Overbreeding creates hound homing problem

Greyhound adoption groups say the breed is gentle and adaptable, and people shouldn't be put off taking them home in the wake of the live baiting scandal.

Greyhound Adoptions WA spokeswoman Toni Donnelly said the charity had taken in dogs that had been "blooded" and the cruel practice did not make them permanently aggressive, so they were able to be re-homed.

"It is not in their nature to be that way but greyhounds will do what they're told to do and trained to do," she told AAP.

"The dogs put all of that behind them - it is forgotten quickly and very happily.

"They live in the now."

Ms Donnelly agreed with Friends of the Hound president Lisa White, who said there was a big overbreeding problem in the industry, with 20,000 greyhounds bred each year and most of them not making the grade for racing.

"There is absolutely no other outcome for the majority of these dogs except an early death," Ms White told Fairfax radio.

"Is that abhorrent in itself - why are we overbreeding dogs for gambling?"

Ms Donnelly said Racing and Wagering WA (RRWA) needed to make provisions for re-homing dogs that didn't prove successful on the track.

RRWA should ensure owners pay a bond or the like so dogs they've given up on are taken care of, she suggested.

"The CEO David Hobbs did say to us that he would endeavour to find some sort of holding kennel ... so that dogs who don't have foster homes yet can be housed, rather than being put down," Mr Donnelly said.

"That would be a gesture that would show RRWA were actually on the side of the dogs."

Ms White, who has been rescuing and re-homing greyhounds for the past 12 years, said the industry was focused on money and hadn't fulfilled its regulatory obligations, resulting in poor animal welfare.

But Ms Donnelly said there were many ethical people in the business being tainted by a minority.