Opening your heart and home to a retired greyhound

In rescue it’s hard to stay going on the best of days, although we help all breeds of dogs, when you choose the greyhound as your favourite breed to save. That just sets the challenge even higher than ever. Knowing all too well the expense, the time you will have them in your care, constantly running up bills and so few secure homes in Ireland. Then you are depending on the fantastic support of overseas rescues who help us to find amazing homes.
The longest we have had is Belle, she has been here for 19 months because of her fear of some men.
Right now, we have 60 onsite and over thirty on a waiting list to come in. It’s a constant sinking feeling if you let it get you down, but you can’t. We must keep positive for the sake of the dogs.
Last year we rehomed 210 greyhounds, only 11 of which were adopted in Ireland.
The vet work for each one is €300 on average and 99% need an expensive dental.
This of course does not include feed/care or further vet work.
We have no funding bar the Dept grant we get every year and by then the vet bill takes most of that with more owed that we chip away at. Some owners/trainers give a donation. Some don’t.
We normally have each hound from three months to a year. A lot depends on colour. Black dogs, as you know, are harder to home. The pretty colours are adopted faster.
On a positive note. Red Mills stopped sponsoring greyhound racing and now sponsor retired hounds instead, so they very kindly supply our food, saving us €15,000 a year.
We buy all the tinned meat and pasta that we need for the poorly.
So why do we keep dealing with all this hardship?
Because they are gentle, proud, affectionate dogs and usually overlooked when people look to adopt.
When we started. Ashton dog pound in Dublin had a sign over reception saying, “All greyhounds are to be surrendered before 9.30am” This was so they could be destroyed before they opened to the public. We went there week after week to try to save them, sometimes collecting 8 at a time (Until they banned us from helping) Most dog pounds didn’t even let the public see them. They didn’t stand a chance…
There were very few rescues in Ireland that would take greyhounds because they could not rehome them to the Irish public. Thankfully, this is changing. But we still get the calls for help every day…
Anyone who has adopted them say, they are sorry they didn’t do it sooner. But then, they are like crisps, you can’t just have one 😊 People who live in small houses or apartments are amazed at how lazy they are. All they need is a sprint in an enclosed area, twice a day and they sleep, usually with their legs in the air, like babies. They are just dogs, with four legs and a tail, just like any other dog.
Many of you are here to support us because you love them too.
Proving that we must hit this target to keep going or nobody will be there for them.
So far, we have raised just over €4,000 of our €25,000 target. Thank you so much to those that have helped.
You can donate, anything at all, via the donate button at the top of the page, via PayPal to info@paws.ie, at www.paws.ie/donate or by post to PAWS, Mullinahone, Co Tipperary. E41 R652.