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! :)

Ooooh freezer! Of course! Why didn't I think of that? :o there's blood all over his duvet now after his bone earlier. Wtf am I meant to do with it now?

He is desperate to do stairs now, just stands at the bottom looking up whining and crying. We've just bathed DD and he's been doing that and also barking. He howls too sometimes although it sounds more like mooing. His smart new martingale collar from GRWE arrived today, he is much better, he still pulls a bit when he sees other pointies but not half as much! I hardly knew he was there :o

Sorry to hear about all the problems with labs. We always seem to have problems with labs too. There are two near us, owned by a complete pyscho who just lets his two large, unfriendly chocolate labs come running up to whippety, who gets scared and tries to run. If we try to shoo the labs away he has threatened both dp and i (in front of dc's) on several occassions.

Yesterday though the problem was with a lurcher. Came running up to whippetty (who was on the lead) and did a "fly by" at full speed. Whippetty went mad as lurcher came up from behind. No owner in sight. So, if the (female) owner of a lurcher who was off-lead in a squirrel infested, small park is lurking on here. Please keep your blooming dog under control!!! Rant over.

On the plus side, our local RSPCA (where we adopted Whippetty from a year ago) has another young, black (female), whippet for adoption. We are going to look this weekend .

We have just got back from seeing whippetty-girl, who is gorgeous, though was found as a stray, so not much info on her, so I don't know how well that will be with young boys. However, we are going back to see her again next week when they have finished her assessment and been seen by the vet so that we can see how she would be with boys and whippetty-boy.

Ooh, exciting! Is there a pic on their site?

There's no pic (as yet), but she looks like the spitting image of whippetty-boy, aside from still having much of her puppy look atm (and being far skinnier). She was microchipped when found, but when they called the woman her microchip was registered to, she had apparently given her away to someone else who had "lost" her and wasn't interested in having her back . I am hoping a second dog might help with whippetty-boy's separation anxiety - I only work in the mornings, so he is left around 4 hours daily, but he still gets anxious at being left, even after a year of this rountine.

I hope a second dog will give him some company and make him less stressed, or am I being ridiculously naive?

legallyblond I have a 4 year old retired racer Grey and a 2 year old lurcher. We let both off the lead around the wasteland near our house and on the football field. Neither have good recall and if a rabbit or squirrel catches their eye they're gone! We just make sure we stay away from the road side of the field. Our lurcher is great with other dogs and even plays fetch, but can get stroppy with our kids if she is sleeping and they accidently fall on her. Our grey doesn't fetch, is great with other dogs but I am still weary about tiny ones in case he mistakes them for rabbits, and he is perfect around the kids. When we are on the wasteland and they are searching for rabbits I whistle loudly and they both come running back to me, which is such a lovely thing to see! All the other greyhounds round my area are not let off their leads, and I get comments from other dog owners at how lovely it is to see a greyhound off lead. Would you consider a lurcher instead? I don't know if its just my experience but mine is really well behaved off the lead (as long as there are no cats around!).

Oh I meant to say they do come back to me eventually after the rabbit or squirrel has escaped!

OldMotherDismass how does the seperation anxiety manifest itself?? Because we are in the exact same position as you, Sam chews the furniture when we are out. We have just borrowed a crate from the Trust we adopted him from but it will be a while before he is used to it enough that we can 'lock' him in it whilst out. Plus I don't really like the idea of crating him, but if it keeps him safe then needs must. But a second whippety lurcher is very high on my wishlist.
Saw a lovely girlie today whilst we were at the trust collecting the crate. She is a 6 year old blue girlie, going grey around the head, very very sweet. Would love to have her but if it does not help Sam and I end up with two anxious dogs then that will be a nightmare....

LockNumberNine, if we don't leave him crated every time we go out, he literally destroys everything he can find. We can hear him howling and barking from the end of our road (quite a way away). The first time we left him, we left him shut in the utility room, but he ate his way through part of the door (a heavy duty fire door) and destroyed everything else in the room that happened to be laying around. We originally planned when we got him, to give him the run of the hallway and utility room when out (we have quite a large entrance hall, with stair gates which would stop him going upstairs), but the only time I allowed this, he was throwing himself, full-force at the front door (repeatedly)!

