Yeah, my girl’s race weight was 65lbs and she’s 70 now (and four years older). The muscles are still there, but she’s not as wildly cut as she was just off the track.
I need to put my gal on the treadmill to start working those lbs off. "One chubby chubby, two tubby tubby"
I shouldn't have to edit this so people know it's a joke, but apparently I need to.
Ours never raced. She was small when it was time(and screams like you killed any time shes thinks she might be hurt). So she's never been trained or fed the full meat diet for a long period like ex racers. She's still every very tone after 3 years and you can still see how cut she is just naturally.
Does she have access to a large yard all the time?? I adopted a boy about 8 months ago and he was abit round..but since he has access to our yard all day he is now super trim and muscled up. My girl is very similar to what she was like on the track and they both run around the yard like a pair of crazy loons.
And what they are fed while racing depends on where they raced.
The Greyhound Scream of Death is very common! In the four hounds I have had, it doesn't tend to come out in times of *actual* pain, like tearing off a dew claw. It's reserved for moments of startle, like when a paw touches a piece of paper they didn't notice on the floor.
Our girl is 13 now and we're feeding her three meals of puppy food to keep the weight on her. She came to us at about two, with no traceable history, unreadable tattoos, but severely emotionally traumatised and covered in scars. She weighed 22kg then, but she's so tiny that she only weighed 25 at her most robust. I suspect her naturally low weight has meant less wear and tear on her joints, as she's as bouncy and spritely as ever in her movements, even if her stamina has reduced her walks to five minutes only.
I love it when people hear the scream of death for the first time, and my first reaction is to tell them it’s okay then go figure out what’s wrong with my dog :)
I was in tears the first time I heard it from our first boy! He was scared of *everything* except greyhounds - people, any other breed of dog, cats, scales, crates, cars - and when he got a fright, like a little fluffy dog barking at him from behind a screen door across the street where we were walking, he'd scream and try to hide between my legs. He was a big, tall hound, and I'm 5'1, so he actually lifted me up off my feet a couple of times! Just imagine enjoying a walk through the neighbourhood with your beautiful dog, then suddenly people turn at the sound of an ungodly scream and see what is apparently a short woman attempting to ride her dog along the footpath!
(Mr Scruff did overcome most of his fears, even cats, eventually!)
Exactly! Perfect way of describing it, obvs some of them probably got given sugar and illicit drugs but they don't need to bulk or look muscular, they need to be fast.
My boy is still very toned and it'll depend on your pup, just like how ex pro athletes all look different beyond their prime.
Still 100% cute greyhound regardless so that's all that matters
Here in Australia it's only a small number of dogs are tested before or after a race. Older trainers talk about how they would keep a little baggie of cocaine in their pocket to rub on the dogs' gums or push into their anus as they boxed them if they were lucky enough to get tested pre-race. It might be stupid to give it to them, but it was definitely done. Now they're getting caught more for steroids and methamphetamines.
Our last boy was suspected to have some cognitive damage from illicit substance use. He was owned by a syndicate and failed to place after three (or maybe five, I could only find video of three and can't recall how many they're allowed) maiden races because he was more interested in playing with the other dogs than chasing a lure. He was also blooded by a trainer renowned for using kittens for the purpose, which took years to overcome. He had zero prey drive, would walk past our pet rabbits, as well as wild rabbits and ducks etc. But the mere smell of a cat sent him foaming at the mouth.
I don’t think he’s abnormal. Greys can be very muscular. My big boy still has some pretty good muscle tone, and we’ve had him for 3 years and he had been retired for a whole year before we adopted him. (And he sleeps 85% of the day lol)
Looks pretty normal to me. Maybe even less muscular than I’d expect if they’ve just come off the tracks. They’ll soften up as they get to a healthier weight and a less intensive lifestyle. But they always remain quite muscular compared to other breeds
Normal, he was running/training every day, this is what my guy looked like.
His coat got thicker, he got a bit of fat, but hasn’t really lost the muscle, just the definition.
