Class of 2024
2024: A Year of Growth, Community, and Unwavering Support
As the year unfolds, we are thrilled to celebrate the incredible graduating class of 2024—our beloved retired racing greyhounds! These remarkable athletes have completed their successful careers on the track, showcasing their speed, agility, and heart, and now they’re ready to embark on their next chapter as cherished companions.
Each greyhound in the Class of 2024 represents dedication, resilience, and the special bond shared by the greyhound racing and adoption communities. With wagging tails and curious eyes, they are stepping into homes where they will continue to bring joy, love, and laughter to those lucky enough to welcome them. This milestone is not just about the greyhounds but also the incredible teams behind them—the trainers, kennel staff, foster families, and adopters—whose dedication makes this transition seamless and full of love. These dogs leave a legacy of excellence on the track and carry forward a future filled with snuggles, zoomies, and endless love.
We were proud to deepen our collaborations with adoption groups and racing professionals worldwide, including Make Peace With Animals and Greyhound Pets of America - Massachusetts. These partnerships ensured that every greyhound in our program had the best transition possible - from the track to foster care and, ultimately, to their forever homes.
Thank you for providing these retired athletes with the next chapter of their journey. Your homes offer a well-deserved place of comfort after their successful careers on the track. We are proud to see these greyhounds transition from racing champions to cherished family members. We are thrilled to watch them thrive in the next chapter of their lives. Your love and care ensure they continue to shine, proving that life after racing is just as rewarding. Thank you for making their post-racing lives as remarkable as their racing careers.
The GGA Family
To view all photos in the adoptee's gallery, tap the arrow on either side of the image.
Knee (Kb's Kee Deep)
The Staples Family
Gotcha Day - January 17, 2024
Knee has settled in very nicely over the past 11 months. He's turned out to be a very kind and gentle soul. He’s officially a part of the staff of Barrkhaven and he’s even had a modelling gig with Chilly Dogs! We look forward to many more years with him.
(Leash and collar edited out of fashion shoot photos)
Alpha (Disgruntled)
The Gimpoli Family
Gotcha Day - February 1, 2024
It has been a big first year in retirement for both me and Alpha. After losing my Angel Winston (Ww Gothika, GGA Class of 2021) in November 2023, I wanted to take things slow with bringing home a new retiree, and GGA helped me by finding the perfect foster to try things out. Alpha helped heal hearts for me and my family, and fit in perfectly. We made the adoption official in February 2024. Shortly after, I enrolled Alpha in his 8-week beginner obedience class. Just like Winston, the class voted him most improved! I think mostly because he threw a bit of a temper tantrum about sitting early on (the greyhound scream is very dramatic). Since then, he's had a happy and fun-loving retirement filled with lots of treats, toys, and of course some fabulous roaching. In September, we made a big change, and moved from small town Sudbury to big city Toronto. Alpha adapted without a hitch! To him, a city is just a place with lots more new friends to meet everyday. His confident good vibes attitude is unbothered by big city noises and crowds. Although not the smartest dog in the bunch (he has really earned the nickname Alphabet-Soup-For-Brains), Alpha thrives as the happiest dog in the room. I guess ignorance really is bliss! He has endless love to share, and I'm forever grateful to GGA for bringing us together. Looking forward to many more adventures in 2025!
Murphy (Cet Murphy)
The Dawe Family
Gotcha Day - February 9, 2024
Murphy … The boy we never realized we needed! We lost our last 2 greyhounds to the dreaded Osteo… Dave had watched and watched your videos of Murphy! (proof positive that your videos do appeal to ALL of us w greyhounds)! Murphy arrived at our house for an introduction with his lovely Foster Fam- but we all knew he was going to stay! And move in he did and it’s like we’ve always had him. Murphy lives with an evil cat, who still jumps out at him for fun… thankfully Murphy is the least aggressive creature God created! He’s sweet to the core. Loves his people, loves ALL people, loves the grandbaby most of all! He has a goofy personality, he loves a romp around the backyard and lives for 2 walks a day. He’s not demanding, he’s calm, loves his routine and toy plays. Likes other dogs but people are his jam. I’ve always been spoiled owning greyhounds (previously I owned Bostons my entire life so bit of a diff) - people will actually stop me and admire our dogs. But THIS guy is a supermodel! He has a white bone in the middle of his black back - like a tatt! Stunning. He loves sardines, doesn’t overeat, very gentle wee guy, and ya NOT a fan of his kennel. We roughed it out for a week as instructed but we had a palliative greyhound at the time and his ridiculous drama distressed her. So he’s a kennel fail on our end because you guys did the work. However it’s not separation anxiety, we can leave him at home and he’s fine no howling and is content. You can tell he’s only ever been well treated and known gentleness. I thank you for honouring us withthis treasure!
