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The Reign of the Greyhound
The regal history of a revered, elegant breed
They were one of the first wild animals to come under the protection of humans. They have sat at the feet of the Pharaohs. Their likenesses have graced coins, stamps, seals, and coats of arms. And they have won the hearts of dog lovers worldwide with their sweet nature, intelligence, and grace.
Beautifully illustrated with more than 100 black-and-white reproductions and photos, The Reign of the Greyhound is a rich, historical testimony to the breed, celebrating its extraordinary place in canine history and human civilization. Passionately written by Greyhound expert Cynthia Branigan, this updated edition features new information on the history and current state of ex-racer adoptions, which save the lives of thousands of Greyhounds each year. From ancient Egypt to modern times, from the temple to the show ring to the track, you'll see how this noble breed has evolved from a royal pet to a racing dog to a loving companion-and you'll no doubt deepen your understanding and appreciation of this fine animal, whose regal history has been too long ignored.
They were one of the first wild animals to come under the protection of humans. They have sat at the feet of the Pharaohs. Their likenesses have graced coins, stamps, seals, and coats of arms. And they have won the hearts of dog lovers worldwide with their sweet nature, intelligence, and grace.
Beautifully illustrated with more than 100 black-and-white reproductions and photos, The Reign of the Greyhound is a rich, historical testimony to the breed, celebrating its extraordinary place in canine history and human civilization. Passionately written by Greyhound expert Cynthia Branigan, this updated edition features new information on the history and current state of ex-racer adoptions, which save the lives of thousands of Greyhounds each year. From ancient Egypt to modern times, from the temple to the show ring to the track, you'll see how this noble breed has evolved from a royal pet to a racing dog to a loving companion-and you'll no doubt deepen your understanding and appreciation of this fine animal, whose regal history has been too long ignored.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 2, 1997
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 16, 2019
A thorough, historical love letter to man's pointiest friend.
I learned a lot, mostly how greyhounds were revered as angular, embarrassed gods due to their artificially selected ability to run stupid fast and catch rabbits real well. (This is called coursing).
They come from Egypt, which I kind of knew, but I didn't consider the implications. Sighthounds are dogs with vision as good as ours, and it's what they use to hunt, as contrasted to most dogs who follow their nose. Greyhounds are the prototype sighthound, and Egypt, Greece, and Rome were so content with them that they never bothered making more than slight modifications; most of these modifications resulted in making the greyhounds slighter (Italian greyhounds and whippets).
In Afghanistan they brewed up an Afghan, which is like a greyhound on a Pantene commercial. It's also a little hardier and better at hurdling, since the mountains are rocky and cold. These weren't considerations out on the Sahara, which is why greyhounds can work their way up to 45 mph in open flat land. You know, like a desert is.
The Irish, in their fashion, decided to make them huge and train them to fight. Not each other, of course. What kind of barbaric, antiquated, ass-backward cultural mores would promote dogfighting? They're man's best friend! It takes a special kind of sociopath to make their best friends fight for their amusement, and they should be shot repeatedly and fed to said dogs. No, the Irish trained their increasingly monstrous highland greyhounds to fight wolves.
This selective breeding, combined with hill-sprints, a chillier climate, and a presumable diet of potatoes and stout, led to the creation of the Irish Wolfhound, a 200% scale model greyhound that tops out around 200 lbs of hoary, active, and unflinchingly vigilant muscle.
Same, tbh.
Unfortunately, the stars that burn biggest burn fastest or something, because irish wolfhounds only live six to eight years. That's like getting a giant, shedding goldfish that could kill you, but would never. Unlike cats. Don't get me started.
Greyhounds are mostly comprised of muscle and knees, and are living every bodybuilder's fantasy of not even having a subcutaneous fat layer. They never need a cut. Permanent contest-readiness. The issue is that fat serves biological functions, like insulation and joint protection. A mastiff, nature's perfect lardass, can plop down on any surface up to and including those anti-homeless spikes and grab a quick 36 hour nap because they are their own sofa. The life-critical portions of a mastiff are ensconced in an envelope of blubber, like a loveable square-head walrus. Mastiffs can do this in virtually any climate, although it's very rude to expect a short-hair mastiff to sleep outside, what the hell is wrong with you, he deserves better, you also deserve to be shot and fed to him.
Sorry. Sorry, dogs are just... so much better than people. I digress. Greyhounds have no fat, and their skin is so thin that they need to sleep on a couch or in a special doggie bed or they'll get skin lesions from the floor. They also can't go outside without a stupid doggie sweater when it's cold or they'll catch pneumonia. A stupid doggie sweater would rob another breed of their joie de vivre, but greyhounds are innately majestic, and the accessories only complement their swagger.
