Spanish Greyhound.

FCI 285 utilization: a dog hunting the hare in fast pursuit in open fields, directed by sight; formerly also used on rabbits, foxes and boars, but the primordial use has been the hare in open fields. UKC: historically used to hunt hare, also fox and boar; serious and reserved, energetic and lively when hunting. Wikipedia: bred for coursing hare and other game; the Spanish word lebrel means a dog for chasing hares..

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.

0INHeightdogs null, bitches null. An ideal from the standard, not a range.

The body

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

Height at the shoulder

dogs 24.4 to 28.4 in · bitches 23.5 to 27.6 in

Breed clubFCI-Standard N° 285

High spans the FCI 2 cm margin (70 cm, 27.6 in).

Coat

FCI: smooth variety dense, very fine, short, spread over the whole body down to the interdigital spaces, slightly longer behind the thighs; a semi-long, hard-haired variety forms a beard, moustaches and a topknot. UKC: same, with a fringe on the rear of the buttocks. Color: all colors admitted; most typical in order of preference are fawn and well-pigmented brindle, black, flecked with black, burnt chestnut, cinnamon, yellow, red, white, with white markings and pied.

Breed clubFCI-Standard N° 285

FCI and UKC agree.

Heat tolerance

5 of 5 · FCI: hair dense, very fine, short and smooth, slightly longer at the back of the thighs; a second variety is semi-long and hard with beard and moustaches. UKC: same two varieties.

DerivedFCI-Standard N° 285

Derived from the smooth variety (short single coat = 5); the semi-long hard-haired variety would score lower and no source rates it.

The work

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

Role

Breed clubFCI-Standard N° 285

FCI, UKC and Wikipedia. FCI lists no working trial for the breed.

Primary game

Hare in open fields. FCI: the hare is the primordial quarry. UKC: hare.

Breed clubFCI-Standard N° 285

FCI and UKC agree.

Also used on

Rabbit, fox and boar (FCI: formerly; UKC: sometimes fox and boar). Wikipedia: in Chile the breed is coursed in competitions held on national holidays.

Breed clubFCI-Standard N° 285

FCI/UKC wording; Wikipedia for Chile.

Search pattern

Hunts hare by sight; FCI: the typical gait is the gallop. Wikipedia: Galgo coursing is run in the open field where the dogs hunt prey without human intervention during the chase; Spanish coursing championships are run by members of the galguera societies (Wikipedia cites 3,000 to 4,000 Galgos trained annually), and the beauty of the course matters more than the kill. Voice on the line is not stated.

EditorialWikipedia

One editorial source for the working description, with FCI for the gait; uncited claims on Wikipedia are marked there as needing citations.

Field trial standard

No FCI working trial. Spanish open-field coursing championships (Wikipedia): live hare coursed in the open field, scored on the course. Not on the AKC lure coursing eligible-breeds list (AKC page read). ASFA eligibility not checked.

EditorialWikipedia

Wikipedia only; the Real Federación Española de Galgos rules were not read.

No KENAI kennel lists the Spanish 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. 2 sources on this page. Found something wrong? Tell us and the correction is logged with its date.

Also called: Galgo Español, Galgo

Every breed, read the same way.

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

All published breeds

Your spanish greyhound, on the record.

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