The Greyhound Scream of Death (GSOD)

If you’re a greyhound owner, then you will know about the Greyhound Scream of Death or GSOD for short. It’s a phenomena that is unique to greyhounds, where they can let out a spine tingling, ear piercing scream whilst holding up their paw as if they had just been the victim of an amputation.

Now, if you’re an unsuspecting bystander, you would be forgiven to assume that the greyhound has had something of catastrophic proportion happen to them, that they are in complete and utter agony and you should take them to the nearest emergency vet.

But the GSOD is more often than not caused by something completely inconsequential.  The feel of wet grass on their paw, having a leaf stuck to their foot, or a fly landing on their leg. Once the ‘offender’ has been removed, your grey assumes life as normal as if nothing had ever happened.

There is no explaination for this behaviour, it’s just an odd quirk that is unique to greyhounds. Some greyhounds react more favourably to a broken due claw than they do to something that has triggered their GSOD.

We unfortunately cannot offer more insights into this, but if you are a new greyhound owner then prepare yourself for the GSOD because it’s not something that’s in the ‘instruction manual’, and despite our warning we’re almost certain that it will stop your heart dead in its tracks.