What's the one thing you wish you had known before you adopted a retired racing greyhound?

Question

I am in the process of adopting a retired racer and will probably be getting him sometime in the next couple of weeks. I own "Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies" and have also done a lot of additional reading online...

...however, nothing beats personal experience! So, if you currently own or have owned a retired racing hound (or even just a sighthound of any type), what is the one thing you wish you had known before they arrived in your home?

Thanks!

Answer 1

The only thing I wish that I had known before I adopted our two ex-racers is that, as others have said, they can have difficulty on stairs. Ours can do a small staircase of about six steps, but anything longer than that, they get freaked out and balk.

My advice for when you bring your grey home is to have a nice soft bed for him/her to lay on and to stay as calm as you can to help him/her relax. We crate trained our two greys, but were sure to move their crates into our bedroom at night, because it helps the dogs relax and feel a part of your "pack." If you have any glass doors, make sure you put a sticker or masking tape at their eye level - our male grey tried to walk right through our door and bonked himself on the nose!

Our female grey was neglected and abused, and had separation anxiety for the first month...we made sure to always have a radio or tv on when we left, and surrounded her with lots of soft bedding and toys and she came right out of it. She also had been fed in a big group and when we first brought her home, she would swallow her food whole - her experience was that the faster she ate, the more food she got. In general, just try to understand the dog's point of view - they've grown up in a cage and unless they've been fostered, don't understand anything outside of that cage.

Give them lots of love and they'll become the sweetest, most loving dogs. Ours are ten years old now, and are the happiest, most spoiled dogs in the world!

Answer 2

First of all, thank you Walkingla for setting everyone straight! Did one of you REALLY say retired racers are not smart?! Give me a break.

Second, congratulations! I am an active volunteer for a greyhound rescue and adoption group in Michigan and also adopted my own retired racer a while back. Greyhounds extremely intelligent, laid back, and affectionate.

A couple things to remember - NEVER let a greyhound, esp. a retired racer, off a leash if you are not in a fenced-in area. Greyhounds are sight hounds. They were bred to chase and the urge is even stronger in a racer.

Your new greyhound will have to learn things like stairs and walking on tile floors (they have only lived in a kennel on the track).

If you are getting your greyhound through a rescue group, the members of the group can be very helpful and informative, also.

Answer 3

I see you've already had several answers from people who very obviously don't know the first thing about greyhounds. They ARE smart, they ARE NOT skittish, they DO NOT eat a lot of food and they DO NOT need a lot of exercise!!

I currently have 3 and have fostered many others and have never experienced any of the above.

If they are straight from the track and haven't been through a foster home, they don't know their names, are not house trained (but training them is really easy both because they're adults and because they're very intelligent and hate being in trouble), they don't know how to do stairs and have to be taught, and just plain don't know what they can and can't do in a house having never been in one.

Things you obviously already know is that you can't let them off leash, you have to take really good care of their teeth, and some of them are not safe with either cats or small dogs. But you should know about your dog before bringing him home. Two of mine are great with anything friendly on 2 or 4 legs, and one is not and never will be safe around cats, but is trainable with small dogs.

They are quick to learn, very affectionate and a breed that is ideal for clicker training since they respond very poorly to negative reinforcement, but very, very well to praise.

This is definitely a breed where you get out of them what you put in - if you spend the time, they can develop the most amazing personalities. You can, over time, have a very close relationship with these dogs - they become very attuned to you and your moods. If you're sick, they'll quietly lay beside you, if you've had a bad day, they'll do something goofy to make you laugh.

Nothing beats a greyhound! Congratulations on your choice!!

Answer 4

You already have 2 good answers and have done some reading, so you probably know all you need.

I just want to reiterate that they are NOT dumb! Sighthounds are very smart, but being bred to hunt independantly of their handler, they are not as trainable as other breeds. Which dog is smarter, the one that blindly follows every command or the one who will think for themself? They will have their own agenda and will get into the most unbelievable things. They are pretty naughty and you will need to have a sense of humor about it, and have the forsight to keep things out of their reach.


Gitemgang is absolutely correct. They will certainly kill ANY neighborhood critters, pretty much anything that comes into your yard. You will have to learn to clean up the 'leftovers'. Many GH rescues don't tell the new owners that, they like to pretend the prey drive is somehow 'trained', and it is NOT.

Answer 5

Maybe just something like Eric? If he's a retired racing dog he'll be used to being called Epic, and might get confused by a name change and not respond as well

Answer 6

How about the fact that if they see a small animal running their first instinct is to chase it. I have seen and had this happen with several of my greyhounds, I just try to re-train them as best I can

Answer 7

****DISREGARD****the first 4-5 answers!!!!!
Those folks are IGNORANT!!!

BUT......I've seen too many equally ignorant novice people be SHOCKED when their sweet & wonderful g-hound,whippet,etc. GRABBED & gleefully KILLED the neighbor's CAT!!!

DUH???

***WHY*** would they be surprised??? The sighthounds were selectively bred for THOUSANDS of years to do EXACTLY that! I used to hunt w/ a whippet & he was GREAT!

Answer 8

Well, I never had a racing dog, would a husky be one? Anyway, the one thing I would want to know is if either how long ago it has retired, (that way I can tell how old it is and if it might have any infections or fleas, considering they might not "pamper" them after they've retired.) and if it must take any "special" medications
stuff like that. *^_^*

Answer 9

Stairs! They don't know what they are and are terrified of them.

Answer 10

they r really sweet :D, but not very smart. also they can be skittish