Top Greyhounds Dogs

Even in 1840 the British Greyhound was a very well-known breed and so little was written about it, except to say that was 'unrivalled in the open country for speed, beauty and spirit, untied with docility' - surely praise indeed.

The breed called the Scottish Greyhound, now familiar to us as the Deerhound, was thought to have higher intellectual abilities than the Russian Hounds, in part because it had been at some time crossed with the Stag Hound. The Irish Greyhound, now known as the Wolfhound, was thought to have originally been the same as the Scottish hound. According to some opinions it was not found in Ireland in the form known then until the Danes arrived on Irish coasts, even though no such breed was known in Scandinavian countries.

The earliest color of the breed was thought to be buff or pale ochre and it was considered that the ancient race, similar to the Scottish, was crossed with the Danish Dog by 'North men', thereby increasing its great stature. In 1840 no two specimens of the Irish Greyhound were said to be alike in structure or color so mastiff, stag-hound or blood-hounds may have crossed with early dogs to produce those then known. The dog was believed to be the largest in western Europe and the decline in wolves in Ireland was due, at least in part, to this breed's work.