DEMAND IS HUGE SAYS TOP BREEDER GREAVES

“The prices are just up a bit, but the demand is the strongest in years”

As one of Ireland’s most successful breeders for more than two decades, Monasterevin based Ian Greaves has experienced fewer slumps than most.

But the Geordie responsible for bringing Toms The Best, Top Savings and Swift Hoffman into the world admits to being caught out by the increased demand for young racing dogs.

He said: “We had over 90 pups born between July and September (2016) and I thought we would never sell them. We only have four left, the rest have gone. In fact when I updated the website last week, I sold four young dogs within the first five minutes.

“When the last four young dogs have gone I won’t have any pups available until a January ’17 litter are schooled in March, followed by some Feb ‘17s who will be schooling the following month.”

Ian is expecting breeders to come under increasing scrutiny in future years as the world becomes more and more welfare conscious. It is a move that he welcomes.

He said: “It will be like the meat industry where animals are followed from birth to plate and I think it is a good thing.”

With so much emphasis being on ‘those who don’t make it’, how will that impact on his business?

Ian said: “Not at all. I never put healthy greyhounds to sleep. Virtually all our pups chase. We went two or three years and didn’t have a single non-chaser. The last batch, out of 130 pups, were a disaster!! We had two including a Top Honcho pup, which really surprised me.

“I am not pretending that they are all honest, but I expect them to chase. Sometimes you will get pups injured in schooling who need to be re-homed. I will sometimes ask Barry Coleman at the IGB to take them, or I will re-home them myself. We recently sent a dog called Swift Knockout to a home in Germany.

“People want the young dogs who aren’t aggressive and I get quite a few enquiries from people who just want pets. It is difficult though. You have to vet the owners to make sure that they are not just taking on a well bred bitch for the wrong reasons.”

Most of the retired broods are rehomed elsewhere though there are four currently living in the house with the man himself: Heroes Last Lass (dam of Viking Jack), Swift Eva (dam of Rubys Razzle/Rascal), Swift Sandy (dam of Swift Keith/My Mate Max), and Swift Blitz (dam of Hometown Honey).

He said: “Most come inside but they don’t all adapt. I brought Swift Erin (dam of Swift Honcho and Domino Storm) into the house and she practically wrecked the place. She ripped the couch to shreds.

“So I put her back in the kennel and decided I would try again in the summer. Unfortunately one morning we went to the kennel to let her out and discovered she had died of a heart attack.”

Ian Greaves’ Swift Palmer (Iso Octane-Swift Fanta) – who never raced – is the early leader in the 2018 open race dams table with 9 open race victories to date.

Eight of the nine victories came via the remarkable Sheffield litter sisters Coney Cactus and Swift Aspen.

In their combined last 19 races, they have 13 wins and 5 seconds. Also in the litter, though still to win an open this year is the talented Jolly Monk.

In fact eight members of the ten strong litter have raced. The welfarist will want to know – what happened to the other two – who would inevitably be listed among ‘those who never made it’

Ian said: “Swift Dora was being schooled and looked promising but we found her dead in the kennel the next morning. We had her post mortemed by the vet and discovered she had had a heart attack.

“Swift Angela came in season at 14 months old. I decided not to race her and she was too young to breed from but we will have a litter from her when she next comes into season.

“Swift Palmer has a young litter of 11 pups, about six weeks old, by Razldazl George.”