Kent Greyhound Rescue works tirelessly to help as many hounds as possible to find a forever home and nothing makes us happier than seeing our dogs becoming much-loved pets and having a good life. We love seeing the transformation of rescue dogs from being neglected and scared to relaxed, confident and happy.
There is so much work that goes behind the scenes to enable this, and in this post we’d like to share the process of rescuing a dog and getting it ready for adoption.
Step 1 – Where do our hounds come from?
The majority of our dogs come from dog pounds in Ireland and all corners of the UK. They are usually found as strays. When a dog finds itself in a dog pound, it has only a week to find a rescue place before it is put down. So we have to act fast! Our team keeps in close contact with the pounds in the UK and Ireland and as soon as we hear of a new arrival at a pound we have it assigned to KGR and arrange for this dog to be transported to our kennels in Kent.
Some of our dogs are brought in by the people who can no longer look after them. The reasons for this and situations are different in each case, but we don’t turn anyone away, as we feel that an abandoned dog has much better chances with KGR than on the streets.
We also collaborate with other animal rescue charities across the UK and some dogs are referred to us from these organisations.
Sometimes we get the dogs from the racing industry – this usually happens if a dog is deemed unsuitable for racing, it is too old, too slow, injured or for any other reason.
KGR strongly opposes greyhound racing! We regularly hold anti-racing campaigns and take part in various anti-racing initiatives – you can find more information on this on our website here.
Step 2 – Bringing the dogs to the KGR kennels
As so many dogs are coming from further afield and also require specialist transportation, we work with transportation companies and individuals who ensure the animals are brought to our kennels in Kent safe and sound, and have all the necessary paperwork if they need to cross borders.
The dogs that arrive to KGR from Ireland (or another European country) have a European Pet Passport. This means they can easily travel with you on holidays all over Europe. How wonderful is that!
Take a look at one of our dogs, George the greyhound, who spent his summer visiting European destinations with his family in a camper van – click here to see George’s adventures.
Step 3 – Veterinary checks and other treatments
All KGR dogs are thoroughly checked by the vet once they arrive to our kennels.
They receive the vaccinations and any other required treatment – this is fully funded by KGR, no matter how small or big and costly the treatment needs to be. KGR never gives up on a dog with poor health if we know it can recover and its quality of life will improve with treatment. Over the years, we have funded numerous surgeries, including some very challenging ones.
If a dog’s health condition requires ongoing or life-long treatment, KGR will take on the costs for this for the duration of the dog’s life. We realise that the vet’s bills can be very expensive and we want to help.
We also often assist with behavioural training. A lot of dogs come with psychological scars of neglect and mistreatment, or they have never been trained – we want to give them the best possible chance in their new life.
The dogs are also neutered/spayed prior to being adopted.
When the KGR dogs are advertised for adoption, we are always honest about their health and behaviour.
Step 4 – Dog assessment
One the dog is settled in our kennels and gets its health check, our team assesses the dog to determine, to the best of our ability, the dog’s nature, temperament and behaviour.
Greyhounds, lurchers and other sighthounds come in a variety of sizes and temperament, and we have dogs of all ages – from puppies to elders – so it is important that the dog is a right fit for the adopter and their lifestyle. We want both the dog and its owners to be happy, to bond easily and to settle in well.
Over the years, we have found loving homes for lazy greyhounds, active lurchers, boisterous puppies, quiet older dogs, and all sorts of hounds in-between. We’ve got KGR dogs that run marathons with their owners, and those that prefer to spend their days on the sofa or potter in the garden – our 15 years of experience show there is a type of hound for everyone – couples; single people; families with older children, other dogs and even cats; older people; working, busy people; and others.
Although different breeds of hound vary in their temperament and abilities, they are all affectionate and loving dogs – and they make wonderful companions.
Step 5 – Fostering and adoption
The KGR dogs that are looking for their forever homes are listed on our website here.
Our kennels in Kent are the main hub where the dogs are kept whilst they are waiting to be adopted, but some dogs go into foster homes for various health and behavioural reasons – we decide on these on a case by case basis. We never keep the dogs in foster homes for longer than necessary and we start advertising them for rehoming as soon as they are ready for a forever home.
But sometimes we come across a hound that can never be rehomed – this is usually due to its very traumatic past and the psychological scars that are just too deep to heal – and they remain in the KGR foster care their entire life. We never give up on a dog! By giving them a forever foster home we free up space in the kennels for more rescues.
You can read the story of Finn McScruff, a very reactive lurcher, and a story of Prince, also a very difficult lurcher that KGR rescued.
We are looking for experienced fosterers to join our volunteer team. If you are interested in offering foster home to KGR hounds, you can find more information and application form on our website here.
Step 6 – Forever home found!
Since our inception in 2008, we have rehomed over 2000 dogs in Kent, across the UK and as far as the north of Scotland, and even further afield in Europe. There are KGR hounds living in their forever homes in Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and Norway.
We have so many wonderful stories and so many happy families! Nothing makes our team happier than seeing the transformation that love and care does to an animal. This is why KGR exists.
15 years of helping dogs
Kent Greyhound Rescue is celebrating its 15-year anniversary this year. Having started as a small charity based on the Kent coast in 2008, we have grown to become one of the most successful rescue and rehoming charity oganisations in the UK focused on greyhounds, lurchers and other sighthounds as well as an occasional mongrel.
And we have ambitious plans for the next stage of the KGR development. We are going to establish a new, bigger head office and operations base so we can rescue even more hounds. After years of renting kennels we are now ready to become premise owners. Owning kennels will remove the rental availability restrictions, reduce costs, improve the way KGR operates, and help the charity grow.
It will also give us an opportunity to establish a community hub.
We’ll be publishing regular updates on our blog on the progress of this exciting venture.
We have embarked on a fundraising campaign to help us with this goal. Every penny raised goes towards KGR – we are a fully-compliant, registered charity so all the money is always accounted for. We are funded by donations and receive no funding from the government or the racing industry.