Preparing for Greyhound

[PengAly]

Hello! I am very excited to say we are adopting a Retired Greyhound and are due to collect him during the first week of January :)

We have already bought him a bed and 2 toys. We still need to buy him a coat, food bowls, and some treats. We are purchasing a bag of his current feed from Greyhound trust to start him off with.
I've just got the following questions if fellow Greyhound owners could please help. We are first time dog owners...

1.) I understand there is a bit of a debate on raised feed bowls VS. floor ones. Our guy is quite large so for his comfort I'd like to start him with a raised on and see how he does. Any recommendations for raising a food bowl to avoid us having to purchase the expensive feeders?

3.) The Greyhound trust have advised us that stairs can be quite dangerous for greyhounds as they could run up but then not come down without hurting themselves. We would like to give our guy free roam of the house but want to ensure he will be safe on the stairs for when we are not there. Any advise for safe stair training? We will initially block the stairs until we can teach him.

2.) What treats and chews would you recommend are good for Greyhounds? There are many choices for dogs that we are completely lost! We would need to make sure there are treats available from day 1 when we house train him and also to make him feel comfortable with us and his new surroundings. I've done some research but so much is American based with links to specific treat sold in USA so I don't know!

Thank you in advance :)

[Scattyhattie]

1. have seen plant stands & also plant pot/bucket where bowl sits in the opening, but really can use anything to raise the bowl though may need a bit of that non slip rubber mat to stop bowl moving about if its just placed on top of an item. I imagine there's loads of ideas to make one on pinterest.
   
   
2. Its worth training your greyhound to do stairs as never know when you may need to tackle some & a big guy is going to be hard to carry. Open backed are most scary & wood can be slippy, the flooring at bottom of stairs may also be slippy.
   Going up, some will charge up themselves (they often find it easier to run and take several steps at once) others need help. I trained them by moving their paws as they'd need to when climbing & treated.
   
   Going down is hard as weight shifts forwards and they must feel like could fall. I used a harness to support stood alongside and if you have a 2nd person they can stand in front so dog doesn't feel as scared of falling, once they've done it a few times & built confidence then can lose 2nd person & give less support. They can try to leap the rest of the stairs from halfway down while still bit unsure so worth carrying on bit longer than think need it. Gradually they build confidence to go alone but depends on individual how long it will take.
   www.ruffwear.co.uk/dog-gear/harnesses/web-master-harness-ss17
   This harness is good for greyhounds as the waist strap means they can't reverse & wriggle out. Handle is useful for tasks like stairs or if jumping about being an idiot seeing a squirrel. About £45-55 new but are well made & last.
   
   
3. I would see if the kennel food is any good, sometimes they just buy cheap stuff as it doesn't really matter if dog farts stink or poo's sloppy in kennels.
   Ours came with free bag of breederpak (cheapest can buy in petstore) need to feed double amount compared to one with decent ingredients, so of course would result in huge poos. My first greyhounds were sensitive to poultry kibble whatever brand tried resulted in soft poops & toxic stench, they were fine once moved to a fish based one. Many will try tell you its just a greyhound thing, its not.
   
   My guys loved these cold pressed food & suited them despite having some poultry. Its compressed like pony nuts/chalk sticks & doesn't swell up in water like normal extruded dry. For the price they've great ingredients, they score highly(4.5/4.4 out of 5) on www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk
   
   www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/markus_muehle/14524?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8fLr4JyL3wIV6LDtCh3x5AboEAQYAiABEgLOrfD_BwE
   
   www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/lukullus is an own brand so only available here.

[Scattyhattie]

My greys haven't been too fussy about treats, the stinkier the better seems to be key for high value.
Dried Liver/livercake (dog crack but not too much can give laxative effect), Fish skins, tripe strips, any dried animal part all good.

[PengAly]

Thank you for the advice! We are mainly buying a bag of feed from kennel simply as we dont want ti change his diet when he will already be strrssed from the rehomeing but once he settles i'd like to look for better options.

Please keep advice coming...

[user1494670108]

Get a fleece blanket for your sofa as he is likely to sleep on it whatever your intentions!
Make some liver/ sardine cake and freeze it?
My lurcher's favourite toys are all furry ones that squeak - even though he has a low prey drive!
Get used to keeping your kitchen surfaces clear!
What an exciting start to the new year!

[PengAly]

Thanks User! We always have fleece blankets on our sofas for ourselves anyway so that isn't an issue- we would be welcoming him up on the sofa for a cuddle!

I'm more interested in the convenience of buying treats at the moment...any suggestions for store bought ones that they would like?

[MagicalTwinky]

In terms of treats our boys are fans of chicken feet (not great if you're squeamish!), Sprats (stinky but they adore them!), gravy bones were handy for training. We also sometimes buy them the frozen goose necks, you just thaw them and they'll happily gnaw away at them for ages. We tend to avoid any weight bearing bones as we've heard far too many horror stories from fellow houndie owners over the years and obviously any cooked bones are a no no as they splinter.

