In a nutshell, what is the Great Mates Rehoming Programme?
The Great Mates Rehoming Programme helps prepare each greyhound for their new lives as pets. We provide each greyhound with full assessments, training, grooming, dental, desexing, vaccinations and any veterinary care they may need.
The Great Mates Rehoming Programme works in collaboration with our adoption agencies Nightrave, Greyhounds as Pets (GAP), Kiwikiwi Hounds and May Hounds. Once a greyhound has graduated from the programme, an adoption agency can reserve the greyhound and then work towards adopting it out to a family, couple or individual.
What the rehoming process looks like in more detail
Once a greyhound retires from racing, their trainer deregisters it, and puts it on a waitlist for one of our four Great Mates kennel bases (Cambridge, Levin, Rangiora or Christchurch). Once a space opens up, the greyhound is then sent to the Great Mates kennel base where it can begin its rehoming preparation.
During their stay, each dog has its own indoor and outdoor kennel, bedding, coats and toys. Our kennels also provide specific exercise and training areas for our greyhounds.
Great Mates provides each greyhound who is inducted into the programme full assessments, training, grooming, vet care and de-sexing. To ensure we give every dog the best chance of being rehomed, greyhounds are not assessed as “pass” or “fail” but are assessed in what areas they need extra training, to adjust to life as a pet.
Great Mates operate on a “traffic light” system. When each greyhound is initially assessed, they are given a red, amber or green status. Red is for greyhounds who are needing to be given extra training, care and attention, amber is for greyhounds who are needing minimal extra training, and green is for greyhounds who are ready to be adopted out.
Once each greyhound is ready for their new life as a pet, our adoption agencies GAP, Nightrave, Kiwikiwi Hounds and May Hounds will perfectly match up a dog with a suitable family and continue supporting them after they have found their forever home.
Greyhounds are wonderful to have as pets. They are loving, loyal, well-trained and easy-going dogs. They deserve a great retirement after their racing career ends, and we are there to make sure they get it!
How did the Great Mates Rehoming Programme come about?
In 2017, Rodney Hansen CNZM QC, delivered a report which assessed the current state of the racing industry, its progress and opportunities for improvement. The report contained 20 recommendations that were welcomed by Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) and incorporated into our current and ongoing work programme.
Recommendations included a stronger emphasis on rehoming was needed as well as better tracking of deregistered (retired) greyhounds. In 2018, the Great Mates Rehoming Programme was born.
Greyhound Racing New Zeland wanted to ensure it took responsibility of each greyhound and increasing its rehoming efforts without putting too much of a strain on our adoption partners, who at the time, were doing both the preparation for each greyhound as well as the adoption for each greyhound.
The idea for Great Mates was simple; Greyhound Racing New Zealand would take on the preparation of each greyhound allowing our adoption partners to solely focus on adoptions, expand our kennel bases to increase our rehoming capacity, and create an easy-to-use online deregistration system for trainers to ensure each deregistered greyhound was accounted for.
The Great Mates Rehoming Programme is now fully operational and has a wonderful team behind them as well as an expanding adoption partners list. We are excited for what the future holds for Great Mates, as we expand even further.
