Answer:
Stealthy as a shadow in the dead of night, cunning but affectionate if given a bite. Never owned but often loved. At my sport considered cruel, but that's because you never know me at all.
It comes only before, it comes only after. Rises only in darkness, but rises only in light. It is always the same, but is yet always different.
You can spin, wheel and twist. But this thing can turn without moving.
Through its wounds, water does run. It once held many but now has none. What is it?
You need a key to receive an answer from me. The answer you'll find is straight from your mind. What is it?
You use it between your head and your toes, the more it works the thinner it grows.