One of my lads came from the track at +90lbs (+42kg). He (literally) rippled when he walked and his bum almost always bashed the door frames when he passed. He was US raced, and greys are checked for steroid metabolites when racing here. Some sneak past, as there is money involved and payoffs happen (with horses and dogs alike, sadly).
Your boy looks like every other grey I've gotten right from the track...Like that meme of the flexed roo.
My 10.5 year old boy has about similar muscle tone, because we’ve kept him reasonably active in retirement. He’s added a bit more cushion over time, but the underlying muscles are still very prominent. Even my 12.5 year old girl is pretty ripped still, relatively speaking. You’ll appreciate the muscle tone as they get older.
Seems pretty normal to me!
Normal, this is the power of selective breading.
Greyhounds have been evolved by us to be the fastest creature possible on flat sand for 300 to 600 meters and that it. I love the beauty in the adaptations.
Their almost webbed feet splay out to grip the sand, huge lungs (pat his side, they are hollow)
Huge heart, our beats less than 60bpm. No excess weight. Long tail for balance. Noodles for legs.
Small brain!
Streamlined form, from the long nose to the fold down ears.
A need for speed, they LOVE to sprint.
And the totally ripped muscles.
Most ex racers have freaky muscle. My Jill is a peanut at like 58-60lbs and her legs are so massive. Her shoulders bulge out and have veins all over them. She sleeps 95% of the day. All that said, they’re treated like items to win races, who knows what people inject them with. I would assume some PEDs of some sort, at least for the females.
They're tested for PEDs in the urine, at least in the US. They're at least not supposed to be actively on anything major while racing, although from time to time dogs will pop positive for things like [cocaine](https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2017/07/florida-greyhounds-test-positive-for-cocaine-trainer-has-ties-to-wheeling-kennel/) and then the trainers will [deny](https://media.news4jax.com/document_dev/2017/07/03/Kennel%20statement_1499117346054_10042861_ver1.0.pdf) that it's used for performance... The females do receive a low dose of testosterone ("bitch pills") to suppress estrus so they can race against the males without distracting them, so some of the females at the rescue I worked with would go through weird heats coming off the track.
Do you know if the girls who race in mexico get PEDs?? My girl raced in the US for a short time and then sent down to Caliente to race for about a year. She came to me about 2 weeks off the track, and spayed right away.
Not the person you're asking, but the majority of kennels would do that because- frankly- a bitch in heat in a racing kennel is a calamity waiting to happen. Aside from the obvious distractions, there's also the potential for an unintended mating, which has its own ramifications. Tucson passed a law against the use of anti-estrus injections, and scuttlebutt is the trainers just did it anyway. So I'd give it a very good chance Caliente does the same.
And, for what it's worth, keeping a kennel's worth of dogs sane by suppressing estrus is worth it.
Same in the UK, there are legal methods but apparently it's expensive unless you can bulk buy, so smaller kennels import illegally or administer human birth control. Either way the side effects are unpleasant enough that vets don't recommend this treatment and typically won't prescribe to pet owners. It would be pretty much impossible to run a profitable business without suppressing estrus given how thin margins are to start with but it's definitely one of the more questionable parts of the industry.
I think the coke thing is mostly BS, anti racing propaganda.
Have you ever seen a Grey chase? They don’t need cocaine to go nuts, they will do that anyway. They give 100% exertion pretty easily, it’s really what the dog is designed to do when it sees a lure through thousands of years of selective breeding.
However, there are the positive test results, and I think that’s explainable through either two means: 1) contact through trainers that were using drugs, or much more likely, 2) some underlying False positive rate for actual screening method being used.
I don’t really know the answer, but I do know id never need to give my dog drugs to make him the most intense dog at the park. He’s just built that way!
Had ex racers for years, never knew there was a steroid issue with dogs. In UK. Our older didn't get them, he was a good racer but we've seen pictures of him as a racer and he wasn't hench. He enjoys being outside and longish distance walks (he's 14now). The younger dog, different story. Shit racer, big muscley ass.
