E is for Exercise

Everyday care

30 Jan

How much exercise does a hound built for speed really need? Spoiler: Far less than you think, and they'll be the first to tell you.

Someone at the park looks at your greyhound and says, with total confidence, "You must have to run him for hours." You both look down. He's leaning on your leg with his eyes shut, asleep standing up, twenty minutes into a walk he'd already quite like to end.

It's the question every hound owner gets, usually from someone holding the lead of a spaniel who's vibrating. Here's the honest answer, from owners who've been asked it more times than we can count.

Sprinters, not marathon runners

Greyhounds are among the fastest dogs on earth, capable of about 43mph. So it makes sense to assume they need miles and miles. They don't. They're built for short, explosive bursts, and recovery isn't optional. Recovery is practically their job, and they take it very seriously.

In our houses, most adult greyhounds are perfectly content with a couple of decent walks a day. Some want a bit more. Plenty are happy with less. A few buck the trend and would walk all day, but they're the exception, and their owners have very good calves.

Whippets usually have more bounce and enjoy a longer outing, though they're still sprinters underneath. Lurchers are the wild card. One with plenty of collie in the mix may have real stamina and opinions about your step count. One that's mostly greyhound will behave like a greyhound, and sigh at you on the way out the door.

Low maintenance on the lead, high maintenance in blanket allocation.

A good walk is a sniffy walk

A good sighthound walk is about interest, not distance. A short wander with new smells, different surfaces and a proper investigation of a hedge does more for a hound than an hour of plodding the same loop.

Let them sniff. Sniffing is exercise for the brain, and in our experience it tires a hound out far better than extra miles. And let them set the pace. Sighthounds amble. They pause. They stand and stare at a wheelie bin for reasons you will never, ever understand. Go with it. You're not training for anything, and neither are they.

Starting slowly with a new hound

If you've just adopted a greyhound from the racing industry, build up gently. Short walks on quiet routes for the first while. Their world has been kennels, paddocks and tracks, so pavements, traffic and wheelie bins are a lot to take in all at once. Their paws may need time to toughen up on pavements too.

Stamina and confidence grow together, usually faster than you'd expect. And don't be surprised if your new hound puts the brakes on halfway round and refuses to budge. That's usually overwhelm, not laziness. Turn for home and try again tomorrow. There's no prize for finishing the loop.

Zoomies, fields and running free

Every hound owner knows the zoomies. Zero to zoomies in three strides, then straight back to bed. They look like chaos because they are chaos, and they're exactly the short, explosive exercise a sighthound's body was built for. You don't need to recreate them with a fitness plan. A few things make them safer:

Fully fenced spaceMany of us hire secure fields by the half hour. Open parks are a different story, and our O is for Off Lead post covers why.
Muzzles for group runsWhen several hounds run together, excitement can turn into nipping. It's not aggression, but thin skin tears easily, so our group runs are muzzled.
Soft groundGrass beats concrete. So does a garden with nothing sharp at hound height.

Can you overdo it?

Yes, and it surprises people. Sighthound legs and feet are fine-boned, and lots of repetitive pounding on hard ground can take its toll. Young hounds need sensible limits while they're still growing. Older hounds usually want less again: A couple of gentle pottering walks can be plenty for a senior, with a long lie-in to follow.

Watch for stiffness after walks, reluctance to get up or a limp that comes and goes. Sighthounds will scream at a leaf but can be oddly stoic about real aches, so don't wait for them to make a fuss.

The real secret

There isn't one. A couple of decent walks, plenty of sniffing, the odd explosion of zoomies and a great deal of sleep. No fitness regime. No agility course. No ten-mile hikes.

Every hound is different, of course, and yours will let you know what suits them, usually by lying down in the hallway when you pick up the lead.

So the next time someone at the park tells you you're not walking your greyhound enough, smile politely. Your hound is already dreaming about the sofa, which is exactly where they'd rather be.