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!
:)

So Scuttle's DH likes fixing computers and makes scones. I think if he started a 'D' Hing course to educate those other halves without his considerable skill set he'd sell out of places fast!!!

You have inspired me to do some considerable testing myself - think we'll have a few friends over at the weekend as DH isn't working - for a try out.

Little linky Lost ? We're thinking about holidaying in Wales next year...

We want to go back to Wales too, next summer. So linky woudl be fab. I think we should have a pointy meet-up in Wales

Betsy, he doesn't do anything to do with hardware - he won't touch circuit boards or stuff like that. He likes the cerebral challenge - very analytical (prob why he's a management consultant). He is a very good cook - he seriously considered going to catering college, does lots of the cooking when at home and insists on cooking Christmas dinner - I am told firmly to look decorative, drink gin and stay out of the kitchen - 'tis fab.

Betsy, have a look at Little Dumpledale website. I know I keep banging on about it being nice for sighthounds but it's also v nice for people too. Lots of power showers, big range cookers, hound proofed gardens, swimming pool and hot tub, chickens and ducks, horses, lovely people who run it (and are also dotty about sighthounds), masses of walks on the farm. His lordship would be happy as other family members have given it the seal of approval. And did I mention the miles of gorgeous beaches, the castles, farm shops, nice pubs, and now the cream teas? Oh, and there's the Preseli hills, wild and mystical as you like. And a nice quilt shop/cross stich place up at CrossPatch.

Pointy West Wales meet up would be fab Best teas and coffee around here all served in lovely proper china cups

Lost, that looks fab! love the idea of a Welsh meet. Also like the fact they have pics of their dog on their website - always a good sign.

Can I just say this lady apparently hasn't been getting any interest in her and her fosterer is now ill. She looks lovely, but seems to have been worked (by travellers) previously, so is not cat safe.

Cream teas - yum. Jam definately comes before cream (that way you have potential to pile the cream higher). I could happily move to any of Dorset/Devon/Cornwall but for the lack of jobs.

Ah, mentioned your little girl you linked to Magrat to my friend this morning. They live on a boat on the river by the Marshes next to us and she was vv interested... unfortunately she has an evil cat.

And thanks for the reassurance Scuttle. We had more mega zooms and big jumps this morning followed by a very relaxed walk together (off lead) back to the path. I keep him muzzled when he's off the lead. I wouldn't mind if he caught a squirrel or something but he has 'locked on' to small dogs when they're off in the distance when he's been on the lead. When he realises they're dogs (up close) he chills out but I don't want to take the risk.

ILs are coming up this afternoon and I'll be putting Little Dumpledale to them. I fancy we'd be in the caravan and they'd take one that's a little more lux!

And yum to your tea shop Lost.

Magrat, she's beautiful. What a gorgeous hound.

Betsy, I look at the muzzle as a sort of insurance policy. We had a couple of narrow misses with Andy when we first got him, including an incident where we were on a remote beach and he was running around very happily, and then a small dog teleported in from nowhere.

They don't mind wearing them, and I feel it's better to be safe than sorry. I see it as my job to do the thinking for them, and to keep them out of harm's way. Part of that is to minimise any harm they might to do to someone else's dog and if that happened, the harm that would befall them in turn. Sort of the greyhound equivalent of wearing a seatbelt.

Our labels (for the coats - v purple and lovely) arrived this morning.

I don't like jam. Extra cream for me then!

Poor Lady, she looks so sad :(

I always take Sprockets muzzle with us on a walk, I just put it in the basket under the buggy. He hates wearing it and I don't particularly enjoy walking him when he's constantly rubbing his head up and down my leg. I can only assume he hasn't worn one with his old owner at all. I just keep it with us just incase there's some fluffy tiny dog offlead or I decide to take him onto the field. I'd never ever let him off without his muzzle because I know for a FACT he would kill a cat if he caught one.

He nearly had one the other day actually, bloody thing just appeared right infront of him from the side of a bush, his teeth were centimetres away from the cat, it was lucky I had the lead wrapped around my hand as many times as I did, if it had been unwrapped just one less layer he would've had it without a doubt, especially as the stupid thing just sat there hissing at him and then followed us hissing

Scuttle did you know if you google 'milgi coats' your website comes up? I was being nosy It looks great though!

Ooh! It looks great!

Cunny the lunge is always a bit scary. Billy went for a squirrel once and nearly had my arm out of its socket!

Billy doesn't bat an eyelid to his muzzle. And as it's one of those with the sealed bottom I can push treats through the side and he gobbles them out of the solid bit.

Ooh, you naughty girls!! Cunny, were you the sort of girl who went and looked for her Christmas presents before Christmas? As you can see, text is not yet up and the pics are not the ones we are going to use - it was just to get a feel for the colour/layout etc. I'm v happy with the structure though. Am now waiting impatiently for my webmaster to return home and get it looking even better....

YY to scary lunge. V powerful.

Andy has just been digging holes in the garden - looked very happy and excited. I think he is practicing for Pembrokeshire beaches so he can go looking for buried treasure. Or the fabled "sea squirrel" of greyhound legend, a mysterious creature that eats whelks and is noted for its song, often compared to the mating call of a great auk....Greyhounds who hear its call are driven into a trance like state and can only be returned to normality by being blessed by a fish finger and ketchup sandwich.

