If you’re a dog lover and you’ve been searching for a new canine companion, you should seriously consider adopting a retired racing greyhound. Dairyland Greyhound Park will be closing its doors forever in the very near future, and all its racing greyhounds need to find good homes.
Consider adopting a retired racing greyhound – they’re truly wonderful dogs.
This has to be my favorite post to date… 🙂 Greyhounds are amazing dogs and I hope all of the retired racing greyhounds find loving homes. It’s good to read they will be spayed or neutered before being adopted out. There are way too many dogs and cats being euthanized in shelters.
Anon, I had a standard poodle/greyhound mix as a kid, and that was the smartest dog I’ve ever encountered. I’ve heard retired racing greyhounds make wonderful pets, and I hope each and every one of those dogs at Dairyland gets adopted.
Thank you for posting this!
All of those dogs will find homes, either at another track, somewhere in Wisconsin, or elsewhere in the country. I just think it would be great for those in Wisconsin who are interested to take the dogs right away so they can avoid extra transportation and stress. They really are magnificent dogs.
I was just watching the news and they said there are still over 500 Greyhounds that are in need of homes…before the track closes in two weeks. I sure wish SM didn’t have a three dog limit…I could easily take care of more.
Zach…maybe you can answer this question for me…I always thought the Greyhounds that ran the races had “families”…but if they don’t…who took care of them while they were racing?
Anon-
They have owners, but not ‘families’.
They live in a kennel. The owner of the kennel employs people to clean, feed, and take care of the dogs. In the case of greyhounds, I imagine the owner also hires trainers to condition the dogs. (or, if they’re lucky, the kennel help is also good at training/conditioning)
This isn’t the case just for racers, though. Many mushing dogs, police/protection dogs, hunting dogs, etc. are kept this way. A lot of people think it’s cruel, but if you think about it, these dogs have a pretty great life as long as the kennel is well kept. The dogs are out running/conditioning/training almost every single day (usually, the only reason they’re not is because they need the rest) so in many ways their lives are more fulfilling that most dogs who are cooped up and bored in a house all day. You can very rarely get a dog to perform at a high level if you’re trying to make him do something he doesn’t want to do. It just doesn’t work if his heart is not in it. Most of these dogs absolutely love what they do. The difference is in how the kennels are managed.
You might want to look into greyhound fostering. Many areas will limit the number of dogs you can keep at your residence that you OWN, but will allow permits for more if you are fostering them as rescues looking for permanent homes. If you’re willing and able to take care of more, I’m quite sure the local rescue would love to add you to their foster home list (especially considering you are familiar with the breed) It sure wouldn’t hurt to find out.
AJ, thanks for the information.
AJ…thanks so much for explaining it to me…and I will definitely look into getting a permit so I can foster more dogs. 🙂
http://www.retiredgreyhoundathletes.org/
If this isn’t in your neck of the woods, I’m sure they can give you the name and contact of the one they work with that is. I know some of these people, and they’re positively wonderful.
As you can see, the front page of their site is begging for foster homes.
Thank you again!
AJ, thanks for the link.