After searching for a concise article on the history as well and the nature of greyhounds, I finally decided on this article by Dennis McKeon, MA. Below is an excerpt of his article that was posted on NGA/America. Please visit NGA/America for the full article.

 

AS NATURE DESIGNED THEM - GREYHOUND RACING

by Dennis McKeon

 

...Where to begin?

 

Well, we can start with the Racing Greyhounds themselves, who are actually a unique and specific population of canines. The descendants of ancient dogs, they evolved into “greyhound” form in the wild, as a matter of natural selection, in prehistoric times.

 

Recent investigations of the canine genome, by scientists, recognize a strain of DNA (the building blocks of life) as being specifically “greyhound,” and the one from which a significant percentage of all the dogs who have been born and who have lived and died, throughout the ages, have descended.

 

Greyhounds love to run, and they have since the dawn of time. They are naturally inclined and predisposed to it. That this was not the case was never arguable to anyone who had any experience whatever with the breed, and its no longer arguable as a matter of hard science.

 

At any rate, the wild, prehistoric greyhound survived by his uncanny ability to chase down small game, dispatch it, and eat it. Greyhounds lived in packs, and established hierarchies that are typical of the myriad canines who have descended from them.

 

The strongest and the swiftest of them ruled the packs and begot the whelps, who would carry on with the future of the pack, were they themselves strong enough to survive, and to then contribute their “successful” genetics to the population, so that it could evolve correctly, and take care of itself.

 

And so it went, until men began to domesticate wolves and other wild canines. Apparently, the ancient Egyptians were especially fond of the wild, greyhound dogs who roamed the earth in their time, and they began to breed them for their own pleasure and purpose. Greyhounds were prized for their grace and beauty, as well as their deadly skill as hunters and coursers, and gatherers of game.

 

The greyhound eventually found its way to Europe and to the New World, and was always prized for the same attributes and aptitudes that so enchanted the Pharaohs and their subjects.

 

Western World greyhound fanciers and those in rural, agricultural areas, who employed greyhounds to dispatch vermin and pests, soon undertook the task of “selectively breeding” only the fastest of the fast, in order to produce a more lethal hunter and courser, gifted of ever greater speed and stamina, so that they were able to perform their job in the grand scheme of human survival and progress, ever more efficiently.

 

According to his writings, possessed by the family of Owen P. Smith, the man who invented the mechanical lure, (which impelled the advent of track racing for greyhounds), said that one of the primary motivations for his invention was to spare the use of live rabbits, which were once coursed by greyhounds in competition.

 

His invention allowed athletic competition between and among greyhounds, without the need for live game, and on a specially prepared and maintained surface, which was considerably more forgiving than the often rocky or otherwise rugged terrain of the coursing field or hunting grounds.

 

So a new sport and new business sprung up around the Greyhound, beginning, in earnest, in the early 1930s. States became attracted to it, because of the windfall of taxes and fees they could levy on those who gambled on greyhound racing, those who owned the Racing Greyhounds, and those who owned the racing venues ---- i.e. the racetracks.

 

The public, always fascinated by speed and animals, lionized greyhound racing, and the Racing Greyhound became known as the “poor man’s racehorse.” The sport, because of the greyhound’s historic favor among royalty, became known as “The Sport of Queens.”

 

Hundreds of millions of dollars for the public good has been generated by greyhound racing over the decades, and it remains one of, if not the most liberally taxed businesses in the country ---- and the Commonwealth.

 

For his part, the Racing Greyhound, not to be confused with the “show” greyhound, is the functional, modern day incarnation of those wild, prehistoric greyhounds, who found their way into the kingdoms and the hearts of the Pharaohs and their subjects, all those centuries ago.

 

Thanks to Greyhound Racing, and to the selective breeding of only the most well-adapted and perfectly evolved specimens from the population ----- which competitive racing demands and compels ----- the Racing Greyhound, as an individual with unique and specific set of athletic/survival aptitudes, and as a unique and highly functional population, differs very little from his prehistoric ancestors.

 

He is kept genetically vibrant, and diverse, only because of greyhound racing, which alone supports the Racing Greyhound population, and the 46 different female families of Racing Greyhounds, from which flow the wellsprings of all greyhound vitality and well-being.

 

Just as in nature, the way the prehistoric greyhound evolved, only the most well-adapted, dispositionally and genetically sound and “successful” Racing Greyhounds are bred ------and we measure this genetic success, by formal, state-regulated racing competition among Racing Greyhounds.

 

Those greyhounds who distinguish themselves and their families by excellence in their racing performance, are the only greyhounds “selected” by breeders to carry on with the breed.

 

Form follows function. Racing Greyhounds are bred to race, and their form is the same basic form as their prehistoric forbears, because their function is still essentially the same, racing being the only expression of the greyhound’s ancient and natural survival mechanism that is available to them today.

 

It is no accident, that of all large canine breeds, the only breed that is free of the congenital, degenerative, crippling and excruciatingly painful defect of hip dysplasia is the Racing Greyhound. The genetics of morbidly unsound hips simply cannot exist in such a meticulously bred population of functional, performing athletes.

 

The Racing Greyhound has the largest heart and greatest lung capacity of all canines, is among the most long-lived of the large breeds, and is, pound-for-pound, over 10 times faster than a Thoroughbred racehorse.

 

American Kennel Club breeders of non-racing greyhounds have once again opened their “sirebook” to Racing Greyhounds, in order to reinvigorate and revitalize their tightly inbred bloodlines with the diverse and functional genetics of our 46 female families of Racing Greyhounds.

 

While there are 75,000 in-training or actively racing and breeding Racing Greyhounds in the country, the entire population of non-racing greyhounds in the US numbers somewhere in the area of only 4,000 individuals, less than 10 percent of whom might be “breeding specimens” ---- a dangerously small population, and a disastrously small breeding population.

 

The visionary AKC breeder realizes that this small non-racing population will benefit immensely from genetic dosing with the highly refined athleticism of functional Racing Greyhound genetics --- which are preserved and nurtured by greyhound racing, and the selective breeding of only it’s most functional specimens, who are illuminated, objectively for breeders, by competitive greyhound racing.

 

Far from being an object of pity, the modern Racing Greyhound is a marvel of breed husbandry and custodianship, selective breeding, and athletic adaptation, but one whose prosperity and future is entirely dependent upon greyhound racing, which is the only thing that maintains, preserves and supports its diverse genetic wellsprings and therefore its genetic well-being.

 

Greyhound Racing is the mechanism that makes Racing Greyhounds who and what they are. After 80 years and dozens and dozens of generations of selective race-breeding, it is fair to say that every cell of the Racing Greyhound is “racing imbued.”