More Greyhound History

The greyhound found their way to Europe in the 18th century. But only the noble were permitted to own greyhounds.

They were used for hunting in packs and could bring down a full grown deer with little effort.

Sport of Coursing

Greyhounds were also used in the sport of Coursing which is still practiced today. A lure attached to a line and run through a series of stops with a pulley. Each greyhound runs as an individual and is judged not only on speed but agility as well.

Before the 1900’s coursing was done in a field with the greyhounds chasing down rabbits—under the assumption that it would benefit farmers to have these pests removed from the farms. Then a gentleman named Owen Patrick Smith developed an artificial lure thus allowing the greyhounds to be run on an oval track for people to view. Of course, another genius came up with the idea to place bets on the greyhounds and greyhound racing was born.



Greyhound Racing

In the 1930’s a couple by the name of Loretta and Charles David came up with an idea of putting monkey jockeys on racing greyhounds. They toured the country with this circus like act for many years. Footage of actual Greyhound Monkey Races can be viewed in the Greyhound Hall of Fame in Abilene, Kansas. Can you imagine what PETA would do about this today?

The Dark Side of Greyhound History

And so the sport of greyhound racing began and over the years it grew and grew. Then about 20 years ago, it came to light that there is a very dark side of this sport.

Greyhounds were being destroyed by the hundreds or sold to medical labs for experimentation.

Rescue groups began popping up to save the lives of these beautiful gentle dogs much to the appreciation of thousands of today’s greyhound pet owners.

Greyhound history is sometimes very tragic. These wonderful creatures are being destroyed for entertainment purposes. Let’s all work to rescue the Greyhound.