Please talk to me about greyhounds!

[JorisBonson]

This is a very long way off, but DH and I will at some point be in a rhythm with our shifts where someone will be at home most of the time. We've decided, when it comes, to re-home a dog and have thought about taking on an ex racing greyhound.

Would love to hear people's experiences of this!

I have

Admittedly she seems to be the exception rather than the rule but she's a strong dog and her owner struggles with her a fair bit.

We had a deerhound/greyhound and he was… to trump others on here 🤣 The best dog ever!!

I agree with pp though… be prepared to lose your sofa space! It’s cruel not to let them on the sofas/beds imo 🤣

I have always wanted a rescue greyhound when in a position to at home most of the time.

I’ve had a few, usually straight from the racing kennels. Lovely dogs, had no problems with house training (longest was maybe 2 weeks, but I do have other dogs and they definitely learn from each other) We had more problems with counter surfing! They are TALL generally, so do tend to get on the worktop and help themselves to whatever they fancy, in the early days at least. Recall can take a while and some will never be totally safe around small furries so may need to be muzzled in public (ex racers are used to that though so it’s not an issue) I have had 2 ex racers live with my cat though, so some are fine. Generally, lazy, affable, hilarious lapdogs, who don’t particularly enjoy very long walks. Mine have preferred to be taken to a large open area where they bomb around for 20 minutes, then tell me they want to go home. They then spend the rest of the day contorting themselves into weird and wonderful shapes whilst they sleep. Greyhound Gap is an excellent greyhound rescue charity who do a full assessment of all their dogs before they home them, so would match the right dog to you. Maybe have a look at them when the time is right. I should also add that I’ve had lurchers too - one a grey x saluki and one a grey x god knows! Both also fabulous dogs, totally safe around other animals and a bit more hardy when it comes to long walks xx

Thanks all, lots to think about! We do have a cat so maybe a rethink or waiting for the perfect grey is in order. It's ages away but I like to think about it 😅

Very very strong prey drive. Generally they don’t do well with cats.

My sister has one from the RGT. She has two young children and she is wonderful with them although they are not allowed to annoy her. She has suffered badly with separation anxiety and doesn’t really like going for walks or out which is a challenge for a young family. Her in-laws look after her a lot. She was lovely with my last dog - terrier sighthound cross but she’s not met my terrier pup as her prey drive is high so it’s too risky until she is bigger. She lives with chickens but has grabbed one before.

Most greys I know aren’t very dog like tbh. They don’t particularly enjoy training, some like walking, they’re lazy and affectionate. So if you want a walking buddy it’s not really going to be likely. Sofa snuggling buddy far more.

Medical issues need factoring in. My sisters has very bad teeth, a very sensitive stomach and sadly has been abused. She has scars from cigarette burns.

@Newpeep that's so sad! Absolute bastards.

We are definitely not a big walk family :)

One thing is I notice all the online dog breed info says they are quite lazy and don't really need as much exercise as you'd think. However every greyhound I've ever seen has been dashing about like a mad thing so I think they need far more than advertised!

I definitely wouldn't risk a sighthound with cats - especially not a rescue from a racing background.

Now before someone jumps on me and tells me they have a greyhound that lives with ten cats and fifteen Guinea pigs without issue - I know it can be okay but as a cat owner it's not a risk I would ever take with mine.

We have had 11. Currently have four greyhounds and a lurcher. All on the lead when we're out. Pray drive way too high to let off. We have a big garden for zoomies though. Would kill a small furry in a second. Three of mine are muzzled when out because they can see prey way before me. Have had a fair mix of behavioural issues initially but settle in to home life quickly. Every surface of the livingroom is covered in dogs as I type. Heaven.

I adopted an ex-racing greyhound last July. I absolutely adore her. They're very gentle souls. She's basically a 30kg lap dog. And they really don't need much exercise (a couple of 20-30 mins walks a day is fine for her, and even then if it's raining she may not want to go at all)! They're designed for sprinting rather than stamina, so they tend to use up energy in short bursts and then want to sleep all day.

Some downsides I would mention:

1. She doesn't cope well with being left alone, which is a known breed trait. So if we need to go out for more than a couple of hours I ask our dog walker to take her out so she doesn't get too stressed.
2. They do have a high prey drive. I know some people do have greyhounds with cats / small furry pets but it's a minority I think. Also because of her prey drive I can't really let her off the lead as if she saw a cat / rabbit etc when we're out walking she would run off and chase it.
3. It does take time for them to settle. Bear in mind most ex-racers have never met any breed of dog other than greyhounds, never met children, and never lived in a house with all it's strange noises and things like stairs. And the majority have never been toilet trained. It takes a good few months for them to relax around these things and properly settle in.

Thanks everyone. Lots to think about.

Just don't search up all the collars , coats and fleecy jackets you can buy for them............

We had an ex racing greyhound, we adopted her when she was nearly 4 and she sadly passed away 2 years ago aged 13. She was the gentlest, sweetest girl and absolutely amazing with children. She was greedy though and would steal all food if left within reach! She was the perfect companion at home and she used to love going to work with my husband and snooze in his van or potter around after him.

