Marco Contextual 2.6.1 Grupo de Investigación

I have been taken to a new place. The trainer brought me here along with a couple others. There are new humans here. I want their attention. I jump around. I leap around some more. I stare. Instead of noticing me, they have gotten a small one and are walking me with it. It is so unfamiliar. It is littler than me. Why is it so small? It has more fur than me. It smells odd. I look at and try and sniff it. I get pulled away. I keep walking. I do not stare at it again. I have now been taken to a place where the floor is weird under my feet. It is slippery. But, I do not mind. One of the new people has let out a four-legged fluffy. It meows. I want to look at it. I keep trying to look at it. Every time I look at it, I get sprayed with water. Why do they do this?

I am taken to the kennel. There are others like me here. But, they smell different. The kennels are different too. They smell different. But, yet they are familiar so I drink from the bucket, walk onto the bed, and curl up. It feels soft under me.

It is the next day. I am in a big grassy area. I tugged on the leash on the way here. I was pulled back each time! Hurry up human! I want to run! I want to

enter through the wire thing so I can run! Why won’t you let me in first!

I enter through the gate after them and they unclip me. I walk with my nose to the ground. There is one spot in the grass. I sniff it. It smells wrong. So I spray it. I sniff again. I dig the ground. Now it smells right. There is another like me here too. I run at it and we chase each other around. Back and forth. Back and forth.

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Chapter six: Liminality at the adoption

agency

In Olive’s and Joe’s stories I describe what greyhounds may experience whilst at the

adoption agency. Here, greyhounds see a small dog and a cat for the first time in

their lives. Additionally, even though greyhounds have the same experiences during

their stay, the stories indicate that each greyhound is an individual with their own

personality so they will react differently to the new situations. Whilst Joe, an

extraverted greyhound, coped well with the changes in his life, Olive, who is more

introverted, was overwhelmed and anxious with being separated from her owner and

her racing life.

Leaving the racing kennels and arriving at the adoption agency signifies the next

stage of a greyhound’s rite of passage. They are physically separated from their previous role as a racing dog. This means that they have left all they have ever know

before behind. They will not see the kennels, the race track, or their trainers again.

They will also never race again. This makes them initiands who are experiencing a

transition.

Since greyhounds have been separated from their racing life by arriving at the

adoption agency, they are no longer racing dogs; however, they are also not yet a pet.

Their role is, therefore, ambiguous and undeterminable. Thus, during their stay at the

adoption agency greyhounds are in a state of liminality. Whilst liminal, they are

deconditioned and reconditioned in order to prepare them for their future life as a

pet. Greyhounds remain in this state until they are adopted, which marks their next

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A greyhound’s transition into becoming a pet begins as soon as they arrive, even before their trainer leaves. During their first hour, greyhounds are exposed to many

new actors that they have never encountered before. This occurs during the

temperament tests and signify to greyhounds that their world is changing.

The first of these temperament tests is designed to assess whether a greyhound will

be accepted into the adopted agency and can, therefore, begin their transition. This

temperament test involves investigating how a greyhound behaves around small

dogs. Most retired greyhounds have never encountered another breed of dog before

so this is a completely new experience for them.

Temperament testing, thus, involves walking muzzled greyhounds alongside a small

dog. During these walks of about six minutes, greyhounds’ reaction to and behaviour around these dogs are assessed by adoption agency staff. This helps the staff to

decide whether greyhounds would be suitable for life as a pet. If a greyhound can

walk on a leash alongside a small dog without paying too much attention to or

attacking it, then they pass the temperament test and will be able to move onto this

stage of their rite of passage.

On the other hand, if a greyhound shows they are very interested in a small dog by

trying to get at it or staring intently at it, then they fail. If this happens, the

greyhound will not be accepted into the programme and is not made available for

adoption. It is, thus, up to the trainer to decide what to do next with their dog -

whether they will keep the greyhound as a pet, adopt the dog out themselves, or

euthanize it. Advice is given to trainers about how to train their dog so that it may

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same rite of passage as greyhounds who are accepted immediately to the adoption

agency.

As with the small dogs, most greyhounds have never seen a cat before. Thus, there is

no telling what a greyhound would do if they are adopted into a home with a pet cat

as they can resemble the lure greyhounds are trained to chase after so they may try

chase and kill them as well. It is for this reason that during the first day at the

adoption agency greyhounds are introduced to the resident cat, Bee, in a cat

temperament test. How greyhounds behave around Bee during this test help adoption

agency staff to decide whether they could live with a cat.

In this chapter I will discuss the different actors retired racing greyhounds encounter

and have a relationship with whilst at the adoption agency. I will discuss how they

influence greyhounds’ behaviour to change over the course of their stay. The chapter will be divided into the following sections: greyhounds’ relationships with humans,

greyhounds’ relationships with other greyhounds, greyhounds’ relationships with other dog breeds, greyhounds’ relationships with cats and other animals, and greyhounds’ relationships with the environment.

Greyhounds’ relationships with humans