Alice White
Greyhound is a star of circular tracks, a gambling hunter, and a good-natured sleepyhead, maddeningly in love with his own owner. Maybe he is not the best campaigner, who understands any requirements from a half-word, but he is a wonderful friend and companion who knows how to show delicacy and patience where circumstances require it. True, Greyhounds settle down only to a conscious age, quite rightly believing that childhood is the best time to test the peace and patience of others.
#1 The Greyhound’s past is full of white spots and historical inaccuracies
For example, until the beginning of the 21st century, Ancient Egypt was considered their homeland. It was there that the first images of dogs similar to Saluki were found, who arrived in the Nile Valley with the Bedouin tribes (according to another version, with the caravans of Alexander the Great). However, after a genetic analysis carried out in 2004, it turned out that Greyhounds are not in any way related to Egyptian dogs, but they have a lot in common with shepherds. This forced scientists to put forward a new hypothesis about the origin of the breed, according to which the ancestors of the greyhounds were brought with them by the ancient Celts.
#2 By the 10th century AD, the failed relatives of the Saluki gained fame in Europe, and especially in Great Britain, where they were bred for unarmed hunting.
Swift and grasping, Greyhounds have established themselves as unsurpassed short-distance runners, able to get hold of a hare or roe deer in a matter of minutes. At the beginning of the 11th century, after the publication of the Law on Forests, hunting for the lower classes, as well as keeping hunting dogs, was closed. This helped the breed to step up a step in terms of status, since now exclusively European nobility was in charge of breeding it.
#3 By the 18th century, the Greyhounds were in decline and, if not for the efforts of the British breeder Lord Alford, the animals could have completely disappeared.
It was through the patronage of an aristocrat than a hunting club was registered in 1776, where the first field trials of greyhounds, including Greyhounds, were carried out. In addition, Olford managed to make his own hand in the renewal of the breed, mixing a bit of the blood of the English Bulldog into its genotype.
