Pointy hounds thread! For new, old and prospective owners!

[SpaghettiTwirlerAndProud]

Share stories, advice and ask for help if you need it! There are a few resident hound experts (myself not included) in the doghouse, so, feel free to share! :)

I started a thread on doghouse earlier in the week but got no replies.

My lovely, calm greyhound who I've had for three years attacked another dog earlier on in the week. My dog is well socialised, has walked with other dogs off lead since we got her, she knows this dog well and they've walked together a lot of times before.

A new dog came out on the walk and started the attack, first attack didn't look too bad and I put it down to rough playing. Ten minutes later it happened again, again new dog started it but mine joined in and was the worst. Had this dog on the floor on it's back and shaking it like a rag doll.

I put mine on the lead, new owner and dog went home. 20 mins later I took mine off the lead as new, arsey dog had gone home. Mine went for the same dog again so back on lead. I'm just very shocked by it all.

Going out with same dogs today, though hopefully not the new dog. I'm muzzling mine for the first time ever as I don't feel I can trust her now.

Quick message, pics on profile now.

Betsy these are on ebay and the seller says they can put velcro down the back for elderly/stiff hounds so he can just step into them and you can pull them up and fasten!

They - dog and baby are both beautiful.

Glad to hear it's all going well. My Lurcher wouldn't eat kibble in the begining, so I added some of the food he was used to and mixed it into the kibble and then gradually reduced it until he was on just kibble. Now we do sometimes give him other bits say leftover roast or last night he got some leftover rice (which he loves), but mostly he's on the kibble. His coat is lovely and soft, no problems with poos etc.

Ooh, Sprocket is so gorgeous! Love that long white snip on his nose, and glad to see he's got the sofa surfing sorted. He looks so much like Andy. (Poppy is cute too.)

Oh, he's lovely! He looks very comfortable.

I'm so sorry you had such a shock, Viva. I don't know what to say really... except Billy's back on the muzzle now too. It seems as though it were just that one dog she showed the aggression towards and I suppose pack mentality set in... How have things gone today?

Thanks for that Spag - the tape measure's a twitching!

Scuttle I've been reading about Brett Lee, found out that Sprocket and Andy have 4124 brothers and sisters I bet it's expensive at christmas :o
Sprocket is pretty handsome, he's really shiney too :) What do you reckon about that towel idea?

Viva I don't know I'm afraid, there's a poster who is a behavourist I think, minimu is it? You could try and get hold of her, see what she thinks?

We found that using a combo of a short lead and judicious sausage waving was enough, but I can see the logic of the towel. Why not give it a try? Was he living in a bungalow before? You generally find that you get a few rather inelegant attempts while they co-ordinate all the legs, then it seems to sink in and then they go charging up and down at high speed.

Yes, imagine doing all those Christmas stockings!!

Those step in fleece PJs look lovely and cosy. Well spotted, Spag! You were clearly destined to be a pointy owner...

Going to the butchers tomorrow for a steak pie for tea, and seeing as it's friday, I was thinking of treating sprocket to a bone, what do I ask for exactly?

Oh I forgot to mention, he's definitely settling in well now, he's coming out of his shell. Let him out for a bedtime wee last night and was watching him out the window, he finished his business then started bounding around the garden like a lunatic, running around and turning suddenly as if he's being chased :o it was so good to see. He's done it a few times now, he keeps them to outside though. He's perking up on walks too, greets other dogs cheerfully now, before, he would just side-step and ignore them :)

Re the sausages as bribery, he doesn't want to go upstairs more than he wants a treat. He's too smart to be bribed unfortunately! :o

Ooh ours wouldn't go upstairs at first either, but he gave in eventually one day when we were all upstairs pootling about and he couldn't bare being alone downstairs.

Thanks guys. There was a bit of a kerfuffle today bit didn't see how it started. My dog and another looked like they were trying to get at the usual victim. Another dog was stood in the way barking at them. I yelled at my dog. The other aggressive dog then went for mine as she was coming to me and she turned back and went for that dog. Then she realised she had a muzzle on and gave up. After that it was fine.

Spaghetti he's beautiful (and your daughter too but there are other threads for that ) So so glad it's going well.

Does anyone have a whippety size dog? I nearly accidentally bought a coat in grund sizing which would have been amusing. He's growing so fast the coat that was fine 2 weeks ago is now like a little vest top and it's freezing on the beach. I want to buy him a nice little tweed number that I've found for about £15 so I need it to last more than two walks. So any clues on back size?

Had some fab walks this week though, now he's had his jabs it's a whole new world of wonderful fun. Went to the beach with his brother earlier and let them off the leads and they trotted along together at our heels looking like perfect gentlement, it was great neglects to mention the chaos that was puppy training

Viva - sounds like your dog was reacting rather than being the instigator, that must be a relief of sorts at least. And love how she gave up once she realised she was muzzled...