Nope not me! I never used to go and squidge the presents under the tree either

A greyhound who digs holes? That sounds awfully energetic!

Lurchergirl makes whippetty look positively cat-friendly and she does this awful howly-bark thing when she sees a cat. In our living room, we have a full length window from which she can see the street and she will sit for hours looking out for cats - I think it's a bit like sighthound telly .

Hello All!!

Well, I was quite impressed this morning with Andy's cunning. Yesterday I popped in to Markles and Sparkles on my way home to buy some new knickers for our trip to pembrokeshire (a strange hangover from my childhood - the irrational need to have new undies for a holiday). While there, I bought some cherry bakewell slices. This morning, after we returned from our walk, hounds were fed, then I settled down with my brunch and the paper on the sofa. As usual, Boola took up his normal position beside me on the sofa, snuggled affectionately then fell asleep.

As I was sitting reading the paper, I realised (almost too late) that a pointy nose had snuck under the edge of the paper and was quivering with criminal intent just by my bakewell slice. Just as he made his bid for bakewell heaven, I rattled the paper and used my best VOG on him. He leapt about a foot in the air, and then gave me that nonchalant look - "Who me? I'm not doing anything, just standing here, nothing wrong with just standing here, see, just passing through, not doing anything criminal, oh no, not me, don't know where you get these strange ideas from. Hmmm, think i'll go and sit on the sofa, I was going that way anyway..."

He had managed to pinch the end cm of the slice but this didn't put me off the rest of it (it was delicious). The criminal is now upstairs relaxing on a duvet, and planning his next escapade.

He has excellent taste; bakewell slices are the food of Gods.

I'm in the middle of a lazy lonely Weight Watchers meal for one. Yes, laugh and point and shake your heads all you like ladies, I do quite enjoy them every so often! Tonight's delicacy is Jerk Chicken.

I'm going to have to be quick. Dinner's on the coffee table and Billy's plate licking for DC's left overs is long gone. There's a pair of brown eyes checking my plate out from the other side of the room...

I take it all back. The Jerk Chicken's disgusting. If it weren't so spicy he'd be welcome to it.

I'm sorry, just :o :o :o :o :o :o to you both.

Oh yy to new holiday undies! What is VOG by the way?

VOG = Voice Of God - you know, that voice, used for children/animals when doing things they shouldn't....

A bit like when you are a child, you know you have been naughty when your parent uses your full name (rather than affectionate nickname, as usual). Embarrassingly, we do this with the dogs.

Can empathise Betsy - DH is away tonight also (he works away a lot during the week) so for me it was a fish pie. I won't eat chicken ready meals as they're not free-range/high welfare - actually it's quite frustrating since it severely limits choices since chicken is used in so many. So I end up with lots of prawn curries and vegetable cannelloni.

The bakewell slices are indeed ambrosia. Another childhood hangover - my mum was a militant home baker ("no shop bought cake will ever enter THIS house") so I still feel an irrational guilt about buying cake even though I enjoy baking myself and do lots of it when I have time. Weird how these things stick with us.

Ahh I thought it might be Voice Of God, I wasn't sure though, can never recall my mum or dad ever calling me Melanie though even if I'd been really naughty! I've always been Mel :) I actually use Sprockets full name (inc surname!) if he's been naughty (caught raiding the coal scuttle for example). He is so good at the guilty look. And the sad old 'woe is me' look, and also the 'I'm starving, you never feeeed me! I'm huuuuuungreeeeeee!' look. Oh and the 'Really? You have GOT to be joking' look. He's good at looks.

I just found a dog hair in my belly button

I'll be chucking a veg cannelloni into the trolley at ASDA tomorrow then because he's away most of next week! And I just found out he's away for 3 WHOLE WEEKS before Christmas and gets back on Xmas eve. Not including the tours/gigs etc in the meantime. Bugger. Ah well, at least he has work I guess... Just whinged about it on the phone to my friend and she's out of work right now so I shut up pretty fast. On the upside, when I was clearing out the guinea pigs/tidying the garden earlier Billy and I had a little running around the garden like crazies play. He does his crouch and bark thing, like 'Come on let's go bonkers!'

And I also caught him snaffling a packet of Ryvita left carelessly on the edge of the worktop by me.

Your mum sounds formidable. New undies for hols and home baking as a religion. Super!

Oh eww Cunny! I definitely know when Billy's done something naughty as he has a definite guilty look.

I've become a bit obsessive about the kids not having any on their school uniform. White polo shirts do show up any stray black hound hair.

at Cunny's belly button.

And YY to the "looks" - there is an amazing variety of expressions.

3 WHOLE weeks?!!!!! Blimey Betsy, and that's such a busy time of the year too. Will you have to be super organised and get Christmas planned/prepped well in advance?

Andy does the crouch and leap and bark thing too - it's lovely, so funny and bouncy.

Yes, formidable is definitely a word for her. She is now a FT badger activist so fortunately these attributes are being put to good use.

Arf at the Ryvita - surprised he didn't snaffle some cheese to accompany.