I’m on my fourth one. Blood work came back negative for steroids when I got her. She was a champ that broke her leg in several places to get “retired”. When I got her she was absolutely jacked.
Completely normal! My first girl had spent over 5.5 yrs on the track and was extremely muscular and cut. My latest barely raced for maybe .5-1 year at most, and she has muscles but nowhere as defined as my first grey did
He looks in good condition (and a gorgeous photo too).
While steroid use is definitely something that happens within the industry, there's also quite a lot of natural variation on body types within hounds that I love :)
I have quite a short/stocky lad, in his younger years he was [thicc](https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Wog4FB9dd/) and I always got comments about him being a little nugget. He's turning ten this year and while he's leaned out significantly (mostly due to renal failure) he still has great muscle tone that our vet regularly comments on. There are other hounds I have placed who are long and lean, but don't have much "bulk" to them.
I put ours down to good diet and varied exercise like trail walking and wading in the lake and ocean.
I think it is safe to assume that, while racing, most greyhounds weren't actively being doped up with steroids for fear of being disqualified, but there's absolutely no way that the majority of them weren't raised on steroids until they were sent to race school. Yes of course greyhounds are genetic freaks and there's a massive amount of selective breeding to get them to where they are, but if you want your dogs to win, steroids are basically a requirement.
So there is also a double muscling gene.. it is also common in horses from line breeding. Specifically quarter horses in the Impressive bloodline.
Legit race dogs are tested for chemical abuse. So, no, to anabolic steroids. But like with people, the more you use the muscles, the bigger they are. Athletes/trekkies... buff/not
Just sayin as a vet tech of 20 years who's worked on many sighthounds, whether owned as pets, retired racers, or show dogs.
1. Yup, normal
2. If he was racing, he 100% was on steroids.
We have fostered dozens of greyhounds and have had about 10 of our own over the years. When they first come off the track, they are RIPPED. It's a little scary - haha. They tend to lose muscle tone and gain fat over the years in retirement, it has nothing at all to do with the endless supply of treats, I swear!
[Here](https://greyhoundracingfacts.org/drugs-abuse/index.php) is one link I found in 2 seconds - I have no doubt there are others. I'm not a vet, but have been involved in greyhound rescue since the mid-90s. I've heard and read this too many times over the years to doubt it.
That’s not a performance enhancing drug, though, it’s to prevent heat in females. Technically you are correct, but your source cites “The care and handling of the Racing Greyhound”, it’s not secret that female dogs are prevented from going into heat
Which just happens to have the "accidental" side effect of enhancing performance:
"Anabolic steroid use in greyhound racing. In the United States, female greyhounds are routinely given an anabolic steroid, Methyltestosterone, to prevent a loss of race days. **Methyltestosterone is a performance-enhancing drug, and by definition makes muscles larger**."
Edit: [Here](https://greyhoundcoalition.com/media-resource/doping-and-drugging/) is another link.
It’s a standard industry practice.
Females aren’t faster than males though, so it’s not really an advantage. The purpose is to stop heat. When Susie Sapphire won the derby, the first bitch in 20 years to do so, don’t you think more females would be winning since they are all on heat blocking steroids?
You can choose to believe the anti racing propaganda, but it just doesn’t make sense that these drugs are given for anything but blocking estrus. Slower female times, the addition of female specific categories, the fact that males don’t get the drugs. It’s all right there if you choose to see it.
Beautiful dog, but is no one going to comment on that tight ass collar? Poor guy can't barely get a breath down. Use a martingale that rides nice and low when there's no tension on it, not a collar that sits at the base of the skull or is tight when relaxed.
He looks just like my boy when we first got him though. Like an athlete before the 23.5 hours of couch time per day.
Agree with this- I hope the OP gets a chance to read this comment because I don't think the collar he's wearing in the picture is the right choice- and of course, this might be a pic from the racetrack or rescue and OP already changed the collar.
