When you see your pet dog running around your garden and house with lightning speed, we often wonder how fast a Greyhound would be. Many of these dog breeds share very similar physical traits like long legs or slender bodies. For centuries these dogs have been trained and developed for sports, hunting, or other activities.
Like the Greyhound and Saluki, the fastest dog breeds in the world are highly energetic and require proper exercise for both mental and physical stimulation. In comparison to human beings, dogs are speedy. Usain Bolt, the Olympian, has recorded the highest human speed, which is 28 mph, where Greyhound has recorded a rate of 45 mph. Listed below are the top 10 fastest dog breeds in the world. Check below to see if your dog has made it to the list or not.
Top 8 Fastest Dog Breed In The World:
Greyhound:
Research has made Greyhounds grab the first position in the list of fastest dog breeds in the world. Gentle and quite intelligent Greyhound is born with powerful, long legs, flexible spine, deep chest, and slim body, which allows them to reach an incredible speed of 45 mph that is 72 km per hour. They can reach this speed within the range of 30 meters! Male greyhounds are about 71 to 76 CM tall, with an average weight of 27 to 40 kg.
Compared to male Greyhounds, female Greyhounds are smaller in height; they grow up to 66 to 71 cm with an average weight of 25 to 34 kg. There are about 30 different recognized combinations, which are black, red, white, and more. Greyhounds are born to have short fur and are dolichocephalic, which means that their skull is relatively long compared to its width.
Saluki:
Saluki is one of the swiftest dog breeds globally, but it is also one of the oldest. Researchers have traced their routes back to the Egyptian times where dogs resemble their appearance depicted on tombs built around 2100 BC. Salukis were the royal dogs for Egyptians, who trained them for hunting wild animals because of their endurance and speed. The fun fact about Salukis is that they hunt by their sight rather than their scent, which gave them the nickname sighthounds. They grow up to 58-71 cm with an average weight of 16-29 kg.
In comparison to Greyhound, Salukis are slightly slower, with a speed of 42.8 mph. But Salukis are faster than Greyhounds when we compare them over distance. Saluki can run up to 800 meters, which is 0.5 miles, because of the remarkable stamina and heavily padded feet.
Afghan Hound:
Afghan hounds have to grab the third position in the list of fastest dog breeds worldwide. This dog breed is closely related to Saluki. The roots of Afghan hounds have been traced back to pre-Christian times when they were highly trained and developed to hunt wild animals. In today’s world, this breed is popularly used as show dogs because of their distinctive long coat and tall structure.
Purebred Afghan hounds are descendants of dogs brought to Great Britain in the 1920s by King Amanullah from the Afghan royal family as a present. The Afghan hound can grow up to 61-74 cm in height with an average weight of 20-27 kg. Keeping aside their appearance, Afghan hounds are one of the most athletic dog breeds. Afghan hounds can run at a speed of 40 mph.