A ground-breaking program involving retired greyhounds is being described as a 'win-win' for police officers and the pooches themselves.

Serving and retired members of the Australian Federal Police (AFPA) will soon have access to greyhounds as companion animals to help deal with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

"The head of Greyhounds Australia is a former police officer," Michael Cowley from Greyhound Racing NSW explained. "The Police Association was approached to see if they were interested in priority access to greyhounds as companion animals for serving and retired members and they were very keen."

Greyhounds Australia Chairman, Robert Vellar, is that former police officer, and knows both the therapeutic benefit of greyhounds as pets and the comfort they can bring those suffering anxiety disorders.

He fully understands the mental strain of working on the front line and being exposed on a daily basis to harrowing and traumatic events, which can ultimately lead to officers suffering from PTSD.

“The aim is to facilitate the perfect partnership involving the welfare of these beautiful greyhounds, and the welfare of first responders," Mr Vellar said.

“As a former police officer, I fully understand the trauma that police face in their daily workloads. Our experience has been that by adopting a greyhound as a loyal, forever companion, it will assist in the management of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder."

AFPA President, Alex Caruana said the psycho-social benefits of pet ownership, and support animal in particular, for people living with PTSD is significant.

“Police Association members are at a significantly increased risk of acquiring mental health injuries, and also of those injuries developing into PTSD," he said.

"The typically busy operational work life of our members, coupled with socially-isolating shifts and on-call rosters, means that they often find it exceedingly difficult to switch off and decompress after traumatic incidents.

"Highly-trained and decorated police association members invariably become broken and insular through no fault of their own," Mr Caruana said.

The program is still in its infancy, but has already had successful adoptions with one former officer saying her greyhound helped significantly with her PTSD struggles.

Retired athlete and well known dog trainer, Steve Austin will retain the animals with police officers able to apply for a dog in the near future. AFPA members will be given priority access to adopt greyhounds through Greyhounds as Pets NSW.

“Greyhounds are loyal, loving and low maintenance and we say if you want a great mate, adopt a greyhound,” Mr Vellar said.