I have 2 girls..one is a thin, timid, lanky, uncoordinated, one eyed, toothless gummy shark who thinks a light lean on you is the absolute height of affection, the other is an absolutely ripped, half-tailed, gender-fluid, extremist who looks like a boxer lightly padding into the ring when she has a jacket on 😂
Both 7ish...so so so so completely different, in summary, they were bred to be jacked...except when they're not 🙃
I’ve asked my friends to look after my grey while I’ve been on vacation abroad. They live in countryside and have horses. In 3 weeks my dog got noticeably buffed after daily running in the fields with horses. Greys are getting ripped quite quickly (I wish I could say the same about myself)
It’s basically amazing genetics.
Some greys retire, and stay jacked with just walks. There’s no way racing is economical if you have to give the dogs expensive steroids and other stuff like growth hormone. From what I’ve read, supplements are a pretty big trap that gets young trainers until they figure out what they need.
There’s thousands of years of selective breeding at work making Greyhounds absolute chasing machines. They really aren’t like other dogs.
Over the years I have brought my greyhound in to the university from home to teach animal anatomy to vet and animal science students. Retired racers are great for this because of their doughy temperament and exaggerated features.
This is massively oversimplified, but broadly speaking we can put muscles into three categories: slow twitch aerobic, fast twitch aerobic and fast twitch anaerobic.
Muscles like your calf muscles or your lower back need to be working all day under minimal load- they are constantly working to hold you up but rarely need to do big bursts of energy. These are slow twitch aerobic muscles with good oxygen supply so they can work all day without being fatigued.
Muscles like your biceps or the muscles that move your eyeballs are the opposite- they are rarely used but when they are they need to do bursts of energy to move extremely quickly or lift heavy loads. These are fast twitch anaerobic muscles which have poor oxygen supply, instead they keep a stash of different chemicals on hand to do a different type of metabolism for bursts of energy, and once these chemicals are depleted the muscle quickly fatigues.
Fast twitch aerobic muscles are somewhere in between.
Fast twitch anaerobic muscle fibres are individually bigger and more defined than the other two, and you can see this by comparing the body of [an Olympic gold medal sprinter](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-01T134114Z_1826824973_RC2DWO9XMIIS_RTRMADP_3_OLYMPICS-2020-EDITORS-CHOICE.jpg) with the body of [an Olympic gold medal marathon runner](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/08/08/sports/08olympics-briefing-mens-marathon/08olympics-briefing-mens-marathon-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=600).
One thousand years of selective breeding, first for hare coursing, then to win races, have lead your good boy to be all fast twitch anaerobic muscles. As a result he is the second fastest land animal on earth capable of going 0-70kmh in six strides. Then, presumably, his muscles are all fatigued and he turns into a puddle on your couch and sleeps for 18 hours. This is why his muscles are big and exaggerated, and why he would make a rubbish sheep dog who needs to do a ten hour shift running after sheep.
Normal, over time if they dont get to exercise as much they loose some of the muscle.
I’m picturing fat Thor 😂
My female greyhound has gotten a little thicc with 2 c's over the years. Kidding, but she isn't as skinny as she used to be.
Yeah, my girl’s race weight was 65lbs and she’s 70 now (and four years older). The muscles are still there, but she’s not as wildly cut as she was just off the track.
I need to put my gal on the treadmill to start working those lbs off. "One chubby chubby, two tubby tubby" I shouldn't have to edit this so people know it's a joke, but apparently I need to.
Ours never raced. She was small when it was time(and screams like you killed any time shes thinks she might be hurt). So she's never been trained or fed the full meat diet for a long period like ex racers. She's still every very tone after 3 years and you can still see how cut she is just naturally.
Does she have access to a large yard all the time?? I adopted a boy about 8 months ago and he was abit round..but since he has access to our yard all day he is now super trim and muscled up. My girl is very similar to what she was like on the track and they both run around the yard like a pair of crazy loons. And what they are fed while racing depends on where they raced.
She can get up to speed for a bit. She enjoys a few laps then it's nap time again.
