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!
:)

Hello,

I don't have a pointy but would love one one day. My mum has a lurched though. He's a bit of an old man now and we are all dreading him going :(

He's a right pampered prince and since he's a bit stiff getting up and down to the floor my mum has just picked up an old travel cot and cut out one of the mesh sides. he loves it! He has a comfy duvet to lay on in it too.

He really is the kindest sloppiest dog I've ever known.

I hope one day soon I can join you on here for real :)

lurcher and soppiest

Travel cot with a side cut out. Genius.

He sounds proper pampered Charlie how lovely. You are here for real!

Spag

Training recall with Billy is a JOKE. He's either following me around and won't run anywhere or when he does run off and find something interesting in the bushes (secure dog area I hasten to add) he just won't listen at all. Honestly, we had one 'off the lead' session when I walked around the paddock thingy and he just followed me around. He wasn't feeling ill or anything and had been all pzazzly on the walk there but just wanted to hang out next to me. I was like 'LOOK! Large, open space! Go crazy running now dog because we both know you love it!' I was almost willing a kamikaze squirrel to plunge from the trees so he'd get a bit of a leg stretch (he's muzzled when he runs btw!)

Or today it was the opposite - something was obviously very attractive in the wooded area around the edge and his ears were switched off. So when he deigned to come back to us, I ended up getting DS1 (5) to stand with him and hold his collar gently while I marched off to the other end of the paddock; then DS1 let him go and I called him. That worked and the run, name call, treat pattern seemed to go ok.

He's looking RAD in his new collar.

Charlie - love the name.

We had some problems today when walking lurcher girl - she saw a cat when she was almost home and was going mad (she is absolutely not cat-friendly). In the meantime a woman across the road was stood with her rat on a string chiwawa attempting to get the rat to wee on command - (wtf, why not just walk the dog!) she heard lurcher girl going mad at the cat and picked up said rat and ran indoors. Once we had passed, she was back out again trying to get the rat to wee.

Seriously, I know she's not a small dog, but at 23 inches tts and (now) 19 kg, she's not large either and yes, she was going mad because of the cat, but so did the collie x I used to have. She was on the lead and on the other side of the road, it's not like she was running free and snarling at her precious rat.

Sorry, I just wanted to vent!

Right, you lot, just to let you know that I have just spent 2 days looking at and yearning on Greyhound rescue sites because of this thread! I am not even ready or able to have a dog at the mo...
I hope you are happy .

My own special lucher boy is next to me on the bed, cuddled up under my fleecy dressing gown with his lips puffing up as he snores. He's keeping me company as I'm flat out with a knack'ed back. He has been with me since he was a lil pup (now 9) he's a shadow most of the time and will heel-up, but he's a sucker for a jellybaby...his whippet side's sweet tooth. The other greyboy is downstairs on one of his beds, he has a selection ranging from sheepskin to his own sofa. He's 15 so can't get upstairs anymore, poor old bugger. Pointies are the finest of all dogs.

Just checking in

The Pointy One is doing great, we have just come back from a lovely walk in the ... Sunshine...! Wow, what a novelty!! No mud splattered undercarriage (dog, not me) for a change...
He has devoured a chicken wing and is now gently snoring on the sofa next to me...

The lovely manager at the greyhound trust where we got Sam from has invited me and the dc to come over to the kennels after school on Weds to cuddle some currently-17-day-young-pups.... Awwww, I can't wait!! Mum is a small greyhound, dad is unknown...
I must practice my 'we won't have one' 'we won't have one' 'we won't have one' mantra as I know the dc will try to persuade me....
Can't wait though, there are six puppy tummies to tickle and six puppy noses to kiss.... Squeeeee!

at pacificdogwood Welcome to the pointy side!

Pacific look on the GRWE site, lots of lovely ones there and they use foster homes too. They seem to rehome all over the country now, not just in the west .... There's a beautiful black girl on there called Judy, seems she adores children....

I guess that's not helping is it?

