Our Greyhound, "Janky"

The first time we saw a greyhound was at a local craft fair. The Greyhound Rescue group had these two beautiful, sedate dogs. We are suckers for any dogs, and since we didn't have one, we attracted like flies to honey.

What struck us was how calm and well mannered these dogs were. They just layed on the grass and were super mellow. From that introduction, we knew if we ever got the chance, this is the breed we would get.

During Christmas, because of the spirit of giving, or perhaps just the spirits, we convinced our landlord that we should be allowed to have a dog. Within the month we learned all we could about ex-racing greyhounds, and we adopted our wonderful new member of the family, Janky.

Janky's name came from us throwing out loads of ideas for the name of our new dog, and Marissa suggesting Jandek. You can learn all about Jandek here. Jandek has a song called "Janky", which is his nickname (we can speculate).

"Clanky, Clanky... here comes Janky."

The first thing that amazes people is that we had no idea which dog we were going to get; you see the adoption group matches the best suited dog to you, unlike a line up where you would select your dog based on cuteness. This seems foreign to most people, but it make sense; if you have certain needs, you should have the best suited dog to match those needs.

The first time we met Janky was the night we picked her up; she was super thin and absolutely nervous about the environment. Greyhounds are very sensitive, much like people, and changes come hard for them. Her legs were shaking, and she couldn't look anyone in the eye. What she did do though was come over and lean her body on ours; a typical greyhound tactic.

We were in love.

In the first months, you are adjusting to a new pet, but your pet is adjusting to a whole new environment; life is different in a home compared to a racetrack. Most of their life is spent in a crate, so you have to start them out in your home in a crate; it's where they feel safe. The other thing is they aren't used to many things you wouldn't think about... doors, windows, carpet, stairs, TV's are all foreign to them. When we first got Janky, she was looking behind the TV to figure out where the voices were coming from.

You also have to get used to the leash because greyhounds simply can't be let off of one in an open space. These dogs have been bred for speed, and their eyesight is incredibly acute. They have also been trained to get the small little animal, which to the greyhound could be a blowing trash bag down the street, squirrels, cats, etc. Now, over time, greyhounds lose that pounce, however, just like anything that has been reinforced since birth it could come back. Next thing you know, your dog is running down the street at 40 miles per hour and runs into traffic. The dogs I am used to wouldn't run two feet away from you, because they are enamored by human presence, so it was a bit of a transistion.

Greyhounds tend not to look directly at you, this being to dogs as a challenge for dominance. They tend not to want to cuddle up with you for hours at a time, taking a minute of petting and then wanting to be left alone. They tend to be shy around new people and surroundings. I don't know if this is our dog, or was it the training we gave her, but she loves new people. Loves them! She walks up to any stranger for a pet, which can be annoying when I take her to a horse show, and there are a hundred people coming up wanting to play, and I can't get to where I need to go.

I made it a point to grab Janky's head, and make her look at me when I looked at her. I gave her treats when she looked at me; I would put a cookie right infront of my face and make her stare at it, and therefore me, before giving. I would also lay down right next to her on her blanket. She would move away from me, and I would move again next to her. Greyhounds are not used to having other dogs in their space, but to show dominance, and for her to get use to human contact, I did this for quite a while before she would just stay. Now I am able to spoon with her for quite a while, and she seems to love it.

Greyhounds are also very clean dogs. They rarely shed, they don't have oily skin so they don't have a dog smell, our Janky even grooms herself like a cat.

Greyhounds are quiet dogs. It takes quite a bit of coaxing to get ours to bark at all. She whimpers a bit when we are ignoring her request to go outside for bodily functions, or cries a bit when we leave her alone for extended periods of time. Other than those few times, she doesn't make a peep.

Greyhounds are low maintance dogs. They sleep most of the day, they don't mind being caged up for up to eight hours at a time (which we do when we both go to work for her saftey and saftey to our home), they don't eat a drastic amount, her potty breaks are fairly routine, and we only have to walk her twice a day. They don't have too many medical ailments that affect so many other pure breed dogs.

In a world where so many dogs go without home, it is inconceivable to me of people purchasing dogs for a pet. Up to 30,000 grehounds are killed every year because they are simply not wanted. Greyhounds are terrific dogs, and make great pets. Myths about them being bad around children and other pets are not true for most greyhounds, and most adoption agencies will screen for this behavior. We live in basically a studio apartment, and since they sleep so much, she doesn't take up much space. If you are looking for a dog, I would urge you to adopt one, greyhound or not. Puppy mills just as a practice, are perptuating a system where inbreeding, disease, and mistreatment are rampent.

I would urge you to read up on a breed you are interested in, and I have provided some links for you to learn more about these noble dogs. 

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