My Greyhound Space

The bravery of greyhounds never ceases to amaze me.  We do laugh at them (or sympathize with them) for being such wimps.  Tread on a greyhound's foot or subject him to the tiniest injection at the vets and you are often astounded at the way they scream like stuck pigs.  Still, vets say that if they are really really hurt, they are very quiet, and amongst, if not the, most compliant and easy dogs to treat.  Of course this may mean that when they are really hurt they go into a form of shock, which is not funny at all, but at least it makes it easier for a vet to handle them.

But the abuse that some of them have gone through is just unthinkable for us pet greyhound owners.  We have a greyhound, Slinky, who came to us with lots of fears and scars, terrified of anyone with anything resembling a stick, almost starved to death, and with a dent in his skull that the vet has confirmed must have come from a blow to the head.  He is not alone in this.  It is not a legend that many greyhounds are found with their ear flaps cut off, so that the cruel swines who abandoned them cannot be traced from the ear tattoos.  This really happens, and sometimes even worse.

Yet these poor damaged dogs manage most of the time to learn, albeit slowly sometimes, to love people.  They come to know the difference between the abusers who hurt them and the loving people involved in their rescue and adoption.  Their bravery and resilience is truly humbling.