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! :)

Mother you could add this thread to your watch list, then when it vanishes out of 'threads i'm on' it'll still be in your watch list, nice and handy!

I know lost, she is rather gorgeous isn't she? Pain in the bum tonight though bless her, she won't settle in her cot so is snoring fast asleep on DPs side of the bed :o good job he's not here though :o

Gritters, I know, but I'm too lazy to check in the "threads i'm watching" list.

On another note, we took whippetty to meet a "small" female greyhound today. He was not impressed. He has been in his crate since we arrived home and is not talking to us.

Behind please don't worry, when I say 'scold', I stand with hand on hips and give her the eyebrow while pointing at the poo . I don't think she's too damaged by this.

We have done all the recommended training 3 or 4 times now (obv. lots of praise when done in the right place, cleaned the floor of accidents with No Pee, Pee Away, Do Not Pee Here Again, vinegar, bio, etc etc you get the picture), got up at 4.30 to let out, gradually making it later until it's back to 6.30 again, and then she's fine for a month or two, then goes back for no apparent reason.

Also obviously we've been to the vet to check everything is OK. Her food doesn't seem a problem, so rather at wit's end.

This morning bless her for the first time ever she crept upstairs (both are supposed to be downstairs only) because she could hear us all laughing and chatting in our bed and wanted to join in. Can't really encourage her, as it's not fair on the lab

No worries Whatwould .

Your two sound lovely, our whippety lurcher crawls into our bed by stealth at around 5.30 every morning. He thinks we don't notice

I built a fab fence yesterday, to stop sprocket going and pooing and kicking up the bark at the back of the garden, I made it out of old bed lats and outdoor dining set made up of 4 chairs and a table :o

I am hoping to join the pointy dog set in the not too distant future, and was pointed here from another thread. I had a pink nosed short legged whippet years ago (bred from champion racers, and a disappointment to her breeder, but she was a fantastic pet), so a whippety type seems the logical choice for us.

I spent all day yesterday reading this thread from start to finish, cooing over sll your gorgeous dogs and looking at various rescue sites. I've fallen in love with allseveral of the dogs, and I'm loving the whole floppy eared lurcher look :)

My only problem is my DH who thinks a dog will be Too Much Work. But...I work evenings so I'm around in the day, and even if I do increase my work hours (DC now mostly at school), I'm a community care worker in my local community and have spare half hours here and there for popping home for a doggy comfort break :) I need to convince DH, but really don't know how...

Also, does anyone know of a whippet rescue in the North..we're In Leeds so fairly centrally placed. Most of the dogs I've seen online were at the other end if the country, so not sure becoming a dig from the south west would be possible.

Any advice would be greatfully received :)

Woohoo, Daisy, welcome
I love the idea of a pink nosed, short legged whippet, bet she was gorgeous!!

I don't know any whippety rescues in the North (being in the South East) but have heard about Scruples whippet rescue who don't use kennels but a network of fosterers throughout the country. May be worth a try?

I had never considered a whippety but fell in love with Sam when we saw him at the greyhound rescue. Have since met several whippety owners (both lurchers and pure bred) and absolutely love them, gorgeous dogs with the nicest (if sometimes somewhat neurotic and I am including my Sam in that) personalities...

Thanks for the welcome No9 :) She was gorgeous, a fawn brindle, who was the biggest (but cuddliest) thief: she once stuck her head in the oven and made off with several burning hot sausages! My mum had only turned her back for a second to take some plates out of the oven.
I would love a grey as well, but I think that would would be one dog too far for my DH.
I

Oops, posted too soon!
I have spent the morning doing all the chores I normally leave for DH in an attempt to prove that I can look after a house, three children and a dog!
Opertion grab-a-(mini)grund has begun!

What about this small, greyhound girl who is at the west yorkshire branch of the reired greyhound trust?

A smallish greyhound might not be all that much bigger than a biggish whippet and many more in rescues than whippets (I guess because whippets are such easy dogs in general).

So Billy has started properly playing now. Except it's never, ever with other dogs, only us! The space hopper DS2 has to use for his physio was out and it turns out when any of us bounce on the hopper he goes bonkers. Tbh, it was a little scary at first; nearly 40 kilos of big dog down in front of you, bum in air, barking and snapping then legging it around you then chasing his own tail with chunks of my lovely lawn flying everywhere, boo hoo but we all love it now. He's even learnt to leave the guinea pigs alone now they're in their outside home (with the help of the water spray!)

Then after 5 minutes of absolute craziness he has to lie down for about 5 hours.

Lovely. The space hopper. Who knew! [happy]

Meant there.

at space hopper Billy.

We have a home visit tomorrow . It is becoming scarily close to possibly bringing our second hound home!

"Then after 5 minutes of absolute craziness he has to lie down for about 5 hours."

Keeping everything crossed for the home visit.

