KENAI
Greyhound

The breeds · sighthound · sighthound

AKC Hound · UKC Sighthound & Pariah · FCI standard 158

Greyhound.

FCI 158: sighthound, Group 10 Section 3 short-haired, without working trial. UKC: used for coursing since the beginning of recorded history, retaining form and ability to the present; an athlete with speed, agility and stamina. Wikipedia: bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting; lure sports and racing are now far more common than live coursing. AKC calls it the champion sprinter of dogdom (breed page)..

Breed sets the odds. The parents set the dog. Every number here shows its source, its spread and how sure we are. Nothing on this page is a prediction about one dog.

11.5YRMedian lifespan11.4 to 11.6, measured on real dogs.
0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.
55–88LBWeight, all linesbreed dogs 60 to 88 lb; breed bitches 55 to 75 lb.
1HRSExercise, every dayRKC: up to 1 hour per day.. The constraint most homes get wrong.

The body

What the breed is built like. Registry standards give an ideal, not a range.

Height at the shoulder

dogs 27 to 30 in · bitches 26 to 28 in

Breed clubAKC

AKC height from the breed page header only.

Weight

dogs 60 to 88 lb · bitches 55 to 75 lb

Breed clubAKC breed standard

Span covers AKC, UKC and Wikipedia figures; see the male row for the lines note.

Coat

AKC: short, smooth and firm. UKC and FCI: fine and close. Color: AKC immaterial; UKC immaterial (albinism disqualifies); FCI black, white, red, blue, fallow, brindle or any of these broken with white. RKC: short coat, sheds.

Breed clubAKC breed standard

Three registries agree on coat; color rules differ and are stated by source.

Shedding

Shedding 2 of 5 (AKC breed page trait score)

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Heat tolerance

5 of 5 · AKC: coat short, smooth and firm. FCI: fine and close. UKC: fine and close.

DerivedAKC breed standard

Derived from the standard's coat description (short, fine, single coat = 5). No measured data; sighthound leanness and cold sensitivity are not scored here.

How long they live, and what they cost

Measured on real dogs, with the sample and the spread. Never a guess.

Median lifespan

11.5 years (11.4 to 11.6)

MeasuredMcMillan KM, 2024

McMillan et al. 2024 / Dogs Trust. The UK Greyhound population includes many retired racing Greyhounds, so this is not a show-line figure. Teng 2022 (VetCompass) does not include the breed.

The dog at home

What the breed asks of a day. The first thing most homes get wrong.

Exercise need

RKC: up to 1 hour per day.

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

RKC is a UK registry band, not a study; mapped by the library rule.

Energy

4 of 5

Breed clubAKC

AKC breed page trait score, 1 to 5: a breed-club tendency, never a measurement.

Grooming load

2 of 5 · RKC: grooming once a week; short coat; sheds. AKC page coat grooming frequency band 1 (not mapped).

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

RKC band mapped by library rule; the AKC band gives 1 on its own scale.

The work

What it was built to do in the field, and what a test or trial asks of it.

Role

FCI 158: sighthound, Group 10 Section 3 short-haired, without working trial. UKC: used for coursing since the beginning of recorded history, retaining form and ability to the present; an athlete with speed, agility and stamina. Wikipedia: bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting; lure sports and racing are now far more common than live coursing. AKC calls it the champion sprinter of dogdom (breed page).

Breed clubFCI-Standard N° 158

FCI, UKC, AKC page and Wikipedia wording.

Primary game

Hare. Wikipedia: originally coursing of deer for meat and sport on the British Isles and Continent; later, in Britain, competition hare coursing. Some Greyhounds are still coursed live; artificial lure coursing and racing are far more common. FCI history: the coursing hound that hunts the live hare is what racing Greyhounds were developed from.

EditorialWikipedia

One editorial source plus the FCI historical summary; neither is a trial rule.

Also used on

Deer (historic coursing, Wikipedia). Today: lure coursing, track racing (professional) and amateur oval and straight racing through NOTRA and LGRA (Wikipedia), and as a retired-racer companion.

EditorialWikipedia

Wikipedia, single source for the modern list; check NGA and NOTRA.

