Greyhound Lifeline Mission Statement

Greyhound Lifeline is an independent Greyhound welfare and homing  Charity.

Our charitable objective is to promote humane behaviour towards greyhounds by providing appropriate care, protection, treatment and security for greyhounds which are in need of care and attention by reason of sickness, maltreatment, poor circumstances or ill usage and to educate the public in matters pertaining to greyhound welfare in general and the prevention of cruelty and suffering among greyhounds.

During April 2017 we began the process of applying to become a formal Registered Charity and we were granted this status by the Charities Commission on 25th May 2017. Our Registered Charity number is 1173175.

We are proud to be in the minority amongst Registered Charities in that we are run and managed entirely by unpaid volunteers.

Our dedicated team all work together to ultimately achieve the lifetime comfort and welfare of all the greyhounds who have passed through our care. The greyhounds’ futures are of paramount importance to us and as such, no adoption will proceed until a successful home check has been completed.

About Greyhound Lifeline

Greyhound Lifeline was founded in May 2007 by a group of people many of whom have had previous experience of homing greyhounds, owning greyhounds as pets, working with greyhounds or with greyhound adoption through other organisations or welfare groups.

In other cases our volunteers may have had no dog experience whatsoever before joining our team. Our backgrounds are varied, but we believe our cumulative experience of both greyhounds and life/work/family experiences to be a valuable asset in our Greyhound Lifeline venture.

In January 2008 we moved to new premises, near Fleet, Hampshire.  At this new site we were able to have a greater number of kennels meaning we could have and care for more greyhounds at any one time.

Our lease finished at the end of April 2022 and Greyhound Lifeline then got ready to move to a new site where we could have bespoke kennels with individual runs.

Greyhound Lifeline has continued to have a smaller intake in their new premises, as this has proved very beneficial in our way of working.  This has allowed us to introduce them to more aspects of the ‘outside world’, including home living, house training, meeting a range of people and other dogs, in a variety of places which will better prepare them for home living, in their adopted new homes.

In June 2022, Greyhound Lifeline moved from their old kennels in Fleet to their new home on the edge of Southampton, Hampshire.

The greyhounds have moved from an unheated, converted stable blocks with one shared use yard to bespoke Modular kennels built to our specification.  The team then had the task of building the new site to the spec that they required and had dreamt of for so long.

Each kennel has heating, insulation, electric lighting and natural daylight through a window.

Every kennel has its own attached, covered outside run allowing every dog their own personal access to outside space all year round.

There is a shared use outside enrichment area for the residents to take turns enjoying. This includes a sand pit for those dogs that love to dig, a paddling area for the water babies, a selection of dog safe interesting toys to play with, open areas for sunbathing and running around with shaded areas for relief from the summer sunshine.

A selection of dog safe plants and shrubs are available for sniffing, rooting around underneath and perhaps some bird watching for those dogs that do not scare the birds away. The enrichment area will no doubt grow and adapt as we settle in.

Our greyhounds are stimulated by a variety of toys/activities.

They’ll encounter traffic, other animals and probably children playing in parks on their walks which will comprise of pavement walks as well as trips out to discover the New Forest itself. These walks are not something we could offer daily from our previous site. Walks previously, although done every day mainly followed the same route around the farm we were based on. Lovely as that was, it wasn’t the real world that greyhounds need to learn about.

Whilst the kennels were being made and the land prepared, we had to put a hold on our greyhound intake due to not having any safe and suitable place to keep our greyhounds, by August 2022 we had started to take in retired racers, prepare them for the ‘outside world’ and find them their own homes.

In October 2023 we started the next phase of our build to create a room which could introduce the dogs to household furniture and our human expectations about not toileting indoors. They now encounter appliance noises and sights like those of a vacuum cleaner, T.V, washing machine etc.  This room has helped equip them to home living and make the transition into a family home a lot smoother.

During June 2024 and with the help of some very kind volunteers Greyhound Lifeline developed their garden area further.  Artificial grass was laid to give the greyhounds an all weather area to play on.  This has made a huge improvement to the ‘dog garden’ which they all spend time using each day.

Our team of unpaid volunteers have adapted and changed as we have grown.

The key volunteers are shown on our  Greyhound Lifeline Team Page, but we are supported by numerous other volunteers too all of whom play a valuable part within Greyhound Lifeline.

• We have in excess of 100 registered volunteers who offer their services through walking the greyhounds, vet trips, street collections, car-boot sales, attending fayres and shows, DIY support and many more roles too.
• Our home checkers are also crucial; without them, our ability to home greyhounds responsibly would be severely restricted.
• Every family that adopts a greyhound is actually helping two greyhounds. How? The greyhound that they adopt leaves a kennel space free for another greyhound who is in need of adoption to occupy.

Our reward as a team is purely that of being able to say “We have helped a greyhound to find its lifetime home”.

The Greyhound Lifeline Team »