By Jenny Barwise

Last updated at 13:06, Monday, 17 September 2012

A greyhound trainer who has rehomed more than 800 retired racing dogs says he’ll continue his work until the day he dies.

Tom Edgar

Tom Edgar, 59, has kennels at Northside Road, Workington, where he cares for the dogs sent to him from all over the country by the Retired Greyhound Trust.

Mr Edgar has struggled in the past to rehome the dogs, but has found things are massively improving.

“We are bucking the trend in Cumbria and are doing very well,” he said. “We are getting a lot of repeat work at the moment. When I started off 12 years ago people were taking dogs off me and now the dogs have passed away, so I am getting some people coming back for another.”

At the moment Mr Edgar has 16 retired greyhounds waiting to be rehomed and said he’s pairing dogs with new owners once a week.

Mr Edgar is also a professional greyhound trainer, but he said the owners of the dogs he trains don’t pass them on to him when they retire. They all keep them when their racing days are over.

Instead, he tends to get the animals from other areas in the country and from people who have became too old to care for the dogs or who have died.

And Mr Edgar, who is in the middle of renovating a new home in Allonby, said that he hopes to find new homes for hundreds more of the dogs.

“I’ll do it until I die – I love it. I get a bigger buzz rehoming a greyhound than I do training a winner,” he said.

And why would he advise people to have a greyhound as a pet?

“I could go on forever about what great pets they make,” he said. “They’ll happily lay in front of a fire all day or will go for a 10-mile walk or just a five-minute one. Because they are athletes they don’t carry a great amount of weight so will live for up to 15 years. They are a very healthy species.”

Anybody interested in rehoming a greyhound should contact Mr Edgar on 07974 384901.

First published at 11:26, Monday, 17 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk