A new Cushion for Pointies!

[SpaghettiTwirlerAndProud]

Pointy hounds include-
Greyhounds (Grunds)
Whippets (Whippys)
Lurchers
Italian Greyhounds (Iggys)
Salukis
Afghans
And any others I have forgotten. If you are a new pointy hound owner, an old and experienced owner or looking into getting one of these fabulous creatures, come and have a seat (that's not taken up with a hound).

Share advice, stories and shopping tips!

I didn?t really want you,
I wasn?t really sure,
And I?ll admit I had my doubts,
When you first came through that door.

Not small, or cute, or fluffy,
With big, soft puppy eyes,
But tall, and thin, and bony,
With bald, pink, bulging thighs.

You weren?t the kind I had in mind,
Not in any way,
?Perhaps it would be better if I took you back today,
Before we know each other,
It really won?t be kind,
To keep you here for one more day,
And then to change my mind.?

But against my better judgement, I decided you could stay,
And quickly I discovered you were kind in every way,
Your gentleness and patience, they really stole the show,
?Why these dogs are wonderful, I must let others know!?

For you?re my gentle giant,
Who just needed the chance,
To show us all what you could be,
To wipe away that history,
And dispel our preconceptions, which put us all to shame,
And so we come to know and love,
What lies beneath that frame.

And now I?ve come to understand,
What I missed right at the start,
That greyhounds need that great deep chest,
To house their great big hearts!
:)

Lock, no your smileys are great - I love happy news.

Today will be a hard day for you - your first Father's day without your dad.

Yes, I do believe that sometimes you "click" with a dog that is simply meant to be. Keep us posted on this.

By the way, it was v exciting wrapping your parcel earlier.

Cunny, love that you had a surprise party. Not impressed by the dickhead bullies. Hope they get boils on their bottom!

Betsy, yes the weary athlete has been relaxing on the sofa this afternoon. We are going on holiday to Pembs v shortly so he was looking up pubs, farm shops etc. (we are going to the legendary Little Dumpledale, which is probably the closest thing to sighthound heaven on earth).

Snuggled up next to him was Andy but every time DH stopped tickling and concentrated on laptop, he got a sharp jab in the kidneys.

I was on the other sofa, cross-stitching, with Boola next to me. He was doing his usual thing of starting with half the sofa, very nicely, but then he sneakily expands, millimetre by millimetre, so that you find mysteriously that a blonde greyhound has annexed about two thirds of it, while I'm somehow squashed into a corner with a paw digging into me.

Ooh, Bochead, hope it goes well. Just looked at the link - there'll be loads going on, should be a really great day.

Thanks all. At least for us, it is just a potential for something in the future - hopefully that is all it will ever be. He goes in to see the paediatrican once a year now (used to be more often) for an endoscopy to check that his gut is fine - the problem was caused by long-term uncontrolled reflux which caused damage to the cells.

Cunny, how awful for your cousin though.

Lock, it sounds like she chose you. Do you think you will get her? (Exciting!)

We went to a charity dog show thingy today and met lots of lovely pointys. One lady had a whippetty lurcher rescue and had the genius idea to attach a GPS tracker to the dog as she said she'd only just started letting the dog off and was worried about losing her. I thought it was brilliant and may steal the idea for lurchergirl.

Btw, Scruples Whippet Rescue has two whippet puppies (9 weeks old) up for adoption, which look absolutely adorable. Just saying...

Oooh Bochead, that dog show looks fab!!

Well, J has replied about Ellie-the-dog. She is a 2005 ex racer, very bouncy, very food orientated. Maybe a bit too much dog for us? But she has said we can walk her next week at the Great British Greyhound Walk
The nine month old has been reserved which is great news

Scuttle, Sam and I are looking forward to our parcel and he is poised to ambush the postie as soon as he puts in an appearance...

Morning! Sorry to hear about everyone's experiences with cancer, or as we call it round here bastard arsing cancer. My best friend has just had a brush with it (pre cancerous in the end, phew) and I was astonished how affecting it is. My job is in at the diagnostic stage so I've seen more than most over the years but when it is someone close to you it suddenly becomes a whole other beast. On the other hand if we are going to insist on all living so much longer nowadays we are going to see so much more of it

Went to the Welsh Game Fair yesterday (hunting, shooting, fishing not scrabble ). There was a free to enter dog show for pointys so I had the best day ever, met every variety from Iggys (soooo lovely Wombat), every flavour of lurcher and a man with 4 deerhounds. They were so well behaved, which is a good thing I imagine. Whippety got lots and lots of fuss particularly from a lovely man whose whippet had died two years ago, I think he'll be getting another one after all the beautiful dogs at the show. He's exhausted now though poor dog, so many bottoms to sniff and so little time . The one thing I noticed was for so many dogs all milling around there was no barking or misbehaviour, pointys really are the best!

Scuttle are you heading Pembrokeshire way soon? Let me know if you have a spare minute, I'd love to let our dogs have a run together.

Oooh hang on, package? are you open for business now Scuttle or something?

They really are very good at spreading out sneakily aren't they? Sprocket tends to shove his nose behind my back, then a paw, tjen another paw, and he'll then wriggle forwards very slowly until I realise I'm perching right on the edge of the sofa, at which point I stand up and turf him off for sofa hogging.

Sounds like you and whippy boy had a good day yesterday lost! Deerhounds, aren't they ginormous? Bigger than an IW? Or did I imagine that? If they are then maybe the dogs each have a cozy stable :o

Ok no I imagined it, IW are bigger than DH (thanks google!)

