By Dennis McKeon
copyright, 2017. The original post can be found here.
It's very difficult to manage a population of dogs properly, generation after generation. Most people have no conception of what is involved. They see a happy, vibrant, beautiful, and well mannered greyhound, and it never dawns on them that the individual by whom they are so enchanted, is a direct reflection of that population.
It's as if some people assume that they simply spring up out of fairy dust. But that isn't the case. There is a grand design to competitive sporting function, and breeding for it. Seldom does anything happen, nor do these amazing dogs emerge by serendipity. Selectivity is the word.
Briefly, what formal, regulated, documented competitions do, is to identify the most well-adapted individuals of any generation, so that breeders can make informed, objective decisions as to which individuals, bloodlines and bloodline crosses, and which Greyhound families, are on the cutting edge of adaptation, and are selected to produce the next generation.
There is a comprehensive pedigree record so that breeders can see which bloodlines are most compatible with one another, and which are less so. There are visual and data based records of racing and coursing performances, so that breeders can accurately assess an individual dog's true character, aptitude and ability. Furthermore, those formal competitions support a large and genetically diverse general and breeding population, which is absolutely crucial to the overall well being of any breed.
Now, contrary to what you may have read or heard, speed is not the only essential required for a greyhound to have a successful career as a competitor. The successful greyhound must also possess otherworldly gifts of athleticism, nerve, courage, stamina, track and/or field skills, and that great intangible we commonly refer to as heart---the all consuming desire to lead the pack, and the will to get there, despite adversity.
So when we speak of advocating for the individual greyhound, we can't disconnect that unique and highly functional individual from the population. We can't have a thriving, physically vibrant, superbly adapted and well-tempered individual, without also having a population that embodies, expresses and imparts all of those desirable attributes---and vice-versa.
Formal, regulated running competitions, expose, reward and nurture those attributes and intangibles, as they support and maintain the critical genetic diversity that enriches and sustains the Greyhound. And when we diminish that population, its genetic wellsprings, and its financial supports, we diminish all greyhounds, exponentially.