Buying a greyhound - What Q to ask?

[dvdfan]

A few of us are going into a syndicate and were meeting the owner of a few dogs tommorrow. We know him through a friend but not personally so although we know its strictly a hobby we dont want to get a 3 legged dog either. What type of questions should we be asking him?

He said hes 3-4 dogs which hes advertising soon but hed let us have one of our choice before he puts them in. There about 10-11months old and he said there priced around €900-€1k

Should i ask what the mother and fathers names are and then is there somewhere we can check out their form online? Or for €1k are we getting the bottom of the barrell and should just take what we get?

He said he can get us the keep for €160 per month which seems good but should i ask who the trainer is and what success hes had and how many dogs he trains etc or what other questions should i ask?

Is there any tests also like speed tests or something that he should be doing like running him over a certain distance and recording hes time or is it too early for dogs to take tests?

Any help appreciated as im going to see the owner tommorrow

[Leadership]

I have been in 3 syndicates and had two donkeys and one very successful bitch who made the last syndicate a lot of money. If you know know nothing about dogs you will not be an expert by tomorrow so I would expect a donkey and anything else is a bonus. I would almost suggest just go with gut feel, as some sellers will target noobies with the worst dogs. BTW €160 might be a bit high for a kennel fee we were paying between €120 and €150 last year.

Pedigree is important so find out the parents and also find out about any trials they have run and if they are gradded.
Lots of info on the igb website:
http://www.igb.ie/

Lastly have a plan of what you will do with the dog once it retires. I now have one of our dogs at home as a pet. A lot of these are killed once they cannot race!

[dvdfan]

Thanks for the reply, can i ask what graded is? Also is it standard for pups of that age to do trials, dont want to be asking stupid questions?

I guess this first one will probably be a learning xperience more than anything, were purely in it for the craic but dont want to be taken advantage of either. Hopefully we get a dog that at least has a chance of placing, as long as we dont end up with something that comes last every time.

Yeah i imagine unwanted retired greyhounds cause a big problem and worth considering what happens him in future.

[PAWS Rescue]

Originally Posted by dvdfan

Yeah i imagine unwanted retired greyhounds cause a big problem and worth considering what happens him in future.

Thats an understatement dvdfan, It is essential to discuss what you do when your dog does not win, nowadays there are a few rescues rehoming greyhounds, but you will be put on a waiting list and meantime, your dog will cost your syndicate money in kennels, plus a rescue will ask you to neuter & vaccinate if at all possible. There were 22 thousand greyhounds born in Ireland in 2007 and very few will make their owners rich.