The Dark Side of Adoption: How the Greyhound Racing Industry Uses Rehoming to Clean Its Image

In recent years, the greyhound racing industry has increasingly promoted adoption programs as evidence of its commitment to animal welfare. With discounted adoption events like “National Greyhound Adoption Month” offering these dogs at reduced fees, it’s easy to see these initiatives as purely positive. But beneath the surface lies a troubling reality that deserves closer examination.

The Adoption Façade

Greyhound adoption programs, often run by the very racing authorities that regulate the industry, serve a dual purpose. While they do find homes for some retired racers, they also function as a public relations tool that helps legitimize an industry plagued by animal welfare concerns.

These adoption schemes create a convenient narrative: racing greyhounds enjoy a “second career” as beloved pets after their racing days end. This storyline suggests a humane, full-lifecycle approach to the dogs’ welfare. However, this narrative obscures several uncomfortable truths.

The Numbers Don’t Add Up

The racing industry breeds far more greyhounds than adoption programs can possibly rehome. For every dog that finds a loving family through these initiatives, many others face uncertain fates. The math is simple: adoption programs cannot possibly accommodate all the dogs that are bred for racing, especially considering that:

• Many greyhounds are deemed unsuitable for racing before they even reach the track
• Racing careers typically last only 1-2 years
• The industry continues breeding dogs at a rate that ensures a constant surplus

The “Solution” That Perpetuates the Problem

By offering themselves as the solution to the problem they created, racing authorities achieve something remarkable: they transform a liability (unwanted dogs) into an asset (positive publicity). This creates a perverse incentive structure where:

1. The industry breeds excess dogs
2. Some of these dogs are eventually offered for adoption
3. The industry receives praise for its “compassion”
4. This positive publicity helps shield the industry from criticism
5. Racing continues, along with the breeding of more dogs than can be rehomed

As one commenter in the discussion aptly noted: “By adopting a greyhound, you’re doing a wonderful thing but you’re also freeing up the breeder to create a new racer and perpetuate the industry.”

The Welfare Reality

While adoption programs have improved conditions for some dogs, they don’t address the fundamental welfare issues inherent in the racing industry:

• Training methods that can include live baiting (using small animals to train greyhounds to chase)
• Housing conditions that keep social animals in isolation for much of their lives
• Racing-related injuries, many career-ending and some fatal
• Behavioral and psychological issues resulting from the racing environment
• The treatment of dogs as commodities rather than sentient beings

A More Honest Approach

None of this is to suggest that people shouldn’t adopt greyhounds – these dogs make wonderful companions and deserve loving homes. But we should approach adoption with eyes wide open to the broader context.

Those who adopt greyhounds should consider coupling their adoption with advocacy for industry reform or phase-out. Many greyhound adopters become the breed’s most passionate advocates precisely because they witness firsthand both the dogs’ gentle nature and the physical and psychological scars from their racing past.

Moving Forward

Real progress would involve addressing the root causes rather than just the symptoms:

• Mandatory lifetime tracking of all greyhounds bred for racing
• Breeding restrictions to match the number of dogs with genuine adoption opportunities
• Industry-funded rehabilitation programs for all retired racers
• Transition planning for industry participants as racing is phased out

Until then, adoption programs, while beneficial to individual dogs, will continue to function partly as a fig leaf that helps conceal a fundamentally problematic industry.

The next time you see a discounted greyhound adoption event, by all means, consider welcoming one of these wonderful animals into your home. But also consider the system that brought that dog to the adoption kennel in the first place, and whether that system deserves your tacit support.