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!
:)

House/tag collar and a walking collar, you need 2 just incase they manage to slip the walking collar, magrats lurchergirl slipped her martingale a few weeks ago!

Silver peacock website do some lovely leather braid tag collars :o
Silver Peacock I apologise in advance for the state your plastic will be in after visiting this site

Doh, that makes perfect sense. Thanks Cunny.

Lurchergirl is still at the vet being operated on . There was bone sticking out of her tail, so they need to amputate some of it so they can then stitch the rest back together again. They were supposed to phone when they had finished (they said around 1 hour), but still no call yet. It is now about an hour since dp got home and still no call .

I am terrified. She has a heart murmur and I don't know how she will react to the anaesthetic.

Oh, Magrat, completely missed your post. Poor lurchergirl

Fingers crossed you get good news soon x

Any news yet Magrat?

Blue GRWE have reasonably priced coats and collars, this is where I got both Sprockets house and martingale collars and they are very well made and the cheapest, good quality ones I could find! Martingales are £11 (were £10 when I got one) and everywhere else I looked they were upwards of £15!

We just phoned the vet now. They have finished operating, but she is still coming around from the anaesthetic. They have taken about 2 inches off her lovely, waggy tail (unbelievably, she was still wagging it after it had been trapped in the door, which is how we got blood showered everywhere). They will keep her in overnight for observation and we can collect her in the morning.

We were supposed to be setting off for holidays tomorrow, but I have had to change the booking for a day later, otherwise we would miss the ferry.

Whippetty keeps on going to the door which she trapped her tail in and sniffing and whimpering. He is really very sad - which just shows how much affection he has developed for her in a relatively short period of time.

We are keeping our fingers crossed here that all is OK overnight. She must wonder why we have deserted her .

Magrat, we are all sending you best wishes. Hoping for a very speedy convalescence. And why oh why does this happen the night before your holiday?

Ours just wear their martingale collars -we've never bothered with tag collars etc.

Thanks . We phoned back about half an hour ago. She has come around and they will offer her food and water shortly. Whippetty is still wondering around whimpering - I think it shows we will never be a one dog household for long again.

With collars, we used to have posh silk house collars for ours, but after the martingale slipping incident we now have the basic thin black collars from Ancol that look like this, which we put their tags on and they keep those on all the time. We then have martingales for walking. The advantage of the thin black collars is that they don't detract from the utter gorgeousness of their (matching) martingales.

How is she doing today Magrat?

I am sooooo proud of Sprocket :) I had this theory, if I let him off lead with just me there, no other dogs or anything, he'd be more likely to look for his own entertainment, cats/birds to chase and he'd be more likely to not come back. But if I let him off with other dogs to play with, he wouldn't be looking for things to chase as he'd be too busy having fun. My theory worked!! We went on our walk today and spotted our friend with her grey and her whippy (the whippy is Sprockets best friend) on the big playing field near our house, with this other woman and her 2 dogs, a collie and a rottie looking thing.

We joined them and I told them my theory and they thought it would be a good idea, so I muzzled him (just incase) and let him go. WOW. I have never seen a dog have so much FUN! He LOVED it! He was so pleased at being able to charge around with the others :) and when they came back for refreshments, he followed :) my heart was in mouth from when I unclipped the lead until I got him back on.

What I was really pleased about was the fact that he was so focused on the playing he didn't notice (or just ignored?) the flock of crows on the other side of the field :o

Lurchergirl is back home again now, tail bandaged and a couple of inches shorter. We could collect her mid-morning. We took whippetty to collect her and he was sooo happy to see her. She is now asleep (in the doorway, leaning against the door - you'd think she'd be staying away from the doors) and looking very, very sad, but at least she is back with us and safe.

How lovely to hear about Sprocket being allowed to play, Cunny.

I'm glad to hear she's back home, I bet whippety is pleased! Has she perked up a bit more today? Bless her, is she getting plenty of cuddled?

Pleased to hear Lurchergirl is home now, Magrat. Hope she is feeling better soon.

Well, the wallet took a significant hit on the kitschcollars website on Friday evening (thanks Scuttle ). I have a lovely martingale, house collar and lead on order

I just cannot believe how easy this has all been . She is an absolute dream so far. We both completely adore her already. I can't really believe how seamlessly she has slotted into our family so soon.

She has taken eveything in her stride, including DD's D&V bug last night which entailed lots of running up and down stairs and wailing (both her and us)! And apart from looking very bouncy when a boat rowed past us near the river, she has been cool and calm on the lead. We've encountered several dogs off-lead but only at a distance and she has been okay. Her most interest is preserved for the small, playful ones, and then she pulls after them ever so slightly.

