George Armstrong Custer and his Dogs
He had quite a variety of dogs including Greyhounds. I always find the old Dog pics adorable.
The hounds used by these men and many other frontier hunters and ranchers belong to a canine group called gazehounds, or sight hounds, which hunt primarily by sight and speed rather than smell and endurance, as scent hounds do. Ranging in size from the whippet (25–40 pounds) to the Irish wolfhound (160 pounds), gazehounds share common physical traits—deep chests, long legs, strong hindquarters. Three major breeds of gazehounds accompanied their owners to the American West in the 1800s—the Scottish deerhound, the greyhound and the Russian wolfhound, or borzoi. These breeds, and the gazehound hybrids they produced, evolved into the so-called American staghound. A blend of nationalities, this truly American dog was strong, exceptionally fast and courageous, and capable of performing the hunting tasks necessary to settle the Wild West. They have gone by many names—shag dogs, Russian and Irish wolfhounds, deerhounds, long dogs, Celtic greyhounds, Highland greyhounds or wolfhounds, sight dogs, wolf dogs and shaggy greyhounds—but staghound was the general term used in the 19th century, and it remains in use today. Although American staghounds have been bred for years, the AKC (American Kennel Club) has yet to recognize the breed.
The Scottish deerhounds Custer used to hunt a young buffalo on the Washita campaign were members of one of the tallest gaze- hound breeds, resembling greyhounds but larger (more than 30 inches at the shoulder), heavier boned (about 100 pounds on a muscular frame) and with rougher, longhaired coats. The deerhound was bred to hunt red deer, or stags, in Scotland and was one of the early arrivals on the Great Plains. In his book Life on the Plains, Custer calls Blücher and Maida “two splendid specimens of the Scotch staghound, who were destined to share the dangers of an Indian campaign.” Before pursuing the buffalo, Custer had hunted with his “stags” for deer, elk, antelope, foxes, coyotes and jackrabbits.
https://www.historynet.com/hounds-tamed-west.htm
