Retired Racing Greyhound Adoption Process

If you haven't seen my Instagram (1 + 2), meet Mordechai! He is a retired racing greyhound and is 3 years old. His racing name is Flying Doors but we decided to name him Mordechai, just a name that we love (and also the name of the pet falcon in The Royal Tenenbaums). He began his racing career in Palm Beach, FL and ended up racing in Sanford, FL, close to where we adopted him.

We chose to work with Greyhound Pets of America/Greater Orlando (GPA GO). They told us that he came to them with a broken leg and that was how he became retired. GPA GO nursed him back to good health with healing his leg, vet visits, and now vitamins. We're excited to have this sweet boy become part of the family!

The organization and I were chatting through emails back and forth for several weeks. When we went in to pick our greyhound, they asked us various questions about our lifestyle (leash walking, neighborhood, hobbies, future children, etc). We'll be leashing walking, and our neighborhood has the farmers market, many restaurants and bars, so he will be around a lot of activity. We also plan to have children eventually so with all of that information, they chose a few non-shy and non-possessive greyhounds for us to meet.

We met five available for adoption and they all had different personalities! One was not interested in us, one was visibly nervous around S, and then this one, Flying Doors, was excited and outgoing and within a few minutes calmed down into the perfect companion. We pet him, sat with him, walked with him, and he even came when we called him. He was so pleasant to be around.

After we decided that he was the greyhound for us, we sat down with them to schedule a home visit, his vet visit (to get neutered, micro-chipped, shots, and a check-up), and they set adoption date! They even told us we could visit him a few days after his surgery.

We visited him on Saturday, two days after the vet neutered him, micro-chipped him, and gave him all of his shots. While he was having his check up, they found an ear infection as well as a urinary infection. GPA GO is treating him for both while we wait a week to take him home. We spent an hour or two with him, and even brought some of our shirts to go into his kennel with him. There was a family with young children that came in, and he was so good with them - he is incredibly friendly! As we were leaving, he followed us to the door; I think he's ready to come home.

At the home visit, our contact at the organization brought one of her own greyhounds, a beautiful and gentle black dog named Jack. He went straight to the new dog bed that we bought and fluffed it up for himself. The whole time we talked, he laid there peacefully. He let us practice putting on and taking off the martingale collar that greyhounds require, and we even practiced checking for fleas. He was such a good sport and it was so nice to see a dog in our home. We went over important things at the home visit like where he will be gated off in our house as we ease him into all the stimulation of a new environment, especially since his whole life he's lived in a kennel. We also discussed medication, sicknesses, and emergency animal hospitals.

This Saturday we get to take him home! It has been a long two weeks since meeting him and waiting for his adoption day, but it gets closer and closer. Going to the store and buying him food, treats, and toys has definitely help make the time go by faster, but still, is it Saturday yet?