Our stories

Stories from the community.

Working with Greyhounds

What makes dogs so special? Easy. They’re one of the few animals capable of loving humans back. And greyhounds are a breed of dog in a league of their own when it comes to reciprocating emotion. Anyone who has lived and worked with greyhounds can attest to this fact.

This video is part of our ongoing series featuring the real people inside New Zealand’s greyhound community and how they live, work and play with this incredible breed. Help us by sharing these real stories so we can educate Kiwis on how greyhounds in New Zealand live today.

A Greyhound’s Journey

Greyhound lives go far beyond the racetrack. That’s where wonderful owners, fosterers, and rehoming groups come into the picture. Greyhounds get so much human contact along their journeys, which helps them become confident, loving and soulful companions wherever they go.

The Greyhound Community

Note from someone who worked on this video series:

I’ve never felt more immediately welcomed and at home than I have with the group of people I met who live and work with greyhounds. I was welcomed into homes, into lounges and onto comfy couches without a second thought and given more tea, coffee and biscuits that I thought possible to consume. I met hundreds of dogs and every one was as excited to see me, sniff me, lick me and get behind-the-ear scratches from me as every other. I feel I have been truly privileged to work on this project which started as a series of videos and soon became a wider, deeper journey into the good of humanity and our ability to connect with animals.

This video is the final part our series featuring the real people inside New Zealand’s greyhound community and how they live, work and play with this incredible breed. Help us by sharing these real stories so we can educate Kiwis on how greyhounds in New Zealand live today.

Cornelia Riethmann: from curious dog lover to greyhound expert

Cornelia’s greyhound story started with just a bit of curiosity, then ballooned into what will surely be a lifelong love of the breed. This is a story she shares with many greyhound people. There’s just something about these dogs that hooks people in for the long haul. It helps that there are greyhound communities all over the country. Racing Club Open Days let greyhound owners see the life their pets used to have as race dogs, and many remark how excited their hound is to be on the track again. Cornelia regularly chaperones on club Open Days. If ever there was anyone just a bit curious, she hopes to spark their love of greyhounds and hook them for life too.

The Evans family: a day in the life of greyhound trainers

Bonnie, Steve and son Riley have been training greyhounds as a family since Riley fell in love with the job during the 2020 lockdown. Rain or shine they’re out working with their dogs, looking after them, keeping them fit and healthy. “They’re fed before we’re fed,” Bonnie says. But it isn’t just hard yards, Riley says. “If I’m loving what I’m doing it’s like I’m not really working at all.”

The day-to-day life of greyhound trainers

Gary and Sandra have been training greyhounds since they retired from working in dairy – and there’s nothing else they’d rather be doing. Living and working with greyhounds changes your life. Gary and Sandra have dozens of stories about the incredible impression their greyhounds have left on people. Here are just some of the tales from their racing kennel.

Anthony Stone, Great Mates greyhound rehoming

Anthony gets up each morning with one goal: to help greyhounds go on to live their best possible lives as beloved pets. Anthony works with greyhounds right out of retirement, calmly introducing them to new things they’ll encounter in pet life. This could be smaller dogs, walking on a leash, or being on their own with people (greyhounds grow up in groups, so are pretty much never away from other greyhounds). Anthony and his team take each dog through the same step-by-step process, whether it takes a day, a month, or longer. No greyhound goes on to the next stage, or to fostering and adoption, unless they’re ready.

Sarah Clausen, greyhound and family life

It’s a rare opportunity to be able to do the job you love AND spend time with your family while doing it, but this is what Sarah Clausen does. Her life is quite busy. As both mum and greyhound trainer, she looks after all her hounds and her two youngsters as well. Luckily there are things even a tiny human can do to help mum out, and said tiny human is pretty enthusiastic too! The most important job he does is play with the puppies (dream job tbh). It’s great for puppies to experience things like meeting kids when they’re young. It’ll really help them become calm, confident and friendly adult dogs who are used to people of all ages.