We have tried several times leaving him uncrated whilst we are out, but he seems to get more distressed than when he is crated, so for the moment we continue to crate him. I don't think it is boredom as it starts as soon as we are going out, though thankfully he is now into a routine where he is used to being left in the morning until I come home at lunch, but will still refuse to be left again later in the day e.g. for the school run (this is a car drive away), or if we need to pop out later in the day e.g. to drop ds1 at clubs, or even just nip to the shops/bank etc. When we are home, he is a "velcro-doggie" with me and I can't even go to the toilet unless accompanied by at least one son and a dog!

Lock and OMD, it's worth remembering that most greys (unlike a lot of pet dogs) spend their entire working lives with other greys because of the way racing kennels are organised. So, when they are adopted, if they go to a house, it may be the first time in their lives that they will have been alone. Some cope and learn to adjust, but I know quite a few pointies who really need to have other dogs around. Our third is like that. He came back to the rescue with a shopping list of "problems" - the poor old boy had terrible colitis becasue of his diet and had been an only dog. Once we got him onto a raw diet and he met up with our two it was like watching a light bulb go on - really was amazing. He still absolutely adores company and is the most sociable of our dogs and has a number of special friends he sees on walks, including an adorable whippy.

What might be helpful is seeing how Sam does if you have a greyhound sleepover? Have a chat to the rescue about this - I am sure Jane will be very familiar with this issue and see if a foster dog could be borrowed for a few days to see if that makes a difference - it will also be nice for the foster dog to spend some time with a family, other dogs etc... so win/win.

I have got used to various dogs wandering in for a lean/cuddle when I am on the loo - seems normal now!

You speak wise words Scuttle. Sam was (we think, he was found as a stray) a traveller dog. So he will have been left to his own devices on a traveller site where there would always have been other dogs, children, people around...

OMD, your whippety sounds simlar to Sam. He is not as bad though (fingers crossed). He will whine and whimper but the full on howling stopped a few weeks after we first got him. He will destroy things but the amount he destroys is little compared to how much he could destroy in the four hourse I am at work. So with him I think a large part of it is boredom. He does like to follow me around at home, I have an audience in the bathroom just like you.

Would love a second houndie, just worried it will limit us with holidays etc, could not afford two sets of dogsitters / boarding and cottages which allow two dogs are rarer too, no? Plus my mum lives in Holland and two sets of passports / travel vax / kennels on the ferry etc will all add up.

Torn, really torn....

Oooh, yes yes to doggie sleepover. But if Wispa (the blue whippety lurcher I love) comes to stay I would not be able to send her back...)

Lock, fostering seems such a logical progression. You get the benefits of extra companionship for Sam, the costs are covered by the rescue, and you can block off the times you are away roaming the dykes - and the foster dog benefits too. And most rescues love having fosters who have children as it's so helpful when making an assessment.

Sleepovers are a nice thing to do anyway- we quickly got to know other grey owners and it's so nice to have a network of a few people who you can help each other out with for a big night out, or just to have fun. And let's face it, nobody does sleeping like a pointy! Ours love seeing their special pointy friends. And all the classic sleepover ingredients can be incorporated - pyjamas, telling fun ghost stories, eating midnight snacks, and big piles of duvets on the bedroom floor. We like to tell the Tale of the Giant Squirrel and if they are very brave, the story of the Greyhound Who Went For A Bath. We do this sometimes for one of our ex foster dogs - it also means I get to have a quick fix as I still miss her terribly even though she is in a much loved home where she is cared for beautifully.

Sounds like a good way of checking that you function well as a 2 dog house, actually (though I don't think we have the space for grey's, hence Whippetty boy, who aside from the separation anxiety is lovely, if lazy).

Whippetty is going for his rabies injection next week actually in preparation for our holiday in france this summer. I am not looking forward to taking him.

fluffy what if your dogs ended up chasing something towards the road side of the field? What do you do then with them having no recall?

scuttle i'm intrigued, the giant squirrel? The greyhound who went for a bath? They sound like fab stories :o

Well Sprocket seems to have curbed his feelings towards black labs, he just glares at them now, in that brilliant haughty way that only a greyhound can do.

