About Us

In 2014, a group of greyhound enthusiasts attended an event in the United States that featured a speaker from Ireland discussing Irish Greyhounds, we were hooked! After supporting the greyhound community for over a decade, we wanted to know more, and more importantly, we wanted to explore the possibility of bringing these amazing hounds to North America once they were ready to retire.

A year later, in 2015, Finding Loving Irish Greyhounds Homes Together (FLIGHT) was formed under the auspices of Greyhound Trust & Alliance (GT&A), an organization created in 2009 that had a long history of working with, and supporting greyhound groups across Canada and the United States. GT&A was a southwestern Ontario-based organization whose volunteers had decades of experience working with retired racers and an extensive network of professionals dedicated to the care and well-being of these amazing sighthounds. In 2021, FLIGHT expanded its mission to include salukis and saluki-crosses from the Middle East and we became FLIGHTS – Finding Loving International Greyhounds Homes Together and Salukis.

Since opening our doors in 2015 (it took a bit of time to get that paperwork completed), FLIGHTS has grown in leaps and bounds, almost doubling our placements with the support of partner groups year over year in North America.
The response and demand has been so amazing, that FLIGHTS has overshadowed GT&A as an organization, and as such, GT&A decided to take an indefinite hiatus so that volunteers could focus solely on FLIGHTS.
If that news was not exciting enough, we announced that starting in 2021, FLIGHTS shifted our focus and offer direct adoptions to approved individuals/families within Quebec and Ontario, Canada.

So what did that mean?
In 2018 an earnest pair of volunteers packed their bags and headed to Ireland to learn and discover firsthand what the life of an Irish racing and coursing greyhounds were like. We met with the people involved in both industries, kennel owners, breeders, farms, adoption groups, a greyhound sanctuary and veterinarians to better understand the differences and similarities of Irish greyhounds versus their American cousins.
This new found knowledge has been encompassed into the information shared with prospective adopters.

NEWS FLASH!
They’re coming to America!
In 2019, FLIGHTS received a communication from then-President Rory Goree of Greyhound Pets of America – National (GPA National) inquiring about how the organization could help place retired Irish greyhounds into adoptive homes in the United States. FLIGHTS provided guidance and support to launch GPA National’s own initiative aimed at finding homes south of the border for these retired Irish athletes. With FLIGHTS’ assistance, GPA National and its affiliated groups have welcomed thousands of greyhounds since 2019.

How does it work?
FLIGHTS works directly with its partners to identify sighthounds for inclusion into the adoption program. Our wish is to promote sighthounds as the beautiful and loving canine companions that they are, and who deserve to find loving forever families. When bringing Middle Eastern salukis and saluki crosses to Ontario, FLIGHTS works with its partners in Doha to identify hounds that also deserve to find loving forever homes.

One of our goals is to ensure each sighthound that comes into the FLIGHTS’ program has the same support and safety net that greyhound adoption agencies in North America have traditionally provided. FLIGHTS draws on the experience of its volunteers to support all hounds and approved families coming into the adoption program, provide the guidance and assistance required.

NEWS FLASH 2023!
They’re coming to Canada.

With COVID creating major challenges and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) implementing a ban on rescue groups importing dogs from over 100 countries into Canada as of September 28, 2022, the year we had spent building relationships with Racing2Rehome (R2R) in Australia and Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) had to be put on hold. During that time, we shifted our focus and worked urgently to help save as many Salukis in Qatar as possible before the ban took effect, and remains in effect to this day.

We kicked off 2023 with exciting progress, partnering with both organizations to begin bringing retired Australian greyhounds into Canada. This marks a huge milestone for FLIGHTS. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first organization in Canada to build strong partnerships with both Ireland and Australia to support the rehoming of their retired racing greyhounds.

With this important step forward, we have also updated our name slightly to better reflect the work we do. We are now known as: FLIGHTS — Finding Loving International Greyhounds Homes Together & Salukis.

2025 saw the the first British Racing greyhounds to retire in Canada!

FLIGHTS is a Recognized Responsible Adoption Group with the following entities;
Greyhound Racing Ireland (GRI),  Irish Retired Greyhound Trust (IRGT), & Irish Coursing Club (ICC) in Ireland.
FLIGHTS is also a Racing2Rehome (R2R) & Greyhound Racing Victoria (GRV) in Australia
FLIGHTS is also a Lincolnshire Greyhound Trust & Entain in the United Kingdom
FLIGHTS is also acknowledged by the World Greyhound Organization.