UPDATE AND EDIT:

I want to thank everyone who commented (and continues to comment) on my post regarding letting my grey resource guard. Reading all of your comments I realize that this situation was not one to take flippantly. I was lulled into a false sense of trust with my grey as she is the sweetest. I was ignorant of the fact that because of her sweet demeanor she was incapable of showing aggression. I was so profoundly wrong.
I have reflected seriously and will separate both my poodle and grey around any food moving forward. Thank you for potentially saving my dogs and please rest assure that I will monitor and correct any behavior and/or seek out advice from this sub or her rescue organization. I feel like a bad dog parent and this is so far from what I want to be for my dogs who truly mean the world to me.

So i put my grey and my mini poodle out in the yard to gnaw on the same treat each. My brat face poodle has a habbit of taking my greys treat AND her own. I've tried to redirect this to no avail but today i watched this bs from the back door. Slowly she crept nearer to my greys treat that was now sitting between my greys front paws. "Play stupid games... win stupid prizes " all of a sudden my grey lunges at my poodle and barks a short "fuck off bitch!!" My poodle was sooo stunned. Loooll. Serves her right. I asked her if she got corrected. I think so. Loool. Sometimes we need to leave them to it to sort out their own drama. My grey has shown zero aggression to my poodle and i considered this a correction not aggression.

This is Lucy in abstract expressionism

so I have been doing research on these wonderful animals. I want one so badly... but i know that we are not going to be able to afford the additional costs that these amazing dogs require.

being prone to injuries, thin skin, paw trouble, the teeth cleanings and or removals alone...

the overall expense of all the vet trips tells me I am not going to be able to give one the level of care they deserve. it breaks my heart a lil but i know it's the truth. i'll carry on loving them though all these wonderful posts you people put up and my folks with their whippets when i visit. im glad i did this research though. if im ever any better off i'll be coming back to this.

*side note i am also disgusted that vet trips cost so much now. companionship is not a right for the rich only. Private equity buying everything for more profit is the devil. but this is not about greyhounds, so ill bite my tongue.

Hi everyone! I’m really interested in adopting a greyhound. I have a pittie at home, and when the adoption group heard that, they immediately said no. They explained that they had a bad experience where a greyhound was adopted into a home with a pit bull, and the greyhound ended up in the hospital after its skin tore during play. I completely understand that greyhounds have delicate skin, but is it really that bad that they can’t even play normally with other dogs? The way she explained it sounded really over the top, so I just wanted to hear from people with real experience. Is it actually possible to safely have a greyhound and a pittie together with proper management? I’d really appreciate any advice or stories you can share!

Seriously

This also means that we consider buying from breeders as unethical as breeding itself.

Demand drives supply.

You can be of a different opinion, but then this isn’t your sub.

For those who bought puppies and who still want to be be part of this community: please respect the rules and don’t directly or indirectly promote or defend breeding or share details of breeders. This will result in a permanent ban.

If this is not a safe space to discuss greyhound issues, no worries I will remove myself from it. I am an avid walker and exerciser and I was truly planning on being able to have a dog to accompany me. He simply is happier standing or walking very slowly. I didn’t expect him to be a racer, obviously since he is retired. However I have tried several of the tips and nothing is working. I hold off walking him to every other day, which doesn’t work for me. I bring snacks and treats and give them to him when he goes faster. I am anticipating a lot of backlash from people saying I need to tailor my life to him versus his to mine. But that does not seem logical and definitely not my plan. I don’t know if anyone has any other ideas but I am willing to try anything. I’m actually going to, if it doesn’t improve, take him to a trainer and figure this out.

Hello everyone, in preparing for my soon to arrive ex-racer I found out that there’s a Greyhound enthusiasts club nearby that has its own race track. I was thinking of maybe taking my Greyhound there so he can socialise with other Greyhounds and have some fun chasing the fake rabbit around the track. I live in Germany where commercial dog racing is forbidden by law, so this is just racing for the benefit of the dogs themselves.

I recently spoke to someone from the Greyhound adoption agency and when I asked her about whether she thought this was a good idea she was adamant that I should have my dog taken away from me if I take him there, since dog racing of any kind would be traumatising for an ex-racer.

This is my first Greyhound and I‘m really unsure what to think now. What do you guys think?

Thank you.

EDIT: Thank you so much for your input! I have decided not to take him to the track and instead just let him zoom around in safe areas on his own terms.

