Most litters are provided with toys such as rags and squeaky toys while they are growing and the games they play as youngsters give them a good introduction to the more serious work ahead of them.

Natural chasers (they hunt by sight), saplings are willing and able pupils when it comes to schooling in the lead-up to their careers on the racetrack.

There are many variations to the methods used to encourage a greyhound to race straight and true after the quarry, but the basics are that they are set on their way with the use of rags or similar tantalisingly dangled close to their noses and moved forwards in front of them.

For the young greyhound, it is a game they enjoy and so starts the gradual process of developing the pup into a fully fledged racer.

Once chasing keenly, the novice greyhounds are invited to chase dummy lures up gallops before eventually taken to a schooling track or licensed racetrack to be given their first handslip.

A handslip simply means that the greyhound is released behind a moving lure usually on a bend of the track which gets him or her into the routine of track racing.

Again, once the trainer is satisfied that the student is chasing the lure keenly, it is time to move onto schooling from the traps. As a rule, the pupils are simply allowed to walk through the starting traps with doors front and back open before being allowed to chase a lure in the same manner.

The process continues until the greyhound is confident in the starting boxes and is able to leave the traps in a competent fashion in pursuit of the lure.

If all goes well, the young greyhound is ready to move to the next stage at the minimum racing age of 15 months old. Some will not continue onto the track until much later or, indeed, some will start their schooling later than others if their handlers feel they need more time to grow and mature.