Post by CampGreyhound on Sept 22, 2013 13:23:58 GMT -5
Defining the Racing Greyhound by Dennis McKeon*
We have recently learned, via the Canine Genome Project, that the Greyhound most likely did not emerge in the deserts of N. Africa. His DNA is not too closely typed to the Saharan sighthounds. More likely, as "Stonehenge", aka John Henry Walsh (an author/breed chronicler) suggested in the late 19th century, he came to the British Isles with the Celts, possibly having evolved from wild dogs of Eurasia. Greyhound DNA, according to the latest research, is likely one of the more ancient strains of DNA from which several breeds of dogs descend. (some breeds who share the same common female GREYHOUND ancestor are the St Bernard, Irish Setter, Belgian Malinois and the Miniature Schnauzer)
In light of the controversy that has been ongoing since the late 1960s, concerning the wherewithal of the Racing Greyhound, the public portrait has always been painted by those who are the furthest from him, and who know the least about him—also known as anti-racing activists. The most egregious mischaracterization of him is the one that has been promoted by the activist media on behalf of their activist friends. That being, of course, that he is horribly abused by racing and the people who race him.
This would seem to fly in the face of everything we know to be empirically true about canines and large, thriving populations of them, inasmuch that it is estimated that (currently) about 10,000 greyhounds, each year in the USA, make the difficult and challenging adjustment from racing life to personal/family pet life, without too much bother. This is rather remarkable in light of the fact that Racing Greyhounds are not bred to be pets, or to necessarily have sunny, outgoing, companionable dispositions. Moreover, abused, un-socialized and cruelly treated dogs would have to be meticulously and professionally rehabilitated to achieve this unprecedented, holistic, mass-rehabituation each year, population-wide.
All but the most high-toned, high-strung, hot blooded greyhounds are able to completely re-habituate themselves rather seamlessly, though. Interestingly enough, they have become a virtual sensation in the pet world because of their sweet, affectionate, malleable natures, their striking appearance, and their general absence of malice of any sort, toward anyone, or toward other (stationary) dogs. They are this way, as anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of canines realizes, BECAUSE of, not in spite of their racing heritage, breeding, upbringing and environs. That's how dogs manifest.
Unlike most breeds, greyhounds usually stay with their dams for anywhere from 16-26 weeks, where they exist within their litter/pack. They are then placed in kennels and runs with members of other litters, where a larger pack hierarchy develops. They learn to co-exist within, and learn also, the ways of the pack. As they learn to race, they learn to "hunt", just as they did in nature, as members of a pack. Then, when they go off to the racing kennel, they become members of an even larger hunting pack.
Like all dogs, greyhounds thrive on habit and routine. For a dog to be his most successful as a racer, he needs to be kept as free as possible from human-induced stresses, particularly those that are caused by lack of punctuality and proper care. Dogs have very precise biological time clocks. They respond more readily to the known rather than to the unknown, to routine rather than to novelty.
The racing greyhound is the only large breed which is kept virtually free of the crippling, degenerative, congenital diseases of hip/elbow dysplasia and patellar subluxation. These faulty genetics simply cannot gain a foothold in a selectively purpose-bred, functional population of dogs.
Because we have racing, we have an objective method for breeding selectivity, and a vast and diverse genepool and breeding population. Greyhounds are chosen for breeding because of their ability to compete successfully on the racetrack, and there are no concessions to superficiality, fashion or whimsy—such as color, tail-set, or ear placement, as there are with show-bred dogs. A greyhound who is a successful racer is, by definition, correctly adapted to perform the job for which he/she has been bred. The breed continues to adapt to the functional and athletic challenges of racing (hunting), as long as objective selectivity is enabled. Racing is what enables that crucial selectivity, which keeps the greyhound on an adaptive curve, bent only by supreme functionality. There are no other considerations.
There are at least 46 distinct female families of racing greyhounds extant in the USA, which emerged at or around the time of the invention of the mechanical lure, as major players in the saga of the racing greyhound. There is probably no other canine population as genetically diverse as the racing greyhound. The female is the carrier of mitochondrial DNA, which among other things, controls the utilization of energy in the canine organism. Each of these female families has made, and continues to make very important contributions to the populational genepool. In the absence of racing, which financially supports the entire greyhound population, whole families of greyhounds will disappear, and those crucial genetics will be lost to us forever. The greyhound will become a fringe breed, and will inevitably and irreversibly degenerate, (if he doesn’t disappear entirely) as has every other breed of working/sporting dog which has had its "job" taken away.
