American Canine Association

Breeds

Greyhound


History

Know as the fastest dog breed in the world, traveling at over 35 mph chasing after rabbits, hare and small wild animals, the Greyhound has been around for thousands of years. Seen in ancient Egyptian drawings and believed to be of the Arabian Sloughi bloodlines, this breed has incredible eye sight and speed. Today, they are still known for their hunting, racing and sighting abilities.

Appearance

They Greyhound is a large breed dog with males and females measuring 27-30 inches in height and weighing 60-80 pounds in weight. This breed is built extremely tall, thin and active in appearance. Their head is a very thin, narrow wedge shape, with two small "rose" shaped ears, generally folded back onto their head. Their muzzle is long and tapers into a scissor bite. Their two round\oval shaped eyes are large and generally hazel to black in color. Their 4 legs are very thin and long. The Greyhound has a very long tail that is thin, and should be positioned down and out when relaxed. This breed has a single layer, short haired coat that is tight to the skin and the coat is available in every color and color combination.

Temperament

This breed requires a calm, gentle owner who is confident and firm but in a respectful way. The Greyhound is extremely sensitive to tone of voice; they won't listen if they feel you aren't above them in the pack, but they also won't listen if they feel you are being out of reason and mean to them. This breed is generally very reserved in personality, both towards their owners and strangers. Loving, loyal and calm indoors, this breed enjoys laying under blankets near their loved ones the most. It is very important to know that this breed has a very strong eye sight as well as strong natural instinct to chase anything that is small and running by; because of this, potential owners must always be aware of their surroundings. It is a normal thing if you let your Greyhound outdoors in a fenced in area and if a rabbit or squirrel is also within the area, for the Greyhound to hunt and kill that animal. It is their natural instinct and they are not wrong for doing so, it is part of who they are and this needs to be accepted prior to bringing one into your family. Due to this, we do not recommend a home with small animals or dogs and cats for this breed. A home with older children is best suited for this breed since they are sensitive to their surroundings. In general, this breed is extremely lovable, sweet, gentle, docile and just has a natural small animal prey drive and very fast feet.

Grooming

This breed has a single layer, short hair coat that is tight to their skin. Daily brushing and bathing when needed.

Special Notes

Please note that this breed is not for everyone. This breed requires a properly installed fence with enough room for the Greyhound to roam within, as well as supervision to ensure their safety while outside or a properly fitted harness and leash at all times while outside. Please fully educate yourself prior to adding a Greyhound to your family to ensure you are able to provide life long physical and financial care to your new addition. This breed can do well within an apartment setting if they are exercised enough daily. This breed is extremely cold sensitive. This breed is also prone to bloat and hypothyroidism. All dogs originate from wolves (Canis Lupus). Each breed of dog was originally created by mixing different breeds together in an effort to bring forth certain characteristics. Once a breeder has created acceptable “breed characteristics” within their bloodline and these “breed characteristics” have shown to be reliably reproduced in the offspring for three (3) generations, the bloodline may be upgraded from the category of “foundation stock” to “pure-bred”. The same “pure-bred” breed standards vary from different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders. Dog DNA testing companies can have accurate results for a specific bloodline of a small colony of dogs. However, there are tens of thousands of different bloodlines in the world which have not yet been tested for marker baseline results by Dog DNA testing companies as of 2017. For this reason Dog DNA testing companies do not guarantee the 100% accuracy of their breed lineage results and will also show different marker results for the same pure-bred breed in different continents, countries, territories, regions, breed clubs, and canine pure-breed registries depending on the goals of their breeders.

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