Weekly Greyhound News
Weekly Greyhound News
Planning for Retirement:
As a trainer/owner you are responsible for planning the retirement of your greyhound. Under the racing rules it is your responsibility to re-home your greyhound when it is no longer suitable for racing.
Welfare is an integral part of greyhound racing, just as you invest in breeding, training and racing your greyhound, investment must be made in the rehoming phase. You should build in a minimum of two months at the end of a greyhounds career to help it successfully transition to life as a pet.
There are a number of options open to you when considering where your greyhound will live out the rest of its life post racing.
Independent Rehoming: The most common place for greyhounds to be rehomed is through friends and family of owners, trainers and contacts of other industry participants. Don’t forget that if you rehome your greyhound privately you are required to update the address details of the greyhound’s new home with RWWA. You should also provide a muzzle and lead to the new owner and advise them of all laws relating to greyhound ownership.
Rehomed through GAP: RWWA provides support in two ways through GAP; firstly by facilitating adoptions and secondly by proving Green Collar assessments for greyhounds retired external to GAP.
The GAP Process:
When a greyhound is close to retirement book it in for a pre-assessment. Your greyhound must not have raced for 14 days prior to a pre-assessment. At pre-assessment your greyhound is put through a snapshot of the full National Temperament Assessment (NTA), determining its suitability to enter the GAP program.
Passed pre-assessment:
From a passed pre-assessment your greyhound will be placed on a waitlist to enter the program. Depending on community demand this wait can be up to 6 – 8 weeks. During this time you are still able to rehome the greyhound yourself, take advantage of our Trainer/Owner Assisted Adoption Program or board the greyhound at an external kennel to allow you to take in a working dog.
Once a greyhound is accepted into the GAP program it undergoes a health check (including sterilisation) and is assessed against the full NTA. All GAP greyhounds are awarded a Green Collar and adopted out into the community.
Failed pre-assessment:
If your greyhound fails pre-assessment it means that on the day you presented your greyhound to GAP it was assessed as not being suitable to enter the program. On your pre-assessment sheet a GAP Officer will have indicated a “fail” for one of the following reasons.
- Behavioural: A greyhound can fail the pre-assessment if they present with temperament issues or are assessed as being unsafe with small dogs. We encourage you to continue exposing your greyhound to other dog breeds and present it back to GAP for a re-assessment at a later date.
- Medical: A greyhound can fail the pre-assessment if they present with medical issues. You may be asked to get a letter from your vet stating your greyhound is fit to be re-homed and will not require on-going medical treatment.
- Recommendations: Your pre-assessment sheet will indicate what recommendations the assessor deems appropriate for your greyhound if you would like it to be re-assessed and to enter the GAP program.
Not all greyhounds who fail pre-assessment at GAP are unsuitable for life as a pet, indeed many can go on to be wonderful pets with patience and continued training. If your greyhound fails pre-assessment, but you would still like to re-home it you are welcome to do so. Just ensure you offer full disclose of the greyhounds personality traits to the new owner. Don’t forget, a greyhound re-homed outside of GAP can still be booked in to be Green Collar assess and granted a muzzle free status, they may just need more time to adjust to life as a pet.
Trainer/Owner Assisted Adoption Program: Essentially this program provides all the benefits of rehoming a greyhound through GAP without the wait. After a passed pre-assessment, if you have found someone interested in adopting your greyhound they will skip the waitlist. You get the benefit of freeing your kennel up quicker and the new owner gets access to all the resources a GAP dog is entitled to including; sterilization, a Green Collar assessment, food, bed, muzzle, lead and support from our Animal Behaviourist. Get in contact with GAP to see how the Trainer/Owner Assisted Adoption Program can work for you – 9445 5399.
Rehomed through an external agency: There are a number of greyhound agencies in Perth doing a great job in the rehoming space. You can support these agencies by sending your greyhound off with a lead, collar and muzzle. We also recommend sterilising your greyhound prior to re-homing to alleviate costs associated with preparing a greyhound for adoption.
NORTHAM START TIMES / KENNELLING TIMES IN OCTOBER
SKY Racing have scheduled some varied start times for the Northam Monday meetings in October.
Note that the Monday 9 October meeting is significantly later than the others.
Also on Sunday 15 October the popular Dual Code meeting is scheduled. Further details will be published next week once schedules have been confirmed.
They are summarised in the following table.
Meeting |
First Race |
Kennelling Times |
Monday 2nd |
1:02pm |
11:30am – 12:30pm |
Monday 9th |
2:47pm |
1:15pm – 2:15pm |
Sunday 15th |
TBC |
TBC |
Monday 23rd |
1:02pm |
11:30am – 12:30pm |
Monday 30th |
1:16pm |
11:45am – 12:45pm |
MASTERS RACING
Masters races for greyhounds over 4 years of age are being consistently programmed for Grade 5 greyhounds on a Tuesday and Open greyhounds on a Friday.
Remember Masters races are non-penalty if your greyhound wins and in the Open races they are fully award for unplaced runs counting towards dropping a Grade.
The only restriction on both races is that no winners in 2 of their last 3 races are allowed. This is in place so that one greyhound does not constantly dominate the Masters races. Once they essentially win 2 in a row they can go back to regular graded racing and then return to Masters if their form in their last 3 does not contain 2 wins.