How to adopt a Greyhound?

[XelaM]

We are looking to add a rescue Greyhound to our family. We are experienced dog-owners and already have a small 2.5-year-old dog who adores other dogs and whose best mate at his dog-sitter's house is a Greyhound.

We have a secure garden and I work from home. My daughter is nearly 14 and great with animals - very responsible. We love Greyhounds and could offer one a very loving home. Our resident dog is absolutely spoilt rotten. We're not at all house-proud and nowhere is off-limits for the dog. He's very well-behaved and calm at home and would love to have a doggy companion (to snooze on the sofa with all day 😂). Outside he loves to race much bigger dogs than him and as I said, his best playmate is a Greyhound.

Our only criteria really is that the Greyhound is able to live with small dogs because I know not all do and my main worry is that our small dog doesn't get attacked.

I've tried registering and ringing a number of Greyhound rescues, but either always get promised a call back, but never get one or they have a blanket policy against rehoming to London. Can anyone recommend a Greyhound charity that is responsive and will consider us? I think we can make a real difference for one of the many Greyhounds living in kennels.

Why would they have a blanket policy about not rehoming in London? That sounds bizarre.

I'd say that having small dogs when racing greyhounds are trained to chase small fluffy things, is a bigger issue.

Have you tried Hersham Hounds in Surrey. They are a very experienced rehoming centre for greyhounds.

We bought a puppy from a racing kennels who was 'surplus' because she wasn't showing potential to race well. I don't know what they would have done with her if we hadn't enquired. We found her just by emailing racing kennels.

If you do find one, if you decide to go off-lead I'd always do so in a racing muzzle just to protect your little dog. You never know when their prey drive might kick in and should never trust that it won't.

Every second dog I see in London is a greyhound! Good luck OP, they are lovely dogs I understand. DH and I are thinking very hard about doing the same.

I totally agree with you about London, but I was just on the phone to Clarks Farm Greyhound Rescue and that's what they told me when I gave my address. We don't even live in central London - it's North London/Herts.

Haven't tried Hersham Hounds. Thank you for the recommendation. My main worry is that the hound is able to live with our small dog who is an absolute sweetheart and obviously my priority.

Ohh that sounds interesting! I will definitely try emailing racing kennels to see if they have superfluous pups, as I guess there is a greater chance that a puppy would get on with our adult dog than an adult who has been trained to hunt.

Yes! So most rescues must rehome to London, I was probably just unlucky. We love Greyhounds too!!

If you'd consider a lurcher, give EGLR a call. All of them are in foster so behaviour around small dogs is known and they def rehome to London.
I'd advise against contacting greyhound breeders directly. The reputable ones rehome through Retired Greyhounds Trust or similar

Thank you! We will definitely consider a lurcher as well. The dogs on the EGLR website are beautiful and I see that some even need a second dog in the house. I will give them a ring tomorrow (if they're open).

http://wkretiredgreyhounds.blogspot.com/2010/07/whittingham-kennels-finds-loving-homes.html?m=1 these wouldn’t be too far from you OP

We have a gorgeous 6 year old Greyhound who has been with us couple of years now. When he arrived home, we had a small dog which he was alway excellent with. We have had lots of different dogs in and out our house and he has always been lovely, no aggression or prey drive with them.

We got him from Whittingham Kennels in Essex who are absolutely amazing, listening to your needs and recommending dogs that fit in. They are tested/assessed before placement in the kennel for living with small dogs and some are even cat friendly.

We’re based in outer London and after an initial home check there was no problem at all with where we live. They are happy to let all kinds of people and homes, adopting them out to those with flats even, as long as they deem the property safe for the dogs.

As a charity they have been amazing, support whenever it’s needed, so much love and care for all their dogs and also happy to board them at really low cost if you go away on holiday.

http://wkretiredgreyhounds.blogspot.com/

This is their website, it’s quite old fashioned, but click web version and it loads properly. All their dogs are shown on there. Can’t recommend highly enough.

Snap Lastqueenofscotland2

Thank you both for recommending Whittingham Kennels in Essex! They sound brilliant and we will contact them. 😊So glad I posted!

