All About Greyhounds

Greyhounds in History

Greyhounds are an ancient breed of dog with drawings of a Greyhound type dog dating back to 6000 B.C. in what is now Turkey. Egyptian tombs also revealed mummified Greyhounds. In fact, King Tutankhamen and Queen Cleopatra were two Egyptian rulers that kept Greyhounds as pets.
The Roman poet, Ovid lived around the time of Christ and wrote the following about Greyhounds, : As when the impatient Greyhound, slipped from far/ Bounds o’er the glade to course the fearful hare/ She is her speed does all her safety lie,/ And he with double speed pursues his prey.
The Isle of Dogs in East London derived its name from Edward III (1312-1377) because that is where he kept his Greyhounds.
Henry VIII (1491-1547) appropriated the Greyhound as his personal symbol which remains the standard for the House of York.
Greyhounds were the first breed of dog mentioned in English literature with Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales.
Louis XI (1423-1483) had a favorite Greyhound that he dubbed Cher Ami and fitted her with a solid gold collar studded with rubies.
James II of England (1633-1701), who restored Catholicism to England, loved hunting with his Greyhounds so much that when he was deposed from the throne and fled to France, the English were so glad to have him gone that they allowed him to take 20,000 Greyhounds and an Irish regiment to care for them.
Greyhounds accompanied Columbus to the New World where they were used as canine bodyguards. They also sailed with Captain Cook who discovered Australia and Hawaii, among other islands.
It wasn’t until 1700 that commoners could legally own Greyhounds. Anyone but nobility was punished to death if it was discovered they had stolen a Greyhound.
General Custer traveled often with no less than 14 Greyhounds. The day before the Little Big Horn massacre, Custer coursed 40 Greyhounds and then sent them away with James H. Kelly. Kelly would eventually become the mayor of Dodge City, Kansas and it was reported that Greyhounds, some having belonged to Custer, ran loose throughout the town.
English and Irish immigrants brought Greyhounds to the United States in the 1800’s and it was their love of lure coursing that developed into today’s racing. Owen Patrick Smith invented the first mechanical lure in 1906 as a direct response to the public’s outrage at the bloodletting of live rabbits.

To own a Greyhound is to own a piece of History.

The Greyhound Character

One of the single most important qualities of the Greyhound is that they are a member of the Sighthound family. Why is this so important you may ask? Being a sighthound means that Greyhounds hunt by sight and therefore run after anything that moves. Greyhounds will just as easily chase a moving plastic bag or trash as they will game. Therefore, and we cannot stress this enough, a Greyhound must never be off leash unless in a totally fenced in area. There are enough stories about Greyhounds being hit by cars to fill a book, so please heed our advice on this one.

The Greyhound can achieve speeds of up to forty-five miles an hour but contrary to popular opinion, they do not need a lot of exercise. Most Greyhounds do well with a 30-minute walk a day. In fact Greyhounds are commonly dubbed, “the 40 mile an hour couch potato.” While they may be couch potatoes, they are not lazy about letting their human families know how much they love getting attention. Greyhounds will often times follow their human around from room to room also earning themselves the nickname of “Velcro dogs.” Solitary dogs, these are not, and most Greyhounds thrive in environments with other animals. They also have the peculiar trait of recognizing other Greyhounds.

Greyhounds come in an astounding variety of color and color variations. These colors include black, white, blue (grey), fawn, red, cream, many shades of brindle, and all colors broken with white. While it may be tempting to select a Greyhound based on its color, the most important aspect of adopting a Greyhound is matching the right personality with your household. Another wonderful trait of Greyhounds is that they require little grooming beyond a quick brush a day as they have short, smooth coats and little doggie odor.

While we could go on and on about these extraordinary dogs, we again encourage you to read as much as you can about this wonderful breed. Again we recommend any book that is written by Cynthia Branigan.