Adopt a Retired Racing Greyhound?*UPDATE* pic on pg. 5 and 6

[NicInNC]

We have a rescued greyhound that we adopted in 1999. They're super sweet dogs, but may have lots of health problems. Boris is now 13 and he's developing lots of problems. We have spent so much money on dental care and during his last cleaning, he almost died so the vet will no longer clean or extract any teeth. His teeth are so unbelievably bad that I have to burn candles in our house to try and cover up the smell. It's HORRIBLE.

I wouldn't trade him for the world though. I've never know a better tempered dog and he is so appreciative. I won't ever adopt another though because of all the health problems. Plus, we put down wood floors in our house and he has never been able to walk on them. I have throw rugs down so he doesn't fall. Lots of greyhounds have problems walking on wood floors so keep that in mind if you have wood floors in your house.

Edited to say congratulations on the approval!!! Pleas make sure you keep up with the dental care while he/she is still young. It will make a difference. Boris had terrible teeth when we got him so we've been dealing with his teeth problems from the beginning.

Also, our greyhound is scared of our chickens.

He wants nothing to do with them and will run away from them. They all have their own personalities so I'm anxious to hear all about yours.

 

[herechickchick]

I just came across this post. Congrats on the new family member I am sure you will love your greyhound.

I have been involved with Greyhound Adoption and Greyhound Racing for years. I currently serve on the board of directors for my local group. I would like to comment on some questions and other statements that have been made here.

Greyhounds generally are not high maintenance, no more than any other average dog. Most do not require lots of exercise and often do very well in apartments.

Someone mentioned getting 2 for separation anxiety. Greyhounds have never been alone in their life so the transition form kennel life to pet life can be difficult for some but I would not consider separation anxiety a common problem once the greyhound is settled in.

Dental care is important. Most greyhounds do not have serious dental issues (there are always extreme cases with all breeds). Greyhounds eat a raw diet at the track making tartar build up easy but we clean their teeth the best we can when they are in the racing kennel and as stated most all groups preform a full dental before adopting out the greyhound.

Adoption groups often test the greyhounds for prey drive, to see how they do with small animals. Greyhounds can easily be taught not to bother the chickens and that the chickens are family, but this requires work on your end and your new greyhound can not be expected to figure this out by his or herself. The instinct to chase is in thier blood but it is also in the blood of most dogs so it should not be anymore work with a greyhound than any other dog. Live lure training has been outlawed in most states.

There are MANY adoption organizations out there. Shop around and find one that suits you.

Racing Greyhounds are registered thru the National Greyhound Association and are not AKC registered. Your greyhounds family tree can be traced back quite far thru sites such as Greyhound Data and Rosnet. You can read up about their racing history there as well. Greyhounds are tattooed in their ears. The tattoo in the right ear is the dogs birth date and the left ear is the litter registration number.

As for the comments made toward racing. I am not going to get into this here but please feel free to PM me with questions you have but know that most of what you read is untrue, let me repeat that most of what you read is untrue. Now I am not going to say that there are not bad things that happen in racing because there are. Unfortunately most of the time the entire industry gets blasted when it is generally one or two individuals that are to blame for something terrible. You rarely hear of the wonderful things the industry does, like supporting adoption efforts, kennel owners and trainers transporting dogs at their own expense to adoption groups, dog owners donating greyhounds entire career earnings to adoption efforts, Greyhound Night of Stars which are races all over the country that benefit Greyhound Pets of America and much more.

So like I said if you have any questions about greyhounds please feel free to PM me.

Adopt a Greyhound