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Me and my family are considering to get a third dog in our household. Were from Norway, (so pardon any bad spelling or grammar..) and for the last 7 years weve had malamute and a belgian shepherd. They live outside, all year round and wouldnt have it any other way, but we miss having a dog that are happy to stay inside the house with us. So weve been looking for the right breed and a greyhound seems to meet every demand we have. But still there are questions we would like to get answered and since there are very few greyhounds and people around us here in Norway I guess this could be the place to go.
First of all, I know the main differences between a racing type and the show lines. Were not into dog shows and in Norway we have no greyhound racing, just lure coursing. So the only few breeders that are in Norway, I believe there are 3 or 4, are in to show lines and they only breed a litter or so every year. As I see it, and this is just a little theory, I think the racing type of greyhound could be an even better family pet dog than the ones from show lines when it comes to mental stability and how they accept being handled by strangers and all the fuzz you find on the tracks etc, etc. The downside could maybe be that they are even more likely to chase after small furry animals that crosses their path, but there are plenty of prey drive in the show type as well, so this is an issue we would have to take into consideration anyway.
I would like to read if anyone has experience in having a racing type greyhound as pet, from small pup, not adopted ex-racers. We live in the woods/countryside and have access to secure places where the dogs can run all they want. I know they are not your first choice in obedience, but can they be trained to a "comfortable level" so you dont have to make sure there are no prey or small dogs within a mile or ten?
I would like to buy a dog in the UK. Would a racing dog breeder mind selling a dog as pet and not for racing?
Kind regards
Morten Styren Jauert
Mark Schlegel Australia (Verified User) Posts 3168 Dogs 9 / Races 5 18 Sep 2014 12:26
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Morten,
I am sure someone from the UK will point you in the right direction of one of their ex-racer adoption agencies. Here in Australia they are "re-trained" after racing and have to show that they are not aggressive towards other small dogs and will behave appropriately in public. I am sure the UK agencies provide a similar service.
Di Hilsley United Kingdom (Verified User) Posts 13 Dogs 0 / Races 0 18 Sep 2014 12:36
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Hi Morten here is the link to the retired greyhound trust. EXTERNAL LINK
We have been looking at ex-racers and considered going for an adoption, and we have not concluded yet on the matter.
I forgot to say that one of the reasons that we first of all think that a puppy would be right for us is that we have cats and I guess it would be easier to raise a greyhound with cats in the house if he/she gets used to them as young as possible.
Anyway, we will be looking out for the right dog, ex-racer or puppy/youngster. Meanwhile, any advice from people here with experience in keeping greyhounds as pets are much appreciated.
Michael de Ward Ireland (Verified User) Posts 2191 Dogs 4 / Races 1 18 Sep 2014 17:06
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Morten,greyhounds are wonderful animals and if you have children around the place-no dog could be more trustworthy with them than a greyhound.... Ex racers adapt to new surrondings relatively quickly... good luck
Most of the adoption kennels test to see if the greyhound is small dog & cat friendly. You will be able to buy a pup as a pet but because of the rabies injection that I was told can't be given until 16 weeks old the pup will be about 5 months old before travelling.
Thanks again for your replies. I guess we should seriously consider the adoption possibility one more time. I see that several of the dogs that are up for adoption are labeled cat trainable and/or other breed friendly. And there is a good point that grown up dogs have shown their personality and you more or less know what you get. Another positive side is that a grown up might cope with the travel experience better than a 5 month old puppy. Will keep on roaming the RGT sites for the perfect match!
Morten - the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) send ex-racers to Sweden several times a year from where you can pick up "yours"
They even have very young pups some times.
If you call Barry Coleman I am sure he can help you.
Tel: 00353 61-448001
They are also on FaceBook EXTERNAL LINK EXTERNAL LINK I have had Greyhounds in the house for over 28 years and they are the BEST pet you can have.
And if you get one that have been retired due to lack of chasing you should be OK.
You can also try to contact the racing people in Denmark and Sweden. They sometimes have dogs looking for new homes and most of them are already living in the house as most of them are pets and racedogs.
Thank you for the links! We are also looking in Sweden and Denmark, but there are so few dogs put up for adoption compared to UK/Ireland, so I think it would be harder to find a suitable one there. The reason we had UK in mind is mainly because I believe that the transport is easier since Ryanair from what I understand doesnt carry dogs on their flights, but SAS do and they have more flights to UK destinations. I wasnt aware of Irish dogs being sent to Sweden, so that could also be a very possible way to do this.
HI morten greyhounds make excellent pets .L.A.W this is a animal sanctuary in limerick ireland .sends greyhounds to sweden for re-homing .they would mostly be ex,racing dogs and are ready to socialise with small animals and children before they go.i donated a greyhound last year that went to sweden and the family that has her are very happy .i would defenetly recommend L.A.W..