This video is part of our ongoing series featuring the real people inside New Zealand’s greyhound community and how they live, work and play with this incredible breed. New Zealand’s greyhound sector is on notice, and greyhound people deserve a fair go to show how dedicated they are to ensuring their dogs’ quality of life. Help us by sharing these real stories so we can educate Kiwis on how greyhounds in New Zealand live today.

Rosemary Blackburn, greyhound trainer

Rosemary Blackburn is hilariously honest about all things. When we asked her how long she had been training greyhounds for she said ‘far too long’ and that she was going to ‘retire tomorrow.’ This was of course one of her many jokes, because as soon as she was out and about showing us a typical day in her greyhound kennels, you could clearly see she was going to be training greyhounds until she could no longer stand. She proves that if you were anything short of 100% dedicated to greyhounds, you wouldn’t be able to do the job for long (let alone ‘far too long’).

For anyone curious about the treadmill, Rosemary told us she prefers it for walking her dogs safely, because her property is on a busy open road with narrow verges.

Dan Roberts and Tayla Duley, caring for racing greyhounds

What is a kennel hand? First off, the job title is Kiwi modesty at its finest, because a kennel hand is far more than just lending a hand around a racing kennel. Kennel hands take care of pretty much every aspect of a racing greyhound’s life, such as nutrition, recovery, hygiene, grooming, and much more. But most important of all, kennel hands bond with the dogs, making sure they all feel happy and loved. Dan and Tayla both train greyhounds and do kennel hand duties.

They’re very modest about what they do, but the unfiltered love in the eyes of Thor while he got a bath reveals how much they really do for these dogs. Thor won a big race just before filming, and it was clear to see why: happy greyhounds win races.

Craig Roberts, greyhound trainer

When asked what makes a champion greyhound a champion, Craig said there is no magic formula. He said if you treat every dog you have like a champion, you have the best chance one of them will be. It seems for greyhounds, just like human athletes, having someone who loves you and believes in you 100% makes all the difference. Craig’s retired champion, Dyna Vikkers, is compelling proof. He is a New Zealand Cup winner, greyhound racing Hall of Fame inductee, won 33 out of the 57 races he ran, and now lives on Craig’s couch.

Riley Evans, greyhound trainer

At 20 years old, Riley is one of New Zealand’s youngest greyhound trainers. Over lockdown in 2020, Riley was stuck at home helping his parents Steve and Bonnie (both greyhound trainers) around the kennels. During this time, it properly dawned on him that he wanted to pursue a career with greyhounds. Since then, he’s shown remarkable determination and work ethic to establish himself as a greyhound trainer just 1 year later. He loves his job and wouldn’t change a thing. He also loves to tell his mates that he gets to do his job and play with dogs at the same time.

Nick and Magnus

Nick and Magnus are one of Janice’s success stories. Nick adopted Magnus over a year ago and he settled in quickly. Then came a huge change for both of them – the arrival of twin babies! Amazingly, Magnus took this in his stride and is now a proud dog parent. Nick often finds him calmly snoozing in the nursery. Nick was drawn to greyhounds because he liked the idea of a mature, chilled-out dog. Thankfully Janice had just the one for him. The twins will be growing up with a stellar companion.

Janice rehomes greyhounds with May Hounds. Matching Magnus to Nick was her shortest rehoming journey (in terms of distance), as they’re both Hokitika locals.

Ange’s Hand Reared Pups

Ange did what few thought was possible: she successfully hand-reared a litter of greyhound puppies from just hours after they were born. She talks us through this marathon feat which involved 24/7 care for days on end. At one point she was feeding them every 60 minutes, around the clock. Every single one of these puppies made it. Today they are 3 months old, full of energy and personality.

Like all New Zealanders living and working with animals, greyhound people deserve a fair go. New Zealand’s greyhound sector has been put on notice, but the kiwi greyhound community is small and aren’t having their voices heard. They deserve a fair chance to show kiwis how they work and how much they love and care for their dogs. We need support from everyday kiwis. Help us share real stories from the real kiwis living and working with greyhounds today.

Quistis and Pups

While in Christchurch last week we caught up with trainer and breeder, Sarah Clausen. We were in for a treat as one of her Greyhounds, Quistis, had just given birth to a litter of puppies a few days earlier.