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!
:)

Given the situation I'm going to have to swallow my ownership of Christmas and ship down to MIL's for the big day I think. It sticks in my throat to admit it but it's just not going to work, having it here after 3 weeks alone. FIL gets hammered and dresses up as Father Christmas 'for the kids.' Except he doesn't mention that he even did it waaay before they were born and when DH and SIL were well into their 20s... Odd and a bit sinister if you ask me!

Does your mum drive a Morris Traveller Scuttle ? I'd have that pegged as a home baking, badger activist's preferred mode of transport. She sounds amazing!

She's not a very good driver, unfortunately. Goes bunny hopping along in first at 30 mph with gearbox screaming. Sees it very much as a necessity and always preferred to let my Dad drive (when he was alive). Still won't drive on a motorway.

Am both and at FIL dressing up. Hmmmm. Does he wear any other costumes? (am imagining him as giant Easter bunny and so on)..

Thing with Christmas though is that a lot of the work isn't actually to do with the big day itself - that's actually fairly straightforward in a lot of senses (unless you are doing a 12 course dinner for 20 people) - it's more the run up with cards, lists, remembering to post various parcels, organising visits to relations, decorating house and so on. I find there's a critical time about a week before when it all feels a bit Aaargh and usually by the day itself we are fine.

I will be strict and have many many 'Christmas Shopping Days' lounging around cafes with a coffee and the papers before DH departs. And for everything else Ocado and Amazon. And not forgetting hitting you up for Billy's Xmas present. Will you be doing a seasonal range?

I am already worrying about getting the Xmas tree though. How will I carry it? I mean I could hitch Billy up somehow or get DS1 to carry it. He's pretty strong for a 5yo.

Re your mum, at least if the engine's screaming the badgers will have time to haul their big butts out of the way of the car!

Nighty night!

Whippetty is in disgrace this morning as u. came downstairs to get my shoes for work to find yet another almost new pair chewed to death. For some reason he singles mine out and unless they are put away religiously he destroys them. I have had to send Dp on a mission to buy new shoes before I can leave for work this morning.

I'm sorry Magrat. You are clearly his favourite person in the whole world!

Billy's in disgrace too. Actually, it should be me on the thinking step, not him.

Thank God I muzzled him when he was running today. He finished his big run arounds then we walked to the gate together. On the way we met a man with a 4mo old Akita looking puppy who was on the lead. I hadn't put Billy on the lead as he was doing really well by my side and was exhausted. The pup seemed to be initiating some play with Billy who wasn't at all interested - ears back, relaxed looking... then from nowhere he just went for the pup, started chasing her around her poor owner who ended up wrapped in the lead. Eventually I caught him and he was totally in hunt mode, hackles up, growling and barking.

I apologised profusely to the owner who just looked at me like 'you are the crappest dog owner in the world.' I don't blame him. I feel really cross with myself for letting this happen. That poor puppy. All the times we've been terrorised by off the lead dogs and now it's me who is the horrible owner.

My dog owner friend always says there comes a point where you just have to try stuff with your dog; take precautions but try new things so you can know their limits better. I guess I just have to put today down to experience and be thankful he was muzzled.

Betsy, the horrible owners are the ones whose dogs chase yours and then give abuse for it rather than feeling sorry for the chased dog. On that basis you can not possibly be a horrible owner.

He was muzzled unlike most.

Btw, does anyone know a nice dog-friendly hotel or B&B within a short drive of Portsmouth? I am trying to plan the travel for our holiday and we sail back from Cherbourg to Portsmouth arriving quite late in the evening so I don't fancy a long drive home immediately after that.

Hello all. Magrat, don't know if you knew, but a lot of Travelodges will accept dogs. There is a small extra payment (£20 ). We took advantage of one of their special offers to pop down to Devon/Cornwall to see friends and even with the dog charge it worked out as a really cheap deal for a long weekend, as we did one of their very cheap rates if you book well in advance. The dogs loved the comfy kingsize beds too!

Am at shoe eating terror!!

Betsy, as you say, thank goodness he was muzzled. This is exactly what we were talking about a couple of days ago. No, you are not a bad dog owner. You immediately tried to rectify the situation and was apologetic (and Billy was muzzled). Bad owners do none of these things.

Sad day for us today. Collected Booty's ashes from the vets. We are taking them down to Pembrokeshire with us to scatter on her favourite beach. Also, I went to a funeral today, for someone I knew well through Greyhound Rescue Wales - a lovely gentleman who passed away, aged 84. It was an absolutely beautiful funeral service though, and the crematorium was in a magnificent setting, high above the Valleys. You could see this beautiful sweep of green mountains set against this grey curtain of rain - stunning, and so right for a lovely man. My dad passed away late last year so today brought back lots of memories of that too.

On a happier note, hoping Lost and Lock will soon oblige with some pics, as whippies have been test piloting some coats and bandanas....

That's useful, thanks Scuttle I didn't know that.

Sorry to hear about collecting Booty's ashes. It must be very hard atm.

What a sad day for you Scuttle. How lovely for her to be scattered on her beach.

Magrat, we stayed here last year. It's about 20mins from the ferry if I recall rightly. It says guide dogs welcome on the site but I'm sure there was a 'well behaved' dog in the bar there. Might be worth a try if the Travelodges are not available as they have rooms in a separate building over the car park; I think most of the rest are up tiny windy staircases above the pub, which is where we were.

