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!
:)

Which database, where??? I want to SQUEEEE at her!!

Greyhound data Lock!

Here Lock :)

Thanks Cunny!! Wow, Scuttle, she is gorgeous!! Definately one to SQUEEEEE at! Now, tell me, how does a long term foster differ from just adopting the dog outright????

Ooh, lovely. I love her white chest and face. Hope it goes well at the weekend!

In theory (cough, cough, shuffles feet) a long term foster is still under the ownership of the rescue. Usually, dogs go into long term foster when they are old, or have medical or behavioural issues that make it unlikely that they would be adopted (except by people like us ). Usually, with a long term foster home, unlike a normal foster home (looks at Boola and sighs) there is no intention of moving the dog on whereas with a short term foster home, the intention is to move the dog to a forever home (though of course, this is not always how it works out ).

If a long term foster has medical issues, the vets bill for these is paid by the rescue, and most rescues will offer to pay other costs too such as food, etc. The idea is that a dog with say, health problems or old age shouldn't be languishing in kennels, but can have a comfy sofa and plenty of pointy love but without adopters being put off by medical bills etc.

Ooh, funny that. DH is sure that when we picked up Billy and did his papers he saw that he would always belong to the kennels but we were his carers... can that be right? It's all our details on the insurance, microchip etc.

So why are you long term fostering instead of simply adopting her??? [nosy]

Legally, Betsy, you are the owners. The key question is this - who would be prosecuted if Billy was caught fouling, or who would an ambulance chasing lawyer come after if he tripped up a cyclist? Similarly, if (hypothetically, I hasten to add) if an animal welfare prosecution was brought because of neglect say, it would be against you, not against the charity. Many charities maintain this fig leaf of ownership retention when people adopt but if it was challenged, it wouldn't stand up. Generally, it's put forward as a theoretical way of "policing" the owner.

If you get the chance, I would always recommend doing a seminar with Trevor Cooper of DogLaw. I honestly think every dog owner should as he covers a whole range of legal issues that could and do affect dog owners. This is one of the issues he goes into, in a lot more detail than I can here. He holds them round the country on a regular basis, they are often hosted by charities - the one we went to was hosted by Dogs Trust, and I've subsequently gone on to do his Professional Seminar (for dog wardens, vets, rescues etc) which was also excellent.

Lock, our starting point was that we wanted to give a home to a dog that would find it hard to be adopted.

Usually, young, healthy hounds manage to find homes, but it's the older ones and the ones with a few health issues who can languish. We're a fairly experienced pointy sofa so are willing to take on a dog with more than the usual baggage, so I called up one of the charities I volunteer for and told them we were ready. DH and I had lots of discussions about this while on holiday, and agreed that fostering in some form was the way to go, since it really does make such a difference.

Having offered up our sofa, our friend was immediately able to say that she had several dogs who might suit. In practice, I strongly suspect when she or any other hound comes to us, they won't be leaving again, and it is very likely that in fact we would actually adopt, though in this case she is not on the charity's adoption list, if you see what I mean. We're also fortunate in that if we adopted her, we would be able to meet the costs of looking after such a dog, but charities would not want the cost of medical treatment say to be a barrier to an other wise good home. This is where long term fostering can be brilliant. For "twilight" dogs too, realistically they are highly unlikely to be ever adopted, but most rescuers hate the thought of an elderly dog being in kennels - it is not the place for them.

In her case, she would be unlikely to be adopted due to her age and the fact she is carrying an old racing injury (not painful, no day to day effects). Temperamentally, she sounds lovely and has already been on a few store collections/meet and greets and was very well behaved.

The poor darling has had a rough time of it lately - she was dumped and ended up in the worst pound in Wales (they kill 1 in EIGHT of their dogs ) and was in a pitiful condition. My friend emailed me over some pics earlier of the state she was in initially - not pretty. Fortunately, she is now in the care of the charity.

She will be a lucky girl Scuttle - 1 in 8 you say? Bloody hell, that's awful. That poor old girl's had a proper life journey.

I saw her today. My heart melted. I know she's not pointy but...

Oh, Betsey, she is utterly adorable - I must admit I am smitten too. If I wasn't such a pointy addict, I'd be tempted by a staffie. Our hydrotherapist has one (plus two lurchers ) and does agility with him - he is the most utterly adorable little barrel of loveliness.

I always have a particular soft spot for oldies too.

Spoke with DH last night - he is v excited, but was upset by pics I emailed to him. All being well, we should be meeting her tomorrow. She is taking part in a store collection/meet and greet so it sounds as though she is great with people and other dogs.

