What has life been like for the racing greyhound?
The racing greyhound has spent its life in the company of other dogs. When born, the average litter size is about nine pups. Generally, young greyhounds are touched and hugged as much as possible. As they near their first birthday, they begin their race training. They are taught to chase a lure using a variety of systems, all geared toward maximizing their natural abilities of speed and vision. Eventually they progress to a racetrack such as the one from which your dog came.
Kennel life at the track is very routine. Feeding in the morning, several daily turnouts in an exercise pen, and the rest of the time spent in the crate, unless the dog is racing that day or is new and needs to be schooled—that is, taught how to run around that particular track. Most dogs are raced every three days; most racing kennels have about 60 active dogs; and amazingly, most trainers have a special story about each and every dog with whom they work.
As you can see, the ex-racer has seen very little of what we call the everyday world. They have never seen a house, stairs, children, or cats. Life as a pet is like being reborn for the ex-racer.
