Puppies stay with their mother for 8 weeks then usually stay with its littermates until they are around 5 months old.  At this stage they learn to play and chase and develop muscle.  They are then grouped into pairs and spend more  time being trained.

At around 12 months old he will be moved to a training kennels where he is introduced to the racing environment.  A few months later he will be taken to the tracks a few times a week, to be trained to be a racing greyhound.

At between 16-18 months he will be entered into preliminary races, then moved onto maiden races if he does well. If the greyhound does not do well at any stage he will be retired.

Racing greyhounds normally race a couple of times a week.  When they are not racing they spend there time in their kennel.

Your greyhound can be retired at any stage before he becomes a fully fledged racing greyhound.  This is why so many greyhounds are under 3 years old when they are looking for a new home.

You can usually trace your greyhounds racing history from his ear tattoos.  If you know the racing name of your greyhound you can look up his racing history on www.greyhound-data.com.

If you only have his ear tattoos you can telephone the stud book who are usually very helpful and can trace your greyhounds past.

If you dog has tattoos in both ears he is Irish and you will need to call the Irish Stud Book on 00 353 5222611

If your dog only has tattoos in his right ear, he is English and you will need to call the English Stud Book on 01638 667381.

How Old Is My Greyhound?

Irish dogs have 2 letters in the right ear and 3 letters in the left ear.  The first letter of the tattoo in the right ear establishes the year your greyhound was born in.

T = 1997
U = 1998
V = 1999
X = 2000
Y = 2001
Z = 2002
A = 2003
B = 2004
D = 2005
E = 2006
H = 2007
I = 2008
J = 2009
K = 2010
L = 2011