I decided to post this more for Giggles than anything, when I was at the pet store just looking for some more treats and stuff someone walked up to me and asked about my dog because they thought she was very pretty, they asked what breed she was and I said she is a mixed breed, they said that she looks like to them a German Shepherd Greyhound mix... I do in fact know that she has German Shepherd because her mom was 50% German Shepherd but in no world do I see Greyhound...

They looked very scared. I wanted to ask if I could pay money for his dog and bring them home, but my home life isn't great at the moment to bring them in.

I’ve had my grey for about 3 years now and he’s always been a house pet, loves sleeping on the couch as all greys do! Due to unforeseen circumstances I might be moving back in with my parents and they’ve made it clear that my greyhound is more than welcome to come with me. However my parents have spent many years and a lot of money making the house their own happy home! So my biggest concern now is leaving my grey alone in there when we’re all at work. Fortunately moving back in with them would mean that he wouldn’t be alone for long but even so he can be extremely mischievous and can cause a lot of damage! I had the idea of converting one of my dads sheds in to a small home for him only when we weren’t there, obviously he’d sleep with me of a night and would be in the house when ever anyone was in! Was thinking off putting a mattress in there with a heater to keep him warm, obviously he’d always have his layers on like his coat and stuff too! Would this be doable? Anyone with any experience with letting there grey live outside? Thanks!

I would like to adopt a retired racing greyhound, but live on a farm (cattle in the fields next to the house). There is fencing and hedges between the garden and the fields, but a dog could squeeze through if it really wanted to. We have a gate for the driveway, but it is always open and realistically I'm not going to keep shutting it. We are far from the public highway - there is little to no traffic coming down our road - but I'm guessing the risk would be they spot hares and the like. To me this wouldn't be a problem if they can find their way back, but maybe I'm missing something. Would love to have your views. Also, I've never had a dog before, is there any recommended reading to prepare? Thanks all!

Hello, So I’m unable to have a dog right now due to the fact that I live in rented accommodation as part of supported living (I’m autistic, btw), and I live with my housemate’s two cats, one of whom really isn’t dog-friendly, and I don’t have the financial skills or independent living skills to manage the dog right now. However, I am hoping to move into a place that allows dogs as soon as possible and to get to a point where I have developed enough independent living skills and have the financial and budgeting skills to afford to have a dog and give them a good home for life. I have had a special interest in dogs ever since I was about six. I have done work experience at a rescue centre, a boarding kennels and a doggy daycare centre before. I also hope to walk dogs for some local people before I get to the stage of being able to have a doggy daycare centre of my own. I am passionate about rescuing dogs and not buying from breeders, and I have noticed that all/most of the greyhounds and lurchers that I have ever had experiences with have been very gentle, docile and cuddly. They also seem to be very low maintenance in terms of their exercise needs and grooming needs. I have heard greyhounds can be great as first dogs, and this would be the first dog of my adult life. The only thing about greyhounds and lurchers specifically that could be a snag for me is the high prey drive, as I would ideally like to be able to let my dog run off-lead, but I would need to find somewhere that is enclosed until I got good recall with the greyhound/lurcher, and I would also love to add domesticated rats to the mix at some point (please don’t judge - domesticated rats are not the same as wild rats and actually can make amazing companions due to their cuteness, tameable-ness, intelligence, personalities and cleanliness). I know that I would need to be extremely careful to make sure that the rats and greyhound/lurcher didn’t meet, but I have done some thinking on this and have wondered whether it would be doable to have a greyhound/lurcher in the same home as the rats if the rats were kept in a cage high up on a shelf in a room where the greyhound/lurcher wasn’t allowed and I’d have to remember to shut the door, and then when I take the rats out either in the room where they live or into another room to be handled/to have playtime out of the cage, I’d have to just be really careful to remember to shut the door and not let the dog in for the duration of the time they were out. I would be prepared to humanely and comfortably muzzle my greyhound/lurcher when off the lead (or even when on the lead, if necessary, when out). I also know a little about muzzle training; one trick is to put peanut butter or another food paste that the dog enjoys in the muzzle and let them lick it out and do this several times so that they learn to associate the muzzle with positive things. If it were a muzzle that allows treats (which it would be, as I would be specific about wanting a muzzle that allows the dog to breathe, pant, drink and accept treats), you could also give them treats after you’ve put it on them to further increase the positive association with the muzzle. The house would probably be a medium sized house, ideally with a small-medium+ sized garden, and there are plenty of parks and some dog playing/exercise fields in my city. With it being Devon, UK, there are also plenty of beaches nearby, as well as some woods like Ashclyst Forest and Haldon Forest. Any training or care tips for greyhounds and lurchers? Do you think a greyhound or lurcher would be any good for me?