Hi PacificDogwood - I don't know where you are in the country but the rescue Billy came from Whittingham Kennels is in Waltham Abbey in Essex and they have an 'open house' every Sunday where you can just turn up and take a dog for a walk. It's very laid back and they will give you a dog that's suitable for you iykwim. It's on Epping Forest too, so a lovely walk.

Welcome!

Pacific, if you are anywhere near Wales, there is a monthly grund walk at Cosmeston Country park just outside Cardiff - a gentle stroll round the lake with a royal cushion of pointies all wanting to meet you, lean on you, look gorgeous, etc etc

Lock - - little gorgeous lurcher pups, you say? Adorable little baby pointies with gorgeous big feet and sweet little black button noses, and shiny eyes, and waggly tails and soft coats and, and, and - Scuttle jumps into car and drives up to greyhound rescue concerned, determined to abseil through roof for some lurcher puppy loving.... Did I mention that i'm insanely jealous?

Oh, and Andy is in disgrace here. He pissed on my Cath Kidston handbag. Even worse, DH thought this was absolutely hilarious.

What was worse was the bag contained a load of notes from a course I had just been on so my paperwork now has the delightful aroma of greyhound piss..... More from DH. Sigh.

Will you all kindly STOP being so welcoming? Please??

We are in Central Scotland.
I grew up with several dogs (no hounds/pointies), DH has never owned a dog in his life.
Dh is allergic to cats and some dogs (so any potential adoptee will have to be allowed to rub against Dh and drool/lick all over him before we could commit )
We work much too many/antisocial hours to be any kind of home for any dog at this moment in time.
DS4 is a psychopath. I live in hope that this might change as he is only 2 . Any dog who ended up mauling him would probably have done it in self-defense. And, inspite of his asocial tendencies, I am rather fond of DS4.

So.
Sigh.
No. Dog. Just. Now.

What I need are more piss stories , so thank you Scuttle!

Oh dear - the bad news is that handbag pissing aside, I still love him dearly and would have more pointies in a heartbeat (if I had a tiny bit more space and money) DH keeps pointing out that three is plenty though......

They are very addictive. But you didn't want to know that though.....

And the reason we settled on greys rather than any other rescue dog is that DH is allergic to cats and long haired dogs but is fine with grunds. So yet another reason to "Grab a grund".

We also love pointys because whilst ds2 is not allergic to dogs, but he has quite severe hayfever problems (tree pollen), which usually result in 2-3 months of constant vomitting. Pointys with their short fur don't bring as much pollen into the house as hairy dogs and we can keep the problem under control with air filters.

Otoh, both dogs have now retired to their beds for the evening and we are now being ignored by two dogs rather than one.

Btw, anyone have any tips on how to ensure the first dog doesn't "forget" all his training when a second dog is introduced? He used to be reasonably well trained, but has now taken to trying to push on what is OK or not. Is it just a case of consistency and perserverance until he settles down again?

YY to no allergies. DH is also very allergic to cats and hasn't had a single problem with Billy. Magrat sorry, nothing to offer about the second dog/first dog dynamic but I can only guess it will settle down eventually like when the second baby comes? Sorry, that's useless...

We had a thunderstorm last night at about 1am and Billy did his old bolting up the stairs and not coming down trick. It's our fault in a way - we don't want him to come upstairs so we've not encouraged him to attempt them at all and I didn't put the gate on. I was so exhausted I managed to miss the worst of the storm I think but woke up to Billy scratching the carpet. If I'd woken earlier I'd have gone downstairs and calmed him down but didn't make it in time.

I could hear the poor chap's heart beating he was so scared so I got his bed and water and we lay down together for a bit. He calmed down eventually and I got him downstairs this morning with a combo of brute force, cheese and the children frantically waving his favourite, contraband Tintin Snowy cuddly dog at the bottom of the stairs.

I am blardy knackered. Our loft conversion is like a sieve. DH gets back off tour today for a princely 2 days off before he goes away again and I am going to spend the entire time OUT. ALONE! Shopping, swimming and carousing with friends.

