Life Before Retirement

Learning about what your greyhound’s life was like during his career is extremely important because it will help you immensely when attempting to understand his behavior.

Greyhound puppies are born on a farm where they begin the early stages of training. They are raised with their littermates and sometimes stay with them through training and on into their racing career. Greyhounds are constantly handled by people, and as a result, greyhound puppies become very well socialized from a very early age. This is one of the reasons retired racing greyhounds make such wonderful pets.

At about 18 months old the greyhound puppies have had all of their necessary training and are ready to go to the track and become a race dog. While they are racing they are kept on a tight routine which is why they prefer to live in a scheduled home environment. Racing greyhounds generally retire at about two to four years old from various things. The most common reasons include injury, loss of interest, and age.

The longer your greyhound’s career, the better racer he was. Keep in mind, though, the length of a dog’s racing career is not linked in any way to his or her ability to make a fabulous pet!

We at Mid-South Greyhound Adoption Option encourage you to attend the races at Southland Park: Gaming and Racing so you can see first hand what your greyhound’s life was like before he gets his forever home.

Still interested in racetrack life? Check out this collection of images by Rachel Hogue.