Move over, cavoodles: Meet Sydney’s $27,000 dog

Move over, cavoodles, with your $5000 price tag. Meet the $27,000 greyhound.

Not that Whisper looked like a dog worth anywhere near that amount when Erika Wadlow-Smith met him. She watched him hurl around an office, soil the sofa and freak out when she pulled a stick-shaped vegetable out of her bag.

“His whole face contorted into a thousand wrinkles – he was terrified,” she said. “He had a lot of issues. Anxiety issues.” She now knows he also came to her with a broken rib and three serious muscle tears from his former career as a racing dog.

Erika Wadlow-Smith with Whisper, the greyhound she adopted after his retirement from racing. Credit: Louise Kennerley

Whisper was rehomed by GAP (Greyhounds as Pets). GAP is run by Greyhound Racing NSW, the organisation with a government-appointed board that operates the dog racing industry in the state. GAP rehabilitates racing greyhounds for adoption and finds them new homes.

In the financial year to mid-2023, GAP cost $11.1 million and accepted 404 dogs for rehoming, the Greyhound Welfare and Integrity Commission annual report said. That equates to $27,475 a dog. There were 1654 retirements in that period, with some dogs retained by trainers or rehomed privately.

Greyhound Racing NSW disputes these figures and says more than 2000 dogs were “assisted to pet life” (equating to $5000 per dog).

Either way, “we can’t see how this money is being spent directly on the dogs”, said Kylie Field from the Coalition for the Protection of Greyhounds. She said many of the adopted dogs were not socialised, and had injuries and poor teeth.

Olympic canoeist Jess Fox is a volunteer ambassador for GAP, with her rescue greyhound PINK.

The coalition has called on GAP to detail its spending, particularly on advertising and celebrity ambassadors. When asked whether the celebrity ambassadors were paid, GRNSW said: “This is commercial in confidence”.

One of its ambassadors is Olympic kayaker Jessica Fox, who owns retired racer Pink. Fox’s spokesman said she was not paid for the role.

Once upon a time, the equivalent of $27,000 would have been a bargain for a greyhound. For most of their history, they were the hounds of royalty and aristocrats. Ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans loved them. They appeared in the Bible.

In medieval Britain, they had their own coats of arms and could be owned only by nobility. They were prized for their elegance and, as a 16th-century scholar once wrote, their “incredible swiftnesse”. “It’s been their downfall, really – their speed,” says Wadlow-Smith.

A greyhound featured in 15th century painter Paolo Uccello’s The Hunt in the Forest.

Sydney is a dog-loving town; almost half of the council areas have more dogs than children. But cavoodles, which can cost $5000, sit atop the canine hierarchy, while retired greyhounds – which cost an owner around $200 – can’t find homes.

These days NSW greyhounds are working dogs, trained for one of the world’s last surviving dog racing industries. Most countries, including the United States, have all but banned greyhound racing. American punters now bet on Australian races.

The state’s industry was almost shut down eight years ago after a report by a retired high court judge found it had “fundamental animal welfare issues, integrity, and governance failings that could not be remedied”.

It was put on notice to improve. A key problem persists; the fate of retired greyhounds. The industry is still producing too many dogs to rehome.

The former chief vet at Greyhound Racing NSW, Alex Brittan, warned this year that rehoming rates were being inflated and euthanasia rates underestimated. He said it was immoral to allow more dogs to “enter this unsustainable morass of exploitation and suffering”.

His claims, revealed in this masthead, prompted the government to order an inquiry into GRNSW, which will look at the welfare of dogs in the industry, and the accuracy of GRNSW’s reporting on key issues such as rehoming and euthanasia.

It has also ordered an inquiry into a GAP rehoming facility at Wyee, which was closed in May as a cost-cutting measure by GRNSW and has been the subject of allegations about animal welfare concerns.

There are also questions about a GRNSW program that sends dogs to the US after two of the seven dogs flown there in June died. One was found dead on arrival and another arrived sick and died later, probably from heat stress, GRNSW said.

GRNSW said the $11.1 million covered investment in future growth, including the expansion of its Regional GAP Program, the US Adoption Program and Western Sydney facility improvements and training programs.

Animal Justice MP Emma Hurst echoed the concerns about GAP’s finances and welfare practices. She wants Racing Minister David Harris to suspend GRNSW’s operating licence.

“We are told that $11.1 million has been spent on rehoming greyhounds, but we are also hearing from former staff that vet care was often refused for dogs in the GAP program, and requests for facility upgrades and maintenance were ignored,” she said.

“We cannot simply allow this industry to continue to run while matters as serious as animal cruelty, fiscal mismanagement, and misleading reporting are being investigated.”

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