This is something I find particularly upsetting and humbling - that a dog who has raced, been shipped round the country, earned money for some git, then dumped, starved and neglected, still is willing to be trusting and affectionate with people.

Yes, the amount of killing done by our Councils is quite shameful. And interestingly, it is very much a problem in some but not all Councils, which says to me that if a Council is determined to be no kill then it probably can.

Completely unrelated to anything else, but can I just comment on how lovely it is when a dog really starts to feel like part of the family. Yesterday evening when Lurchergirl was sleeping next to dp, she started wagging her tail in her sleep!! The idea that she was having happy dreams was really really great.

Magrat, that's lovely.

I love watching them dream - they are obviously having such an exciting time. Though it's not so good if they start kicking you.

We are going to meet our potential new companion tomorrow, all being well. I am very excited. I have been looking at her pics all day.

It has also been quite emotional - probably sounds a bit silly, but I feel as though Booty is passing on the torch, so to speak.

Ah, thanks Scuttle, that makes sense She is a very lucky girlie to end up on your sofa after all she has been though!

My best friend is currently looking at adopting an oldie via Oldies Club. She likes the idea of offering her house and family to an older dog who is in need of a warm comfy loving home to spend his / her last years.
I am very excited by her idea and have been scouring the Oldies Club for suitable dogs with her - fab window shopping!!

I love the dreaming too - Sam will twitch and squeek and make running movements, so cute! He really is the sweetest of dogs. Even though this morning, whilst Ems and I were having breakfast and Ollie was still in bed (inset day for him) Sam went upstairs and had another good chew at the wooden wardrobe handles. Aaargh! It has confirmed to me that he is not yet ready to be left home alone without his crate (as if he chews whilst we are otherwise engated what will he be like when we are out!), and until he is happy being left alone without damage we cannot get another dog (as we don't have space for a second crate...)

Oh well...

Oh Scuttle, not silly at all, it's only natural to feel all emotional. I can't pretend to know how you're feeling, having never lost a much loved friend and pet. I hope it goes really well tomorrow, good luck!

Scuttle (hug)

We waited nearly 14 months after losing our five year old Cocker Spaniel, Dillon, before getting Sam.
And the first few weeks were strange. Having Sam made us remember Dillon even more. But it felt right having a dog in the house again. And whilst we will never forget Dill, it feels right having Sam. (if that makes sense...)

I put a picture of lurchergirl on my profile she's the double of Scuttle's potential new addition (aside from size). She came into rescue from a pound too, but an Irish one (barbarians when it comes to dogs).

Lovely Magrat. I love the way they're both pointing in the same direction!

Oh, Magrat, I see what you mean. They are lovely pics. I love the expression in the first pic!! And a very comfy dog bed by the looks of it.

Lock, yes, that makes sense.

So, how did it go Scuttle?

She's here!!

We went to the garden centre today. She met up with our two boys and to our delight there was a great deal of sniffing, tail wagging and general pointy "How lovely to meet you" .

We took all three for an experimental walk round the garden centre car park which went very well, had a chat with our friend, and she said goodbye to the lady who'd been looking after her.

She hopped in the boot with no trouble at all, and travelled home very nicely. After we'd got her home, she explored the garden, and as expected, jumped in the pond.

After she emerged, slightly chastened, rather fragrant and covered in pond weed, we realised that a towel wasn't going to do the job, so we've just given her a bath, to wash out any newts. She was fine with that and is now fragrant and fluffy and exploring the house. We've had a few marking wees in the house, but that's to be expected. So far so good. Will be popping out later to PAH for a tag for her, and of course this is an opportunity for some collar porn, so will be perusing a few websites in the near future.

I've been particularly impressed by Andy - he's not the most sociable boy but seems to have coped well so far with a new girl in the house.

yes, there will be pics very shortly.

that was a quick decision!

- the biggest question was how she would get on with Andy or to be more precise, how he would get on with her. Of course it is still early days but we are reasonably experienced and that was the thing we were most concerned about. At this stage, she is still a foster, so if for any reason we cannot cope then she could return to the charity. However, I don't think that's likely since there's lots of support on offer, and we would want to do everything we could to give her a permanent home with some stability.

And a lot of the potential deal breakers don't apply to us - we don't have DC, no cats or other small furries, there is usually someone at home (so no worries with SA), and there are other greys around too, and we are used to typical grey habits like counter surfing, partial and erratic recall etc etc

I'm so excited for you! How wonderful, I hope she is very happy with you. What a lucky, lucky girl