Greyhounds gather for awareness

GREYHOUNDS will descend on Balyang Reserve next weekend for the inaugural Geelong Great Global Greyhound Walk.

To be held on September 28, the event will be hosted by the Long Dog Club, which supports greyhound rescues and is deeply passionate about long dogs living better lives.

Local event organiser and Long Dog Club founder Kayley Woods said the group was excited to host the event, the first for the region, and is hoping to break some records.

“We’ll gather all the greyhounds and other sighthound breeds and then we’ll count them all up and get a grand total at the end, which is worldwide.

“We’re hoping this year will be the biggest that we have and raise awareness for greyhounds.”

Once all the dogs have been counted on the day, the group will go for a walk through Balyang Sanctuary, with participation the main focus of the event.

The Great Global Greyhound Walk started in the UK and has spread around the globe with the aim of raising awareness of the benefits of greyhound adoption.

Ms Woods put her hand up to run the Geelong event because of her work with the Long Dog Club and wanting to give people a way to connect with each other.

“If you were to adopt a greyhound, it’s hard to engage in events and stuff that isn’t racing related, so we wanted to start that up and connect the community a little bit more.

“We thought since there is a big greyhound population in Geelong, it would be great to connect everyone for the group.”

Ms Woods is also hoping the event will be a talking point for people to help the community gain an understanding of the calm nature of greyhounds and how relaxed they are away from the racetrack.

“There’s not really many opportunities for people to learn about greyhounds. I think the public perception around greyhounds is still not really accurate,” she said.

“I think the more that we do events like this and get the word out, the better for the breed.”

The group will meet at the Balyang Sanctuary car park near the Geelong Canoe Club just before 10am before embarking on the walk.

For more information, head to longdogclub.com.au