44 Fun Facts About Greyhounds

Retired racing Greyhounds, which can reach about 70 km/h, are usually what at home?

Couch potatoes: bred as sprinters rather than distance runners, most Greyhounds are content with short bursts of exercise and spend much of the day asleep.

Which famous novel opens by giving its hero a lance, a lean nag and a greyhound for coursing?

Don Quixote's hidalgo keeps 'a lean hack, and a greyhound for coursing', and when he decides to become a knight-errant he renames the old nag Rocinante.

What is the Greyhound's fastest running gait called?

Double suspension gallop: the dog is airborne twice in every stride, a big reason for its speed.

Which Prussian king asked to be buried near his dogs at Sanssouci, a wish granted only in 1991?

Frederick the Great: his nephew overrode the wish and buried him in Potsdam's Garrison Church, so he reached his terrace crypt only after German reunification.

Which smaller cousin of the Greyhound did northern English coal miners race in 'rag' races?

Whippet: before rag racing caught on, Victorian owners turned its hunting of rabbits and other small animals into a gambling sport.

What nickname do owners give Greyhounds that follow them from room to room?

Velcro dog: fittingly, Velcro itself was invented after George de Mestral saw burrs cling to his dog's fur following an outing together.

Why can a napping Greyhound look wide awake?

Its eyes stay partly open: people may touch a dog that is deeply asleep, and a Greyhound woken suddenly can growl or snap, which rehomers call sleep startle.

Why do rehoming bodies advise keeping Greyhounds on a lead outdoors?

Strong prey drive, poor recall: a Greyhound that spots a cat or rabbit may bolt and ignore calls, risking a fence or traffic at full speed.

Which type of anaesthetic do Greyhounds metabolise poorly?

Barbiturates: their livers clear these drugs slowly, so in studies Greyhounds given thiopental took far longer than mixed-breed dogs to stand up again.

Compared with other breeds, Greyhounds have higher levels of what in their circulation?

Red blood cells: that oxygen-rich blood, plus a high share of 'universal donor' blood types, makes retired racing Greyhounds popular canine blood donors.

Why do many Greyhounds feel the cold so badly?

Thin fur, little fat: with a short, fine coat and hardly any body fat to hold warmth, many Greyhounds need a warm coat on winter walks.

Retired racing Greyhounds are unusually prone to which complication after routine surgery?

Delayed bleeding: in studies, over a quarter bled 36 to 48 hours after neutering, and a clot-stabilising drug given afterwards cut the rate.

In a medieval French legend, the greyhound later venerated as Saint Guinefort saved a baby from what?

A snake: seeing the blood-smeared dog beside the overturned cradle, the lord killed it, then found his son unharmed beside the dead snake.

Which Canterbury Tales pilgrim, a churchman who loved hunting, kept greyhounds 'as swift as fowel in flight'?

The Monk: Chaucer mocks a man meant for the cloister who scorns study and manual labour and spends freely on horses and hare hunting.

Arrian's coursing treatise describes the vertragus, a hound of which ancient people?

The Celts: Arrian wrote to add their hare-coursing hounds to Xenophon's hunting manual, since Xenophon had never known the breed.

In medieval Europe, owning Greyhounds was a mark of which class?

The nobility: old forest laws forbade many commoners, such as those living near royal forests, from keeping Greyhounds at all.

Which Shakespeare villain, hiring murderers, compares men to 'hounds and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs'?

Macbeth: as 'dogs' covers every breed from greyhound to cur, 'men' covers every rank, so he dares them to prove their worth by killing Banquo.

Which book's older translations name the Greyhound as the only dog breed?

The Bible: the King James Version lists 'a greyhound' among things 'comely in going', but the New International Version reads 'a strutting rooster'.

A Greyhound named Primley Sceptre won the first what in 1928?

Best in Show at Crufts: its owner, Herbert Whitley, was the millionaire animal breeder who founded what is now Paignton Zoo.

What did American promoter Owen Patrick Smith invent for greyhound racing?

A mechanical lure: Smith was moved by the deaths of the live rabbits used in coursing, so he built a mechanical hare to replace them.

Which track staged Britain's first modern greyhound race around an oval?

Belle Vue, Manchester: 1,700 people watched that first race, and by the end of the 1920s annual crowds ran into the millions.

