Much as how vehicles, handbags, and even cell phones are the modern day’s way of showing one’s wealth and stature in public, the Greyhound was once the vice of the well-to-do. Originating from the mysterious and fascinating Persian lands, the elegant Greyhound has been adorning paintings and drawings, unchanged, for thousands of years. Once meant only for royalty in the Middle East, his sleek and graceful design gained him popularity among noblemen in England, where he was brought up and bred for hunting. Such a regal companion was only granted to those who were equal in comparison; therefore for quite some time, Greyhounds were only allowed to be owned by the aristocrats.
As a sight-hound, the greyhound proved to be a marvelous hunter through the country-sides of England and quickly earned a name for being very fast and agile. Speed became England’s sport and alongside it was the Greyhound. Before long, greyhounds were being bred based on speed, and racing became a great sport of the elite. Gentlemen and ladies flocked to the dog tracks to place bets and as the stakes rose, so did the breed’s popularity.
Soon the breed was unable to be controlled and regulated within the upper classes and Greyhounds began to trickle down into the masses. No longer was the Greyhound synonymous with power or importance.
Encased in time, one may still be able to procure the adorned paintings and illustrations of days gone by, with ladies with their furs, men with their hats and canes, bejeweled sheiks with desert game, each alongside a proud companion. Although a silver brooch or embroidered silk may snapshot a time past, look into a Greyhound’s eye and see the sparkle of sport and memories of a rich heritage, the flash of the hunt, and the mysterious glint of yesteryear -- only there can you see the real history.
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