We have recently learned, via the Canine Genome Project, that the Greyhound most likely did not emerge in the deserts of N. Africa. His DNA is not too closely typed to the Saharan sighthounds. More likely, as "Stonehenge", aka John Henry Walsh (an author/breed chronicler) suggested in the late 19th century, he came to the British Isles with the Celts, possibly having evolved from wild dogs of Eurasia. Greyhound DNA, according to the latest research, is likely one of the more ancient strains of DNA from which several breeds of dogs descend. (some breeds who share the same common female GREYHOUND ancestor are the St Bernard, Irish Setter, Belgian Malinois and the Miniature Schnauzer)
In light of the controversy that has been ongoing since the late 1960s, concerning the wherewithal of the Racing Greyhound, the public portrait has always been painted by those who are the furthest from him, and who know the least about him—also known as anti-racing activists. The most egregious mischaracterization of him is the one that has been promoted by the activist media on behalf of their activist friends. That being, of course, that he is horribly abused by racing and the people who race him.
This would seem to fly in the face of everything we know to be empirically true about canines and large, thriving populations of them, inasmuch that it is estimated that (currently) about 10,000 greyhounds, each year in the USA, make the difficult and challenging adjustment from racing life to personal/family pet life, without too much bother. This is rather remarkable in light of the fact that Racing Greyhounds are not bred to be pets, or to necessarily have sunny, outgoing, companionable dispositions. Moreover, abused, un-socialized and cruelly treated dogs would have to be meticulously and professionally rehabilitated to achieve this unprecedented, holistic, mass-rehabituation each year, population-wide.
All but the most high-toned, high-strung, hot blooded greyhounds are able to completely re-habituate themselves rather seamlessly, though. Interestingly enough, they have become a virtual sensation in the pet world because of their sweet, affectionate, malleable natures, their striking appearance, and their general absence of malice of any sort, toward anyone, or toward other (stationary) dogs. They are this way, as anyone who has even a rudimentary understanding of canines realizes, BECAUSE of, not in spite of their racing heritage, breeding, upbringing and environs. That's how dogs manifest.
Unlike most breeds, greyhounds usually stay with their dams for anywhere from 16-26 weeks, where they exist within their litter/pack. They are then placed in kennels and runs with members of other litters, where a larger pack hierarchy develops. They learn to co-exist within, and learn also, the ways of the pack. As they learn to race, they learn to "hunt", just as they did in nature, as members of a pack. Then, when they go off to the racing kennel, they become members of an even larger hunting pack.
Like all dogs, greyhounds thrive on habit and routine. For a dog to be his most successful as a racer, he needs to be kept as free as possible from human-induced stresses, particularly those that are caused by lack of punctuality and proper care. Dogs have very precise biological time clocks. They respond more readily to the known rather than to the unknown, to routine rather than to novelty.
The racing greyhound is the only large breed which is kept virtually free of the crippling, degenerative, congenital diseases of hip/elbow dysplasia and patellar subluxation. These faulty genetics simply cannot gain a foothold in a selectively purpose-bred, functional population of dogs.
Because we have racing, we have an objective method for breeding selectivity, and a vast and diverse genepool and breeding population. Greyhounds are chosen for breeding because of their ability to compete successfully on the racetrack, and there are no concessions to superficiality, fashion or whimsy—such as color, tail-set, or ear placement, as there are with show-bred dogs. A greyhound who is a successful racer is, by definition, correctly adapted to perform the job for which he/she has been bred. The breed continues to adapt to the functional and athletic challenges of racing (hunting), as long as objective selectivity is enabled. Racing is what enables that crucial selectivity, which keeps the greyhound on an adaptive curve, bent only by supreme functionality. There are no other considerations.
There are at least 46 distinct female families of racing greyhounds extant in the USA, which emerged at or around the time of the invention of the mechanical lure, as major players in the saga of the racing greyhound. There is probably no other canine population as genetically diverse as the racing greyhound. The female is the carrier of mitochondrial DNA, which among other things, controls the utilization of energy in the canine organism. Each of these female families has made, and continues to make very important contributions to the populational genepool. In the absence of racing, which financially supports the entire greyhound population, whole families of greyhounds will disappear, and those crucial genetics will be lost to us forever. The greyhound will become a fringe breed, and will inevitably and irreversibly degenerate, (if he doesn’t disappear entirely) as has every other breed of working/sporting dog which has had its "job" taken away.