Hello Everyone! 

With so, so, so much stuff going around about  "what is the best dog food to feed a greyhound",  I thought I would share a little story with you all.

One day last summer, Sandra and I were bored, so we stopped at this antique store that had "stuff" outside and well as inside.  (No, we were not shopping for dog food there, so bare with me.)

As we were walking around the porch looking at old stuff, we glanced inside the fenced yard and saw and old dog.  We thought he might be dead, except for he was standing up and walking around.  WOW, we walked closer, he looked at us and gingerly walked a few steps. (I am sure he must be in doggie heaven by now)
This dog looked decrepit, BUT alive.  He really looked like he needed to be dead, folks.  We had to take a closer look to make sure it was indeed a dog.    He looked to be a small German Shepherd mix.

So, as the astute ladies that we are, we bee-lined into the antique store and blurted out to the first person we saw, "Was that a Dog out there in the yard?"  Brilliant aren’t we?  Anyway, the clerk never looking up from her paper work, said, yes.  We then ventured further, "How OLD is he??"
She answered, "23 years old this Sept, he was my son's dog as a child, (her son is now in his 30's) and he has only been indoors a couple of times during his whole life.  Then she said he eats only Purina dog food and had a lump on his leg when he was 14 we had to have removed so we had his teeth cleaned at the same time".   One teeth cleaning in 23 years, again wow.   STUNNED, Sandra and I tried to act nonchalant each of us touching the wonderful antiques, oohing and ahhing to ourselves, whilst, (yes, I said whilst) all the time, we were thinking to ourselves. "WHAT THE HECK"????  Good ole' Purina, no surgeries, one teeth cleaning , living outdoors, (he was that kind of dog, though)  (We are NOT advocating Any of this with our fragile greyhound breed, but.......)

We were also seeing $$$$$ signs, years of trying every dog food on the market, diligently doing everything we could to keep our greyhounds alive longer.........
Now, granted, we have greyhounds, not a mixed breed dog that was meant to live outdoors and eat Purina........but, but, but, THIS dog was still alive at 23, and many of ours were not.

So, we got into the van and sat there rationalizing, what we must have done wrong, what the racing industry did to our poor little precious babies who are now in heaven, but I must admit I went away with a little bit of a new perspective.

I vowed never again to daily roll up a newspaper and hit myself over the head, over and over while repeating to myself "Bad doggie momma, bad doggie momma, bad doggie momma, I must have done something wrong"

SO, about now you are asking yourself, what the heck is the moral of this story?  I am not exactly sure myself except I get emails almost daily asking me about food, food for the greyhounds???? With all the privately owned pet stores, new dog foods, research, and crap out of China, there is just so much to think about!

So here is my 15 years of Experience with Greyhounds Suggestion to You:
Use a good, reasonably priced brand that works good for your greyhound, doesn’t make them too thin, too fat, too gassy, vomit and/or cause other problems!  Who cares how big the poop is as long as they are healthy, you have to pick it up anyway!
STAY AWAY FROM LAMB PRODUCTS AND HIGH PROTEINS, it sits in their kidneys and causes problems!

DON’T KEEP YOUR GREYHOUNDS OUTDOORS BUT FOR GOODNESS SAKES, LET THEM FROLIC IN THE SUNSHINE AND GRASS, SMELL THE FLOWERS AND DIG IN THE YARD ONCE IN A WHILE, EVEN RACE AROUND THE YARD ONCE OR TWICE A DAY.  (IF you wanted a nice yard, you should not have adopted a greyhound!)  We just happen to own "craters of the moon out behind our house"

TAKE THEM TO THE VET FOR CHECK UPS, KEEP THEIR TEETH CLEANED (after all, do you like a tooth ache?? I think not, they HURT), KEEP THEIR TOENAILS CUT, LET THEM CHEW ON A RAWHIDE NOW AND THEN, ROLLED ROUND  ones only WITH NO  balled ENDS OF COURSE, AND ONLY WITH YOUR SUPERVISION.

DON’T FEED THEM PEOPLE FOOD YOU KNOW CAN HARM THEM, BUT some people food is OK.  When people try to impress me by saying, Oh, my dogs never gets people food, I think, poor dogs.
Mine get skinless, boneless baked chicken breast, cottage cheese, carrots, yogurt, part of my sandwich and if I am lucky, occasionally I get a bite of my special K bar before I split  it 5 other ways!

DO BE CAREFUL TO STAY AWAY FROM ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS, CAFFEINE, CHOCOLATE, CRANBERRIES, RAISINS, ONIONS, ADVODADO, AND MANY OTHER LETHAL FOODS.  If in doubt ask your vet.

Be sure to make sure that your vet knows all about the right anesthesia to use.  AND, AND, AND be sure your greyhound's poop is checked regularly to make sure the parasites are not still hiding somewhere in your dog.  I, WE, ARE CONVINCED that many of our greyhounds have died too young because of these dirty little devils hanging on to the insides of our greyhounds.  If your vet doesn’t agree with us, remind him, these parasites are not ordinary, the ones that come with an ordinary dog, they have fought to live in tracks, and in the greyhounds and they ain't giving up easy, (yes I said ain't) . Seriously, they are an extraordinary harsher strain of parasites to get rid of.  SO, PICK UP THE POOP!!

Heart Worm is here, so ask your vet about meds to keep your greyhound safe from it!

Well, that is all for today, now you know what I know, which isn't much, but I hope it helps.  Don’t stress, do your best, and Enjoy your greyhounds, they could live longer than US!!  After all, greyhounds are the oldest known breed of dog known to man.  Somebody must have been doing something right.  Only until racing them started, did the poor dogs have more and more problems.  A friend of ours went to Egypt and noted that the skeletal remains of a greyhound of over 8000 years ago looks much like it does to this day!  God made them the way they are for a reason, because they are the perfect breed.....................smile.

Gin and Ken

PS, sing to your greyhounds, they Love it, no matter how bad you sound,
and for those of you who don’t know, when a dog licks you, it is saying "I Love You"!  Dog’s mouths have been scientifically proven to be cleaner than people's.  (I am not sure how..............)