Home Checks: What To Expect?

So, you’ve taken the step to register with a rehoming centre!  Congratulations!  Next stage…the home check!

This  doesn’t need to be a scary prospect, no one is trying to trip you up on  purpose! It is purely a case of ensuring that the property itself is  safe and secure for a hound to come and live with you.

Generally,  home checks are a fairly quick affair…depending on how many questions  you might quiz the home checker with!  But what are they specifically  looking for?

The indoor section  of the check will be to assess whether there is ample space for a hound  in the home and that you have considered places for the dog to sleep and  eat.

They’ll be looking at  things such as where the dog bed is going to go, whether baby gates are  needed for the kitchen, how steep are the stairs, is the floor carpet or  lino and if the latter are their rugs to stop the dog slipping?  Are  there any floor length windows or patio doors?  These are a big one,  because greyhounds are not bright, and they will run into them!

They will also be looking for any undisclosed pets!
It  is essential that you are open and honest with your rehoming centre, to  ensure the best possible match in a hound and the happily ever after  you’re all looking for!  

Should  you tell your rehoming centre that you don’t have pets only for the home  checker to discover you have…it can heavily impact on your application  and potentially have you barred from adopting a greyhound altogether!

If  you do have pets, and have informed the centre of them, the home  checker will be looking at their general condition, their housing or bed  areas (where applicable) and feeding arrangements.  The last point most  importantly being in relation to any existing dogs in the home.  In  bringing a second hound home, the way the dogs are fed will need to be  re-arranged so to ensure they have their own individual space as they  get acquainted to prevent any resource guarding behaviours...but we'll  discuss this in a future post!

In  the outdoor section of the check, they will be looking at the garden  fencing as the most important factor.  Is it tall and secure enough?   Are there any gates, gaps, or sections of weakness that a dog might  escape.  Are the gates open bar or solid?

They  will also look at the garden itself, is it tidy or are there quite a  lot of obstacles like kids’ toys, trampolines, gardening equipment or  greenhouses…and do you feed the wildlife?  The last thing you want to be  doing is encouraging squirrels, hedgehogs, and other critters into the  garden when you take your hound home!

It  is universal that rehoming and rescues centres request secure 6ft  fencing, regardless of breed, though there can be some exceptions to  this so it’s important to discuss your fencing situation with them and  take their recommendations on how to secure the garden should you have  low fencing but be operating on a budget!  Never underestimate the power  (and cost effectiveness) of a bit of trellis!

While  the home checker may advise certain things such as putting a baby gate  at the bottom of the stairs, or tidying away certain things in the  garden, as a rule they are there purely to assess the property and will  report back to the rehoming centre for them to make the final decision  on whether you passed or failed.

But  this is assuming your chosen rehoming centre sends someone out to see  you!  Since Covid, where home checks had to be carried out virtually,  many rehoming centres chose to maintain this policy well after the  restrictions lifted and now carry them out on a permanent basis.

While  this saves a lot of time and effort in managing volunteers or  coordinating staff to attend properties, it can feel impersonal.  So,  make sure to ask them any questions, that you would have done during the  home visit, either over the phone or in attending the centre!

They  will still be looking to identify all the same aspects as an in person  home check!  If the centre requests a virtual home check, whether video  or photo, make sure to show them the entire house and garden.  Ensure  they have access to see all sections of the garden fencing!  
To  avoid confusion or misinterpretation on their end, take a photo of a  tape measure up against the fence showing exactly how high it is.  

If  the rehoming centre only ask to see a photo of the garden, and a very  limited insight into the home such as just where the dog is going to  sleep…that’s a big red flag!  So, bear that in mind!

Most  importantly, be honest!  Virtual home checks have their place, but on  numerous occasions they have been taken advantage of by applicant in the  past to omit certain aspects of their homes and family.  We have seen  it on several occasions where applicants have tidied away evidence of  cats, house rabbits and indoor caged birds before taking their  photos/videos to submit their virtual home check.

Thankfully  in each event, they were caught out before it got too far…but should a  greyhound have been placed in any of those situations, it would have  resulted in disaster.

To surmise,  home checks are very straight forward and as long as your home doesn’t  look like an episode of hoarders, the garden is secure, you don’t have a  puppy mill in the basement and that you don’t come across with the vibe  of an axe-wielding murderer…you’ll probably pass your home check!  Or  at least receive a pass pending certain advisories such as rugs on lino  floors and stickers on the patio doors!

If  you are successful in passing your home check, and your application  overall is accepted, you’ll soon find yourself matched with a hound and  invited to the rehoming centre to meet them!  Exciting times!