The present delicately modelled and highly finished group of greyhounds relates to Gott's favourite speciality of animal sculpture. Gott's inspiration for his dog groups may have originated from the Antique dogs displayed in the Sala degli Animali in the Vatican Museum. Gott's own examples, however, reveal a close study from life and an enchanting playfulness, qualities which Gott exploited with consumate skill and imagination.
The present group appears to be a variation on Gott's celebrated marble of 1825 commissioned by the Sixth Duke of Devonshire. The terracotta differs principally in that the composition is more lively and all three dogs are captured in characteristic movement. The Liverpool catalogue (op.cit.) lists two groups of the same object, nos. G91 and G96, which are at present untraced. One of these may be the present terracotta.