Roger Clark went to Greyhound Safety Net’s winter lunch at Lang Lang reserve to find out about the transition of retired racing greyhounds.
By Roger Clark
GREYHOUNDS only race until they are around four years old, and most of them have nowhere to go after racing.
Six years ago, Greyhound Safety Net was set up to find homes for greyhounds that would otherwise probably have been euthanised. Since then it has re-homed almost 600 greyhounds, introducing almost the same number of families to the delights of owning these perfect companion animals.
Last month I went to Greyhound Safety Net’s winter barbecue lunch at Lang Lang reserve to find out about more about the transition of retired racing greyhounds from kennel to couch.
About 100 retired greyhounds and their owners enjoyed a day of play, and I caught up with Julie Mathieson, the co-ordinator of GSN, who takes pride in matching dogs and families.
Julie told me that most greyhounds spend six to eight weeks in a suitable foster home. By the time they are ready to head off into the big wide world, GSN has an excellent knowledge of their temperaments and their individual requirements for their permanent home.
She says greyhounds are intelligent, sensitive, gentle, clean and sociable dogs and readily adapt to life as a family pet.
Contrary to most people’s expectations, they don’t need a lot of exercise. They generally spend most of the day fast asleep on a sofa bed and are happy with regular outings to meet new friends and see the sights.
They are tall but not particularly large animals – females range mostly from 24-30 kilograms and males 30-38 kilograms – and they can curl up into the smallest spaces.
They are also surprisingly well suited to apartment living and excellent for elderly frail owners as they are calm dogs and too big to trip over!
As they are selected for performance at the track, they suffer from very few heritable diseases. Given a chance when their racetrack career ends, they live for an average of 12 to 15 years, quite a long life for a large dog.
Greyhound Safety Net receives no funding from Greyhound Racing Victoria. It raises funds through market stalls, garage sales, art auctions and donations. The funds go towards veterinary costs, micro-chipping and foster care of the dogs in a home environment until a permanent home is found.
Nobody wants to talk about the number of greyhounds, mostly three to four years old, that are euthanised in Victoria every year simply because they can not run fast enough or are no longer good enough to race, but I can tell you the numbers are in the thousands.
If this story helps save the life of just a few and extend their life by another nine or ten years, this writer will be very happy.
And so will you be if you adopt a greyhound.
GREYHOUNDS only race until they are around four years old, and most of them have nowhere to go after racing.
Six years ago, Greyhound Safety Net was set up to find homes for greyhounds that would otherwise probably have been euthanised. Since then it has re-homed almost 600 greyhounds, introducing almost the same number of families to the delights of owning these perfect companion animals.
Last month I went to Greyhound Safety Net’s winter barbecue lunch at Lang Lang reserve to find out about more about the transition of retired racing greyhounds from kennel to couch.
About 100 retired greyhounds and their owners enjoyed a day of play, and I caught up with Julie Mathieson, the co-ordinator of GSN, who takes pride in matching dogs and families.
Julie told me that most greyhounds spend six to eight weeks in a suitable foster home. By the time they are ready to head off into the big wide world, GSN has an excellent knowledge of their temperaments and their individual requirements for their permanent home.
She says greyhounds are intelligent, sensitive, gentle, clean and sociable dogs and readily adapt to life as a family pet.
Contrary to most people’s expectations, they don’t need a lot of exercise. They generally spend most of the day fast asleep on a sofa bed and are happy with regular outings to meet new friends and see the sights.
They are tall but not particularly large animals – females range mostly from 24-30 kilograms and males 30-38 kilograms – and they can curl up into the smallest spaces.
They are also surprisingly well suited to apartment living and excellent for elderly frail owners as they are calm dogs and too big to trip over!
As they are selected for performance at the track, they suffer from very few heritable diseases. Given a chance when their racetrack career ends, they live for an average of 12 to 15 years, quite a long life for a large dog.
Greyhound Safety Net receives no funding from Greyhound Racing Victoria. It raises funds through market stalls, garage sales, art auctions and donations. The funds go towards veterinary costs, micro-chipping and foster care of the dogs in a home environment until a permanent home is found.
Nobody wants to talk about the number of greyhounds, mostly three to four years old, that are euthanised in Victoria every year simply because they can not run fast enough or are no longer good enough to race, but I can tell you the numbers are in the thousands.
If this story helps save the life of just a few and extend their life by another nine or ten years, this writer will be very happy.
And so will you be if you adopt a greyhound.