Cynthia Branigan is also the author of Adopting the Racing Greyhound
the book many Greyhound adoption groups hold in high regard. In my group, GPA/OK, this book is a requirement for our new adopters and foster homes. In Reign of the Greyhound Cynthia examines the long history of the Greyhound. For anyone with a passion for these splendid animals, this book is a must.
This book is made up of 10 chapters and is 190 pages long. The illustrations are superb. In fact, the illustrations alone are worth the price of the book!
Chapter 1, The Greyhound Family
Roughly 8,000 years ago, evidence has been found that shows the existence of Greyhound-like dogs living with humans. During excavations in Turkey, at a site dating back to 6000 B.C., a sanctuary decorated with ritual hunting scenes was found. The dogs assisting in the kill had long legs, delicate muzzles and deep chests. These seem to be the first purebred dogs and progenitors of the Greyhounds we know today. In this first chapter you will find pictures of all the dogs in the sighthound family. Also sighthound characteristics are explained. Cynthia has done great research for this book. She comes up with interesting and fun facts; such as the cross between the Greyhound-like dog with the Collie-type, which developed into the Borzoi (Russian Wolfhound).
Chapter 2, A World of Gods and Greyhounds
This chapter gives us information about the beginning of domesticated dogs. The oldest known images of dogs in art were 12,000- to 15,000-year-old hunting scenes on the walls of caves in France. A funerary vase, which has been dated to 4200 B.C., found in what is now southwest Iran, has pictures of Greyhounds on it. [There is a picture of this vase on page 23] Thousands of years ago, the Berbers (a nomadic tribe that lived in northern Africa) started to cultivate different species of dogs. This tribe traveled with two distinct type of dogs - guard dogs and swift hunting dogs. The latter, the African hunters, are the ancestors of today's Greyhound. The Berbers introduced these Greyhound-like dogs to the Egyptians, who held them in very high esteem. In Egypt only royalty could own Greyhounds, and they were treated as members of the family. The Greyhound's status was so high that the birth of a Greyhound was second only to the birth of a son. After camels were introduced to Egypt around 500 B.C., historians say that Greyhounds were carried across the desert on camels' backs.