When I was a lad, one of my classmates was very pro-greyhound and, as a result, vocally anti-greyhound racing. For most of my life, I put racing in the same category as dogfighting, badger-baiting, and what the PETA videos say about meat-packing plants. This book claims the racing industry has come a long way in the past 20 years. The kennels provided for the racers are as spacious as a "kennel" can get, and positive reinforcement is the new coin of the realm since it works better than beating the everloving piss out of animals.
(Protip: This is statistically true of most humans, too. Although I admit some people really need to get the everloving piss beaten out of them.)
The racing industry has also partnered with greyhound rescue organizations, of which there are presently over 300, and they ship retired greyhounds out to become superfast couch ornaments for loving homes as soon as they turn 2. These pups are still twitchy, but I've fostered and adopted a lot of rescue dogs in my time, and racing greyhounds don't sound nearly as traumatized as most of them were at the get-go.
I was hesitant about getting a greyhound because I am a ruff-n-tumble dude and wanted a dog with matching temperament. However, that would require getting a shepherd or retriever, bred for ADHD presentation, and that wouldn't be fair to put in a city apartment, any more than it is for me.
But Alexander the Great had a greyhound named Peritas that attacked an elephant. That's about as ruff-n-tumble as it gets. The elephant won, sure, but Alexander held a huge doggie funeral, then had a statue of Peritas built and named a city after him.
I don't see any cities named after that elephant.
I learned a lot, mostly how greyhounds were revered as angular, embarrassed gods due to their artificially selected ability to run stupid fast and catch rabbits real well. (This is called coursing).
They come from Egypt, which I kind of knew, but I didn't consider the implications. Sighthounds are dogs with vision as good as ours, and it's what they use to hunt, as contrasted to most dogs who follow their nose. Greyhounds are the prototype sighthound, and Egypt, Greece, and Rome were so content with them that they never bothered making more than slight modifications; most of these modifications resulted in making the greyhounds slighter (Italian greyhounds and whippets).
In Afghanistan they brewed up an Afghan, which is like a greyhound on a Pantene commercial. It's also a little hardier and better at hurdling, since the mountains are rocky and cold. These weren't considerations out on the Sahara, which is why greyhounds can work their way up to 45 mph in open flat land. You know, like a desert is.
The Irish, in their fashion, decided to make them huge and train them to fight. Not each other, of course. What kind of barbaric, antiquated, ass-backward cultural mores would promote dogfighting? They're man's best friend! It takes a special kind of sociopath to make their best friends fight for their amusement, and they should be shot repeatedly and fed to said dogs. No, the Irish trained their increasingly monstrous highland greyhounds to fight wolves.
This selective breeding, combined with hill-sprints, a chillier climate, and a presumable diet of potatoes and stout, led to the creation of the Irish Wolfhound, a 200% scale model greyhound that tops out around 200 lbs of hoary, active, and unflinchingly vigilant muscle.
Same, tbh.
Unfortunately, the stars that burn biggest burn fastest or something, because irish wolfhounds only live six to eight years. That's like getting a giant, shedding goldfish that could kill you, but would never. Unlike cats. Don't get me started.
Greyhounds are mostly comprised of muscle and knees, and are living every bodybuilder's fantasy of not even having a subcutaneous fat layer. They never need a cut. Permanent contest-readiness. The issue is that fat serves biological functions, like insulation and joint protection. A mastiff, nature's perfect lardass, can plop down on any surface up to and including those anti-homeless spikes and grab a quick 36 hour nap because they are their own sofa. The life-critical portions of a mastiff are ensconced in an envelope of blubber, like a loveable square-head walrus. Mastiffs can do this in virtually any climate, although it's very rude to expect a short-hair mastiff to sleep outside, what the hell is wrong with you, he deserves better, you also deserve to be shot and fed to him.
Sorry. Sorry, dogs are just... so much better than people. I digress. Greyhounds have no fat, and their skin is so thin that they need to sleep on a couch or in a special doggie bed or they'll get skin lesions from the floor. They also can't go outside without a stupid doggie sweater when it's cold or they'll catch pneumonia. A stupid doggie sweater would rob another breed of their joie de vivre, but greyhounds are innately majestic, and the accessories only complement their swagger.