DH was working at home today. I merrily waltzed off to spend the afternoon with a friend and came home to find DH looking frazzled and the house looking and smelling remarkably clean. All three grunds had decided to simultaneously come down with a tummy bug which involved D & V from all three, in different places, at different times. Hence an endless round of cleaning and disinfecting, and washing machine in overload doing various duvets, etc. DH retired to a hot bath ( I don't blame him) and I am now even more anxious to hear from Dooin about her steam cleaner.

Dooin, that's a hint.. Ahem. Nudge. Pokes elbow.

And the dogs are going to be fine, I think it's just one of those annoying transitory tummy bugs.

Thanks for the link OldMother :) and good luck for your home visit tomorrow!
I should be in bed, but have spent the last hour and a half looking at every greyhound within a 100 mile radius, and wanting to meet them all :o
Spacehopper Billy sounds crazy! :o
Go

I'm still looking at pointy hounds...help me convince DH!
I need some advantages and disadvantages of greyhound owning, how much it costs to feed and insure one dog, the reality of how much space and exercise they need; is it really as little as 2x 20 mins per day? How are they generally with bouncy toddlers? My DD (nearly 5) will be very calm with any animal, but my 3 yo DS can be a bit of a handful...
And anything else?

Sounds like you made the right decision to go out yesterday scuttlebug :o I'm glad your dogs are fine :)

Some inexpert answers to your greyhound questions:
Food - varies. Our chap eats kibble with something else mixed in each day. His kibble is about 20quid for a 15kilo bag that lasts about a fortnight - 3 weeks (I think We mix it in with something else, mostly oily fish. A tin of pilchards in tomato sauce is 89p and that can last 1-2 days. The rest of what we mix through is our meaty/fishy leftovers (not too fatty.) You can get cheaper or more expensive kibble and it just depends what suits your dog.

Insurance - We are on PetPlan and it costs us 26 per month. I was quoted as little as 14 but had to take PP for a variety of boring reasons. If you adopt from lots of rehoming centres they give you a month free PetPlan. They paid out for us.

Space - our chap's big but folds up small. He has adopted the whole of the back of the lounge (we live in a v standard Victorian London terrace with the front and back lounges knocked through.) He sleeps on a 7 quid folded up duvet from ASDA - there's another 1 or 2 dotted around the house as crash pads.

Walks - 2 x 20 is a minimum. Our Bill would be OK on that but he does get an hour brisk walk in the morning and a slow 30mins in the afternoon with my pre schooler in tow. That's just us though.

Kids - Billy's very laid back with the children but I don't let them play in the same room as he's sleeping in unattended. If they're watching tv then that's OK as it tranqus them totally but invariably they will be drawn to pet him if they're in the same room together. He's given a warning bark at my 5yo whose affections were unwanted at that time. My 3yo is a handful too but he is NOT allowed to be disrespectful to the dog at any time. Just be straight with the rehoming centre. I keep visiting children separate from Billy, (I gate him in the kitchen and he sleeps in their for the duration of the playdate) more for his wellbeing than theirs as I'm as sure as I can be that he'd never hurt them. But he's a dog at the end of it all and there's always a first time.

And the funniest thing about the spacehopper is that he hardly ever goes crazy at all - deliciously uncharacteristic and mightily welcome from a dog who's never really had a chance to play his entire life.

Thanks Betsy :)
Not too expensive then, if I just give up wine, then it won't cost us any extra
We live in a larger than average 3 bed semi, and have a second reception room (replete with sofa in the south facing window :o) that is an office/store/harbour for junk that would give our a dog a nice place to hide from marauding children.
I would do more walking than that, as one of my reasons for wanting a dog is to get me out and a bit fitter after a long illness. We have woodland on our doorstep too, which is a big bonus. He/she would get a minimum of an hour in the day, plus a couple of pootles, early and later. Our garden is a good size too, and a bit of a sun trap.
I think we have the makings of a poochy palace :o
Now to convince DH...though the good for my health card might be worth milking a little!

And I read somewhere that they aren't as doggy smelling as other dogs? Is that because of the short coat? I don't remember our old whippet smelling too doggy, but we had a house full of pets, so it was hard to tell!

I don't find that ours smell really, we have a grey and a lurcher and a foster dog (grey at the moment). Also they are great with children, I have 5 children 6 and under so as you can imagine it gets a bit hectic but they are fine with it!

Their coats don't smell. But they do tend to have absolutely satanic bottoms. Greyhound farts should probably be banned under the Geneva Convention. And they will usually unleash them when you have visitors. Cue, more tea vicar? And shall I open this window? Dear me, it's quite warm in here.. all said while raging downpour is taking place outside and temperature is -10..

Sprocket smells a little doggy sometimes (greyhound) but he oy gets horrific flatulence if he needs to poo, that's when you know to let him outside :o

*only