Greyhound: Dog Breed Information, Facts and Lifespan

greyhound

The Greyhound is a robust, well-built, generously proportioned dog with a powerful musculature and a symmetrical anatomical features. It has great strength and speed: it’s fluid appearance and long stride allows it to cover a lot of ground at a very high speed. The head is long, and of moderate width. The skull is flat. The snout is light. The eyes are bright, intelligent, and dark colored. The ears are small, with a fine texture, shaped uniquely. The neck is long, muscular, and arched. The back is long and broad, with the belly retracted. The long tail narrows towards the tip. The limbs are long, with good bones.

Coat: short, fine and sleek.

Color: black, white, blue, suede, brindle or any of these colors close to white.

Size: 70 to 75 cm for the male and 67 to 70 cm for the female.

Weight: 27 to 34 kg

Greyhound History

Like all dogs, it seems that the Greyhound arrived a long time ago in Europe from the East or Africa. Greece was certainly its first destination. Indeed, the name Greyhound came from a modification of the term Greekhound. It is the Celts, the Crusaders or the Phoenicians, who imported this dog to the West. In England, it was always the dog of the nobles, raised exclusively for hunting.

Greyhound Character

It is a very well-bred, refined, distinguished and fast dog. Loyal and faithful, gentle and moderately affectionate, they are a little detached like most breeds. The Greyhound is almost never aggressive. They were all hunting dogs at one point but today they are mainly pets and racing dogs. The Greyhound is the fastest dog on earth, because it can reach a speed of 70 km per hour.

Ideal Living Conditions

They absolutely have to run and so they need the space to do so. They can live well inside but it is fundamental that they can exercise every day.

Health

It is robust but since it suffers a little from the cold it must be protected from the weather at all times. It is also necessary to pay attention to the accidents that can occur during a race. It happens sometimes that dogs gets hurt and must then be treated in time to avoid any infection.

Average life expectancy: roughly 12 years

Notes

Unfortunately, race dogs are often exploited and, at the end of their career are killed. Luckily there are Greyhound defense committees in some countries that place these dogs in families that can bring them the love they deserve.