See the Events Calendar for our monthly Meet and Greet events and for more details on the special events below.

9/12 Crescenta Canada Pet Hospital Dog Party

9/19 Best Friends Animal Society "Strut Your Mutt" Walk

9/26 Pasadena Humane Society Wiggle Waggle Walk

10/16 GreySave Fall Social

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From Track to Home, Part 2: Homecoming Day

This is the second part of a series. Read the other parts below:

• From Birth to Track
• Homecoming Day
• Fostering 101
• Finding the Right Dog
• Adopting Your Greyhound

Homecoming Day

Homecoming Day starts early for the hounds. We normally arrive at the Caliente racetrack about 6am to pick out the dogs we can take and start the 150-mile drive to the site of our Homecoming days in Southern California. See From Birth to Track for more about life on the track.

Go to: June, 2008 Homecoming Day: A Pictorial Essay for more photos.

After everyone's had a potty break, we check them over for ticks and look for any obvious injuries that we might not have already caught.

They get a very thorough bath. We clean their ears, trim their nails, and brush their coats. It will take several weeks for their dull track coats to turn glossy.

We give them a hearty meal. And, of course, our volunteers are always ready to give them lots of love as the dogs cope with a pretty bewildering transition day.

Health Check

The health of our greyhounds is of paramount importance to us. After the dogs have been bathed and groomed, we look them over from head to tail, checking for signs of injury or infection. We give them de-worming medication, and draw blood to send in to a lab for testing.

We give them the appropriate vaccinations. We insert between the shoulder blades an Avid microchip which any vet clinic or animal shelter can read if the dogs becomes lost.

We recently added an additional step in the Homecoming Day medical process: veterinarians like Dr. Jenny Johnson, pictured at right, come to our homecoming sites to give the hounds a quick exam and a rabies shot. We send any dogs needing significant medical attention to a veterinarian clinic.

Small Dog and Cat Testing

Greyhounds were bred for thousands of years to hunt prey, especially wild hares. Most (usually 9 out of 10) can live well with cats and even pet rabbits.

But a few retain a high "prey drive" that means they will be wonderful, gentle companions for adults, children, and medium to large dogs of any breed, but ought not to live with small animals.

So we test for this before placing them into foster homes. We expose them to small dogs and cats in a controlled environment. We keep the greyhound on leash and muzzled just in case, and watch his reactions.

We know through experience whether a greyhound's reactions to the little ones indicate that he can live with small animals with no difficulty, that he can be trained to live with small dogs but not with cats, or that he needs to be placed in a family with no small animals. You can see the results in greyhound profiles on our Adoptables page.

On to the Foster Home!

The work doesn't stop here. Incoming greyhounds are next sent to their foster homes for several weeks of continued preparation. Go to Fostering 101 to read about this.