Retirement from Racing

On this page you will find:

• Retirement and re-homing your greyhounds
• Surrendering greyhounds to Shelters and Pounds

Retirement and re-homing your greyhounds

Greyhounds make great pets! Re-homing upon retirement is one of the key responsibilities of an owner. GRV have a series of resources to support participants in ensuring their greyhound is able to make a positive transition from racing to retirement as a pet.

Retiring your greyhound from racing starts with a Wind-down period and preparation for re-homing. This is especially important because it provides your greyhound with time to adjust to pet life after the activities associated with training and racing. This is also a good time to desex your greyhound.

Desexing greyhounds prior to re-homing is a requirement under the Code of Practice for the Keeping of Racing Greyhounds. GRV has introduced a Desexing and Dental Scheme to support participants with compliance and to promote the health and welfare of our greyhounds in retirement. For more information and access to discounted desexing, visit Discounted De-Sexing Offered by Veterinary Clinics.

The Re-homing Guide – Information for Participants, provides important and practical information to assist participants with re-homing. This guide includes information about preparing your greyhound for re-homing, the wind-down period, and the requirements once a new owner is found.

GRV’s Re-homing Checklist will support you in ensuring you meet all the legal requirements under the Code of Practice for the Keeping of Racing Greyhounds and the Local Rules of Racing when re-homing your greyhound.

GRV recommends any owner wishing to re-home a greyhound to a member of the public has that greyhound assessed for prey drive through the Greyhound Adoption Program. If you believe your greyhound has moderate or high prey drive, you must read the following information to ensure your greyhound is re-homed appropriately. Re-homing greyhounds with prey drive is possible but the greyhound must be retired to the “right” home with individuals who understand and can manage the greyhound’s behaviour. Re-homing greyhounds with prey drive is a great resource.

The Notice of Retirement as a Pet – Transfer to New Owner is a mandatory form that must be completed by the GRV-registered owner when they have found a new home for their greyhound. The form must be signed by both the GRV-registered owner and the new pet owner. A copy of the form must be given to the new owner and a copy submitted to [email protected].

The Post Adoption Care Guide – New Owner has been developed for participants to pass onto the new owner of the greyhound. The Post-Adoption Care Guide includes a form for participants to complete that will ensure that all relevant information about the specific greyhound (including any health and/or behaviour issues) is passed onto the new owner, along with helpful information about caring for a greyhound and all legal requirements relating to pet greyhound ownership.

Re-homing Resources for participants:

• Wind-down period and preparation for re-homing
• GRV Microchip registry
• Re-homing greyhounds with prey drive
• Re-homing Checklist(pdf)
• Discounted De-Sexing Offered by Veterinary Clinics
• Re-homing pack

Downloadable version (PDF)

For some further participant re-homing tips,
take a look at these videos.

A number of feature videos were shown at the 2015/16 Victorian Greyhound Awards, including this Greyhound Adoption Program highlights reel.

Participant re-homing tips

Surrendering greyhounds to shelters and pounds

It is a breach of both the racing rules and the Code of Practice for the Keeping of Racing Greyhounds to surrender a greyhound to a council pound.

While many councils operate their own pound facilities, some councils contract another organisation (e.g. a registered shelter, veterinary clinic or another council pound) to provide pound services for their local government area.

A pound may include either:

A council-operated pound facility, regardless of what the facility is named and/or whether it is also a registered shelter. For example, Shepparton Animal Shelter and Bendigo Animal Relief Centre (BARC) are council-operated pounds. A registered greyhound cannot be surrendered to any council-operated pound facility.

or:

An organisation that provides contracted pound services to council(s). For example, RSPCA, Lost Dogs’ Home and Geelong Animal Welfare Society (GAWS) are registered animal shelters that also provide pound services for a number of different councils.  A registered greyhound cannot be surrendered to any of these organisations. It is important to check which facilities provide pound services for council. You can do this by contacting the local Council offices or checking their websites. You can also determine if an organisation provides pound services, if a stray animal would be taken to their facility if it were found wandering at large outside your property.

Below is a list of councils and their corresponding pound(s) or contracted shelter(s), current as at 1 June 2026. Please note this list is indicative only as council pound operations change, so participants must check before surrendering their greyhound to any registered shelter.

The obligation remains on the participant surrendering the greyhound to check whether a shelter is operating as a council pound, and GRV may take enforcement action for a breach of the rules or Code of Practice despite any error or omission contained in the list below.