Better get back to some parenting now before the children go completely feral!

Sorry, just had to add ROFL @ the thought of Scuttle abseiling into the pup nest waving a lovely stinky, floral handbag. And possibly stuffing a pup inside with a couple of treats before running off!

Oi Pacific, piss off! We don't want your sort o' folk round these 'ere parts! (Was that better? Less welcoming? :o )

Aww, Sprocket's just come over for a lean :) bless him, he's soooooo snuggly and soft, feels like he has puppy fur :) I also got a greyhound because of allergies. He is the first dog I'm not allergic to, EVER!

Scuttle, Sprocket says to Andy that peeing on your bag was a very uncool thing to do and he should be very sorry.
How is the bag now?

Betsy how is Billy now after his ordeal? Lucky you managed to get him downstairs ok.

Ohhh puppies! Teeny weeny new ones? Squee! The 2 LGT had in have been rehomed now, they're 1 on the 10th may I think so not teeny weeny anymore.

Magrat, sorry not to help with the training issue. We had the opposite - 2nd dog was small and older female, and Andy immediately sussed she was the Boss (imagine the Dowager Empress of Quirm or something similar). I would just keep going with the approach and hopefully things will settle down. I am deeply reassured by the fact that most pointies find being naughty too much like hard work to keep it up for long.

The bag (aka lurcher puppy theft device) is now dry, and smells much better. Fortunately it was one of those oilcloth ones so the outside was easy to clean. Liberal quantities of Febreze inside it, and I am thinking of putting in a lavender bag for a few days.

Andy sends best wishes to Sprocket and Billy and hopes Billy is now ok after his ordeal.

And I hope that Betsy is out enjoying lots of carousing. V well deserved. Can't imagine anything worse than building work going on in this weather.

Sorry scuttle but I had to laugh at handbag-pissing! That is exactly the sort of thing I would expect from a grund! They know their own minds and have some daft ideas at times...
I will however never forget the day that my parents came over from Holland and gave dd a set of books. Dd would have been aged around 4 at the time. She unwrapped her gift in front of my parents and proudly laid the books out side by side on the rug in the living room. In strolls our Cocker Spaniel, sniffs the books and promptly cocks his leg and pisses all over dd's new books. In front of my parents. Sob. He had never before and never since pissed in the house. I have no idea what came into him. He was an odd dog!

I am getting very excited about lurcher puppy cuddeling tomorrow. Am currently going through my wardrobe selecting items of clothing with puppy-sized pockets!! Can't wait!!! Squeeeeee! In return I shall be bringing two single duvets (freshly ordered from Argos), a box of bonios and a financial contribution to the vet fees for one of their dogs who needed extensive surgery for a leg deformity. Oooooh puppies......

Gah. No carousing tonight as booking agent's secretary forgot to book their flights and they've not got one back until tonight. Billy is fully recovered from his trauma with the help of pig's ears and the heating on all day! And lots of fuss from our inept loft converters. The conversion was done last year and it's not been... satisfactory at all.

@ Lock's spaniel! Cheeky dawg.

Oh I can Scuttle, building work and no kitchen sink or upstairs toilet! At the minute, I have to half fill the washing up bowl (so I can carry it), wash a few pots till the water needs a change, carry the bowl into the utility room and tip the water down the sink, take bowl back to kitchen and repeat. Can't wash up in utility room either because the sink is this stupid poxy glass bowl that's neither use nor ornament!

Sprockets paw is not good. I had a look at it today, he's been ok for a while so I haven't looked at it for about a week. He started hopping again quite badly today so I had a look and where that sore bit (that cleared up and vanished!) was under his toe is now a swollen red lump that looks rather painful. Not sure what to do, do I just bathe it in salt water few times a day till it (hopefully) gets better or take him to the vets?

Not liking the sound of that at all, Spag. Poor Sprocket. Def deserves a pigs ear, a chicken wing and a trip you know where tomorrow morning. It could be an infection.