Greyhounds and Lurchers

29th October 2013

Greyhounds and Lurchers are obedient, clean, and as they are primarily a sprinting breed rather than an endurance one, if they have a couple of short sprints a day that will suit them. They are real couch potatoes, happy to curl up at your fire and gaze up at you adoringly. hairy lurcher paws

Many breed description books list Greyhounds as too highly strung to tolerate children. This has been proven time and time again to be untrue. Greyhounds and Lurchers have a very calm disposition and most of them are very good with children, especially well mannered children. In general, any dog of any breed that has not been raised around children or has an unknown background should be watched carefully in his first few weeks in the family. In any case, an adult should supervise all interaction between animals and children

Greyhounds, because of their early training, have never been without the company of other Greyhounds and have never really had the opportunity to be a puppy. They may need to act out puppy behaviour, like chewing, which they typically grow out of very quickly. They are anxious to please and can be trained to standard obedience commands with patience and consistency as most of them are discarded between two and four years old. They are used to the lead, love to walk and will learn to heel with ease.

Most Greyhounds and Lurchers do not know how to sit, climb stairs or play games, only because they have never learned. With time they can be taught all these things and can quickly become part of your family.

They have rarely been exposed to other breeds of dogs or to cats, and will possibly be perplexed, frightened or simply ignore them. Greyhounds do not really know how to defend themselves and will often Freeze if attacked – so do not leave them open to dangerous situations.

paws greyhoundGreyhounds and Lurchers do not typically bite, in fact in all my experience I have never seen either show any sign of aggression to humans. However they sometimes show affection with their mouth agape in the form of a smile and sometimes, by gently grasping or licking your hand.

Because of the lack of fat on their bodies, they are very sensitive to heat and cold and should not be left out in extremes of weather, in fact during the winter you should buy your Greyhound a coat.

All this said, I hope we have convinced you what a wonderful asset to your family both Greyhounds and Lurchers can be and please feel free to contact us at PAWS for any further information you may require.

Your decision to adopt could mean the difference between a life of happiness and comfort and a life of misery or certain death for these lovely affectionate dogs.