Search pattern

Hunts by sight, not by smell (AKC lure coursing page, which says this of sighthounds in general). Single hound or brace work is not stated by any source read; voice on the line is not stated. FCI: coursing hound, remarkable stamina and endurance, straight low free stride covering ground at great speed. Wikipedia: double suspension gallop; speed above 40 mph.

Breed clubAKC

Sight-hound behaviour as stated by AKC and FCI; no trial rulebook read.

Field trial standard

AKC lure coursing: Greyhound is an eligible breed; dogs one year or older; judged on how well they perform the functions for which they were bred; mechanized white plastic lure on a 600+ yard course; spayed and neutered dogs eligible; hounds with AKC breed disqualifications are not eligible. ASFA (founded 1972): lure coursing trials with a plastic bag on a string powered by motors, held most weekends across the US. Racing: NOTRA (oval) and LGRA (straight) host amateur Greyhound racing (Wikipedia).

Breed clubAKC

AKC and ASFA pages read; the AKC Lure Coursing rulebook, ASFA rulebook, NOTRA and LGRA rules were not read. NGA racing rules not read.

How common the problems are

Evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock; the numbers are still the best there are.

Hip dysplasia

2.2% · 408 OFA hip evaluations, current all-data, accessed Oct 8 2026; 2.2% dysplastic (mild 1.2, moderate 0.5, severe 0.5), 97.1% normal (excellent 36.8, good 56.6, fair 3.7)

MeasuredOrthopedic Foundation for Animals

OFA's own breed statistics (rank 209). OFA-evaluated dogs skew toward breeding stock, with normal results over-represented; most Greyhounds are racing-registered and not OFA-evaluated.

Most common disorders

RKC: DNA test for Greyhound neuropathy (GN). AKC national breed club recommended tests: cardiac exam, ophthalmologist evaluation, Greyhound polyneuropathy DNA test. Wikipedia: cannot metabolize barbiturate anesthesia like other breeds, unusual blood chemistry that can be misread by vets unfamiliar with the breed, sensitive to pyrethrin insecticides; a 2005 Swedish insurance study found 60% died by age 10 against 35% of all dogs.

Breed clubThe Royal Kennel Club

Registry test lists and Wikipedia summary; no breed health survey read.

What the studies found

Population-level findings, shown as a spread. Breed sets the odds; the parents set the dog.

Aggression, as studied

Duffy, Hsu and Serpell 2008, C-BARQ online sample (Greyhound n 62): the paper uses the Greyhound as the low end of dog-directed aggression (a large effect size, Cohen's d 1.16, against the Akita at the high end; Fig. 3C). Table 5 does not include the Greyhound, so no mean is carried.

StudiedDuffy D.L., 2008

Recorded only what the paper prints in text (results section, Fig. 3 comparison). Questionnaire study of owners who chose to respond; population-level, never a prediction for one dog. Added at key 2 (Chad's show-every-source rule).

More

akc bands

AKC breed page trait scores (1-5): Energy Level 4; Mental Stimulation Needs 3; Trainability Level 3; Barking Level 3; Watchdog/Protective Nature 3; Good With Young Children 3; Openness To Strangers 3; Good With Other Dogs 4; Shedding Level 2; Coat Grooming Frequency 1; Drooling Level 1; Affectionate With Family 4; Playfulness Level 3; Adaptability Level 4.

Breed clubAKC

Fourteen AKC bands in one row; the selector reads each by name. Breed-club ratings: a tendency, never a measurement.

What to ask a breeder for

The health clearances the breed’s own club and registry name. Reference only: what to ask for, never a statement about any dog’s health.

No KENAI kennel lists the Greyhound yet. If you breed them, list your kennel free: it shows on this page and in the hunting dog breed finder, under every handler whose answers land on the breed.

How to read this page

Every value carries a label. Measured means peer-reviewed data on many dogs. Studied means peer-reviewed, smaller or indirect. Breed club means a club or registry states it. Editorial means expert opinion with no measurement behind it. Where two good sources disagree, both are shown and neither is averaged.

Published when the entry rests on the best information available from no fewer than three independent sources, checked by a second pass that did not write it. 10 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called
English Greyhound

Every breed, read the same way.

The breed index grows as entries clear the standard. Gun dogs first.

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