We have had five greyhounds since 1998.
Harley, an 82 pound boy, was the first. A month later we
got a companion for Harley - Scooter, a 70
pound girl. Next, we got Oreo, a 58 pound girl. Finally, after Harley died in 2003,
we got a new brindle boy, Bandit, who now weighs in at 94
pounds. These four magnificent
animals have been a large part of our lives.
We picked out a fifth greyhound, a three year old brindle girl
named Sparkle,
who is about 60 pounds.
Greyhounds are strong, graceful, competitive and intelligent. They have
distinctive personalities but all have a loving disposition.
They generally get along with other dogs because they are raised
with many other greyhounds in a kennel and then a racing environment. A
grey's hair is short, so they don't shed much. They have a
neutral smell unlike many other large dogs. Greyhounds
sleep an incredible amount - probably 18 hours a day. They take their
retirement very seriously. They don't eat too much - two cups
twice a day of a mixture of dry lamb and rice.
Greyhounds love exercise. Our greys enjoy going for a walk
twice a day and frequently they will run in the back yard as
fast as they can for a few minutes and then sleep for three hours.
Even deep into retirement, greyhounds still love to run for the
pure enjoyment of it.
Since
greyhounds are sight hounds, they will see something at great
distance and then run at top speed to discover what it is.
Generally they do not respond to whistles or calling them by
name. For those reasons, greyhounds should always be on a lead when
outside.
How fast
are Greyhounds?
I knew
that greyhounds are fast but I was not prepared the first time
Harley blasted past me at full speed. He was breathtaking.
Greyhounds have a top speed of about 45 mph - the only faster
mammal is the cheetah. They can reach top speed in a few
strides, which is about one second. So, how fast are
greyhounds? Here are some examples of how fast they are:
-
We
visited Gulf Greyhound Park near Galveston several years
ago. The average time to run the 5/16 mile track was
31 seconds. The fastest time for the previous twelve
months for all the greyhounds that raced that night was
30.18 seconds by a female named Bobarann. Thirty
seconds to cover 5/16 of a mile is an average speed
of 37.5 mph.
-
A radar
gun clocked my Bandit at 41 mph at a Greyhound Jamboree in
Georgetown, Texas. He
was beat out by two greys that were clocked at 42 and 45 mph.
-
Several years ago I saw a video (It may have been on the
Discovery Channel) of a race between a thoroughbred horse
and a greyhound. The track was straightaway and I
believe it was 1/8 mile in length. The greyhound was
first out of the gate and was leaving the horse behind at
the finish line.
-
I
found a YouTube video of a race
between a greyhound and a race car. The race was
for one lap around an oval dirt track. The greyhound
finished about four seconds before the race car. The
link to the video is in the next section....
Greyhound
Videos
I
recommend watching the following YouTube video clips if you are
interested in adopting a greyhound. I hope to add my own
greyhound clips soon.
-
The
first clip,
Greyhounds for life, contains both photos in a slide show
format and action videos. The puppies are cute but the
action videos accurately show the pure joy greyhounds feel
when running free in an open field.
-
Greyhound Rescue shows both the joys of adopting a
greyhound and a few photos of WHY YOU SHOULD ADOPT A
GREYHOUND!
-
The
clip
Greyhound falls but wins race is hilarious - you have to
admire this grey's competitive attitude and problem solving
skills.
-
Car v.
Greyhound shows the race between a race car and a
greyhound mentioned above. Some of the video appears
to be shot from a camera mounted on the greyhound's muzzle.
-
Greyhounds are bred to race whether we approve of racing or
not.
Tim's
Crow is a video of a blazingly fast English racer named
Tim's Crow. A must watch!
Adopting a
Greyhound
We
adopted all of our greys from one of two adoption agencies in
Austin, Texas: Castle Greyhound Rescue and Adoption and the
Central Texas chapter of the Greyhound Pets of America
(GPA). There is probably an adoption agency near you - to
find out, contact the national GPA web site at
http://www.greyhoundpets.org/ or Google greyhound adoption
in your state.
Okay, you've had your
greyhound primer, now go get one...maybe two. You won't regret
it.
