The Greyhound Adoption Program (GAP) finds loving family homes for greyhounds who have retired from the racetrack. Established in 1996 by two veterinary nurses, GAP operates out of a purpose-built facility located 90 minutes north of Melbourne’s CBD in the town of Seymour and is the largest greyhound rehoming agency in Australia.
Greyhound welfare is the highest priority for GAP. GAP works to ensure the highest standards of care for greyhounds and positive rehoming experiences for the owners, dogs, and adopters; promoting greyhounds as fantastic family pets.
Victorian greyhound owners are responsible for planning for the retirement of their greyhounds regardless of whether the dog has had a racing career. Many find homes for their dogs privately through family and friends or rehoming groups. GAP is a rehoming group funded by GRV. GAP provides adoption opportunities six days a week and also holds regular adoption events and community focused promotional activities across Victoria.
To rehome a greyhound through GAP, a racing owner must book a pre-entry assessment. Pre-entry assessment cannot occur until the greyhound has completed at least 4 weeks of wind down from racing. Any desexed greyhound on the GAP pre-entry assessment waiting list gets priority entry to the first available booking.
A Pre-entry assessment, measures a greyhound’s behaviour and reactions to smaller dog breeds in a controlled environment. If they pass, GAP will take ownership of the greyhound and bring the greyhound into their kennel facilities.
Once at the GAP kennels, the greyhounds are vet checked, vaccinated and de-sexed, and subjected to additional observation and temperament testing under the GAP Behavioural Assessment (GAPBA). The aim of this assessment is to gather as much information about each greyhound to establish their suitability to live safely in the community as a pet with people and other dogs and animals. It provides the opportunity to see how comfortable and relaxed they are with a range of day-to-day activities including meeting a number of different breeds of dogs. This assessment along with the program that a greyhound then undertakes, allows GAP to establish what type of home will be best suited to each individual greyhound.
Once a greyhound passes the GAPBA they will quickly become available for adoption. The information collected by the assessors, kennel staff and volunteers all help the GAP Adoption Team match a greyhound to its new home.
All adopted greyhounds who pass the GAPBA are given a GAP Green Collar. The GAP Green Collar is hand made in Victoria and has a unique collar number which is registered on GAP’s database alongside the details of the adoptive owner.
In other cases where the greyhound does not pass their assessment, the greyhound may undergo further training through our foster care program, behavioural rehabilitation program or our highly successful Prison Pet Partnership Program.
For information about GAP please go to http://gap.grv.org.au/