Awww, Scuttle, a sad day
But she was a very loved hound, she was a happy hound

Have posted pictures of the Coattester extraordinaire onto your fb page. Do I need to post them here aswell?
He was a bit of a reluctant model, but happy to test and took himself off to his crate still wearing his new coat for a bit of a snooze - being a coat and bandana tester is hard work apparently

Margrat, the shoe thing must be catching. When we first brought Sam home he chewed his way through several pairs. Then he lulled us into a false sense of security by not chewing any... But the night before last, whilst I was in the shower, dd was in bed, ds and dh were playing playstation, Sam decided to chew through dd's school shoes. With only 4 weeks to go until end of term I really don't want to buy new ones... sob.

Aw, for some reason my computer ate part of my post. AFter the sad day thing I had added something about the funeral of the greyhound rescue man. He must have lived a full and happy life being involved in something close to his heart.
From there I moved onto Booty always being close to your heart and her having been (and still being) a happy loved hound.
For some reason that bit fell off my post. Am using dh's laptop and where I rest my wrist I keep catching the mouse and it does strange things to what I am typing...

Argh!

Yes, Lock, you need to post pictures! (Though I have to admit Whippetty absolutely refuses to do coats aside from in snow - he is an anomaly amongst pointies. Lurcher girl otoh would probably love a nice coat).

Lock, she was adored, and also brought so much love with her. It was (and still is) a privilege to care for her.

Yes, please do post some pics of adorable Sam, though he is looking comically woebegone in a couple of shots! That true pointy "Woe is me" face...

The gentleman who died was a lovely, lovely man and his son (who founded the charity) is now its chair, and also v active in broader Wales animal welfare scene, plus has done a lot of work to support a more co-ordinated approach to rescue work for pointies in Ireland - something which is desperately needed. Although it was a very sad occasion, it was also another one of those times when it was great to appreciate a life well lived - he cared deeply about his family and friends, greyhounds and a variety of other political causes, and not a jot about money or status. He was very happy in his skin and will leave a wonderful legacy. I was also particularly impressed as we had a reading from Camus at the ceremony, not a usual thing.

There were a lot of similarities with my dad, who was politically/socially active for many years and also v committed to badgers, so it resonated v deeply.

Magrat - at whippetty not doing coats!!

Here are the pictures of the coat-tester-extraordinaire!

linky

I still think Sam's expression in the second one is laugh out loud funny.

Aww, what lovely pics. Pointys have this way of looking offended though - kind of "I'm sure they are all picking on me, but I'm actually a bit too thick to understand" . Whippetty is a master at it too.

It is currently tipping it down here, so the dogs are stood at the window looking out, miserably, but refusing to even entertain the thought of stepping a foot outside in it (even into the garden) even though both must be bursting for a wee by now.

Betsy, thanks for the link before. It looks nice. I'll see if dogs are allowed.

How sad Scuttle, but how lovely you are taking her to the beach :) how are you doing?

Betsy as it had been said before, one of 'those' owners wouldn't give a flying shiney shite about what their dog had done. You are not one of them!

Lock Sam looks brilliant! He has such fabulous expressions :o

I'm stuck for next weekend :( it's my sisters wedding on saturday and I'm a bridesmaid, I will be out of the house from approx 9.30am till midnight, DP will be out of the house from approx 2.30pm till midnight, and I have just thought about Sprocket. There is no way he would be left that long even with a visit or 3. He'd moo the house down! The neighbours are on holiday, and the other neighbour never answers the door, no-one in my family would be able to have him as they'll be at the wedding, DP only has his mum and aunty living in town, MIL has 2 dogs of her own who hate other dogs so he can't go there and MIL can't come to us as she has DD for the night! His aunty hates dogs especially Sprocket as "he is too big! You need to build him a pen and make him live outside because he is just too big!"
Aaaargh

Could he do an overnighter at his old kennels - like Billy did when we went on holiday?

If your old kennels won't take him, depending on whereabout you are in lincolnshire, you could try contacting John and Judith at the RGT kennels in Newark (only just "over the border"). They will offer boarding to sighthounds other than "their own".

I posted on FB jokingly asking if anyone fancied a greyhound for the weekend, and Andy from the LGT PMed me and said to ring them wrt next weekend, so hopefully we're all good! Haven't had chance to ring them yet though so it's on my list for tomorrow!

Magrat are you near Newark or something? Just wondering as you seem familiar with it.

Near-ish. We went to look at a grund there when we were looking for dog2 , but whippetty was not keen on the petite, but significantly larger and faster than him girl we were thinking of, so at that point we decided that what we were looking for was a whippet or whippetty lurcher (or as we ended up with a greyhound x whippet).

Scuttle I'm sorry to hear about Booty. What a lovely idea to scatter her ashes on the beach. She sounds like she was a very loved and happy dog.

The SouthWest Greyhound Gathering you mentioned sounds interesting. We live in Devon, and by then little Iggy pup Juno will be well past her jabs and possibly ready for a little outing. And if there are cream teas available, then so will I be (being a Devonshire Dumpling I am definitely a jam first girl)!

Last weekend we went to the Dowsland Country Fair (warning: rubbish website alert) which was well attended by all creatures pointy and beautiful. We coo-ed over all of them and met some lovely people - and dogs - from Scruples Whippet Rescue, and watched some stunning grunds (love that name) in action.

On the Iggy pup front, we have been given another update by our breeder who tells us that Juno is turning into a very sociable and cuddly little pup who has already learned to give kisses and is starting to waddle about and cause mischief. Hooray! I have some more pictures so will update my profile for you to see. Sooo cute!

Ooh I'm about 45 mins away from Newark! Wouldn't it be weird if it turned out we both live in the same town? :o

Spoken to Jill, she says they'll have him all day saturday and whatever time we get out of bed on sunday :o

Definitely going to be Juno then Wombat? Lovely name :) can't wait till some more piccies!