Libro Razas Españolas

Spanish Greyhound The Spanish Greyhound is one of the emblems of the Spanish cynophilia and has always been linked to hare race hunting. There is a proof from 11th century of this sort of hunting in the chapel of San Baudelio de Berlanga, showing a horseman, three greyhounds and two running hares. Spanish Greyhound is the result of the fusion of hounds brought by Gallics and Visigoths and African lineages. Spanish Greyhound has features of both castes in a superb synthesis of adaptation to climate, land and the conditions of the hare in the different areas of the Peninsula. Hunting with greyhounds in Spain has always been a popular tradition, enjoyed with passion not only by nobility, but also by gentlemen and common people in rural areas. At the beginning of 20th century, it arrives into Spain the regulated competition, as well as races in tracks and stadia, leads to the import of Greyhounds and to its systematic cross with native dogs trying to encourage the speed and explosivity. In the Spanish Stud Book (L.O.E.), litters are registered as "Anglo- Spanish Greyhounds", trying to fix these characteristics in a new breed. The aim was not achieved and the number of pure Spanish Greyhounds was alarmingly decimated. Luckily, there are thousands of greyhounds hunting in our fields and that, more or less, preserve the virtues forged for centuries. Lately, there is an increasing sensibility to highlight and recover those traditional virtues of the Spanish caste: those of a smart, slender, bony and tough dog, with plain musculature, long tail and a bit sad look, able to pursue hares in very, very long races with passion, perseverance and capacity to suffer. Las razas caninas españolas - Spanish canine breeds 304