For those of you who don’t already know, PAWS assists a lot of unwanted racing greyhounds. Despite Ireland being a major ‘player’ in the greyhound racing industry, there is so little public knowledge on the breed and often, greyhounds are only seen as racing machines and are generally viewed as unsuitable as pets, but myths die hard. The truth is that greyhounds are incredibly loving and gentle dogs and often, make the best pets, yes really!

Along with lurchers (greyhound crosses) and our national dog, the collie, greyhounds are among the most unwanted breed in Ireland, many people just don’t see them as anything other than a racer/working dog and this makes Ireland possibly the worst country for re-homing greyhounds, despite them being the number one dogs needing homes in the country.

This is often due to their being bred in their thousands by the greyhound industry, many young dogs fail to meet the ideal racing standard and find themselves in rescue centres or sometimes worse. Even the greys that do make it on to be racers, their career is often over by the age of 5 or 6 due to injury. Often, once a greyhound is no longer profitable to it’s owner, they are surrendered to pounds to be destroyed or rescue centres such as PAWS to be re-homed.

Heartbreakingly, many sighthounds are often found neglected and covered in mange or worse, some unfortunate greys that are found have had part of their ears cut or burned off in order to remove the ID numbers on their ears to make the greys untraceable.  Although, in recent years, this has improved in the last 5 years, as these dogs can now be traceable via DNA.

Sadly, there are no retirement homes for ex-racers, just swelling pounds and struggling rescue shelters like PAWS, attempting to rehabilitate them and find them homes. This is the reason a lot of rescues, such as ourselves, fundraise for their rescued greyhound’s veterinary fees for neutering, rabies shots, microchips, passports etc in order to get them to loving pet homes in places such as Sweden, North America, Italy, Czech Republic, UK, Germany etc. A lot of these countries do not have greyhound racing and see them as sweet companions and great family pets.

Without these places and their offerings of forever homes, we shudder to think what would happen to the Irish greys that are not lucky enough to make it to rescues like PAWS.

The following are the best reasons to consider adopting a greyhound as your next pet…

They are sweet-natured, gentle and affectionate creatures. Greyhounds love attention, and they return the love they are given tenfold!

How many times have the pet-owners reading this come home from a long work day to find your pooch so happy to see you he’s literally bounced off the walls, jumped into your arms and grabbed his lead so he can land it in your lap to demand his walk all before you’ve put the kettle on and sat down for a minute, well, while we all love our waggy-tailed welcomes when we come home every day, and like all dogs, a greyhound is sure to give you one. However, after a grey greets you as you come home, he is more than likely to go back to bed or jump back up on his spot on the sofa and wait until you’re ready to go for a walk rather than demand one.

They love to have fun and have huge character! Many people think greyhounds don’t do things like play ball or chase toys, however, many greys love to give chase, it’s in their nature and old habits die hard! Many greys love a good game of fetch just as much as the next dog.

They act the clown! Ever seen a grey sleep? Give a greyhound somewhere cushy to sleep, and you will see him twist, turn and get himself into the strangest of sleeping positions that will keep you laughing and have you filling up your facebook page full of pics to keep your friends entertained.

They don’t shed much, maybe once or twice a year and have very short, easy to maintain coats. This makes them good doggy companions for people who are house proud or like to keep their clothes primarily dog hair free.

Contrary to popular belief, greys do not require much exercise at all. They are athletes, yes, but they don’t need to gallop everywhere they go and enjoy a short stroll just as much. In their retirement, they much prefer a short off-lead run in an enclosed space and they are pretty much done for the day and will happily stay in their bed or yours for that matter!

They are very relaxed and often very lazy, therefore, suit busy families that are looking for a chilled-out pet that won’t look for attention all of the time, this common greyhound trait will, in fact, suit most potential dog-owners including first time dog-owners, elderly or retired people just looking for a walking companion, single people looking for a house-dog, people looking for a new jogging partner, people with dog-savvy children, people who want a couch potato and generally anybody considering getting a dog!

Many people consider greyhounds as untrainable, but greys are very smart and are eager to please you! They also love their grub which makes them very easy to train.

A lot of people think greys are nervous, snappy or not good with small animals, most hounds live happily with smaller dogs just look at some of our ex-PAWS greys now living abroad. Many of them are now living with small children, dogs, cats and other pets, thus, extinguishing the myth that they do not make good pets.

They are cute! What more do we have to say, don’t believe us? Come meet some of our fabulous ex-racers and lurchers at our shelter for more information, or speak to someone who already has a greyhound as a pet, many of our PAWS staff already do, if you’ve never spent time in the company of greys, then we would highly recommend it!