Cunny, it is reassuring to hear that Sprocket had a whale of a time off-lead. I have to admit I have my concerns about ever letting Sadie off.

Blue it sounds like she's adjusting really well, you must be so pleased with her! Is she a strictly downstairs dog Or will you teach her to go up and down? We taught Sprocket to go up because there's no room downstairs for a bed.
Do you know if the rescue you got her from has a greyhound field you could take her to?

Hi Blue, this all sounds fantastic.

It's still very early days for thinking about going off lead. Even if you'd adopted a dog with rock solid recall, it would be sensible to be cautious for a while until they have settled in. Just take it gently. As you get used to her, and she to you, you will also be able to explore your area and mentally set aside some areas which might be suitable for off lead frolics. Beaches are often good since you can see for miles, there aren't usually any squirrels and they are well away from roads.

I know I've quoted from this before but even though we occasionally let ours off when it is safe, we are very careful the rest of the time - it has become default setting so for things like going out to the car, opening doors etc dogs are always on lead, and we have an "airlock" system (usually - we had an escape by the Norty Minx ten days ago - nearly gave me a heart attack). Visitors are also drilled about not leaving doors open etc. This here is worth reading.

We've had our nephews here for the weekend (aged 10 and 7) - we've had a wonderful time and they really like the Norty Minx. Went to a charity dog show on Saturday and between the thunder, lightning and downpours they had a lovely time and even came home with a couple of rosettes and a trophy after winning the Best Veteran class. Boys were also impressed by the goody bag presented to the winner with lots of doggy treats and a frisbee. Boola has especially enjoyed it since they wake up early and immediately go and start administering tickles.

I was just about to ask if you'd had a good weekend Scuttle :) I'm glad you did, despite the weather! Did Andy and Minx behave themselves?

Yes, thanks, they were great! Boys are v impressed by Norty Minx and think she looks like a tiger. Minx spent quite a bit of time on boy's bed, lapping up the attention. Andy is slightly more wary, but to be fair, the boys behave very well round the dogs, they know about not making sudden movements and no loud squeals/shouts etc.

Thanks, cunny and scuttle. I think a beach in several years months time will be the most likely option for canine craziness. We had a new sliding lock put on the garden gate in preparation for DDog, but have since discovered that DD can reach it....will need to keep a close eye on that!

:o tiger! I hope there wasn't too much humping going on! How old are your nephews? Sounds like Norty Minx was equally impressed by them as they are with her as she spent a lot of time on their beds :o bless her :)

Greyhounds are ace.

The boys are 7 and 10, and they have an older brother of 12 who is currently away at Scout camp so will be coming over for a solo visit later in the holidays.

Funnily enough, after carefully preparing for non stop humping, the dogs were not bothered while the boys were here (probably too many opportunities for being tickled instead). Think Norty's season is also coming to an end - the, um, swelling is reduced and she's practically back to normal. It will be three weeks on Friday since it started so we will be keeping her under restrictions until the weekend, I think, to be on the safe side.

Blue - yes, that's an important point - securing DC as well as the hound!!

Blimey, maybe they have a sense of decency and thought it wouldn't be appropriate to have sexytime with youngsters around :o are you relieved it's almost at an end?

Gosh, yes, Cunny. It's been quite messy to start with, and really constraining, not being able to take her out with the other two, or go to the dog show with the boys. I am also on tenterhooks/quite worried as apparently the time just after the season is when she is at most risk of pyometra so will be keeping a very close eye on her. And the humping has been funny at times, but also got old quite quickly!

However, it's been a very interesting learning curve - previous unspayed foster bitches have fortunately been spayed before a season could start, and similarly boys have either been neutered or done very shortly after arrival. Having tackled it once, I now feel a little more confident if we had another foster bitch that needed care.

Can't imagine Andy with a sense of decency or decorum!!

I guess it's good in a way that she's had one while she's been with you, because as you say, it's given you more confidence if you end up fostering another one. At least now you'll be prepared and you'll know what to expect!

I think Sprocket has a bladder of cast iron. He quite frequently goes 12+ hours without a wee because after 8pm ish he'll refuse to go back downstairs! We'll get back from our walk around 4, he'll have his tea then stomp off upstairs and usually he'll come down after we've had our tea around 6 (the boss eats first in our house :o), but sometimes he just can't be bothered to come down. I think the longest he's gone is about 16 hours

Where is everyone?