Geter (Cbt Coach Geter)
The Suderman Family
Gotcha Day - February 14, 2024
Man (Flomac Boy)
The Greenstein Family
Gotcha Day - February 17, 2024
Man was quite bewildered in his new forever home environment for about 3.5 months after his arrival here in Feb, 2024. He was immensely curious of anyone he'd see on the trails outside of our immediate family. Any person or parked car,no matter how far away, was of particular interest: brrrang tug, tug, tug. Like "Who's my Daddy", ya know? Our girl dog, 'Peanut' (AMF Just Say No), has been his constant local guide to outdoor scents: he nearly always marks every spot she happens to choose, and that's often - usually on the wrong side of my lead hand. In addition, during the early days, Man was a wildlife superstalker - anything from wild turkeys and below, especially little dogs, was a potential conquest. Fortunately he's now more just the casual site hound, reflected in a markedly less intense prey-driven pose.. Appearance-wise, Man was, up until now, racer-skinny. However in the last few weeks his hips and backbone have begun to disappear. His appetite has increased with the occasional addition of yogurt, chicken scraps, or gefilte fish brine (hmmmm), or grain-free Purina One to his Performance 30-20 kibble. We are very happy with our Man and his partner, Peanut, whose brother AMF Just in Time passed not long ago, is quite taken by him.For those of you contemplating greyhound adoption, let it be known: patience is a virtue.
Lilly (Gf St Kitts)
The Healey Family
Gotcha Day - February 17, 2024
Lilly (affectionately known as Billy, Billers or Billerson) is living her best retired life in her furever home, snoozing on the couch all day. It’s hard to say who loves whom more: Lilly or her 2 human sisters. She is a perfect match for our family and we couldn’t imagine our life without her!
Thank you Gillian and team and happy holidays!
Lester (Yolo Lester)
The Stengel Family
Gotcha Day - February 24, 2024
Lester and his "brother" Marty (Flying Bullrider, GGA Class of 2023) are doing well and getting along very well too!
Rayray (Fgf Raylan)
The Hawkins Family
Gotcha Day - March 23, 2024
I have to thank all of people that were involved in his life. He is absolutely a great dog. All of you did a fantastic job/labour of love with him. He is so well adjusted, calm, smart, friendly and socal dog. I could not have asked for better. He is so good with little kids, other dogs and people. I am considering getting him certified to be a service dog. In the past 7 months, he has not changed much, just settled in. Once I figured out to hook him up before I opened the hach of my SUV. He stopped bolting out like on race day! Good thing he never ran too far away from me. He is food motivated and would come back for treats. He loves going for our daily walks and coffee runs. He sometimes gets a pup cup from Starbucks or a Tim bit from Tim Hortons. Every Saturday morning we go to the downtown Windsor farmers market. We walk around, eat, buy local vegetables, breads and of course dog treats. We have met some great people and dogs. One beautiful lady Lauren Hedges, takes photos of dogs that are there. She is very talented. She postes them on Instagram and Facebook. She made a 2025 calendar. And yours truly is on the cover. One day back in July, Rayray stopped to smell some peaches and Lauren snapped that beautiful picture. Some of the dogs pictures she turned into stickers. Rayray is one of them as well. I am getting a shirt made with it on it. Getting back to the treats. Lora from Lucky Pups Bakery(she came with me to pick up Rayray). Her treats are all natural and made with local apples and honey. They are very good. She has helped Rayray meet some great dogs like Morty(the bull mastiff thats his Instagram name). She postes their pictures along with other dogs that stop to say hi to Rayray on her Facebook page. We met Lauren from WALK Dog Apparel. She made Rayray his new collar and leash for this chapter of his