Lost - I have a whippety lurcher. Compared to the (three) adult whippets we have seen on our walks so far he is pretty close in size to an adult whippet.

His coat is size 24. Does that help? If you want precise back measurement you will need to wait until tonight. Am having a quick sandwich and loving the pointy one before heading back to school.

spaghetti - I just love Sprocket, he is beautiful

Spag - some useful grund slang Zoomies - grund doing wall of death high speed circuits in garden or in house. Lasts about four minutes before return to state of complete torpor.

ETS - Escaped Tongue Syndrome Often seen in photos of sleeping grunds. A long pink tongue will be hanging out of the corner of the mouth in a comedy fashion.

Roaching - Lying on back with all legs in the air, often asleep. May be combined with ETS

Chipping - American phrase, refers to "chips" (our crisps) in that you can't stop at one. Basically, once you've got one pointy you shortly become obsessed and end up with two (often more). We started with one. We had a Ford Fiesta, a clean home and plenty of money. We now have three, no money and an estate car.

Greyhound yoga - complicated and sprawling arrangement of limbs, head and neck when resting, often involving odd angles, much ETS and a nest of cushions. Can often be combined with "the porn star" - a variant on the roach involving lying on the back, with legs sprawled apart, a greyhound grinning contentedly and equipment proudly displayed. Grund may then complete this delightful image by loud and proud slurping at said equipment. Often demonstrated when visitors are around (bonus points if it's the vicar, or MIL and then combined with farting).

Brilliant Scuttlebutter - mine Roaches all the time, was cute when he was a pup and looks daft now he's much bigger (but lovely).

My Lurcher's coat was also a 24 if that helps.

I'm looking forward to the predicted snow this weekend and my first snowy dog walk.

Arf scuttle

Am now worried Sam is not a proper pointy

He does not roach, nor suffer from ETS!! He does however do Zoomies several times a day so that is something at least...

He's only done zoomies and a bit of beginners yoga (not massively complicated positions). And I don't want another one, haven't the room for 2 and it's fun enough pushing the buggy and walking 1 dog at the same time, nevermind 2! Although it is early days. I often find myself browsing LGT website, just out of habit, you understand.

He scoffed all his tea tonight. We had tuna pasta bake for tea, and so did sprocket, kind of. He had a handful of pasta, tin of tomato sardines with a slight smattering of cheese all mixed in with his kibble, I must say, it actually looked rather appetizing

Suffering badly from chipping in this household . I've got friends who have three whippets and they are already pushing me towards a breeder who is planning to have a litter early 2013. I spend more time than is necessary browsing whippet rescues . We also suffer badly from Zoomies, panicked first time as I was worried I'd have this mad dog tearing around 24/7 but once I realised it was for about 3 minutes followed by a good three hours sleep...

Hmm 24" coat you reckon? He's about half the adult weight now so if I get him a full size one will I be able to fold bits back or will he look silly? Wondering if he's going to be quite big too. His mum was tiny, really delicate about 17" tall but he has much bigger joints and feet than his relative who is two weeks older. I am tempted to just get some string and tie fleece around him for now, tramp chic we'll call it

I've started feeding him raw using the frozen meat from PAH which is brilliant, the only problem is that I have been giving him one meal a day of his old food to use it up and he has a look at it and then comes back to me all quizzical as if to say 'sorry, what's that? It's definitely not what I ordered, where's the good meaty stuff?'

Oh, look at poor Eddie .

I have definitely got chipping. DH definitely doesn't!

I've got my eye on Denzil (he's as hilarious in RL as he is in the photo) and Tim (for sheer cuteness) on here. DH still not persuaded.

They all look gorgeous. I'm starting to get the right hump with the bit on each profile that says they won't re-home more than 200 miles from Essex, what's wrong with Wales eh? (I'll have Poppy please. Oh and Alfie. And Willow. Could probably find room for Jed as well. If I'm going to the beach every day I might as well take a few with me.)

Oh goodness I'm not clicking on any links like that again I want them all.

I think my dog is broken :( he is resistant to hotdog, harringtons liver treats and pig strips altogether. I put a trail of them up the stairs while I went for a shower in the hope he would get lonely and the food would give him the motivation to get up, and he ate the bottom 2 steps, sniffed at step 3 then walked off!

He really doesn't want to do stairs, does he? It's just so tempting to install a stair lift leave him downstairs at night but I don't want to be getting up at 2am to carry him upstairs because he's barking!

Shit! Excuse my language please but I'm utterly pissed off. I left the sighthound collar and lead outside by mistake (DH away, too much to think about) and the cheeky bloody foxes have eaten it.

How am I going to walk him! House collar's no way secure enough to take him out in. Pets at Home don't do them. I'm going to order one online tonight but how effing long is that going to take to arrive! I am such an idiot.