Koroit local Denis Morgan has recently adopted his first greyhound through the Greyhound Adoption Program following an involvement in racing greyhounds.

He bought his first greyhound for five pounds as a teenager with money saved from doing a local paper round.

“It all started when I was 16-years-old,” he said. “It took me six months to pay off,” Mr Morgan said.

Morgan admitted he didn’t know what breed of dog his new pet was when he purchased him, but as he started to grow people told him “that’s a greyhound.”

“He just got bigger and bigger,” he said. “Someone said take him down to the track, so I took him down and let him watch some trials and he showed promise.”

“His racing name was Blue Kimber and he ended up winning his first race at 18 months of age and then won the next four after that,” he said.

“There were 35 greyhounds up for adoption that day, but when it looked like someone else was going to adopt Andy, James threw a tantrum. I had no choice but to bring him home.”

Despite Blue Kimber’s racing career taking off he was still treated as a pet.

“He slept inside with us, and ate what we ate,” Morgan said.

Morgan said he has raced other dogs since, but he’s never had more than two at a time.

He recently decided to become involved with the Greyhound Adoption Program after his two ‘rescue’ German Shepherds passed away.

Morgan took home Andy from a GAP Adoption Day at Sandown in March, and said he has settled in perfectly to his home in Victoria’s west.

“He is starting to come out of his shell,” he said.

“I wasn’t leaving Sandown without him that day as my three-year-old grandson, James, was obsessing over him and even tried to buy him with a 20 cent coin he had in his pocket. He was trying to hand the 20 cent piece to the GAP volunteer who was assigned to looking after Andy at the event.”

“There were 35 greyhounds up for adoption that day, but when it looked like someone else was going to adopt Andy, James threw a tantrum. I had no choice but to bring him home, and I’m glad I did because Andy has been a great addition to our home,” Denis laughed.