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!
:)

Nooooo, not cyclists! Don't they shave, like, all their man hair off?

YY to the waterproofs. Billy looked like a seal after our morning walk today but I couldn't have put him in his real coat!

Scuttle I may have been imagining it but I'm sure I saw dog panniers somewhere. I love the idea of Billy carrying our picnic out into Epping Forest for us.

multimedia/archive/01814/FabianCancellara1814584c.jpg posting from phone so that may not work. Scuttle but you are so right, the way that man can control a bike going 60kph downhill with just his thighs...

a0.twimg.com/profile_images/2349863056/-2147482869.jpg sigh. You'll need to c&p the last one because I came over all unnecessary and forgot the brackety bits.

Sorry, we were talking about something sensible I'm sure but I forget what.

I feel this picture gives an idea of the look I am talking about swoon. Thud. I am supposed to be writing website text descibing hte details of the coats, but now I'm feeling a bit, ahem, flustered...

better?

Oh my, I actually had an involuntary sigh looking at that and now I am beginning to understand all this 'biting her lip' business going on at the moment. . Whippety is giving me a look and trying to get my attention by jamming his wet nose into my arm.

'fraid I'm more of a formula one fanatic. Jenson Button is just lovely, even better though is Hal from Being Human.

Lurchergirl has a poorly leg atm though . One of her hind legs keeps on collapsing on one side and sort of "clicks" a lot. I'll give her lots of rest tomorrow and try and get a vet appointmenr, but the vet already checked it a couple of weeks ago and declared her fine.

On the plus side, she passed all the exercises in her training class tonight , we are working towards her bronze. She does stand and stay like a pro - which is good cos sitting and down are useless!!

Well done Lurchergirl (sends virtual head rub). I am very proud when whippety does his sit nicely, although 'stay' is a world away!

Only came back on the thread to gaze at that picture of Cancellara I might have to put it on my FB page if that's ok Scuttle. DS1 is poorly again which gives me plenty of time to watch the tour today .

Ohh well done Lurcher girl! I wonder why her leg does that? I hope it's ok!

Sprocket appears to have developed a dislike to wet grass. And as such, he won't even bother to go in our back garden anymore, he turns around and goes back up to bed bloody wimp. I have to actually lead him outside and shut the door. He then pee's up the door and barks to be let in.

Well done Lurchergirl.

Still not getting the cyclist love tho. I'm more of a pale geeky gangly sort - no ripply muscles here. All exceptions are made for Jack Sparrow though.

Poor DS1 Lost. I hope there's an improvement soon.

Magrat, lots of trainers don't insist on pointies doing a sit - for greyhounds particularly it can be a very uncomfortable posture, and they really can't do it for more than a second (combination of very long back and those big thighs). Depending on your lurcher's build, may be worth asking if you can just do a down for that bit - when I was doing our classes, our teacher was very happy with that, and Boola did his "sphinx" very nicely. Good luck with the bronze!! I put our certificate in the downstairs loo

Lost, hope DS1 is feeling better, and did you enjoy the Fabien interview at the end of the stage today?

Cunny, I love reading about Sprocket - it's really like reading about Andy's twin soul. He's the same, hates rain. On our walk this morning, it started raining about five minutes in, and I'd stupidly forgotten their coats. He actually stopped dead on the grass and stood there looking forlorn and mutinous. It took a big cuddle and some serious words of encouragement before he would continue then he plodded around sighing and looking very martyrish, glaring at some Labradors who were having a wonderful time with a Frisbee. When I got back in through the front door, we stopped in the hall to remove leads then he hurtled upstairs to hide in his lair. The only thing missing was him putting on some very loud music, and muttering "I didn't ask to be born, s'not fair" under his breath.....

Betsey, the climbers are very thin and gangly, and very, very skinny - most are around 9/10 stone. All joking about Fabien apart though, it's fascinating to watch because of the amazing interlocking levels of strategy and competition, there are many races within the race, if you see what I mean. And the scenery is gorgeous - mountain stages are awesome. Lots of lovely chateaux too, and fields of sunflowers and lavender.

That about Andy just made me laugh. My friend always says that Billy's 'lair' at the back of our lounge always looks like a teenager's bedroom. I can see I'll have to persist with the cyclist lurve.