Morten, I would recommend a retired racing greyhounds to become your new family pet. These dogs have had all the "rough edges" worn off: from puppyhood on, they have learned to get along with other dogs, they have learned to adapt to different people, they know how to walk on a leash, they have learned to go to the bathroom outdoors and not soil their living quarters - and in less than 5 minutes, they will learn to sleep on a sofa! :-)
We have owned retired racers for many years and have found them to be the most wonderful house pets. As prerequisite for adopting a greyhound is that he/she be neutered/spayed, that you do not let them loose in an unfenced area (or they will never be seen again - as sight hounds, they will chase after anything that moves and will NOT come home for dinner!!), and that they are kept in the same kinds of temperatures that you are enjoying. As for being prey driven - yes, our greyhounds chased squirrels and other furry things (including the neighbors' cats who learned very quickly where the greyhounds lived!). So, if you have a house cat, you will have to make sure that your future dog is labeled "cat safe".
Yes, the cat issue was our initial reason why we considered a puppy to be the smartest way. Since there are cat safe or trainable dogs out there who needs re-homing we think that all things considered this is what we will go for. We have a relatively large garden of 2000 square metres with fence sufficent enough to keep any dog inside. And the cats are used to keep out of the way from our other dogs when they run in the garden. And we have no neighbours. We will be looking for a female to avoid any conflict with our two male dogs. For exercise we have the opportunity to go skijoring in the winter to blow off some steam, like we do with the others. If the individual that we find can be let loose after some time with us and with proper training and the right surroundings it would be a great bonus. When we got our Malamute we were also told that they seldom can be let loose, but our Malamute can without any problem as long as theres no other male dogs around with attitude and size to back it up.
Dean Townsend United Kingdom (Verified User) Posts 2104 Dogs 19 / Races 0 19 Sep 2014 23:15
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Hi your best bet is a young greyhound who isn't chasing, problem solved for chasing any small animals and will make a great pet. Really are a very affectionate dog and great companions. Very misunderstood breed.
I currently have a 5mth pup in rescue. She came in at 8 weeks with a broken leg. She is now 100% She has been living in my home with cats and other dogs. You can see Hope on our fb page...Almost Home Greyhound Rescue NI. (Northern Ireland) I have never sent a grey overseas and would require confirmed rescue back up in case her home didnt work out
The issue of prey drive is something inbred . You would not know if a puppy is a hard chaser or not until as it grows it shows it's character . A young dog that has been retired from racing because it will not chase is the best option where cats and small furries are concerned . Some sires ( and Dams ) produce more than their share of awkward and Dint and this is nearly always because the pups lack the prey drive of the hard chasing winning lines .
Thank you all for your replies and advice on the matter. It is much appreciated!We have sent a message to you, Sue Corrin, through facebook. Adorable pup! Lets get connected and have a talk about it. We have also found a retired female that we would like to hear more about through RGT, but havent gotten any feedback on our e-mail yet.
I thought I should give an update on how things have worked out for us in our search for a grey. The adoption path showed to be difficult to follow. Everyone we were in contact with would love to help out, but since there are no cooperation with animal protection groups or similar organisations in Norway, neither Irish or Brittish rehoming kennels could help us, due to the mandatory home-check every adoption home has to go through. Its a bit far away, I guess:-) So we opted for an ad here on GD and got some responses that were interesting. Before we made any deals we tried to find out how to arrange the transport. Our plan was to fly to Ireland and bring her home. We knew that Ryanair doesnt carry animals, but SAS do. But as we then found out, some strange regulations in Ireland/UK makes it very difficult. If I were to travel from I guess any other country in Europe, there would be no problem, but from IE/UK you have to use only licensed carriers, and that meant flying unaccompanied from Dublin to Frankfurt with Lufthansa freight plane and the dog would have to stay over night at the terminal before flying to Oslo the next day. A solution we could not come to terms with and we decided to cool down and look for better ways. All this time we had also kept an eye on both Swedish and Danish sites, and there suddenly we found an ad with this small, black 17 months old female who were for sale. I got on the phone and she was exactly what we were looking for. Her race name is Pearl Harbor, but we have named her Emmylou. She is happy about running, but just because its fun to run with the other dogs, and not because she wants to be first. And the owners were also worried that she would get injured because she was so easy to squeze out of position in the bend, being such a small girl. They couldnt say if she would be easy to introduce to cats since she had no experience with cats at all, but they believed it was possible. So we made the deal, and they took care of the vaccinations needed and when everything was ready we drove down and collected her. And shes been everything we hoped for and more so! First time we introduced her to the cats she was just extremly sceptical and one of our cats have no fear of dogs and that has been very useful because she just stays put and dont run away. So I must admit that out of all the dogs Ive ever had, Emmylou has been the easiest to introduce to cats! Ok, so now she was to meet our two dogs... I guess she never had seen other breeds before, because when I let them out in our garden together she just screamed in fear and ran to the corner totally terrified. They could just as well have been polar bears to her. The two furry beasts didnt do her no wrong, but it took her 12 days with daily meetings in the garden, where she just stayed on the stairs to our patio and watched them with an increasing curiosity, but no interaction what so ever. It seemed like they understood and just let her be in peace. Then she decided it was safe to get down on the lawn and join them. It was such a huge moment for us when she finally did and she and our Belgian Shepherd, Elvis now enjoys their chase games every day! She relies on her speed of course, and he trusts his stamina and herding abilities. The Alaskan Malamute, Aron is a more quiet type, but every now and then he likes to chase a football and Emmylou is so nice to him when she lets him "win" the chase, even though she could get first to that ball running round him in circles:-)
If you need help or advice about a dog you are retiring then this is the place for you.
