We can't wait to meetTopaz, Lucy, Lola, Frankie and Floyd! Thank you to everyone involved in pulling this all together -Racing 2 Rehome, Royal Hounds, and Greyhound Pets, Inc.!!
Dog Loads
PILOT GLOBAL GREYHOUND REHOMING ALLIANCE TAKES OFF
Racing 2 Rehome, a not-for-profit volunteer run organisation, dedicated to the rescuing and rehoming of greyhounds throughout SE Gippsland and SE Melbourne suburbs, Australia announce today that the pups are in the air!
PILOT GLOBAL GREYHOUND REHOMING ALLIANCE TAKES OFF
25 October, 2019
Thanks to a passionate alliance of volunteer rehoming groups in Australia and the United States, ten retired racing greyhounds have embarked on a 15 hour journey across the Pacific to find their forever homes.
The greyhounds are part of a pilot program between the Victorian based volunteers at Racing 2 Rehome and two west coast greyhound rehoming groups, Royal Hounds and Greyhound Pet Inc, to ensure that after their careers are finished, every racing greyhound is given the best opportunity to live a happy and healthy life, as a much loved family pet.
Racing 2 Rehome’s Adoption Co-ordinator, Rebecca Miller said the idea of rehoming retired and desexed Australian greyhounds in the United States came about following a recent trip to North America.
“Due to their gentle and loving nature, the greyhound has a long and successful history as a pet in North America and at its peak, rehoming groups in the United States were finding loving homes for tens of thousands of greyhounds annually.”
“Of recent years the desire for these dogs as pets has outstripped the numbers of dogs available for rehoming, leaving many adoption groups without dogs and potential greyhound owners sitting on very long waiting lists.”
“That left me thinking. Here we have two very greyhound savvy countries who are both passionate about the breed, yet they find themselves in two very different circumstances. One country with a ready made adoption network and supply of loving homes waiting for greyhounds, and another country with healthy, beautiful dogs desperately in need of additional loving homes.”
“A loving home is a loving home, whether it is in Australia or the US. So, the solution was plainly obvious, let’s just put the two pieces of the puzzle together and we have a win-win situation for both dogs and potential owners.”
Rebecca said that with welcome changes in Australia, greyhound owners and trainers are making it a priority to give their dogs the opportunity of successful retirement.
“The demand in Australia for retired greyhounds as pets is high and continues to grow, however currently there are greyhounds across every state, who through no fault of their own, are slipping through the cracks and are falling outside the formal industry rehoming structure and rehoming criteria.”
“They are wonderful, happy greyhounds who we have found just need a little bit of extra time, or a different environment to help their transition to pet life. As a volunteer rehoming group, they are the dogs that we believe need the greatest assistance and we are always looking for new adoption families to adopt these beautiful greyhounds.”
“Once we became aware of the massive demand in the USA and the strict adoption protocols in place in these groups, we thought the rehoming of these Australian greyhounds to loving homes in the USA was an opportunity that deserved investigation,” she said.
Volunteers working together
The world of rehoming retired racers is filled with dedicated volunteers all sharing the same goal: finding homes for these amazing dogs. Thank you to everyone involved in pulling this all together – Racing 2 Rehome, Royal Hounds, and Greyhound Pets, Inc.!!
More Info
About this pilot program: The Greyt Cause: Same breed, Same passion, Two Continents, Same Cause
Home pages:
The AUSSIES are coming!!!
We are excited to announce that we will have 5 Australian greyhounds heading our way in the near future. Three lovely ladies and 2 handsome gents!
We will post more details as we get closer to transport date.
It is exciting to be able to help some more of our international greyhounds find their forever homes!
More info
Dogs, Dogs, Dogs – Florida and Elsewhere
With the passage of Amendment 13 in Florida, greyhound racing will end in Florida.
The Amendment allows the cessation of racing as early as December 31, 2018. No racing for wagers will be permitted after December 31, 2020. There is no money in the amendment to support the greyhounds, the care of the greyhounds, the loss of wages by so many, or the phase out. The phase out is still being determined track by track, kennel by kennel, farm by farm, owner by owner.
The numbers vary, but we are told there are approximately 8,000 greyhounds in Florida currently in the racing circuit. There are approximately another 7,000 greyhounds at breeding farms, in training, and waiting to move to the tracks.
Rest assured, the dogs are all fine. And there is no need to panic. Folks are adjusting to the changes and slowly figuring out a direction and action items. The tracks are making decisions on whether they will reopen (seasonal tracks) and how long they will continue racing. Some dogs are needing to move over the next few months and more will need to move in 2019 and 2020. GPI and many other adoption groups are ready to help as needed. We are working with other groups to coordinate hauls and dog movements.
In addition to the Florida related dogs there are also the Macau, China dogs looking for homes as a result of the Canidrome closing last July. There are still over 400 dogs looking for a forever home.
We have had a lot of interest in adoption and fostering. We are working through the applications and home visits as fast as we can. But bear with us – we are all volunteers!
As of this evening, we have 9 dogs heading our way on Nov. 20. We have another 48+ dogs heading our way before the end of December from Florida, Kansas, Alabama, S. Korea, the UAE, and Macau. Please realize that the numbers and dates may very well change and have a habit of doing so.
Most of these dogs will need vetting (spaying/neutering/dental, etc.) upon arrival, so won’t be immediately available for adoption/movement to foster. But we will make them available as quickly as possible.
We will move dogs to foster homes as available space at the kennel is needed. Thank you for your patience as we figure out how many dogs we need to move into foster and when we need to move them. It is unlikely that we will need foster homes for the first load arrival.
We still have many wonderful dogs waiting in the kennel for their forever homes, so don’t forget about them as you consider adding another 4-legged companion to your family.
We are recommending that you not donate to random GoFundMe requests or other on-line fund raisers, but rather donate directly to or volunteer with your local greyhound adoption group so you know your donations and volunteering will directly help the greyhounds.
We can’t thank everyone enough for all the offers of help and donations. Please keep them coming – working together we can help the dogs find their forever homes.
Ways you can help:
- Donate cash, kibble, biscuits, kennel supplies, bedding, or items from our Amazon Wish List
- Volunteer to do turnouts at the kennel, walk the dogs, or help at a booth
- Do a bedding drive – we always need lots of stuffed and non-stuffed bedding for the dogs
- Adopt
- Foster
- Promote GPI and the greyhounds. We are working on a fact sheet for volunteers to use/handout at booths
- Carry GPI Business Cards on you and hand them out on your walks and when chatting to friends, family, co-workers, and acquaintances (if you need cards, just message us)
Thank you for helping us help the dogs. Let us know if you have any questions.
877.468.7681
[email protected]
Arrival Day: 12 more Greyhounds are here
On Saturday we welcomed 12 new pups to GPI.
Thank you to all the volunteers that helped with the arrival and will help with the cat testing, bathing, picture taking, caring for, etc. in the coming weeks as we prep them for adoption.
Enjoy the pictures!! Thank you to Lloyd Stray for taking the pics!!
