Greyhounds as Pets

Greyhounds have a very gentle and quiet disposition. They are very pack oriented dogs and will quickly adopt human masters into their "pack." To allow different greyhounds to hunt and race together, aggressiveness toward other dogs and people have been nearly eliminated from the breed. Some do retain a strong prey drive, (which is a component to their racing) and are sometimes unsuitable for houses with other small pets such as cats or rabbits. On the other hand, some greyhounds love being around smaller animals. That is why A Greyhound's Wish works with prospective adopters to place just the right hound into their home. If you have a small dog or cat, please let us know so that we can place the best-suited hound with you. In addition, if you have children under the age of 7, you will need to read Childproofing Your Dog by Brian Kilcommons before we will consider your application for adoption.

Greyhounds are smart, sweet, calm and gentle. The notion that Greyhounds are hyper because they love to race is incorrect. Although Greyhounds are the fastest breed of dog, they do not have a lot of endurance and therefore tire quickly. They are very content being a "Couch Potato" and spending most of their day sleeping. Since they do not have a lot of endurance, Greyhounds tend to need less exercise than most of the popular breeds such as Labradors, Golden Retrievers, Rottweilers and Dalmatians.

Greyhounds are very eager to please so they are very trainable. They respond best to positive reinforcement (operant) training. This means the more you praise your hound for doing things correctly, the more they will want to please you! House breaking can take two to three days. Climbing stairs may take a little longer. But realizing that you saved his or her life is immediate and it builds a loving bond that will last a lifetime.