Each year hundreds of young and healthy purebred Greyhounds are in need of adoption after their time on the track is through. Calm, gentle and eager to please, these graceful pets are quite comfortable giving up life in the fast lane. AZgreyhounds is dedicated to the rescue and adoption of these beautiful animals. We also provides educational programs to local schools and groups about retired Greyhounds, their history, Greyhound racing and our adoption program.

The road to retirement for the retiring racing Greyhound begins in many ways. Typically, dogs not placing in the top four positions are removed from the track. Twenty years ago, this would have meant death or use for medical experiments. Today, adoption programs like AZgreyhounds work closely with the kennels and Greyhound rescue groups in a multi-state area to provide "forever" homes for retired racing Greyhounds.

The Greyhounds in the program are neutered or spayed, their teeth cleaned, vaccinations updated, blood tested and general physical given. The dogs are generally between the ages of 18 months and five years. Life expectancy is twelve to fourteen years. Foster homes are volunteer families, who take the recently retired Greyhound and begin the process of adjustment into a home, living and interacting with people and other animals, and learning about a whole new way of life. The dogs have led a very regimented life to this point, being let out of their 4' x 4' x 4' crate four times a day, fed once a day, and racing twice a week. All of these things are new and require adjustment. After several weeks of fostering, the dogs begin attending adoption days, where they will meet and very shortly go home with a new family, to spend the rest of their lives.

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• RAMSEY CANYON FEED & PET STORE, SIERRA VISTA, AZ*
• NEW FRONTIER ANIMAL MEDICAL CENTER, SIERRA VISTA, AZ
• Clear The Way Kennel, Texas
• Greyhound Adoption League - Texas
• GPA- Lone Star Greyhounds, El Paso, TX

* Adoption Center

 

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There are 48 Greyhound tracks in 15 states (plus one in Mexico). Greyhound racing is enjoyed in many other countries, including Great Britain, Ireland and Australia.

Greyhound racing contributes, from the mutuel handle only, over $100 million to state and county governments.

Greyhound tracks contribute to charities in excess of $2 million annually.

On the average 80 percent of the money wagered (the handle) on a given night is returned to the holders of the winning tickets (percentage varies from state to state).

The largest purse of $152,800, Bomb Threat, May 27, 1996, The Woodlands, Bernie Collette owner, Clinton Blair Kennel;May 27, 1996 in the Great Greyhound Futurity at The Woodlands in Kansas City, KS.

Most Greyhound programs consist of 13 races, each with eight Greyhounds. However it is not uncommon to see a 14- or 15-race card.

5/16, 3/8, 7/16 and 9/16-mile, are the most frequently run distances in Greyhound racing.

Greyhounds will cover the 5/16-mile course in approximately 31 seconds reaching speeds up to 45 m.p.h.

The American Greyhound Council works earnestly to promote Greyhound adoptions and to ensure the welfare of racing Greyhounds.

Florida is the leading state for Greyhound racing. Its tracks generate millions in revenue.

More than 15 million people visit the 48 racetracks resulting in more than $100 million in revenue for state and county governments. More than $2 billion will be wagered each year.

A track capable of sustaining a pari-mutuel handle of more than $500,000 will employ a minimum of 600 people. This figure does not include "area" economic impact for restaurants, motels, gasoline sales, etc.

Greyhounds are bred to run and love to do it. They are muzzled to prevent any chance of over-zealous play in the turnout pens and to assist in determining photo-finishes (a camera technique developed for dog racing).

Total number of pups whelped fell from 35,801 in 1998 to 33,256 in 1999-renewing a decade-long slide in breedings that briefly leveled off in 1998.

The decline came despite no additional closings of parimutuel Greyhounds in the last few years. During the first six years of the decade, 14 tracks had closed their doors.

Part of the reason for the declines can also be attributed to a call by the National Greyhound Association (NGA) and the American Greyhound Council, Inc. (AGC) to reduce the number of Greyhounds bred and to concentrate on quality, not quantity. Total number of pups whelped has declined by more than a third-about 36 percent-since the beginning of the 1990s.

The number of Greyhound adoptions remains at about 18,000 each year. This estimate is based on previous estimates several years ago by an independent agency, the steadiness in the number of adoption agencies in existence since that time (still at about 240), and adoption data received from numerous adoption groups.

The latest statistics indicate that a higher percentage of Greyhounds than ever before are being placed in homes as pets. More than 80 percent of all Greyhounds whelped are ultimately being retired back to farms for breeding purposes or are being placed in homes as pets upon retiring from racing.

NGA statistics also show that 27,059 pups, also more than 80 percent of the total pups whelped, were individually registered last year-a registration procedure that generally occurs when pups have reached "track-age", or are about 14-17 months old.

Credit for the current trends, according to Gary Guccione, NGA executive director and AGC coordinator, goes to the many placement agencies who give countless hours, working with personnel in racing-owners, breeders, trainers and track officials-to facilitate the huge number of pet adoptions. Since 1990, it's estimated that more than 134,000 Greyhounds have been adopted as pets into homes. The current Greyhound pet population in the United States and Canada likely exceeds 90,000, according to Guccione, making the Greyhound pet an increasingly popular and recognizable phenomenon on the American social scene.

The American Greyhound Council makes a direct contribution to the number of Greyhounds placed, annually allocating $40,000 for grants to qualifying pet adoption groups. A sizeable portion of the fund has been provided by the AGTOA through its Night Of Stars racing program.

Racetracks, in addition to their financial support of the Council, contribute $1.7 million annually to local Greyhound adoption efforts. More than $10.5 million has been spent by the tracks in the last seven years to support local adoption programs.

The 1999 statistics were compiled from NGA registration information (including the official number of pups whelped, litter-registered and individually registered with NGA registry each year). Factored in also were natural attrition rates and retirement of racers back to farms for breeding purposes. NGA statistics show litter size in 1998 to have been 6.52, consistent with litter size averages of recent years.