Greyhounds...Theories and Facts...

Great thread Mr. Reuben. I look forward to following it. Only insight I can offer on the breed is fixing a bunch of broken legs from then retired racers, and fixing many many skin tears on adopted greys in pet homes. So from what I can see, their skin tears like paper, takes a while to heal, and they can also hurt themselves from running and turning or stepping wrong.
I've put my hands on a lot of these guys over the years, mainly in a medical setting. I was also an assistant to my coworker, who actually had a kennel where she bred/raised up racers/future racers. I can give a little insight on their dispositions. The pups I met whenever I'd have to help her tattoo were always very rambunctious and outgoing. As far as the adults, they were always quiet, reserved, and in most cases exhibited what I call the "Chihuahua shake" lol. I wouldn't go as far as to say timid, just a bit nervous. I do know that I got to see behind the scenes a bit at one of the biggest tracks in Tampa and a lot of them do not get much socialization really, so I don't believe it's the dogs' faults, or that they are that way as a default. We have one here my husband just brought home last night, she's about a year old. She was nervous at first, but quickly warmed up, and took to my kids very well. Didn't take her too long at all. Far as the breeding goes, the main thing I got from my coworker, is that she did mainly breeding of top winners, to daughters of top winners, at least that's what I gathered. I've spoken to a lot of folks over seas, who use grey crosses on a daily basis, and they say that anything they run typically has grey in it to some degree. I think the grey is definitely very valuable in any program as far as adding speed. It's what you put over it or under it that you have to choose to best fit your style/terrain/game preference.