Once you stop just staring at the thighs get into tour cycling you realise it's an awful lot more than racing on bikes. There are mini soap opera's going on all over the place, there's always a boss of the pack who can dictate what's going on (last year the lovely Fabien made the whole lot of them ride at a leisurely pace to protest at all the crashes that were happening), because you can't ride flat out for 200k there are a lot of tactics and groups acting together so they go faster for less effort. I reckon the new boy Sagan (cocky 22 year old) is going to feel the peloton's displeasure soon if he keeps sitting on the wheel of the great cyclists and not contributing. It's like a giant soap opera version of chess whilst wearing lycra and occasionally cycling at 70kph, what's not to love Plus tour cyclists are just like pointy hounds, basically a huge pair of lungs on massive thighs!

Whippety not happy with all the wet either, getting him out is near impossible. He's not impressed with the garden at all and as I won't let him off down the river (muddy in his cut would be bad) he is sulking big style. No more savalon Scuttle, thank's for that, I'd slapped it on the cut before I even thought that he isn't really one of my children.

Poor Andy, I can just see him giving the labradors evils, mad bouncy creatures

Betsey me too tbh, DP is perfect, pale, slim and very slightly muscled with just the merest hint of a six pack. I don't like huge bulging muscles everywhere, eurgh!

Scuttle Sprocket doesn't really mind rain, he always seems happy enough going out in it, it's just wet grass he suddenly doesn't seem to like maybe I should get him some wellies.

Met this woman earlier on today who was telling me she lost her greyhound last year, aged 17! She got Tonsilitis at 16.5 and never really recovered properly. I never realised dogs could get Tonsilitis!

Well, we are back from the vets. Sam was very brave and allowed Fred-the-Vet to palpate him all over. I got a mild telling off because his ears were mucky inside (very deep down into them, in places I would worry sticking my finger tbh)
He was fine with the vaccination, just stood with his tail between his legs in true hard-done-by-pointy style.
Then Fred-the-vet looked at Sam's lump. He thinks it is a histiocytoma, a benign skin tumour, which will disappear by itself within 3 months. In the meantime though it may get bigger and could ulcerate so we are to keep an eye. If it has not gone in 3 months then it could be a more harmful type of tumour and they will remove it and send it for testing.

Now, will I not worry for the next three months? Answers on a postcard please...

Oh, Lock, so glad you went to the vets, and big hugs for Sam for being brave for his vax. That's really about his lump - what doctors refer to as "watchful waiting" is a bugger isn't it? If it was me, I'd have a little countdown chart on the calendar and I'd be tearing my hair out till October . Of course you will worry. Sending a hug and a for you, and a for Sam.

He (Fred the Vet) was very confident it is a histocytoma and thus nothing to worry about. I am by nature a worrier though (which is why I rushed him in for his vax so I could get the lump seen to at the same time) so I will be worrying...

Sorry but I'm just :o @ Fred the vet. I used to have a goldfish called Fred, he was awesome.

3 months is such a long time! I would say try not to worry too much but of course I know you will, as would everyone else in your situation. Especially with everything Sam has been through bless him. Plenty of and and all round!

Some people are just crap someone has sent their 7.5yo greyhound back to LGT because the family got home and the dog was excited to see his owners back and an elderly mother tripped over him. They've had him for almost 4 years ffs. When I get home Sprocket shoots off upstairs and waits patiently till I call him down for a cuddle! I trained him to do that, tis easier with the buggy and shopping etc.

Is anyone elses greyhound stumpy? I see other grunds and they're all long gangly newborn foal legs, but Sprocket seems kind of stumpy. I saw someone walking 2 earlier on, 1 of them was leggy and the other was stumpy, like Sprocket. I think it's his chest, the deepest part of it comes down to his elbows and makes him look stumpy. The leggy ones don't seem to have quite as deep a chest.

Whippetty is somehow ganglier than lurchergirl (she has a much deeper chest than him on a body that is not significantly taller). However, she seems to have more trouble coordinating her limbs before she starts to run.

I wouldn't have Billy down as stumpy. He seems to move more like a horse than a dog - DS1 went riding last weekend and the big horses reminded us of Billy.

Feeling really sad tonight, can't stop thinking about Aillidh and her family in that hospital. The DSs had lots of cuddles before bed.

Re the stumpy thing though, most of the dogs around here are staffies or labradors so Billy looks the picture of grace beside them.

(NB. I like Staffies a LOT. Not so much Labradors though.)

Cunny, it might be a family thing. Andy is incredibly stumpy - very deep chested and I can best describe him as sturdy. Boola is actually fractionally taller but a quite different shape, much less deep in the chest and generally much lighter in the frame. For instance his thighs are nowhere near as bulgy as Andy's yet they get the same exercise.

I do find the variations in height and build among hounds quite fascinating.

Having said all that though he is still very much agreyhound - you wouldn't confuse him with anything else