EN:Weigh to Go for the Greyhound Adopter
Verfasst: Mo 22. Mär 2021, 09:59
Copyright Dennis McKeonWeigh to Go for the Greyhound Adopter
Achieving muscular definition---not skeletal definition---should be the endgame when visually assessing the weight of a greyhound, retired or otherwise. Getting or maintaining the greyhound in a reasonable state of fitness and muscle tone is a prerequisite to accurately assessing the effect of weight, and weight gain or loss upon the greyhound.
A greyhound's racing weight is only a beginning point, assuming the greyhound's set racing weight was ideal in the first place, or that it could not be changed---which it can. Trainers, including this one, are not infallible when it comes to setting weights. It is a process. A greyhound at 15-18 months of age, beginning a racing career, should mature and fill out over the course of the next 20-36 months performing as athletes, gradually gaining useful weight throughout that process---yet we still sometimes see 40-48 month old greyhounds, ready to retire, whose set weight is the same as it was when they began, as little more than still-maturing, raw saplings.
In any event, there is no reason for a retired greyhound to be drawn up as tightly as many greyhounds are when racing. In either case, there should be no sharp edges or noticeably protruding bones, and given that there are several common phenotypes among racing greyhounds---ranging from the most extreme, wide-body, low slung, long-barreled, heavily muscled sprinting types, to the most finely built and lightly muscled, longer-limbed with more scope and range, narrower and more angular staying types (all of them with individual appetites and metabolism)---there are no one-size-fits-all rules regarding visual assessment of their weight.
Keeping in mind that proper hydration is a touchstone when evaluating a greyhound's condition, either as an active racer or in retirement---and that properly hydrated greyhounds are usually within reasonable striking distance of "correct" weight for their time, place and activity level---it is a good idea to learn the "art" of hide pulling, which will indicate whether or not your greyhound is drinking enough water, and getting enough fluids otherwise.
From my article, "A Weighty Issue" :
"The easiest way to check whether or not the dog is properly hydrated, is by “hide pulling”---that is, by grasping a handful of hide at the widest part of the greyhound's back, which is right above the waist. It should be very easy to grab a handful of the dog's hide. If it isn't, then the dog is likely too tightly drawn up, and just as likely, too lean---and dehydrated as well.
At any rate, once you have secured a handful of the greyhound's hide, you stretch it upward and away from the dog's body, as far as it will comfortably go. Again, this should be easy to do. Then, when you have stretched it out, release it. If it snaps right back into form, your dog is adequately hydrated. If it sags back into form, or just stays there----he's not--- adequately hydrated, that is. And he’s just as likely, at least somewhat, underweight.
Good trainers spend most of their time during turnouts, "pulling hides". Hydration is critically important to a greyhound, whether racing or retired."