PETS - history of the greyhound

Greyhounds have been part of human history almost since it began. There have been many greyhound type dogs with the characteristics that we associate with the breed today: narrow heads, long legs and those deep chests that let them run like the wind. However, because sight hounds have taken many paths in their descent to modern times, we can't really say which of the many families of sighthounds Greyhounds came from.

  It's a known fact that there are depictions of greyhound-like dogs in what is now Turkey. They're shown hunting with humans as far back as 6,000 BC and may have existed prior to that. From then on, they show up almost everywhere people show up and were often included in funerary ornaments. It's very possible that their owners asked that they be included in the things that they thought they were taking with them into eternity.

It is known that Greyhounds were a very important part of life in Ancient Egypt. Not only did they help with the hunt, but they were family pets and were held in very high esteem. Let's not forget that Anubis, the god of life and death, was depicted as a Greyhound, as can be seen in many hieroglyphic carving. In tombs and temples, the Greyhound is shown in scenes from daily life.

 It is said that some Greyhound owners held them in such regard that their death affected them as much as a death of any other family member. This may be why Greyhounds, like humans, were mummified after death and buried in the family tomb. Many Egyptian rulers had Greyhounds including Cleopatra and Tutankhamen.

Greyhounds were even mentioned in the classic work, The Oddysey, by Homer the blind Greek writer. He wrote that when Oddyseus returned home, after his famous voyages only his faithful Greyhound recognized him and licked his face in greeting. Other Greek writers wrote about the Greyhound, probably because they were such a big part of Greek society.

Coursing was very popular with the Greeks. They used live hares, of course, and the dogs were allowed to eat it if they caught it. They also took their Greyhounds to war with them. Then there's the Greek myth that tells the story of Actaeon and Artemis. You may remember it from school. Artemis was bathing and Actaeon spied on her, but she caught him. She was so angry that she turned him into a stag and set all of her 48 Greyhounds on him!

Although the Greeks loved Greyhounds, they only gave them house-room and often kept them outside. The Greyhounds even had to find their own food. Apparently, it didn't occur to their owners that the dogs would be in better condition if they fed them. Or they might have thought that a hungry Greyhound is more apt to do well at coursing than a well-fed one.  At any rate, this didn't keep them from being very fond of their Greyhounds, for they are often depicted on vases and in mosaic pictures. The Greeks appreciated beauty and there is nothing more beautiful or graceful than a Greyhound.

The Romans probably got their Greyhounds from the Greeks. Almost as soon as they arrived in Rome, Greyhounds were elevated to a new status. Unlike the Greeks, the Romans fed their Greyhounds and considered them valuable possessions. Like the Greeks, they built a myth around the Greyhound. When Diana, the goddess of the hunt, went hunting with her friend, Procris and his Greyhound, the other gods turned Procris and the dog into stone, in order to let the hare escape.

As Rome's empire spread throughout the world, Greyhounds became companions to Roman soldiers. First Europe, then the British Isles discovered this beautiful fleet dog. The Irish loved Sighthounds and took them into their castles and manor houses, as did the British Royalty, lords and barons of the realm.

 Peasants, however, weren't allowed to have Greyhounds, just like they weren't allowed to hunt the King's deer. Since all deer were considered property of the king, this meant that they could be killed for killing a deer, even if they and their family were starving.

They couldn't own Greyhounds, because then they would be able to hunt game as well as the king and his nobles could. The penalty for stealing a Greyhound was death for any peasant who dared. During the Renaissance, Greyhounds were favorite subjects of artists. Writers wrote about Greyhounds as Shakespeare did in at least three of his plays. Chaucer mentioned them in his Canterbury Tales. Fabled beauties were often painted with a Greyhound at their feet, enhancing the noble aspect of the painter's subject. The Greyhound came to be seen as a symbol of grace, nobility and privilege.

In the 1400s, Greyhounds accompanied explorers to the New World. Columbus used them as bodyguards. Spanish and English explorers brought Greyhounds with them so that they could hunt game on the islands they visited. From Florida in the United States to the Pacific Islands, Greyhounds made their way with the men who searched for gold and spices for their sponsors back in Europe. Undoubtedly, some escaped and stayed behind when the explorers returned to the Old World.

 It's probably safe to say that Greyhounds made it to what would become the United States by the 1500s, although there is little record of them before the 1800s when Irish and English immigrants brought them with them to their new home. Coursing, as Greyhound racing was known then, was already a sport in the British Isles and soon became a favorite sport for the immigrant farmers who made their way to the West and Midwest in the United States. Greyhounds came in handy to rid their farmland of rabbits and other pests that ate their crops and made holes and tunnels in their fields. Many farmers hated rabbits and liked to see them caught by Greyhounds, but other people objected to the death-sport, as they called it.

It was in 1906 that Owen Smith decided to do something about this. He wondered if Greyhounds could be persuaded to chase a mechanical lure. After some trial and error, he came up with the mechanical lure and tried it out on some local Greyhounds. This idea had been tried before in England, but people didn't take to it and the idea hadn't caught on. Smith was a persistent man though, and a good promoter. After a while, he persuaded enough people that his mechanical lure was a humane way to allow Greyhounds to race without the bloody end that chasing a real hare led to. Greyhound racing, as we know it in the US, was born.

Author Info:

Eb Netr has been handicapping greyhounds for over thirty years. For more information on Greyhounds, visit http://racingdogs.blogspot.com. And Eb's winning system is available at http://www.ebnetr.blogspot.com. From Florida to New Hampshire and all the tracks in between, Eb knows Greyhounds.

Story courtesy of www.articledepot.co.uk

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