Please note, CGA does not adopt to families with children under 4 years of age.  Previous adopters with greyhound experience may be considered.

The following are some simple rules to ensure a happy relationship:

LET SLEEPING DOGS LIE

Do not jump on, or even pet, a sleeping greyhound. Some greyhounds sleep with their eyes open. When a sleeping dog is startled it may growl or come up with teeth before it is fully awake and realizes that the culprit is its best friend. If you must wake your sleeping greyhound, call its name and have it walk to you.

DO NOT LET YOUR CHILDREN CRAWL UP TO, RUN UP TO, LAY ON, KISS, HUG, PET, JUMP ON A DOG THAT IS LAYING DOWN AND/OR SLEEPING.

Greyhounds do not understand the meaning of a child (children) rushing, crawling, running up to it or trying to kiss or hug it, when it is laying down (even if it is awake!). A dog may choose to get up and walk away, do nothing, growl or it may even snap or bite. Greyhounds sometimes sleep with their eyes open so it is very difficult to tell if one is asleep or awake. ALL of these behaviors are a warning to some degree that the dog does not like what is happening to it and they are trying to tell the child (children) to knock it off in the only way they know how. They may start off with simply leaving the area or turning away from the child, this will escalate to a growl or defensive posturing and will then escalate to the point that if it isn't stopped they will bite. Dogs (ALL dogs) have teeth and will use them if they feel threatened. It is up to you as the parent to understand the body language of your dog and to enforce the rules of the house with the children so that this type of incident does not occur. Few if any dogs will "just bite" someone, they usually have been giving warning signs for weeks or months before they finally resort to a bite, greyhounds are VERY docile, for them to resort to biting a person it takes a LOT of stress, ignored warnings and eventually fear for their own safety to make them do it.

PRIVACY & QUIET

All dogs are entitled to privacy and quiet when they eat and sleep. Children must be instructed to not bother the dog during its "quiet" times. This has to be consistently enforced. The greyhound's crate is his / her "room" and should be respected, they will quickly learn to go there when things get too busy as long as they can count on being left alone while they rest in their crate. If you choose NOT to use a crate, then a room or area of the home should be set aside for the dog as it's private area, this is where their bed should be and they can also be fed in this area.

CRATE

Do not let your children crawl into the greyhound's crate. Privacy is important. Initially, we recommend that you utilize the crate when your children are actively playing. It is also a good idea to use the crate when children have friends over to play. This way your new greyhound has a chance to experience and get used to children while in the safety and security of his/her crate. The use of a crate or some other method of confinement when you are not DIRECTLY supervising the dog/child interactions is mandatory for a minimum of 6 months when you have children. Just as you would not leave a toddler or infant alone unsupervised, children of any age and dogs should never be left alone unsupervised.

FEEDING TIME

Do not let your child take away the dog's food or interfere with its mealtime in any way. If you have very young children it's recommended that you feed your greyhound in its crate to avoid any chance of a children interfering with him/her while eating.

DOOR BOLTING

Be extremely cautious about leaving doors and gates open (this goes for car doors also). Greyhounds move so quickly that they will be out the door and down the street in a blink of the eye. Teach your children and their friends about the importance of keeping doors and gates closed at all times. Make sure you have a hold of your greyhound by the collar before any door is opened to let anyone in/out of your house. It is a good idea to actively teach your dog the command for "wait" and use it consistently, this will reduce their desire to bolt through open doors. It can be started with letting them out of their crate and going in their crate and then built upon every day with your potty walks. Make the dog sit or stand and "wait" they are not allowed to pass through the opening without the release command (usually a word like OK is used). If you are going out, attach the leash then say ok, let's go out. If you are letting them out of the crate, they must wait even after you open the door until they get the release command "OK, come on out". The key is be consistent, reward the positive behaviors and your dog will learn quickly what is expected of him/her.

KINDNESS

A child old enough to have a dog share their home is old enough to treat it with kindness. If they are unable to understand this, they may not be ready to have a dog as a pet.

FURNITURE

Dogs should not be permitted on the furniture or to sleep with anyone on their bed for at least 6 months, they should NEVER be permitted to sleep with a child until they have been totally established in the household, this can take up to a year. This is true for any breed of dog, not just a greyhound, to allow them equal status (by letting them sleep with a child) you place them on equal footing which can cause many behavior problems that are avoided completely by removing this temptation.

BACK TO SCHOOL

We highly recommend dogs that live with children be taken to obedience school by an adult, to learn basic obedience and to aid in the establishment of whom is in charge (you and the other two legged people in your home!). Most basic obedience classes are held in the evening, one class a week for 6 to 8 weeks. Many veterinarians or boarding kennels may also be able to recommend an obedience class.

The above suggestions apply to all dog/people relationships regardless of age.

CGA receives dogs from Colorado and from out-of-state. If the dogs are in Colorado, CGA's Procurement Team arranges to meet with kennels when they have new dogs available to come into CGA.

Procurement Team Visit

A number of things happen when the Procurement Team meets Colorado dogs. The kennel staff will let them know of any injuries or issues, personality traits, etc. The dogs' tattoos are checked, and a picture is taken of each dog, to use when they are put up on the website as Available Dogs. 

Because CGA dogs are fostered with families, it is critical that we find out how each dog will do with cats before they are assigned a foster home.

The Art of Cat Testing

When we "cat test" a dog, the dog is brought out, by him/herself, wearing a muzzle and a lead. The cat is in a harness and on a lead, as well. The Procurement team watches the interactions between the dog and cat, doing their best to determine if the greyhound is cat friendly or not. 

The dog is allowed to sniff the cat to get an idea of what he is, (for many he is the first cat they've seen close-up). Some dogs will lose interest at this point. Others are interested in playing with him, and for these dogs, the cat will "correct" their advances, and in many of these cases, the greyhound will decide that he/she does not want to play anymore, and will lose interest. These dogs show that they are correctable and will be placed in a foster home with cats. 

There are greyhounds, however, that are simply never going to be safe with cats, and behave aggressively as soon as they see the cat, and become more aggressive with attempts to correct them. Even in these cases, with the dog muzzled and being held by the lead, and a number of people there to intervene, neither the cat nor the greyhound are in any danger.

Thanks to the Procurement Team’s ability to read behaviors, we are able to accurately cat test more than 95% of the time. For those dogs who behave differently when they get into foster homes, the fosters have been trained to spot the dogs that may likely cause harm to cats before anything bad happens. The dog is moved to a foster with no cats, and will be adopted to a home with no cats.

Entering the Adoption Program

For Colorado dogs, once there is an available spot in our foster program, the hound is picked up from the kennel and transported to the foster home. Soon they will visit the local veterinary hospital, where the dog is spayed/neutered and has its teeth cleaned.  After the surgery, it returns to its foster home and is considered available for adoption, ready to start retired life.