Which legal change in the early 1960s began drawing British punters away from greyhound tracks?

Betting shops opened: until then, a legitimate cash bet meant a trip to the track, so many punters simply stopped coming.

In 2018, voters in which US state chose to end live greyhound racing at its tracks by 2020?

Florida: it was home to 11 of the country's 17 remaining greyhound tracks, so the vote shut down most of the sport.

Which hare-coursing event ran at Great Altcar, Lancashire, from 1836 to 2005?

The Waterloo Cup: the Hunting Act 2004 banned hare coursing, so the 2005 meeting was the last.

The man who founded Britain's biggest hare-coursing cup also founded which horse race?

The Grand National: the handicapper Edward Topham turned it into a handicap in 1843, and his family later bought the course outright.

Which dog was the first to win Britain's biggest hare-coursing cup three times?

Master McGrath: he was due to be drowned until a boy named McGrath persuaded the trainer to spare him, and the dog took his name.

In Irish hare coursing, what must the greyhounds wear while they chase the hare?

Muzzles: the Irish Coursing Club made them compulsory in 1993, and hare deaths fell from about 16% of those coursed to about 4%.

In which country was Mick the Miller born?

Ireland: after two English Derby wins he became greyhound racing's first star, making front-page news and even starring in his own film.

London's Walthamstow Stadium stopped greyhound racing in 2008 after its land was sold for what?

Housing: its owners blamed falling profits and crowds, and a site so close to the 2012 Olympic Park was worth more for new homes.

In 2025, which UK nation's government published plans to ban greyhound racing by 2030?

Wales: the draft law would make running a track an offence, closing the country's only one, the Valley stadium in Ystrad Mynach.

The Canidrome, China's only dog-racing track, closed in 2018 in which city?

Macau: its closure left hundreds of greyhounds, many bred in Australia, needing care and new homes.

Which artist painted Eos, the greyhound Prince Albert brought with him from Germany?

Edwin Landseer: Queen Victoria gave the portrait to Albert as a Christmas present in 1841.

Which 1908 Olympic stadium first hosted the English Greyhound Derby?

White City: it staged the Derby until greyhound racing there ended in 1984, and the stadium was demolished the next year, its site later becoming BBC White City.

Retired racing Greyhounds are unusually prone to which painful problem on their paw pads?

Corns: nobody fully understands why Greyhounds get them, so owners and vets end up trying a whole range of different treatments.

By 2024, the last two greyhound tracks still racing in the US were in which state?

West Virginia: state law lets its casinos offer table games only alongside live racing, so the tracks kept running though their owner favoured ending the link.

Which part of Australia banned greyhound racing outright in 2018?

The Canberra region (ACT): most of the dogs racing there came from New South Wales, where cruelty such as live baiting had been documented.

Greyhound Lines began by carrying iron miners in which Minnesota town?

Hibbing: Carl Wickman couldn't sell the Hupmobile from his dealership, so he used it to carry miners two miles for 15 cents a ride.

Which 1961 civil rights campaign saw a Greyhound bus firebombed near Anniston, Alabama?

The Freedom Rides: Black and white activists rode buses into the Deep South to challenge segregation on interstate buses and in bus terminals.

What is the name of the Simpson family's greyhound?

Santa's Little Helper: Homer bet all his money on him as a 99-to-1 long shot, the dog came last, and when his owner abandoned him the family took him home.

In which 1989 episode did Homer and Bart adopt their greyhound?

Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire: it launched the series only because animation problems held back the planned first episode, Some Enchanted Evening.

In Tom Hanks's 2020 war film Greyhound, what is Greyhound?

A destroyer: the pandemic scrapped Sony's planned cinema release, so the film went to Apple TV+ instead.

Which country's hunters abandon or kill thousands of their greyhounds each year when the hunting season ends?

Spain: rescue groups take in many of the abandoned dogs and find them adoptive homes, often in other European countries.

Which ancient sighthound, once used by nomadic tribes to hunt gazelles, is also called the Persian greyhound?

Saluki: royal owners in ancient Egypt prized it so highly that it was often mummified after death.

Before organised adoption spread in the 1980s, what often happened to US greyhounds retired from racing?

Put down: in 1987 the racing industry formed the American Greyhound Council, whose work includes finding retired racers homes.