Hi Lost, I'll be having a stall at next year's Game Fair - it was just a little bit too soon for me to build up the necessary stock, for this year. Also, DH had already committed to Llanelli Coastal 10K race yesterday, otherwise we would have gone. I think I've met the man with 4 deerhounds, he came along to last year's Greyhound Rescue Wales dog show at Pembrey - I wanted to steal one!!! They were utterly gorgeous. I will FB you about meeting up - not long now!!! Andy and Boola are packing their buckets and spades.

Cunny, you are going to have to sit on your hands for a tiny bit longer. Lost and Lock as whippy owners are kindly volunteering their services as test models for the whippy sized coats, so parcel is opportunity for Sam to do his Zoolander moment!! We are shortly going on our holibobs in Pembrokeshire, and it's likely that website will be open for business shortly after that, and of course allowing for making sure whippy sizing and fit is right. Now in the final stages of website stuff - have an appt tomorrow with Govt business advisor to help with wording on data protection/privacy issues. Have done photoshoot, written most of text and DH is doing exciting geeky things with ecommerce. All v exciting.

Oooh ok, :o @ exciting geeky stuff.

Thing is, DH loves doing website stuff. Imagine a greyhound offered a squirrel, a sofa and some cheese - that's DH when offered a nice chewy IT problem to solve. I like it when he's happy.

Plastic doesn't have long to wait...

You are lucky, having your very own personal I.T department :)

Well, this is very exciting! Have booked our first trade stand. We'll be at the South West Greyhound Gathering at Upottery, near Honiton on 18th August. There will be cream teas (now you're talking!), have a go at agility, BBQ, sponsored walk, fun classes, and general pointy loveliness. All raising funds for SW RGT. Should be fab.

Oooh that is exciting! You'll have to get one of those aprons with pockets like what market traders have.

Woohoo!!! for the trade stand at Honiton - how exciting!!

Just a quick question, is it possible to get insurance for an ex-racing grund aged around 7?? Just pondering, you understand...

Lock, in a purely theoretical sense, why yes of course..... Boola was 9 when he arrived with us, and he is fully insured.

at Cunny - hadn't thought yet about what to wear!! Will have a ponder. I sort of got stuck on the cream teas. That is one thing I do miss about living in Devon - they know how to do a proper cream tea, though I am in Cornish in my application order of cream and jam.

Which way around is it with the cream and jam? And YY to the money apron thing. You have to accessorise right. Don't think we'll be able to make it to Honiton but I'm warming up the plastic as we speak. And locating the tape measure!

I love the thought of Whippety exhausted today after all the excitement of his weekend. A bit like having a big weekend where you go out a lot and talk too much. Super.

Billy pegged it around the festival site again today. He seems to have three speeds when he gets going. Lollop, accelerate and super boost accelerate. He did me a few 'fly pasts' and it sounded like an actual pony galloping away.

If I'm honest he has no recall whatsoever when he's out like that and is absolutely deaf to my calls. He just stops when he wants to or gallops back to me for more treats when he fancies it.

Lock has she been in a home before or has she come straight off the track?

Straight off the track Betsy, and apparently very bouncy, food motivated and a bit of a runner. Probably not the grund for us...
Will bide my time until a small girlie non-chaser comes along. There is no rush after all

I do cream then jam. Is that correct?

Well yes, I do cream then jam too - as though the cream's in place of the butter.

Yum.

Well I have very limited knowledge of the racing world (or any world come to that!) but I'm guessing that if she's 7 and has only just retired she must have been a bit of a superstar? Aw, take her for a walk and see how you get on.

Something our teacher taught us in class. A food motivated dog will ALWAYS be a dream to train - give it two months with a clicker and you'll be fine. With ours, Boola is non food motivated and is a sod to train/work with, as he's not much impressed by toys either. Andy is fortunately a greedy piglet and is therefore a dream to train. We haven't done as much as we could but if he sees a treat in the offing, he will work his socks off.

What's her kennel name? We can look her up on the database and see if she's part of the family.

Betsy, once they are running like that, no training will work, and I wouldn't expect it to - you'd be fighting hundreds of years of breeding, instinct and training. Ours do recall in "normal" circumstances but once they are in the "zone" then they are deaf. Like the description of the Super Boost - I think they have di-lithium crystals or something. It's a glorious sight though - awesome.

With regard to the cream tea debate, this illustrates the two opposing sides. Neither is right or wrong, socially speaking - but all right thinking people will of course take the Cornish approach (jam first).

I don't know her kennel name. Don't want to ask J at the moment as she has just had 8 dogs come in from Ireland and is sounding a bit at the end of her tether. But she is called Elise / Elize, was born in 2005 and is black with a white chest, a white blaze, a few white feet and the latter part of her tail is black. (she also has the most beautiful brown eyes and chatters at you...)

Right Scuttle, I was about to throw a Devon cream tea at you for suggesting right thinking people do it the cornish way... BUT, then I looked at your link. And whilst I do cream then jam, jam then cream actually LOOKS more 'right' somehow...
There is only one thing for it - will have to prepare them both ways and eat them... (once this blasted diet is over and I can eat nice things again...)

Yes, a controlled test!! Actually proper Cornish splits are very nice, with a bit of saffron cake afterwards...

DH makes buttermilk scones - v light and fluffy. And it has to be strawberry jam, preferably a good one. None of this fancy French fruit spread.

And gallons of piping hot tea, served in a really pretty china cup and saucer.

Sigh. If it helps, a greyhound can be a very willing and helpful assistant when it comes to doing the testing.

Ooooh Scuttle, that's just made me think, there is a very nice, dog friendly, tea shop in our village that does a lovely cream tea...