Greyhound

The history of the Greyhound

The oldest of the British sighthounds by a distance, drawn on medieval manuscripts and named in the Forest Laws, when owning one was a mark of rank. Coursing on the open downs made the shape: a deep chest, a long neck, a back that flexes like a bow, and a gait that is a series of leaps rather than strides. The racing industry made thousands of them and then retired them at three or four, which is why most Greyhounds in British homes are rehomed dogs, and why the breed's reputation as a couch animal is entirely earned: forty minutes of running and twenty-three hours of sleep. They are gentle, quiet and oddly formal in their manners. The artist put this one on chalk downland with a standing stone, the country the breed was made for, and let the long lines of the dog do the work with very little hatching on the coat.