LGT have got 2 pups in! 9mo brother and sister, they are so cuuuuute!

Jonesy and his sister Lincoln

hello, do you mind if i join in?

i have a 7 month old lurcher called scooby, she was a rspca rescue and we have had her since she was about 12 weeks,

would love some advice about the best things to feed her, at the moment she is on burgess supradog puppy which she has been on for a few months, the plan was to move her onto the lurcher one when she was a year old, however, over the past few weeks we have noticed that it doesn't seem to be agreeing with her, i am sure you can imagin
the last two days she has completely refused to eat it, at first we though she was feeling a bit off but as she was begging for scraps we figured it might be something to do with the food, she has happily eaten rice, fish, weetabix with grated apple etc!
i have done loads of internet searches but am really not sure the best way to go, try a different dry or go for raw diet, help!!

TIA

Hi Twin, hope we can see some pics!! Could do with some Lurcher Love!!

There are quite a few threads on here about feeding dogs with sensitive tums. Ones that regularly come up as being worth a try are James Wellbeloved, Fish4Dogs and Burns has an excellent reputation too.

Going raw/home prepared is also an option - again, there are masses of threads on here as it comes up so often. If you want a gentle introduction, you are already doing it with the rice, fish etc, add in some chicken wings and some of those blocks you can get at PAH and see how she gets on.

Many dogs have a sensitivity/allergy to the cereals and fillers that are found in commercial kibbles. Dogs aren't designed to eat lots of cereals so that is often when you get runny poos and terrible farts. Moving over to a raw type diet you will see a huge improvement in poo - much smaller and firmer.

Many of the dog food mfrs will supply you with a free sample and I know Burns (and the others actually) have a website with loads of info, and you can ring them and speak to their nutritionist to discuss your dog's needs.

Good luck!

Gritters, they are adorable. So black, so pointy, so gorgeous....

We have a house rule that you must be wearing pyjamas before the Tale can be told. And you must be VERY brave cos there are some scary bits.

I am disappointed. My beautiful whippetty girl has already been reserved, less than an hour after she offically went up for adoption . There is no way that we could have gone down there so quickly after her assessment was finished to see how she was with whippetty boy and the dc's. (I did tell them I would be able to come after 1pm today as she offically went up for adoption at 12 noon, but she'd already been reserved by then ). She would have been perfect.

Gritters the field is absolutely huge and I don't go anywhere near the road, they are too busy looking for rabbits to run in the opposite direction where there are no rabbits! Like I said, they come back eventually and do sometimes listen to recall, but are delayed in doing so. They don't automatically listen but the time it would take them to get to the road would be longer then it takes them to react to me.

Shucks OMD. Good on you for holding out on a rescue - just think, your dog's out there somewhere, just waiting for you.

I wouldn't want any other type than a rescue tbh, my childhood dog (who sadly died when I was 23) was a rescue and so was whippetty. I think we are going to ask about being a 2nd reserve on her, anyway, as I've seen previously that many of the "reserves" often fall through later. We have seen a boy whippet close by for adoption too, but tbh I think I'd rather hold out for a girl as I'd be concerned there might be problems mixing 2 boys, especially 2 young boys - I'm also feeling in need of female company in the house too !

Scuttle my Lurcher couldn't come to you for a sleepover I don't think he's brave enough for the bath tale. He had a real life bath the other week and shook so much you'd have thought we were torturing him.

I've found that our boys recall has improved a lot since I improved the quality of treats so I have garlic/dog sausage although I still have the odd dried one too to keep him surprised. I practise a lot on walks so he doesn't associate being called with being put on the lead.

Betsy and Scuttle I'm disapponted you don't live nearer to me, Andy, Billy and Sprocket could've had a family get together. Obviously including the rest of Andys' crew.

I hate people that don't pick up after their dogs. Saw this woman today walking her lab and it did a poo right next to the path and she just left it, so as we drew level with her I said "I think you left something back there" and she goes "Oh did I drop something?" to which I replied, "No but your dog did. You've forgotten to pick it up." she just gaped at me like a fish and walked off. In hindsight I should've offered her a bag.