Early Days 

The advice is very much start as you mean to go on but above all be calm, consistent and patient with your new housemate. 

• When you dog arrives home for the first time take him/her outside on a lead to show them where they are expected to toilet. Although clean by nature they won’t be house trained, but this can be dealt with quickly by spotting the signs that they want to go and getting them to the right place straight away. Lots of praise and a little treat when it goes well will help to cement understanding of what is required of them. 
  
• Once they have explored the garden take them around the rooms they are allowed in within the house, again on a lead. This lets them get used to the sights and smells without having to hear constant “no’s” as their pointy noses are inquisitively stuck into everything! 
• If you have another dog at home already, then they will certainly have met your new dog during the adoption process, but it is recommended that you don’t bring your existing dog with you to collect your greyhound to take home. Instead, when you get home, immediately bring your other dog out and take them both for a walk on neutral grounds, to get the excitement of meeting again out of their systems. Then they can go into the house together as friends.
  
• When racing, greyhounds have a very precise routine, so try to get them into a new one that suits your household as soon as you can. That will give them a sense of security. 
• You should have already decided upon rules for them, make sure they are applied consistently. Good cop, bad cop is less likely to work with dogs so everyone needs to be on the same page 
• If at all possible, try to give your greyhound the same feed as they had before. A sudden change of diet can cause tummy upsets, this being the last thing you need at any time but particularly when your dog is adjusting to their new life and routine. Vets recommend that a dietary change happens gradually across the space of at least a week. 
• If you have decided to not allow your greyhound to sleep upstairs with you, this needs to be enforced from night one. If there are squeaks and whines then, of course, come down to settle and reassure them but avoid staying downstairs with them, otherwise you will just transfer the problem to the next night. Once they understand they haven’t been left forever when you went up those strange things called stairs then they will be ok. Having a smart speaker or radio on downstairs playing calm music for them can often be comforting as this is what they’ve known at the kennels. 
• It is tempting to have loads of time off to acclimatise your new arrival and have the whole family at home to enjoy their new friend. As already stated, try to keep things as simple as possible to start with and as near to how ‘normal’ it is going to be as possible, without throwing your hound in at the deep end. So maybe take a few of days off, during which you gradually leave them for increasing periods of time (if that is what their norm is going to be). Certainly, also consider not having too many visitors to encroach their new space. Meeting strangers for walks is a great way of letting them be introduced. 
  
• Remember that a greyhound will almost certainly be used to sounds such as a radio, but they are unlikely to have seen a TV or a hoover. Just let them adjust in their own time. Once they realise such things are not a threat they will accept them.