How Do I Adopt?

Contact us!  Please note we all have families and are sometimes not able to respond immediately. We recommend that you read either Lee Livingood’s Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies or Cynthia Branigan’s Adopting the Racing Greyhound. Both books are inexpensive and give lots of information on Greyhounds and what it is like to share your home with one. People with children under 12 should also read Childproofing Your Dog by Brian Kilcommons.

If after reading the brochures and the books, you think you would like to adopt, you should print out our NCGL Adoption Form (it’s 6 pages) by clicking on Forms. complete it and, either send it electronically to the applicable e-mail address on the form or mail it into the BC or Alberta address on the first page.  At this time we are not accepting the $50 application fee until you have been matched with a dog.

Once your application is received, the adoption coordinator will contact you to go over the application, explain our process, and give you a chance to ask any questions.  Once that is complete, a home visit will be arranged.

After the home visit, if you are approved to adopt, you will be put on the waiting list. When dogs come to us they are placed in a foster home and their initial, basic information is posted on our website.  We take our time to discover who each individual dogs is and what kind of home and family would be best for it.  Then we go to our waiting list and see if there is a good match there.  If there isn’t a good match on the waiting list, we wait for a suitable applicant to come to us.  We do not hold dogs for applicants who have not completed the application process including the home visit.

We are a small, volunteer-run organization with all donations going directly to the Greyhounds we care for. The adoption process is a careful one so that each Greyhound receives the best home possible.

We prefer to place our dogs in Western Canada but if due to the particular needs of a specific dog, we are unable to find a suitable home in Western Canada, we will consider looking further afield.

BEFORE adoption:

  • An application form must be completed and approved.
  • A phone interview must be completed to go over the application, explain our processes, and answer any questions.
  • A home visit and inspection are completed, either in person, or via Zoom/Skype/Facetime.
  • Please refer to our NCGL Adoption Form for current adoption fees.

All dogs are spayed/neutered, vaccinated, teeth cleaned if needed, and dewormed. Your Greyhound comes to you with a martingale collar, a leash, a dog tag with a tag collar, and a kennel muzzle. Your dog tag will have a toll-free number people can call if they find your Greyhound (we recommend you also have a tag with your contact information on your dogs). The dogs are bathed, toenails trimmed, and some basic introduction to living in a home is done. The dogs are also tested to see if they are cat-friendly, kid-friendly, and small dog friendly. All of this work helps to ensure a good placement with the right family.

AFTER adoption:

We offer a lot of support for you after adoption.

  • You may receive further visits or phone calls to check on how the dog and family are doing.
  • If you immediately inform the organization if the Greyhound becomes lost we will provide resources to help locate the dog.
  • If for some reason you decide not to keep the dog you MUST return it to the organization. We will evaluate the reasons the dog was returned and possibly relocate it with another family.

Click here to meet the dogs available for adoption