiently biding his time, identifying and cataloguing the criminal element, and accumulating a solid arsenal of incriminating evidence. Having assiduously elevated his industry status and connections Doc Jamieson was now a well known name in the racing industry and a force to be reckoned with who’s impact was being keenly felt threatening the power of the racing industry’s corrupted elite.

In 1999 John called a meeting with key figures in the Queensland racing industry’s administration to have addressed the issues of blooding, race fixing, greyhound killings, board stewards owning greyhounds under false names, and malpractice in general. John made every effort for matters to be handled amicably handing over copies of his evidence for the racing administration to review and address. The racing administration however (Chief board steward Danny Ryan, Racing Queensland’s chairperson Phil Bentley, and Labour MP Peter Cork) did not wish to address the issues John was raising. John threatened go public and hand over his evidence to the media if nothing was done to clean out the corruption and exploitation taking place. This however was a bold move that did not have the effect John was hoping for and instead triggered a concerted and covert endeavour to thwart John’s efforts, discredit his name, and dismantle his enterprise.

From this point onward at every turn John was met with all manner of set backs, road blocks, and sabotage in general to impede his career progression and efforts to sanitize the industry of criminal activity. From having his property vandalized, his dogs poisoned, and his name dragged through the mud to physical attacks and threats on his life. On top of this greedy greyhound trainers began to covet John’s superior skills and as a method of race fixing would spread false and misleading propaganda about John to other trainers in order to keep John’s services for themselves and gain an edge over the competition.

By 2006 John had just about had enough with servicing other trainer’s greyhounds and stopped after Shane Taylor, who’s comeback success at the time was solely due to John’s work on his greyhound Bourbon Angel, publicly declared that he himself was responsible for resolving the problems with Bourbon Angel making no mention whatsoever of John’s attributing to his success. John immediately ceased providing his services to any and all greyhound trainers and made the decision to start competing seriously for himself.

John’s greyhounds were unbeatable winning race after race and demolishing the competition. In 2007 John took the Bundaberg cup and went on to claim a string of victories.

MAKING WAVES

UNBEATABLE

John’s time in the spotlight however was only to be short lived. Earlier in 2005 as part of the machinations to dismantle the Doc Jamieson enterprise, the Chiropractors Board of Queensland issued John with a notice that he had breached the Chiropractors Registrations Act by using the words “chiropractor”, “chiropractic”, and “chiro” in advertising. This was despite an even earlier notice in 2003 from the same board instructing John that he must advertise specifically as a non-human chiropractor to avoid legal action which he was already doing, and also stating that the board recognized he was already doing this. The board continued to issue notices and threaten legal action all the while John had remained compliant but the damage to his business had already begun to take it’s toll. Word of John’s legal battle also reached the media.

BACKLASH

A CURRENT AFFAIR

Whilst trying to avoid legal action and not being able to advertise John closed down his clinics and sold off most of his business assets to fund his legal defence. Events came to a head in April of 2007 when he was summoned to court to defend himself against the charges of misuse of the aforementioned words, thus cutting short his greyhound racing winning streak. John defended his right to use the term proving that he had always advertised as an animal chiropractor and won a not guilty verdict, but the damage his name and business was already done. His name now officially cleared John reopened for business with the last clinic he still had in his possession and the media reported positively. However, business was not returning. Despite being declared not guilty the Chiropractors Board had published a false statement that John was convicted and found guilty on all charges. The statement was dated the 17th of April 2007, over 2 weeks prior to the handing down of the not guilty verdict on the 4th of May. To make matters worse John didn’t find out about this statement which was still published on the internet until 19 months later when a client challenged his claim to having been found not guilty. The client showed John the publication and he immediately took to having it taken down – a task which did not come easy.

DEFAMATION

FOLLOW UP

NEWS COVERAGE

Eventually the publication was removed with an insincere and short lived formal apology going up in it’s place but the damage already done to John’s business was replete. John lapsed into depression and decided to pursue legal action to sue the Chiropractors Board for defamation and resultant damages. Machinations to destroy the Doc Jamieson name were still ongoing however. Due to conflicts of interest John had great difficulty in obtaining legal representation and was met with nothing but rejection despite writing to dozens of law firms, the Minister for Health, local members of parliament, Legal Aid, and QPILCH. This continued until John received a recommendation to seek legal counsel from a Peter Boyce of Butler McDermott Lawyers. With no where else to turn and desperate for legal assistance John hired Peter who provided him with incorrect legal advice and as a result John’s claim was for the time being thwarted. Peter neglected to mention that he was a lifetime member of Racing Queensland which was a blatant conflict of interest. John was advised by Peter that the limitation period within which he was eligible to claim damages had already expired – it had not. Peter advised John to submit an application to extend the limitation period which was later denied due it having been submitted whilst the limitation period had not yet expired. Of course in the meantime while the application was pending the limitation period did expire which seemed to be intention all along behind John having been incorrectly advised by his legal counsel. John had already gone into debt to pay Peter for his erroneous legal advice and subsequently Peter has since persisted to be unavailable. With his business and income dissolved John had no choice but to start from scratch.

To this day John Jamieson continues to be the target of covert defamation and sabotage. With his subsequent clinics becoming targets for vandalism John has taken to operating a mobile only service while in the meantime taking earnest measures to ensure his next clinic, planned for opening in 2022, will stand strong against any would be attacks. Having steadily rebuilt his reputation to the point where pet and animal owners are contacting him daily to seek his services, John uses the proceeds from his once again thriving business to fund his not-for-profit organisation, The Phoenix Tasforce, continuing the fight for justice for the animals against greyhound racing industry corruption.

Use this link to view the Phoenix Taskforce website: https://phoenixtaskforce.org

rEBRANDED

Due to ongoing cyberattacks on John’s original website, mail server, business name, and online associations, John has had to step away from the “Doc Jamieson” name that originally brought him success and also made him a target. Loyal clients who have stuck with and supported John over the years will always know him as “Doc”, but until he is able to win the fight against industry corruption and his original business name is no longer a target, John remains rebranded and now operates under the name:

GET IN TOUCH

If your animal is showing signs of restricted movement, lameness, or any change in behaviour that has you concerned get in touch today.