So you’ve decided you’d like to adopt a dog from GAL – that’s great news!

Although there is no such thing as a perfect dog or a perfect home, GAL will always endeavour to find the right dog for the right home. Our fostering and rehoming process has been designed to give us the best possible chance of matching you up with the right dog for you and your family, and to give every GAL dog the best possible chance to find a suitable forever home.

GAL incoming dogs, mainly greyhounds or lurchers, are received either from trainers direct or as welfare cases, usually following a call to our Helpline. We try to find out as much information as possible about the dog at this stage, including whether they’ve been neutered, chipped, their medical history and any known behaviours such as toilet training, reactivity, etc.

Here at GAL, we don’t have kennels - we place all our hounds into foster homes. We fully support our fosterers with any issues and concerns they may have about the dogs in their care. Our fosterers do amazing work, welcoming dogs into their homes. This gives the dogs time to be introduced to living in a house and getting ready for their forever home.

While they’re in a foster home, we speak to our fosterers regularly and receive weekly updates about our dogs awaiting adoption. Regular updates help us get to know their dog’s personalities and assess the type of home they would be best suited to. We assess factors such as the dog’s temperament, likes and dislikes, whether they’re comfortable with stairs, if they’re cat-friendly and OK with small dogs. 

We will also assess if they might be suitable for homing with another dog, children, and if they need any additional support or indeed when they are ready for rehoming.

All of our dogs get medical checkups, and they are chipped and neutered before they are rehomed.

Once you’re approved, we’ll welcome you to Team GAL, you’ll be added to our adopter’s list, and we will start to assess the dogs we currently have waiting for a home and incoming dogs to see if they’re a match for you.

We’d also encourage you to have a look at our Available Dogs section on this site, where you can learn a little about the dogs we currently have waiting for a home, and let us know if you are interested in any of these guys.

We also have regular events where you will be able to meet some of our dogs and speak to some of our volunteers and owners who’ve adopted from us. This is also an excellent opportunity to ask any questions you have and raise any concerns you might have. 

Introductions: We’ll get in touch as soon as we have found a dog that we believe might be a good match for you, and we’d make the arrangements to get you together.

Meet & Greet: We’ll arrange a meet and greet for you to take the dog for a walk and find out a little bit about them. We can then arrange a sleep-over so you can spend a little more time with the dog and get to know them a little better. If all goes well, we’ll arrange for your new companion to move in with you.

Follow Up: Once your dog is settled into their new home, we’ll arrange a follow up. We like to make sure our dogs are happy and settling into their forever home, and that you have the support you need adjusting to life with a new member of the family.

We will call up from time to time during the first few months to see how it’s all going, help you with any issues or concerns, and answer any questions that come up.

We’ll also provide you with some tips for introducing your new companion into your home, family, friends and any pets you already have in your house, as well as some information about greyhounds and lurchers to help you take care of them.

We always have dogs that are currently looking for homes, and new dogs arriving, so you shouldn’t have long to wait for your new companion!

We like to make sure our dogs are happy and settling into their forever home, and that you have the support you need adjusting to life with a new member of the family.

 We will arrange some follow-up calls during the first few months to see how it’s all going, help you with any issues or concerns, and answer any questions that come up.

Once you have adopted a dog from GAL, you will have access to our support and advice, whenever you need us, for the remainder of the dog’s life.

We love to catch up with our hounds and see them thriving with their new families. We hope you’ll stay in touch via our Facebook and/or Instagram pages and would love to see you at our events from time to time.