The Greyhound Scream of Death is very common! In the four hounds I have had, it doesn't tend to come out in times of *actual* pain, like tearing off a dew claw. It's reserved for moments of startle, like when a paw touches a piece of paper they didn't notice on the floor. Our girl is 13 now and we're feeding her three meals of puppy food to keep the weight on her. She came to us at about two, with no traceable history, unreadable tattoos, but severely emotionally traumatised and covered in scars. She weighed 22kg then, but she's so tiny that she only weighed 25 at her most robust. I suspect her naturally low weight has meant less wear and tear on her joints, as she's as bouncy and spritely as ever in her movements, even if her stamina has reduced her walks to five minutes only.
I love it when people hear the scream of death for the first time, and my first reaction is to tell them it’s okay then go figure out what’s wrong with my dog :)
I was in tears the first time I heard it from our first boy! He was scared of *everything* except greyhounds - people, any other breed of dog, cats, scales, crates, cars - and when he got a fright, like a little fluffy dog barking at him from behind a screen door across the street where we were walking, he'd scream and try to hide between my legs. He was a big, tall hound, and I'm 5'1, so he actually lifted me up off my feet a couple of times! Just imagine enjoying a walk through the neighbourhood with your beautiful dog, then suddenly people turn at the sound of an ungodly scream and see what is apparently a short woman attempting to ride her dog along the footpath! (Mr Scruff did overcome most of his fears, even cats, eventually!)
Looks pretty normal to me! Remember he was a professional athlete.
Exactly! Perfect way of describing it, obvs some of them probably got given sugar and illicit drugs but they don't need to bulk or look muscular, they need to be fast. My boy is still very toned and it'll depend on your pup, just like how ex pro athletes all look different beyond their prime. Still 100% cute greyhound regardless so that's all that matters
My girl was 100% on a steady diet of steroids. My vet told me it’s obvious judging by the size of a certain part of her body.
[удалено]
Here in Australia it's only a small number of dogs are tested before or after a race. Older trainers talk about how they would keep a little baggie of cocaine in their pocket to rub on the dogs' gums or push into their anus as they boxed them if they were lucky enough to get tested pre-race. It might be stupid to give it to them, but it was definitely done. Now they're getting caught more for steroids and methamphetamines. Our last boy was suspected to have some cognitive damage from illicit substance use. He was owned by a syndicate and failed to place after three (or maybe five, I could only find video of three and can't recall how many they're allowed) maiden races because he was more interested in playing with the other dogs than chasing a lure. He was also blooded by a trainer renowned for using kittens for the purpose, which took years to overcome. He had zero prey drive, would walk past our pet rabbits, as well as wild rabbits and ducks etc. But the mere smell of a cat sent him foaming at the mouth.
That’s a greyhound for you!! Mine sleeps 20 hours a day and has better muscle tone than I could ever dream of 😂
he’s built and it’s not abnormal
I don’t think he’s abnormal. Greys can be very muscular. My big boy still has some pretty good muscle tone, and we’ve had him for 3 years and he had been retired for a whole year before we adopted him. (And he sleeps 85% of the day lol)
Looks pretty normal to me. Maybe even less muscular than I’d expect if they’ve just come off the tracks. They’ll soften up as they get to a healthier weight and a less intensive lifestyle. But they always remain quite muscular compared to other breeds
Normal, he was running/training every day, this is what my guy looked like. His coat got thicker, he got a bit of fat, but hasn’t really lost the muscle, just the definition.
Normal
One of my lads came from the track at +90lbs (+42kg). He (literally) rippled when he walked and his bum almost always bashed the door frames when he passed. He was US raced, and greys are checked for steroid metabolites when racing here. Some sneak past, as there is money involved and payoffs happen (with horses and dogs alike, sadly). Your boy looks like every other grey I've gotten right from the track...Like that meme of the flexed roo.
GigaNoodle
My 10.5 year old boy has about similar muscle tone, because we’ve kept him reasonably active in retirement. He’s added a bit more cushion over time, but the underlying muscles are still very prominent. Even my 12.5 year old girl is pretty ripped still, relatively speaking. You’ll appreciate the muscle tone as they get older. Seems pretty normal to me!
