Another situation where people anthropomorphize their dogs. Dogs don't worry about their "dignity" they are pack animals who want to be a part of a social structure. They will work for the praise and acceptance of their alpha. As long as the dog is having fun, who cares? Its generally the owners that look silly doing it, IMO.

I don't do it, but only because Moxie is bored with it. If she liked it, I would do it. I have seen lots of videos of clearly happy dogs doing freestyle and HTM. (I'm more familiar with freestyle as its more common in the states)

Furthermore why has he been bred from??

Greyhounds WERE bred to turn tight corners Spot, its the WHOLE and ENTIRE point of coursing!
Dawn.

No they werent you really should do more research Dawn, no hunting dogs were bred to turn in constantly one direction in tight bends, definately NOT greyhounds, they were bred to run basically in a straight line to hunt, they were not bred for coursing anyway. But thats a whole nuther thread.

Were they bred to hunt and course Spot?

Do wild animals, specifically Hares run in straight lines? Come to think of it does any animal evading capture run in a straight line? So you are being a bit simplistic to suggest a greyhound was NOT bred or even physically able to turn a bend, even if it were in one direction, after all who can say how an animal will run whilst trying to escape from a predator?

These may be of interest, excepts from Greyhound history and original function.

Original purpose and special abilities:
A dog for high speed pursuit of sighted game in open country (coursing). These dogs possess great speed. Used to course small to medium sized quarry: fox, hare, coyote.


Historically, these sight hounds were used primarily for hunting in the open where their keen eyesight is valuable. It is believed that they (or at least similarly-named dogs) were introduced to England in the 5th and 6th centuries BC from Celtic mainland Europe.

Until the early twentieth century, greyhounds were principally bred and trained for coursing. During the early 1920s, modern greyhound racing was introduced into the United States and introduced into United Kingdom and Ireland in 1926.

until the 1920s, they were kept by the wealthy, like gundogs, to participate in sport hunting and coursing.
From the retired greyhound trust.

Greyhound, breed of hunting dog noted for its speed and keen sight. Egyptian tomb carvings indicate that the greyhound was known in the 3rd millennium bc; the dog was known in England as early as the 9th century. Some authorities claim the term greyhound refers to the once prevailing color of the breed. The dog has been used for hunting goat, fox, deer, and other game, particularly the hare.
Are all these and the thousands more to be found all wrong too Spot?

You know (I would imagine) as well as I do that the whole point of Hare coursing is turning the Hare, turning it on a sixpence several times, nobody tells the dog which way to turn, right or left nor how many times, nor how tight the turns should be. youre just nit picking.
Dawn.

Still cant see where they were bred to run in constantly one tight circle there Dawn or that prey animals run round in tight circles. Thank you I think you've proved my point for me as you quote no one tells the hare which way to turn but racers tell the dogs - totally against nature, which is why, I believe, you disagree with what Mary Rea does (bringing it back on topic here).

Ooh er um. I have sort of mixed feelings - I can understand where peeps are coming from who dislike HTM, however, overall I really can't see it's different from any other canine sport/activity. j

Re the hind leg walking and if it damages the dogs - I'd say no, as the dogs are gradually trained to do it. The main thing would be that the conformation is OK, the dogs are not overweight and that the muscles are built up to do it

In working trials, dogs are trained to jump over a 6ft high fence (scale it, in fact, but they still for the most part jump down) and this is a highly respected dog sport, yet isn't that potentially more damaging? I would think so

Same with some of the European sports, dogs leap over even higher scales - they often stumble as they land.

I do see the "anti" points of view but generally I am "for" the HTM as I do think it is no different to what we ask dogs to do in any area of sport - it's just that we see it as being circus like. In fact, perhaps, simply training in any form is circus like in the fact that we are using dogs for our entertainment in most ways? :smt002

Wys
x

I disagree Spot, you are anti racing and will say anything to support your point, however I respect that 100%. I would do the same if I was pro something strong enough.

Maybe we will have a "what dogs were bred for" one day and we can have a good chin wag.
Dawn.

No I would NOT say anything or make things up, its fairly obvious dogs were not bred to run in one constant tight circle, as you said yourself prey animals dont do that either, coursing and racing are totally different sports. But yep we are taking this OT and your right we shall leave it to another day and I look forward to it, might even agree on somethings. Have PM'd you btw

Recieved and replied
Dawn.

i have to totally disagree with you. heelwork to music involves alot of focus and attention from the dog. it also involves alot of obedience and i'm pretty sure if the dog didnt want or enjoy doing it he wouldnt do it! my springer sam just loves it. freestyle is a different discipline than heelwork to music as freestyle involves more atheltic moves like spins, weaves, walk backs etc, and heelwork to music is as it says more heelwork based. also we dont teach the dogs moves that may injure or harm it as each dog is different as regards size etc. the standing on hind legs is only done for seconds. how many dogs stand up on their hinds legs when jumping up etc???

i have to say i get more attention and focus from sam during a 2 hour HTM training session than i would from a 'normal' training session.