life. I, appropriately chose the colour Greyhound. On Sunday's, we go different local wineries. We will sit on patio and share a dog friendly charcuterie board, and listen to local musicians singing. We will miss this when the patios close for the season. Rayray NOW loves going to Canadian Tire and PetValue. It took him a bit to get used to tile floors. Now he walks in like owns the place. His favorite toy is any lamb. Of all the toys to pick to from, he picks the lamb everytime. Lol. He eats his food way too fast. I have tried slow feeding bowls and they did not work. I use a long cookie sheet. This works out much better. He has made a few bad choices. Like the other day, I had cooked 3 steaks. While I was in another room, he could not help himself and took one. When I heard the noise and asked 'what are you doing'? He got his lamb and pretended to play with it. Lol His ears went up when I said ' who did this'? I threw out the part he bit into and kept the rest. Steaks expensive. He did very well while I cooked Thanksgiving Dinner. He did not take anything. Months, ago, he took and ate 2 fingers off my work gloves. It took 3 days for him to pass it. I'm thankful it came out. He will not come up on the couch at all. He is comfortable on his beds. Hopefully someday we can snuggle. Don't get me wrong, I sit on the floor and pet him on his bed. I am truly grateful he is mine. And looking forward to a long life together. I know he is happy and enjoying life. So thank you Gillian for allowing me to be his mom. I hope this sheds some light on your great decision of picking me and how he is doing. Oh, he does not like it when I am laughing while watching t.v and he is sleeping. He will lift his head up, looks at me and go lie down in the bedroom.
Brin (Brin)
The Martin Family
Gotcha Day - April 12, 2024
Brin is doing very well as the newest member of our family. She is very affectionate and playful and loves to be with her people whenever possible. She has slowly become accustomed to the horse, chickens, ducks, quails and rabbits who also live here. Her favourite activity is going for long walks through our forest property and saying hello to as many of our neighbours as possible when she ventures out on a super long walk around our farm neighbourhood.
Azza (Azza)
The Maxwell Family
Gotcha Day - May 4, 2024
Azza has officially become a Canadian citizen! Azza now lives with a brother named Harry (who is also a black greyhound) and spends his days running and chasing those pesky rabbits and squirrels out of his yard.
He loves his treats and is expert at hoarding all the yak chews and stuffies on his bed. It took Azza a little while to adapt to living with us and as he is young and extremely large, we needed to get him adjusted quickly, fortunately he is a smart boy, always eager to please and learns very fast
Azza is funny, kind and sweet and we feel that he is morphing into the best boy. We are really pleased to have had the opportunity to adopt Azza.
Heather (Ubx Start Over)
The Parrott & Tulk Family
Gotcha Day - July 21, 2024
We moved to a new house in March with a big yard for zoomies for Dagar (Mw'sDagar, GGA Classof 2021) and then in July we welcomed another hound, Heather into our family. Heather needed a greyhound housemate in her forever home and Dagar wanted a friend so it was a perfect match! Despite some initial timidness around loud noises (though in her defense, even I'm spooked by the sound of wood chippers sometimes) she settled in and has really come out of her shell. She's turned out to be quite the goofball, gathering all of her (and Dagar's) toys on her bed then lying on top of the pile like a dragon guarding its hoard. Dagar's loved having a friend to race in the backyard (they've carved an impressive dirt track in the grass) and both hounds have become quite the neighbourhood fashionistas in their matching collars and coats. We're all looking forward to a 2025 filled with zoomies, snoozing, and (in Heather's case) roaching.
