Your wish sounds promising, but the problem is that the number of greyhounds that actually participate in lure coursing is very small. Right now the greyhound gene pool is genetically diverse with more than 500 sires and thousands of brood bitches representing 46 greyhound families.Originally posted by K9soul
Ok in all honesty, I really wish it would become a leisure sport and not a money-making business because I think the fact that money and gambling is involved is what makes it, IN MY OPINION, have more potential for some owners to make the dollar their top priority to the detriment of their dogs. I feel the same about horse racing. Now where my education is limited is just how much money is typically involved in it, and how easy it is to "make it big" by having successful racers. I fully admit to being uneducated on that aspect.
By contrast, the AKC registers only about 160 dogs per year. They're pedigrees are saturated with the same bloodlines.
Here is a typical example I clicked on at random on Greyhound-data.com:
http://www.greyhound-data.com/db.php?i=351773
Note its ancestors:
Treetops Hawk 4*4*4*4*4*4*5*5*6
Treetops Flicka of Canfield 5*5*5*5*5*5*5*5*6*6*6*6
Treetops Golden Falcon 3*3*4
Courtmoor Christmas Star 3*3
Treetops Penelope of Canfield 4*4*5*5
Barum Carlanga Conquest 5*5*6*6*6*6*6*6*6
Parcancady Dancer 5*6*6*6*6*6*6*6*6
Parcancady Lady 5*6*6*6*6*6*6*6
Viverdon Fancy Lady 5*6
Compare that disaster with the most tightly linebred NGA greyhound I know:
http://www.greyhound-data.com/db.php?i=261494
Fresh Approach 3*3
My Unicorn 3*4
Final Approach 4*4*4
Onie Jones 4*4*4
Carbella 4*4
It doesn't take a dog breeder to see the difference. AKC greyhounds are dangerously inbred. At 160 dogs a year it qualifies as a rare breed.
Right now, the AKC breeders have the luxury of being able to outcross occasionally to NGA blood. If racing went away completely that "safety valve" would be lost as breedings would plummet. Greyhound racing is the "family business" for 100s of breeders. If they could not make a living at it they would be completely disinclined to continue the expensive proposition of breeding greyhounds---they'd be too busy putting their lives back together and looking for work. Some of these folks are three and four generation breeders whose families shaped the greyhound we have today. Their breeding stock is a storehouse of greyhound genetic history. With these professionals out of the business the breed would be left to the backyard breeder with all that portends.
Bookmarks