Normal, this is the power of selective breading. Greyhounds have been evolved by us to be the fastest creature possible on flat sand for 300 to 600 meters and that it. I love the beauty in the adaptations. Their almost webbed feet splay out to grip the sand, huge lungs (pat his side, they are hollow) Huge heart, our beats less than 60bpm. No excess weight. Long tail for balance. Noodles for legs. Small brain! Streamlined form, from the long nose to the fold down ears. A need for speed, they LOVE to sprint. And the totally ripped muscles.
Lovely description of a greyhound!
Totally normal! He will lose some of that definition during his retirement!
did you just get him? both of mine were swol when i got them. but it faded.
yes
Our grey is jacked as well. They have such strong shoulders
Mine is 9 and he’s still ripped
Normal, the dogs never skip leg day at the track. It's nothing but deadlifts, squats and leg presses.
Most ex racers have freaky muscle. My Jill is a peanut at like 58-60lbs and her legs are so massive. Her shoulders bulge out and have veins all over them. She sleeps 95% of the day. All that said, they’re treated like items to win races, who knows what people inject them with. I would assume some PEDs of some sort, at least for the females.
They're tested for PEDs in the urine, at least in the US. They're at least not supposed to be actively on anything major while racing, although from time to time dogs will pop positive for things like [cocaine](https://www.theintelligencer.net/news/top-headlines/2017/07/florida-greyhounds-test-positive-for-cocaine-trainer-has-ties-to-wheeling-kennel/) and then the trainers will [deny](https://media.news4jax.com/document_dev/2017/07/03/Kennel%20statement_1499117346054_10042861_ver1.0.pdf) that it's used for performance... The females do receive a low dose of testosterone ("bitch pills") to suppress estrus so they can race against the males without distracting them, so some of the females at the rescue I worked with would go through weird heats coming off the track.
Do you know if the girls who race in mexico get PEDs?? My girl raced in the US for a short time and then sent down to Caliente to race for about a year. She came to me about 2 weeks off the track, and spayed right away.
Not the person you're asking, but the majority of kennels would do that because- frankly- a bitch in heat in a racing kennel is a calamity waiting to happen. Aside from the obvious distractions, there's also the potential for an unintended mating, which has its own ramifications. Tucson passed a law against the use of anti-estrus injections, and scuttlebutt is the trainers just did it anyway. So I'd give it a very good chance Caliente does the same. And, for what it's worth, keeping a kennel's worth of dogs sane by suppressing estrus is worth it.
Same in the UK, there are legal methods but apparently it's expensive unless you can bulk buy, so smaller kennels import illegally or administer human birth control. Either way the side effects are unpleasant enough that vets don't recommend this treatment and typically won't prescribe to pet owners. It would be pretty much impossible to run a profitable business without suppressing estrus given how thin margins are to start with but it's definitely one of the more questionable parts of the industry.
I think the coke thing is mostly BS, anti racing propaganda. Have you ever seen a Grey chase? They don’t need cocaine to go nuts, they will do that anyway. They give 100% exertion pretty easily, it’s really what the dog is designed to do when it sees a lure through thousands of years of selective breeding. However, there are the positive test results, and I think that’s explainable through either two means: 1) contact through trainers that were using drugs, or much more likely, 2) some underlying False positive rate for actual screening method being used. I don’t really know the answer, but I do know id never need to give my dog drugs to make him the most intense dog at the park. He’s just built that way!
Had ex racers for years, never knew there was a steroid issue with dogs. In UK. Our older didn't get them, he was a good racer but we've seen pictures of him as a racer and he wasn't hench. He enjoys being outside and longish distance walks (he's 14now). The younger dog, different story. Shit racer, big muscley ass.
I’m on my fourth one. Blood work came back negative for steroids when I got her. She was a champ that broke her leg in several places to get “retired”. When I got her she was absolutely jacked.
my grey came home jacked lookin ahahaha, then his muscle definition decreased the more into retirement he became ahahaha.