Have you tried Celia Cross Greyhound Trust? They are just outside Guildford. Got my beloved lurcher from there.
Good luck, OP.

Another vote for Hersham Hounds. They are excellent

Retired Greyhounds Canterbury are a slightly smaller rescue. They are more likely to assess on a more personal basis, if you could travel there? However, they, like a lot of breed specific rescues, take them direct from racing. You may be better off looking for a Greyhound from somewhere like Dog's Trust. That's because they are more likely to have older dogs who have already been pets in homes, alongside other pets. That's where we got our Greyhound girl in 2019. We needed an appropriate companion for our Labrador boy who had lost all of his older Lab companions by then, but was so old he needed a gentler dog friend. Old girl had, by that time, spent eight year as a pet, in a home with cats and she was, therefore, totally ok with small furrys of all kinds. she used to play bow next doors cat - who'd swipe her for her troubles!

If you don't mind travelling then look at TIA greyhound rescue

@Beckafett Tia moved their farm to Scotland.

Linc's Greyhound trust - Epping branch Peaceful Pets on FB they cat test their dogs so expect small dog test too.

Greyhound Trust the regional branches get some funding per dog from Trust but exactly how they're run & homing policies will vary.

Battersea dogs home often has greyhounds.

Thank you for all the great recommendations everyone! Will start working through them tomorrow 😁

Try Greyhound Protection UK.

I adopted my hound from them. They have a website and also a Facebook page. I saw my girl on their Facebook page and adopted her within 3wks. They're very good at matching hounds to suitable homes and are one of the few rescues that will rehome a suitable dog to a family with children.

I'm in fairly central London (though a very green spacious area). I have a wonderful rescued greyhound who is 8 years old now and was adopted age 3. We go to a sighthound group once a week to meet up with all the other local London adopted greyhounds - there are loads! So London definitely fine for homing a greyhound. They make the most wonderful pets!
Have a look at Kent Greyhound Rescue, Clarks Farm, Foal Farm, the Greyhound Trust, Wimbledon Greyhound Welfare. There are lots of other smaller local places around too.

Suggest you stick to specifically greyhound rehoming kennels rather than, say, the Dogs Trust/Battersea as they are reputedly not always very greyhound savvy. Many greyhounds aren't so daft that they can't distinguish small dogs from rabbits etc. Ours is offlead on walks away from roads, loves a run and is always gentle with small dogs - can't say the same for him around rabbits or cats, though.

I've rehomed dogs from both Whittingham Kennels (who have a Facebook page) near Waltham Abbey, and Lincolnshire Greyhound Trust Epping (Peaceful Pets on Facebook). I'd highly recommend both, they're well run by lovely people, and both are flexible with their rehoming requirements, very different from the big charities! I've read that it's better to rehome from a greyhound only charity as they understand greyhounds better.

I'd say that about half of greyhounds are fine with other breeds from the start, going by my experience. Of the five I've had, three have been fine, one wasn't so was always muzzled on walks, and one was fine with quiet, calm dogs but not bouncy, in your face dogs. Some greyhounds aren't great with other breeds at first, but improve a lot with time and exposure.

I absolutely adore greyhounds, and wouldn't want another breed. They really do steal your heart, they're so sweet, gentle and goofy, they have great personalities. Mine have all been generally calm, easy, undemanding dogs, though not all are. They can suffer with separation anxiety at first, but in my experience that's only been with ones that are only dogs. They usually prefer to have the company of another dog, especially another greyhound/sighthound/lurcher. I highly recommend joining a greyhound Facebook group such as Retired Greyhound Owners UK, they're a mine of information, and people are very helpful at answering questions. JW Canine Care on YouTube is another fantastic source of information on all things greyhound, too.

I really wouldn't worry about rehoming with your existing small dog. Any rehomed greyhound should be tested with small breeds. We have a greyhound who lives happily with free-ranging chickens and is perfectly safe around small dogs. We often attend greyhound walks and there is usually a small dog or two amongst the hounds. Good luck with your search!

There's a greyhound rescue place in Wickford, Essex. Can't recall their name but they are really proactive about rehoming the ex racing greyhounds there. Nice people