Gabby (Bigtripletrouble)
The Rose Family
Gotcha Day - July 27, 2024
Gabby, or Bigtripletrouble (I had been warned!) arrived on July 28th of this year without a timid bone in her wee body. I had thought - silly me - that there might be a hint of initial apprehension as she met SIX unfamiliar greyhounds - two who are her home siblings and the other four summer guests here at Rose Cottage Greyhound Retreat - but I needn’t have worried. Within an hour she had every pup eating out of her paw. And that was even before they discovered how funny she is! Gabby came with social skills that most people don’t have, and she greets new greyhounds that come to stay with gentle familiarity. I am still working on her greeting of other humans, though, as overenthusiastic is the best way to describe her initial hello. I am trying to find the right way to curb her enthusiasm without stifling her loving spirit because she doesn’t have a mean bone in her body. She has had a number of car trips, the longest one being to her new vet in Halifax, and she travels well with both Richard (her brother) and Queenie (her sister). She loves the ocean, with all its delicious smells, and likes to wade in the water, but her real enthusiasm is for the swimming pools in the yard. We have taken shorter hikes - approximately 2 km - on the Cape George Hiking Trail system because her hiking buddies, Richard and Queenie, are senior greys that tire easily, although before the snow flies I will take her out on her own a few times to see which one of us wears out first. She is the perfect companion, always checking with the other pups or with me. She was born to love and to be loved. But she has a mind of her own and is quick to find cracks in my system. If I forget to hide my slippers in a drawer, even if only for a moment, they immediately become chew toys. If I forget to set up the baby gate to keep counter-surfers out of the kitchen, she’s the first one inside. And the door handles to my front and back doors are latches, not knobs, so if I forget to lock the door when it’s closed, guess who opens the door herself and lets everyone out? From dawn to dusk she’s a perpetual motion machine, a whirling dervish, and I am so glad I have the space she needs to stretch her legs and fly, and a constant rotation of pups to keep her entertained. And thank goodness I’m here most of the time to give her the attention she craves, because she’s a comedian, an athlete, and, most important, everyone’s friend. I just wish I were a better photographer and could have caught some of her finer moments more clearly.
Barry (Buryyourbelief)
The Skelton Family
Gotcha Day - August 6, 2024
Barry has settled right in with our family. He spends his days wrestling and zooming with Kenzie (our Beagle mix), patrolling the yard for wildlife and napping in between. On his walks Barry loves stopping to let his many admirers shower him with attention. In the evenings he likes to nap in front of the television and has even started snuggling with Momma on his bed. We love his sweet soulful personality and watching him learn that he can be goofy too.
Launch (Hashtag Launcher)
The Hunter Family
Gotcha Day - August 10, 2024
Vicky (Longhur Vic)
The Smith Family
Gotcha Day - August 16, 2024
Miss Vicky has been settling well into her new home over the past 2 months and is an absolute joy. All the neighbours love her, but then, who wouldn’t? She’s such a pretty Irish lass. She loves her long walks exploring the neighbourhood and is working hard to leave those pesky squirrels, bunnies and stinky black and white kitties alone! When she is not out walking, she is making sure her toy box is kept empty, sunbathing, or begging for tummy rubbies! Such a good girlie ….
Zak (Vj Draco)
The Barker Family
Gotcha Day - September 21, 2024
I can’t have more positive things to say about GGA and Gillian. When I lost my big fawn boi, Gillian made it a mission to match me with my new friend. I don’t put my trust blindly in people. This was a huge deal for me. VJ Draco. Zak has been amazing. He took a minute to get his confidence with me and our relationship. I just called it growing pains. I was new to him, he was new to me. Patience grasshopper. The eyes he gives me when we go out to walk. Looking over his shoulder for reassurance is so so sweet. He wags his tail so hard now when I get home. He loves my mom. He does fancy high stepping pony kicks after he pees - sometimes with a small awooooo or grrrrrrr. He throws his stuffies around so hard! He’s helped to fill an empty space. I’m beyond grateful for him and my wonderful friend Gillian.
Star (Selinas Oscar)
The Larson Family
Gotcha Day - November 1, 2024
Maria (Vj Scandalous)
The Ramsay Family
Gotcha Day - November 11, 2024
Shelby (Cbt Shelby Wynz)
The Campagna & Pappas Family
Gotcha Day - December 1, 2024
Connie (Cet Dirty Connie)
The Roberts & Dougan Family
Gotcha Day - December 5, 2024
Swiddle (Ubx Swindle)
The Duquesnay Family
Gotcha Day - December 15, 2024