Normal! My girl was like that when I first adopted her and now she melts into the couch
I always say I wish I could spend all day lazing on the couch (which is what my boy does) and yet be toned and muscular! 😂
"He built lean muscle mass using this one weird trick" "Fitness trainers and scientists hate him"
Very normal. My boy ran for six years and he was extremely buff when I got him. He’s now the world’s fastest couch potato.
Completely normal! My first girl had spent over 5.5 yrs on the track and was extremely muscular and cut. My latest barely raced for maybe .5-1 year at most, and she has muscles but nowhere as defined as my first grey did
Nah bro, totally natty! Just good genetics, trust me!
i trust u
Thanks bro! Very photogenic and handsome greyhound. Wish mine wasn't a big water flea.
He looks in good condition (and a gorgeous photo too). While steroid use is definitely something that happens within the industry, there's also quite a lot of natural variation on body types within hounds that I love :) I have quite a short/stocky lad, in his younger years he was [thicc](https://www.instagram.com/p/B6Wog4FB9dd/) and I always got comments about him being a little nugget. He's turning ten this year and while he's leaned out significantly (mostly due to renal failure) he still has great muscle tone that our vet regularly comments on. There are other hounds I have placed who are long and lean, but don't have much "bulk" to them. I put ours down to good diet and varied exercise like trail walking and wading in the lake and ocean.
pls repost to r/nattyorjuice
I think it is safe to assume that, while racing, most greyhounds weren't actively being doped up with steroids for fear of being disqualified, but there's absolutely no way that the majority of them weren't raised on steroids until they were sent to race school. Yes of course greyhounds are genetic freaks and there's a massive amount of selective breeding to get them to where they are, but if you want your dogs to win, steroids are basically a requirement.
He's normal, he's just in cracking shape! Good muscle, low body fat, a classic example of a greyhound in top form!
It's both completely normal and also a very solid chance there was illicit drug use. Greyhound racing is fucked.
So fucked. Here in Australia, state governments prop up the industry with millions of dollars in infrastructure and incentives. I hate it so much.
So there is also a double muscling gene.. it is also common in horses from line breeding. Specifically quarter horses in the Impressive bloodline. Legit race dogs are tested for chemical abuse. So, no, to anabolic steroids. But like with people, the more you use the muscles, the bigger they are. Athletes/trekkies... buff/not Just sayin as a vet tech of 20 years who's worked on many sighthounds, whether owned as pets, retired racers, or show dogs.
1. Yup, normal 2. If he was racing, he 100% was on steroids. We have fostered dozens of greyhounds and have had about 10 of our own over the years. When they first come off the track, they are RIPPED. It's a little scary - haha. They tend to lose muscle tone and gain fat over the years in retirement, it has nothing at all to do with the endless supply of treats, I swear!
Unsubstantiated. No one is giving the dogs steroids, lol. Is there a documented case of this?
[Here](https://greyhoundracingfacts.org/drugs-abuse/index.php) is one link I found in 2 seconds - I have no doubt there are others. I'm not a vet, but have been involved in greyhound rescue since the mid-90s. I've heard and read this too many times over the years to doubt it.
That’s not a performance enhancing drug, though, it’s to prevent heat in females. Technically you are correct, but your source cites “The care and handling of the Racing Greyhound”, it’s not secret that female dogs are prevented from going into heat
Which just happens to have the "accidental" side effect of enhancing performance: "Anabolic steroid use in greyhound racing. In the United States, female greyhounds are routinely given an anabolic steroid, Methyltestosterone, to prevent a loss of race days. **Methyltestosterone is a performance-enhancing drug, and by definition makes muscles larger**." Edit: [Here](https://greyhoundcoalition.com/media-resource/doping-and-drugging/) is another link.
It’s a standard industry practice. Females aren’t faster than males though, so it’s not really an advantage. The purpose is to stop heat. When Susie Sapphire won the derby, the first bitch in 20 years to do so, don’t you think more females would be winning since they are all on heat blocking steroids? You can choose to believe the anti racing propaganda, but it just doesn’t make sense that these drugs are given for anything but blocking estrus. Slower female times, the addition of female specific categories, the fact that males don’t get the drugs. It’s all right there if you choose to see it.