When I was a lad, one of my classmates was very pro-greyhound and, as a result, vocally anti-greyhound racing. For most of my life, I put racing in the same category as dogfighting, badger-baiting, and what the PETA videos say about meat-packing plants. This book claims the racing industry has come a long way in the past 20 years. The kennels provided for the racers are as spacious as a "kennel" can get, and positive reinforcement is the new coin of the realm since it works better than beating the everloving piss out of animals.
(Protip: This is statistically true of most humans, too. Although I admit some people really need to get the everloving piss beaten out of them.)
The racing industry has also partnered with greyhound rescue organizations, of which there are presently over 300, and they ship retired greyhounds out to become superfast couch ornaments for loving homes as soon as they turn 2. These pups are still twitchy, but I've fostered and adopted a lot of rescue dogs in my time, and racing greyhounds don't sound nearly as traumatized as most of them were at the get-go.
I was hesitant about getting a greyhound because I am a ruff-n-tumble dude and wanted a dog with matching temperament. However, that would require getting a shepherd or retriever, bred for ADHD presentation, and that wouldn't be fair to put in a city apartment, any more than it is for me.
But Alexander the Great had a greyhound named Peritas that attacked an elephant. That's about as ruff-n-tumble as it gets. The elephant won, sure, but Alexander held a huge doggie funeral, then had a statue of Peritas built and named a city after him.
I don't see any cities named after that elephant.
Read
November 19, 2007This is the worst book I've read since Ron Kittle's "Tales From the White Sox Dugout." I was going to give it one star out of charity, then Branigan got to her support of Greyhound racing as an institution. As only Greyhound enthusiasts are likely to read this, here are a few rebuttals.
1. Branigan writes that "human evolution" should allow for a more humane greyhound racing industry. Darwin, she's not. Actually, human evolution will allow for an eventual boarding up of all tracks, as race-to-the-bottom capitalism will always trump the good intentions of the few well meaning breeders/operators.
2. She writes that the industry is making progress, as evidenced by the American Greyhound Council's donations of over $750,000 over ten years to rescue organizations. That's $75,000 per year. Far from evidence of progress, this figure is quite despicable. Next time, she should save herself some time and just print the AGC's press release verbatim.
3. There's really no point in going on...
1. Branigan writes that "human evolution" should allow for a more humane greyhound racing industry. Darwin, she's not. Actually, human evolution will allow for an eventual boarding up of all tracks, as race-to-the-bottom capitalism will always trump the good intentions of the few well meaning breeders/operators.
2. She writes that the industry is making progress, as evidenced by the American Greyhound Council's donations of over $750,000 over ten years to rescue organizations. That's $75,000 per year. Far from evidence of progress, this figure is quite despicable. Next time, she should save herself some time and just print the AGC's press release verbatim.
3. There's really no point in going on...
July 2, 2012
a history of greyhounds as told by my grandma at the family's fourth of july picnic. scientific? not hardly. endearing and full of pleasant pictures and more-than-questionable anecdotal history? sure. well worth the twoish hour read.
Read
March 15, 2023Long history of greyhounds and many ancient references. Some interesting points but pretty thin.
August 1, 2013
This is an interesting read, but a historical scholar Branigan is not. She footnotes and cites nothing (except the photo credits), so it is impossible to tell where her information is coming from. The book is also full of opinions disguised as facts (the old-fashioned way of coursing with a live hare is called "cruel" many times, for example. I'm not saying I don't agree, but from a scholarly standpoint it is an opinion, not a fact).
The style is pleasant, informal and chatty, which is a nice way to read nonfiction every so often. To be fair to Branigan, she tries to acknowledge that the racing industry has had an impact (for good or bad) on the breed without picking a side, though I think it's very obvious what her personal opinions on the matter are. Of course her trying to stay neutral is going to anger people who have passionate opinions either way.
When it comes down to it I am pleased to have this book in my collection and I learned several interesting things. I did not, for example, know that General Custer kept greyhounds.
The style is pleasant, informal and chatty, which is a nice way to read nonfiction every so often. To be fair to Branigan, she tries to acknowledge that the racing industry has had an impact (for good or bad) on the breed without picking a side, though I think it's very obvious what her personal opinions on the matter are. Of course her trying to stay neutral is going to anger people who have passionate opinions either way.
When it comes down to it I am pleased to have this book in my collection and I learned several interesting things. I did not, for example, know that General Custer kept greyhounds.
February 12, 2009
Since I am preparing for my greyhound to arrive (hopefully soon), I've been devoring anything greyhound I can get my hands on. This book focuses on the history of the breed and how it has evolved over time.
August 8, 2012
It's been a few years since I've read this but I remember it was an enlightening read on the origins and history of the greyhound.
Want to read
August 22, 2014it will b informative
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