Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Greyhounds are Lazy
Many of you may have met Sprite, our family's greyhound. I've been meaning to create a blog post about her, and greyhounds in general because many people who meet her comment on how calm and docile she is, and how most of the public thinks greyhounds are high maintenance.
This photo sums it up nicely, I think, on the temperament of greyhounds - lazy and little divas when it comes to blankets and furniture! They're couch potatoes who just want a comfy place to lie and enjoy their retirement.
In 2003 Scotian and I decided to adopt a retired racing greyhound from Greyhound Pets of Atlantic Canada, an organization located just outside of Halifax/Dartmouth in West Petpeswick, Nova Scotia. We gave a description of our lifestyle, we were asked if we wanted a male or female, age, temperament and we were "matched" to a greyhound - our Sprite. At the time, Sprite was 2 1/2 years old and had just come back from a home where her caregiver was no longer able to care for her due to health issues. She was timid at first, but blended in marvelously. She's been with us for nearly 6 years and we haven't looked back!
Greyhounds are lazy - yes, they LOVE to run, but they literally have a spurt of 30 seconds of sprinting in them, then they need to rest for 3 days to recover. Sprite still enjoys sprinting down the beach at the cottage or "making the rounds" of the acerage surrounding my parents home when we visit - she has a route that she takes every single morning to start her day. It's still stunning to watch her run! In the city, if we don't have a chance to walk her each day, she really doesn't mind. Especially in the winter. Because greyhounds have so little body fat, they get cold easily, so they do need to wear a coat in the winter and our Sprite also wears a "dog blanket", similar to a horse blanket, to bed at night between November and May because she does get cold in our old house, and we let the thermostat drop to conserve energy.
Females tend to be aloof while males are big babies - so if you want a lovey dovey dog who loves to be cuddled, a male greyhound is your perfect match while females are more like cats - they'll take the attention on their terms, thank you very much!
Each year in the US, 25,000 greyhound puppies are bred for the racing industry, which is worth millions of dollars. Greyhounds typically start racing by the time they reach the age of 2 and some (like Sprite) have very short racing careers (3 months) if they prove not to be winners. Of the 25,000 puppies that start racing, half will be destroyed, the other half will continue racing and/or be rescued and rehomed. Luckily these numbers are improving, but there are still far too many dogs destroyed for no good reason other than they weren't fast enough.
If a dog is successful, they will race until their 5th birthday or until they are injured, whichever comes first. Even older dogs are wonderful and are available for adoption. With an average life span of 13-15 years, there's still lots of time and love left!
Greyhounds are a purebred breed, but because so much money is invested (upward of $30,000 to purchase a greyhound puppy) in their birth and potential racing career, careful breeding has ensured that greyhounds as a whole do not have a lot of the "characteristic" health problems of some other purebred breeds. Not to say that issues are not possible, but not inherent to the breed.
Scotian and I were very active in GPAC before we had kids - we would take Sprite to local malls for meet and greets, we walked in parades (the most memorable being the Apple Blossom Festival parade in 2005 weeks before I gave birth to BananaMuffin), fundraised and did everything we could to help other greys find homes. When you meet one and fall in love with their personality, their soft fur, their docile ways, you'll understand!
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