For jackets we rate Redhound for dogs, a bit pricey but they keep our boys cosy and warm.

Don't worry too much with the stairs. Our first boy was merrily sat on our mid-landing on day one, and took very little help to work out going up and down whereas our younger boy 6 months in barely sets paw on the stairs. Just keep an eye on them and play it by ear, you'll soon know if they're stuck.

[PengAly]

Thanks magical! Those are some....interesting suggestions Would you mind explaining what you mean with risks of weight bones?? We went to pets at home and they have SO MANY treats that I had no clue what to get!
We are going back to the Greyhound Trust to visit our guy this weekend so will probably ask them their too what they think about treats!

[MagicalTwinky]

Of course! So weight-bearing bones are the hard, strong compact bones, for example marrow bones or leg bones. They are much denser than non-weight bearing bones such as ribs. Because of this density they tend to be indigestible and can cause tooth fractures.

The other thing to be aware of with pet shop bought bones is that they are often dehydrated and then flavoured as well as adding a whole bunch of preservatives. This process results in them behaving the same way as cooked bones which means they can be prone to splintering and makes them harder to digest. If you want to feed bones you’re best off befriending your local butcher, who will more than likely be happy to give you a bag of off-cuts and bones for free or a nominal amount if you ask nicely

[PengAly]

Oh ok I see, would those dental chews bought from pet shops be ok? I know Greyhounds can have bad teeth so figured maybe those are a 2 in 1 (Good for teeth and a treat!)

[darkriver198868]

Thank you for this thread. I am considering rescuing a greyhound next year.

[PengAly]

There are so many greyhound threads but i just find is easier to start my own with specific questions! Im still unsure wheyher to feed rasied or not :/ think for treats im going to get some dried tripe sticks and dental chews...

[Phillpot12]

Our our lurcher loves whim-zees, dried trachea/ pigs ears, we try to do grain/chickenfree as I think it helps with poops/farts! I found marrow bone was v rich and upset her tum but I have heard people just scoop out most of the marrow to avoid that problem. Feed skinners kibble with butchers meat. Treats for we use vets kitchen/forthglade/tiny pieces of sausage or cheese.

[MagicalTwinky]

Yes, we tend to either give ours dentasticks or the Aldi Dentaclean sticks.

FWIW we've never bother with raised feeders for either of our boys.

[dreaminofholidays]

Congratulations on your new addition. They are amazing dogs. I would get raised feeders, we purchased ours from the rescue but apparently b&m do some very cheap?

Mine love supermarket dentastix. They don't like the pedigree ones, which is random. For treats cocktail sausages are a winner. Mine also go nuts for the hot dog looking sausages you can get from pets at home.
Treat wise the JR pure range are brilliant, much cheaper from them direct than pet store.

They do tend to struggle with their teeth, not really sure dentastix do anything. I put plaque off on their dinner, it basically stops food sticking to their teeth which helps. I am also really scared of feeding bones after hearing horror stories so instead I give mine a pizzle. One for when the weather is better as i give it them in the garden because it is a bulls penis. Then we do teeth brushing as well but probably worth letting your new addition settle in first.

[user1494670108]

By the way, I raw feed, he adores it, stomach is very settled (unlike when he arrived), poos are small and hard and not smelly and he doesn't fart.

[dreaminofholidays]

sorry also realise I didn't cover feeding or stairs.
I've heard alot of good things about raw but don't think it's for us. I did however do alot of research into other options. Mine are fed a high quality kibble, Simpsons 80:20 it gets 5 out of 5 on the dog food rating site. We mix in a variety of things in the mornings, sardines, tripe, meatballs and in the evenings they have forthglade with their kibble which they love and it comes it so many flavours. There is so much out there on feeding, you just need to go with what works for you. Have you also joined the retired greyhound chat Facebook group?
Stairs wise so dependant on the dog. My boy went up once, got too scared to come down again so we carried him down and he didnt venture up again. When we were out and about I used to try as many little flights of stairs as possible to get him more used to them.
Then we got our girl and she just flew up them and down them, no issues. Eventually he followed her up but got stuck again so I got him going up and down with sausage on each step. He is very comfortable with stairs now which is fab. xxx

[PengAly]

Thank you for all the advice! I don't think we could do raw feeding to be honest and I think we will try raising his bowls

We now need to find a good house collar...and maybe replace the outdoor collar he will come with. Love the look of Meggie Moos (I've seen people mention her here?) but I can imagine how much I'd spend on her shop!

[userxx]

Go for the raised feeding bowls, especially if he's a big lad. How exciting and be warned, you will definitely lose your sofa!!


Greyhounds are brilliant dogs and so adaptable.