What motivates greyhounds to compete in a dog race?

The electric rabbit. It zips next to the track.

^That’s a big part.
They’re also bread for racing, and trained for it.
They are naturally competitive.

I was riding a rented horse once, with some people in St. Croix.
I was trying to keep it slow, as I am NOT a horseman. But. As my horse got closer to others, each would speed up, just enough to be in the lead. Thus resulted in having to bring them to a complete stop, many times.
The guy who rented the horses to us, said they act like that because they used to be race horses…So. Even when there is nothing external making them go fast (like a “rabbit,” or a rider,) they will always desire to be the first horse in line…

Greyhounds have a horrible and short life. Once they have become too old to race they generally put to death. There are a few Greyhound rescue groups that try to place older retired Greyhounds with families, but but only a small number are ever actually placed.

It’s a real shame that these dogs were bred for one thing and one thing only and then are put to death

Anecdotes: I once read an interview with an Iditarod dogsled champion. She said lead dogs are born, not taught. Some dogs naturally want to be in front and see what’s over the next hill.

And in the book Seabiscuit, Laura Hillenbrand wrote that winning racehorses hate losing, and can be sick for days after losing a race.

“Some dogs naturally want to be in front and see what’s over the next hill.”

I can see where that would be preferable to looking at gyrating husky butts for a thousand miles.

I don’t know, but my state voted in 2018 to make dog racing illegal. Almost 70% of voters in that election voted to close it down. Here’s an article: https://www.avma.org/javma-news/2019-01-01/florida-voters-ban-dog-racing-after-2020#:~:text=Racing%20and%20betting%20on%20Greyhounds,at%20the%20end%20of%202020.

If you were an animal caged 20–23 hours per day, wouldn’t you run like hell when you got a chance to exercise? In addition to being killed after their usefulness is over, these docile dogs die on the track from heart attacks and collisions.

The only active dog racing is in West Virginia. Although it’s still technically legal in 6 other states, it has stopped. In Mexico, the only dog track in Mexico has closed. Irish Examiner – sharp increase in deaths of greyhounds at Irish racing tracks ‘very concerning’. And horse racing is not any better, and likely even worse.

C’mon W.V….petition your lawmakers!

https://www.grey2kusa.org/about/states.php

^Not to derail, but I bet you I can find a dog race in Mexico. I just need to talk to a few cab drivers.

@MrGrimm888 Oh of course anyone could. People can find other animal shows too, but we won’t go into that.

Oh, that’s good that it’s ilegal in most states. I had no idea the status on that, I just remembered that is was a ballot item here in Florida.

Competitiveness. Some are born with it and they are picked.

Our family had an Italian Greyhound when I was a child. It was not a full size greyhound but similar in size to a whippet. He just loved to run, both inside the house and outside as long as it wasn’t snowy.
You could throw anything and he would tear after it. When the door bell rang he’d fire off the couch like a missile to get to the front door. He would chase us when we ran or rode our bicycles.
We certainly didn’t teach him those skills. They were innate.

It’s way more than just instincts with greyhounds. Their entire bodies are meant for straight line speed…

^^ But that doesn’t explain why they’re motivated to race, which was the question. Lots of animals are streamlined but don’t race or want to. It’s instinct with some training to teach them when to race. They’re trained to chase the metal rabbit – which is instinctive.

They just happen to be good at it. Their owners give all kinds of Incentives to the ones who show potential.

@smudges Selective breeding has made them more than streamlined. Their bodies closer resemble that of a cheetah, and their feet are different from any other dog’s. Their toes are stacked 2 on 2, with the pad below the toes. As opposed to 4 toes, surrounding the pad.

The selective breeding, that produced the greyhounds we see today, resulted in the body type and the competitiveness.

Working dogs, like to work.

Pure/specific purpose breeds, all have a body that is just as specific to each task, as their mentality.

Dog’s that are bred to protect sheep, in some of Earth’s wildest locations, are very protective and territorial. But. They are also much bigger and stronger, than say a herding dog’s that are built more for speed on uneven terrain, and a desire to keep animals together.

I’m not disagreeing with you. I simply believe that the mentality and body, both were the results of the selective breeding.
We didn’t just discover greyhounds, and then use them for speed. We bred them for speed, and the more competitive dogs were bred. The ones that didn’t win, didn’t reproduce.
I guess I’m saying, that we can’t have one speed oriented trait, without others… At least with selective breeding.

Now on to pit bulls….

^Anything can be abused.

^^^Yeah. Our German shepherd was abused for the first 18 months of her life by her first owner attempting to beat her into becoming an attack guard dog. However nothing could overcome her gentle, intelligent nature so he just got rid of her by giving her to us.
Coolest dog ever!