Rescue Greyhound, Chickens and Cats

meesha

meesha

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 October 2006
Messages
4,509
Location
Somerset
Visit site
Hi all, don't normally post much in here but sister is thinking of getting a rescue greyhound - they have 3 children - youngest is 7 and one very confident cat and some chickens !!

I have been recommended the Greyhound Rescue website for the south west (sister is Stroud) but will a greyhound have the urge to chase/kill the chickens/cat ?

All opinions welcome, not much on offer except a fruit tea !!
 
Not all greyhounds have the urge to chase, just as not all throughbreds are mad/all cobs are plods etc...

Have a chat with the greyhound rescue as they'll be able to let you know which ones are cat/children/chicken (?) friendly :) For the record mine is not cat/chicken friendly but very definatly good with little uns (he baby sits next doors youngster through the fence in the summer) and OH's boy of 13 who thinks he should act the same as his border collie....

Love mine to bits as he is such an easy dog, he comes pretty much everywhere with us, loves a drink of berr in the pub, just be prepared to lose sofa space if you let them on! They get cuddlier as time goes on too :D
 
It depends entirely on the dog. All of our rescue greyhounds/lurchers have fitted in well with our cat (who rules the house with an iron fist), and all bar one were afraid of the chickens. However, the one that wasn't afraid of them, killed them. :( They all loved the children, even when the kids were small, and still prefer to sit/lie on them rather than their beds if at all possible. If needs be, introductions on a lead and with a muzzle on will give you an indication of their intentions towards cats/chickens etc.
 
Definitely depends on the dog, make sure she gets one from a rescue who properly assesses the dog with small furries. They really do have such different levels of prey drive, also depends how they were trained if on live prey or not. It does help if the cat is bold and doesn't do a runner, also worth remembering that just because a dog may be good with the resident cat, a strange cat in the garden may be fair game.
None of my greys have been cat friendly, they are however fine with my chickens. They have all been great with children though, just have to make sure they get a quiet, safe place to snooze the required 23.5 hours per day
 
As others have said it depends, but this definitely can work. Our boy will chase anything that moves and would not be a candidate, (well he'd be fine with children but not the rest). But a friend got her grey last year and he had come from a home with cats, ducks and chickens and she keeps him happily with cats.

Retired Greyhound Trust have branches all over the country and were great with us, they do a home visit and match you up with a suitable dog.
Good luck to your sister, they are definitely worth it, amazing dogs.
 
Thanks all, that sounds promising - she will be contacting them soon hopefully and will be totally upfront about the cat/children/chicken situation !!

Funnily enough I was saying about the Greyhound Rescue to a friend and she is looking for another dog and recently lost her lurcher so has phoned up about a 6 month old lurcher who looks gorgeous !
 
Go to Greyhound Rescue West of England - they were collecting in Stroud last weekend, I know most of the volunteers personally - you will not find a better charity for taking the time to match a dog to new owners, they have the lowest return rate of any charity for greyhounds. Julie is the Regional Homing Officer, I can give you her e-mail via PM if you like?

Some greyhounds are cat and chicken safe, some are not - my four are definitely not! - but if your sister explains her circumstances then GRWE will definitely find a suitable greyhound (or two!) for her :)
 
Thanks levrier, it is grwe I have been looking at. The website is great and friend is just waiting to hear back as she rang about a 6 month old today after I said my sister was looking so hopefully that will be 2 rehomed! If you could give me Julies email via pm that would be great and I will pass it onto both friend and sister,
 
meesha said:
Thanks levrier, it is grwe I have been looking at. The website is great and friend is just waiting to hear back as she rang about a 6 month old today after I said my sister was looking so hopefully that will be 2 rehomed! If you could give me Julies email via pm that would be great and I will pass it onto both friend and sister,
Click to expand...

I have PM'd you now - sorry about the delay :)
 
My greyhound would never chase so was put into rescue at a year old so considered the perfect one to rehome with cats. He's great with our cat and she rules the roost, but ANY small fluffy animal/bird outside the house is fair game to him. He's chased plenty of cats out the garden, and been cm's from grabbing them and has killed countless birds that land in the garden. :( A chicken would be far too easy ..

If they had waited a bit to race him or tried lure coursing with him he would have been a star. But you would never have assumed that when he was younger.

Not to say that there isn't a suitable one out there for you, just go into it with open eyes please. The way the dog behaves in rescue isn't how its going to behave at home, and killing wild birds is one thing but killing your pets is a very different kettle of fish.
 
Have seen quite a few pics of peoples greyhounds on the forums that live with cats and/or chickens.
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SttWQ19EO5I
My friend has 2 greyhounds that did have race careers which now live with their cat, its all down to the individual dog but many of the breed rescues do cat test & may utilize a foster home as further test where possible. It does tend to require further training while doing introductions though GRWE have info about this online.
 
Last edited:
I have one who is brilliant and who would never chase unless asked. He comes out to the horses with my on final checks before bed (at home) and he will mill around with the chickens without showing them any interest. If you send him after a rabbit however...

The other will chase but you can call him off, but by keeping a close eye on him you can nip any behaviour in the bud. I don't take him to the horses with me as I couldn't trust him 100%.

I had two saluki x puppies (rescues who I was fostering and rehomed when they were 12 months ish) and one was just terrible. He had been brought up on the yard, he had been set a good example by my good dog yet anything that moved with him was fair game. And he wouldn't recall off it - he just went! He was homed to an older lady who only walked him on lead and to a dog park.

The other pup was just interested in balls...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top