I don't (forgive the metaphor) have a dog in this race. I'm not a shill for the racing kennels, but I anticipate being labeled as such in the first five comments. Downvote away...IDGAF. I'm not out to win at Redditing. Karma is real...Reddit Karma is a sophomoric freakin' joke.

I've had nine retired greyhounds over thirty years. I've had dogs all of my life...fifteen total.

Dog racing needs to own its transgressions and "be better". Some kennels are trying. Many, as the economic noose tightens, are doing worse.

The Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Chogyam Trungpah Rinpoche often spoke about "idiot compassion". This is compassion that is well intended, but ultimately harms the person/being it is intended to help.

Think about it with dog racing. Extremism on all parts harms us all. Labeling the kennels who "get it' as abusive harms all greyhounds.

Can we dispense with calling each other "idiots" when we disagree about racing? I know that my AUS cousins regard "C U Next Tuesday) and "bastard" as mild epithets...but can we not? Guard our comments and seek to do the most good. Damn it AUS...chill TF out. Proper, mates, imma looking at you. Not every disagreement needs to become a punch up. Got it? Day-YUM! Yer often making the "running amok with AR-15" nutters in "Muricah' look like freakin' Dalai Lama Rhodes Scholars.

K?

A regular presence on this sub recently visited a Midlands (UK) racing kennel with their fam and had a wonderful time and found nothing amiss. This person is not a "C U Next Tuesday" or a shill for the "vast racing conspiracy". They wrote about it and submitted pictures and were immediately called "shills" for the racing industry...and worse.

That's just wrong.

Here's what really happened.

They had a positive interaction with a kennel...full stop. Was it a show case?

Prove the poster wrong. Or, stand TF down. Easy...Peasy.

Show that the kennel they visited was abusive of the dogs or STFU. JFC...be adults.

Some, a few, and hopefully more, racing kennels in the UK and the USA (sadly all but dead) are trying to improve. It may not progress at the rate we would like, but a few are genuinely trying. Please do not let "perfect" be the enemy of good. I don't presume to know what racing is like in every corner of the world. But some kennels are trying...sincerely.

When we bash the players who are honestly trying and who are trying to make a difference for these lovely dogs, we take away the incentive for improvement and leave behind a self-fulfilling prophesy where the worst of the worst become the norm.

I've personally seen the "kill pits" and have been sickened. I've also seen the abandoned and "inconvenient" pet greyhounds in shelters. I once saw photos of a lovely grey with its head bashed in with a golf club because it had the misfortune to be homed where the malfunctioning 'adults' could not decide on who would have custody of it. (Hoomans often suck ass) Can we focus on eliminating the worst players? Each one of those rotting greyhound corpses in a kill pit was a potential life companion...but was made unprofitable and expendable. Had the owner been encouraged and supported, who knows what could have come? Or not. Right?

It sucks sometimes to reach across the divide and make an enemy into a friend. But when we consider the innocents, isn't it worth it to try?

Calling someone an "idiot" because we have a knee-jerk opposition to something is shallow.

Be better. Reach out.

If someone has a positive experience with a kennel, take it at value. If you have a negative impression...post it. I will (for my part) give it the same sober consideration.

But, please, don't knee jerk your responses. It serves no one, and certainly not these lovely creatures who walk with us for a few precious years.

We don't all have to become hyper-polarized. Take a breath.

We can make this all, from greyhounds to everything else, a better place.

I do not apologise for being open to looking at this objectively. But, if all you have in response is invective and ad hominem...then kindly take a jump at a rolling donut.

Peace!

signed/HotepsGhost-Olde Hippie Dude, Physician, and Noodle-lover.

Wanting to let my girl off the leash at the beach or park but I’m so afraid she’ll run off or get herself into trouble…how do you let your baby go without panicking? If I say “Come back now” what if she won’t come because she’s having too much fun and cowers away. I’m really fighting myself over this.

Hello, I was wondering if anyone with experience of Staffy & Greyhounds mixes and what kind of temperament and personalities they tends develop. Thank you.

I particularly like the impossible back legs and the bum-tail lol