Page 4073 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 17 November 2015
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I’ll admit that I didn’t know a lot about greyhounds before I started interacting with the ACT Greyhound Support Network. At RSPCA ACT, we have only seen one greyhound surrendered to the shelter since I’ve been there, and where I grew up in the United States, greyhound racing was illegal. What I can say from my frequent interactions lately is that greyhounds are really lovely dogs with a few odd traits.
Here are a few of interesting things that I have learned about greyhounds recently:
The greyhound lean—when the dog likes you and wants a pat, they will lean into your body. Their height is perfect for a quick pat without having to bend down to reach them.
Lazy, lazy, lazy—much to most people’s surprise, greyhound are really lazy dogs that don’t need a lot of exercise. As such, they are actually great for apartments and small home dwellers—
as Mr Coe will confirm. It continues:
Lack of recall—greyhounds seem to have a mind of their own. As a result, the inability of their owners to recall many of them by name makes it harder to allow these dogs off lead in public areas. Between this and their laziness, they are starting to remind me more of cats than dogs!
Bare bums—a common problem that many of them have is the lack of hair on their bums and hind legs. Many owners say that they have been able to correct this with proper diet, but it’s also a funny badge of honour that many of them carry with pride too.
Blood donors—greyhounds appear to be the “Type O” blood suppliers of dogs. Unfortunately, this has also resulted in many former racers being completely exploited as forced donors in a lucrative but largely unheard of blood bank industry.
Sit Fido?—while I hear from owners that they will sit from time to time, I have honestly never seen a greyhound do so. They will stand or they will lay down. Rarely will you see them do anything in between, and some people say that this is because their size and shape makes it more difficult to sit than other breeds.
The friendly rub—some greyhounds that are forced to wear muzzles will appear to be very “friendly” by rubbing their head against (and often between) your legs. They are actually trying to take off their muzzles. Unfortunately, greyhounds are the only breed that must pass a formal test in the ACT (and other states and territories) to be able to walk in public without a muzzle. Personally, I have seen way too many other breeds that have higher prey drives than many of the greyhounds that I have met, and yet they don’t have to pass a test.
Dress up—
And it goes on about how people enjoyed the dressing up. On the day it was Donny who won the prize of the bare bum, because both his cheeks were bare of hair.
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