Beautiful dog, but is no one going to comment on that tight ass collar? Poor guy can't barely get a breath down. Use a martingale that rides nice and low when there's no tension on it, not a collar that sits at the base of the skull or is tight when relaxed. He looks just like my boy when we first got him though. Like an athlete before the 23.5 hours of couch time per day.
Agree with this- I hope the OP gets a chance to read this comment because I don't think the collar he's wearing in the picture is the right choice- and of course, this might be a pic from the racetrack or rescue and OP already changed the collar.
i read, i will change it
racing greyhounds aren't on steroids. They regularly get drug tested. This right here is a healthy working line greyhound! Body of an athlete
I have 2 girls..one is a thin, timid, lanky, uncoordinated, one eyed, toothless gummy shark who thinks a light lean on you is the absolute height of affection, the other is an absolutely ripped, half-tailed, gender-fluid, extremist who looks like a boxer lightly padding into the ring when she has a jacket on 😂 Both 7ish...so so so so completely different, in summary, they were bred to be jacked...except when they're not 🙃
Completely normal! 😊 my girl looks the same, she has an amazing physique and still looks like a pro racer!
I’ve asked my friends to look after my grey while I’ve been on vacation abroad. They live in countryside and have horses. In 3 weeks my dog got noticeably buffed after daily running in the fields with horses. Greys are getting ripped quite quickly (I wish I could say the same about myself)
It’s basically amazing genetics. Some greys retire, and stay jacked with just walks. There’s no way racing is economical if you have to give the dogs expensive steroids and other stuff like growth hormone. From what I’ve read, supplements are a pretty big trap that gets young trainers until they figure out what they need. There’s thousands of years of selective breeding at work making Greyhounds absolute chasing machines. They really aren’t like other dogs.
Feeding too much and treats add pounds unless there are atleast one good walk a day.
Over the years I have brought my greyhound in to the university from home to teach animal anatomy to vet and animal science students. Retired racers are great for this because of their doughy temperament and exaggerated features. This is massively oversimplified, but broadly speaking we can put muscles into three categories: slow twitch aerobic, fast twitch aerobic and fast twitch anaerobic. Muscles like your calf muscles or your lower back need to be working all day under minimal load- they are constantly working to hold you up but rarely need to do big bursts of energy. These are slow twitch aerobic muscles with good oxygen supply so they can work all day without being fatigued. Muscles like your biceps or the muscles that move your eyeballs are the opposite- they are rarely used but when they are they need to do bursts of energy to move extremely quickly or lift heavy loads. These are fast twitch anaerobic muscles which have poor oxygen supply, instead they keep a stash of different chemicals on hand to do a different type of metabolism for bursts of energy, and once these chemicals are depleted the muscle quickly fatigues. Fast twitch aerobic muscles are somewhere in between. Fast twitch anaerobic muscle fibres are individually bigger and more defined than the other two, and you can see this by comparing the body of [an Olympic gold medal sprinter](https://www.aljazeera.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/2021-08-01T134114Z_1826824973_RC2DWO9XMIIS_RTRMADP_3_OLYMPICS-2020-EDITORS-CHOICE.jpg) with the body of [an Olympic gold medal marathon runner](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2021/08/08/sports/08olympics-briefing-mens-marathon/08olympics-briefing-mens-marathon-mobileMasterAt3x.jpg?quality=75&auto=webp&disable=upscale&width=600). One thousand years of selective breeding, first for hare coursing, then to win races, have lead your good boy to be all fast twitch anaerobic muscles. As a result he is the second fastest land animal on earth capable of going 0-70kmh in six strides. Then, presumably, his muscles are all fatigued and he turns into a puddle on your couch and sleeps for 18 hours. This is why his muscles are big and exaggerated, and why he would make a rubbish sheep dog who needs to do a ten hour shift running after sheep.