@70isaLimitNotaTarget I have just bought my first HoundTees for dlurcher1, and OMG they are amazing. He is currently pretending to be a bumblebee.

OP, I adore pointy hounds, and have two lurchers of my own and have fostered lots. They are fabulous, but ex racers (and especially if they have been successful) are more cat unfriendly as they have been trained (and incentivised in the worst ways) to run after fluffy things and kill. In racing, young dogs who don't do this 'disappear'.
There are more failed coursing lurchers in rescue though who are cat trainable

Oh!

Ours is a non-racer. I asked at WYGT for a small quiet female and that's what I got.
Lots of love and patience needed, but a few months in she's a completely different dog.

As she never raced she has no prey drive and is fine with small dogs. She's scared of cats after she went to sniff one and it swiped her nose. She's only ever chased squirrels, and ignores rabbits.

She has a tendency towards anxiety, but her recall is almost bomb proof. She loves sofas and cuddles and off-lead walks.
We've done up to 7 miles with her but she's happy with her daily 30 minute lunchtime walk.

Feel free to pm

We've looked after a greyhound quite a bit - such a lovely dog. Made our very normal sized house look tiny, bit like having a small pony

Generally couldn't be arsed to go for walks, maybe 20 mins twice a day, but would eat literally everything that wasn't kept out of the way! Pointy nose in everything... I'd have loved one bit DH wasn't keen on guarding his food so much!

A late relative of mine had them (ex racers) and this is my take:

High prey drive. One killed a neighbour's small terrier which was horrific for my relation too even though it was the neighbour's fault (they let their dog get into rel's garden and rel didn't notice until it was too late. If you have any sort of right of way through your property I'd be mindful of this). One also killed a pigeon that didn't get off the ground fast enough 😢

Bad separation anxiety when not glued to my rel. Even if I was dog sitting the dog was distressed because rel wasn't there. They all seemed rather sensitive about this

They were all happy for an on lead plod for 20 mins 2x a day, and all were great at walking to heel

Nothing edible could be left on the kitchen worktops as they were tall enough to steal food off them

My rel loved them to the point of obsession with anything greyhound related, and although they're too pointy and quiet for my tastes I can't deny they can make excellent pets

We've had our ex racer for 3 years.
Pros
He is super gentle with people of all ages
He's happy with 2 short walks a day but will also walk miles with me when I feel like a proper walk
He can be left alone for 3+ hours (I've never left him more than 4, and that's only been a few times)
He really helps my daughter who has anxiety and other issues
He's fine with the dogs we walk with regularly
He's absolutely gorgeous and I love him SO much
People always want to come and pet him and talk about him when we're out
We can take him to cafes and pubs and he's good as gold (although takes up lots of space!)

Cons
He is NOT cat friendly (horribly upsetting incident but fortunately no lasting damage)
He has occasional accidents in the house, totally unpredictable and never when he's on his own! (Might be scent marking but no pattern so difficult to do any training / behaviour work)
Insurance is expensive <£100/month and will get costlier the older he gets
He can not go off lead unless in secure area
He takes up a lot of space in the boot, so we actually took 2 cars on holiday to fit everything in (kids etc)
Difficult to carry him over stiles on walks!

I would have another one, but I would seriously consider a smaller breed for ease of getting out and about!

Biggest thing I didn’t realise when I got my gentle giant is how anxious he would be. Unsurprising due to a difficult start. I’m pretty sure he was kennelled alone as he’s even nervous of other greyhounds but does settle with them quite quickly. He’s terrified of other breeds. I have to walk him in quiet or on lead places. I also think he was in the cage a lot as everything was new outside to him including squirrels! He’s definitely getting better with other dogs now due to consistent training.

He had bad separation anxiety which I’ve worked really really hard on and 18 months on since adoption I left him for 3 hours yesterday. He’s happier with 1-2 hours though as he likes me around.

he doesn’t like the dark!

I walk him twice a day 20 mins each time when he mainly sniffs rather than walks, then at lunchtime I have a long more speedy yomp alone. (Also hadn’t factored in not all of them like walking !). He does like a longer walk at weekends if all the family come as he feels safer.

He has always been perfect in the house, he toilet trained himself from day 1, and sleeps well .

He’s very affectionate now, this took a while, and he sleeps on my bed ! It’s been a massive learning curve . I absolutely adore him. Very soulful animals.

Oh and big prey drive despite being told he might be cat trainable.

We have a lot of attention out and about and he has learnt to enjoy it, he especially loves children petting him. I have to stop him sticking his snoot towards people we walk past now as he just expects love !

We adopted a small greyhound from Greyhound Trust 18 months ago. She's an ex racer from Ireland and was 4.5 years when we got her. She is amazing, truly amazing. Off lead all the time and we walk 2.5 hours every day. We go past wildlife lakes with ducks, coots. etc and she ignores them all.

She's very clean despite only knowing kennel life before coming to us, is gentle, quiet and placid. We adore her. I have two other dogs so I think she learnt quickly from them. I think she probably would have separation anxiety but I rarely go out and she has the other two for company on supermarket shop days.

Ooh there's one more thing I don't think anyone has mentioned, they are always cold it winter.