About the greyhound then....

-This breed is best known for it´s genuine and wholehearted kindness,carried through it´s life with a large amount of pride.With that in mind,it´s still not a guarantee that this breed will get along with children,dogs of other breeds or other domestic pets.

-Nor it it a guarantee that the dog would be useless as a guard & watchdog at home and / or for it´s masters.The Grey can be taught to do a wide variety of things,and if properly introduced to younger members of the family,also learn to love them.

-There´s a lot of examples of Grey´s performing well i.e obedience and agility,although they are ”below average” when it comes to f.x protective manors.Should you,on the other hand,wish for a nice,friendly,easygoing and beautiful breed that you can teach a few tricks…Then a Greyhound is the perfect choice.

-A littl´something to keep in mind though: happy Greys are relatively fast and eager learners.

-Wich means that you´ll acchieve more a whole lot faster with a kind,calm and loving voice and lots of various treats,than you would by means of using harsh language and /or violent  & determent behaviour. A Greyhound has a large,residient,ever present digenety.It´s always sad to see a shy & scared Grey,wich at dogshows,could lead to disqualification or lower points.

As mentioned above,the Grey is a friendly and loving dog who tends to love each and evveryone from the start,therefore it adjusts and adapts quite easilly to the normal everyday familylife. That all large breeds requires a lot of space and work,is a myth hereby smashed to small,insignificant  bits n´pieces.

-Indoors,the Grey is very cool and calm and is usually found in ”it´s own” couch or bed…there are examples of Grey´s even sleeping in baby cradles and other similar pieces of furniture.

-When it comes down to exercise,one´s led to believe that a breed who easilly reaches speeds up to 70km/h (approx.40 mph),needs a lot of exercise,but nothing can be more wrong in this case.

-The Grey is content with daily walks and an occasional hour of ”free running and playing” with it´s master.

-However,at least once a week,the Grey needs to ”blow of some steam” in a secluded area such as a field or other,and if at that point joined by another dog…especially one of it´s own breed,happiness is  utterly complete.

-So it doesn´t require a lot of exercise,but cannot on the other hand, be overtrained or overexercised.

-Furthermore you´ll long to see your Grey stretch out and run,so much that the exercise hopefully never will turn out tire or bothersome for you.  

-The s.c "other" version of the Greyhound,bred for exhibitions and not for racing are slightly higher & thinner built.

-Known healthproblems amongst racedogs : wear & tear in bones,joints,toes and muscular fixing points.No AD/HD problems exists other than amongst the "showroom" Greys.Dental problems are the same..severe plack exists wich calls for regular removal other than ordinary toothbrushing.

Average lifespan for a Greyhound is 12-14 years..

-Here in Sweden,racedogs start their training at about 10-11 months old..the dog must be at least 15 months old to be allowed to complete its licenceraces wich consist of two parts: one solorace over desired distance and one "full field" final race with at least five other dogs.Under that race the dog must prove that it can remain focused at the "rabbit" at all times,no matter what the other dogs in the field does.It must also pass or be passed by other dogs without loosing it´s focus and start chasing the opponents instead.

-If spared of any serious injuries,the dog will be able to race up until the day it turns 6 or 7 years old,after wich it enters retirement and will only "blow off some steam" during training races or as a supportdog for other newbies in their attempts to gain licence for racing.Or simply live the rest of their life enjoying retirement as only Greys can.*s*

-A untrained dog takes about 8-12 weeks to prepare for the track,various methods are used such as :long walks,swimming,start and short runs..uphills,jogging runs i.e..after wich the dog will race once a week and time between races consists of only lighter training or loafing around.

-One famous Grey is ”Santa´s littl´helper” who lives with ”The Simpsons” in Springfield,US.He showed up as an abandonned racedog at the track where ”Homer” naturally had placed all of his last money on the dog in it´s race,wich the dog didn´t win of course,and now resides with the family as ”Bart´s” best friend,spending his days begging for treats,chewing up furniture,sleeping and diggin´up the backyard.

-The Greyhound is considered to be the oldest purebreed in the world,it´s history is filled with anecdotes,stories and tales. Dating as far back as ancient Egypt,dogs looking very much like the modern day Grey have been found depicted and described in burial chambers and on various other locations.

-Flavius Aranus,who lived a thousand years B.C,wrote down a almost complete breed standard of a special sighthound breed,today known as the Greyhound. And in England as far back through time as to the 12th century under Henry II,sighthounds resuming todays Greys are known to have existed.

-But it wasn´t until the 16th century England,under Queen Elisabeth,that Greys were more commonly used as racedogs.

-A rulebook and a set of regulations were drawn up at that time,but it wasn´t until 1776 were as the first ever official dograce took place in Swaffham as the rulebook was used for the very first time.

-Today,dogracing is ”big bucks” in the US,England,Ireland and Australia.Even though it exists in almost every country around the world today,it has not yet gained the popularity and attraction as within the above mentioned countries.In my own personal opinion it´s almost as well…´cause whenever larger amounts of hard cash is involved,the well beeing of the dogs seems by far,not as important.

-Here in Sweden,dogracing has existed ever since 1953 when the first races were shown for the general public in Stockholm.

-About the same time,the very first dogracing club was founded in Stockholm and under the years that followed,it grew at a reasonable pace but still had no permanent track to race on..so all the races during the early years were conducted at various sportsarenas and as part of or halftime entertainment in soccergames,athletic events etc.etc.

-It wasn´t until the 60´s when the first ”real” dogracing track / arena was constructed in the southern parts of Stockholm,as the dogracing really took to the skies for a number of years to follow,followed by a few years of ”touch ´n go” almost before nationwide gambling & betting on dograces were allowed by the swedish authorities at the turn of the century. -Today,almost four years after gambling & betting was allowed,dogracing in Sweden has shown that money and the well beeing of them dogs can walk hand in hand and not only co-exist..but develope and profit from mutual cooperation..thanx to a rigorous rulebook and monitored  & reinforced regulations.

-After all,the next best thing a Greyhound loves besides loafing around and sleeping all day…is running..and to see them run truly is like ”poetry in motion!”