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Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Greyhounds

From Lynn Rader

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In Late 1800's, Greyhounds Imported to America...

Introduced by the Gauls, Greyhounds arrived in England over 3,500 years ago. In 1014, King Canute enacted the Forest Laws which stated that only noblemen could own and hunt with Greyhounds and made killing a Greyhound punishable by death. During the Middle Ages, Greyhounds nearly became extinct during times of famine and disease, but were saved by monks who protected them and bred them for the nobility. Geoffrey Chaucer wrote of these fast, skilled sighthounds in his “Canterbury Tales”, and William Shakespeare immortalized the breed in several of his plays, including “Macbeth”, “Henry V”, “Much Ado About Nothing” and “The Taming of the Shrew”.

In the late 1800s, Greyhounds were imported to America to help Midwestern farmers control the jack rabbit and coyote populations. The U.S. Cavalry also used Greyhounds for scouting, as they were swift enough to chase down horses.

Throughout history, Greyhounds have been owned by prominent people, such as Cleopatra, Alexander the Great, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, Spanish Conquistador Coronado, Colonial military General Baron von Steuben, and Presidents Rutherford B. Hayes and John Tyler. General George Custer loved to nap on his parlor floor surrounded by a sea of his 22 personal Greyhounds.

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