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!
:)

Lock is there any way he could possibly stay at ccgt while you go?

Woohoo, my fab dog-sitting friend can squeeze him in. She is on holiday atm but has said to confirm details when she is back. Phew x

Betsey, I may wish to take you up on that parking offer. How does it work, do you have a permit? Are you sure it will ok for us to park at yours? Do you have space?

Meant to add, there was some confusion about our inset day training times but we all think we finish at 3 so dh is going to pick me up from work and we are planning to drive straight up

Sure, totally no worries. It's on street parking and I can give you a one day visitor's permit. I'll PM you details.

Quickest way to get to the park is to go on the overground (two stops, 5 mins) to Stratford. The station's 10mins from us.

G'wan, be brave enough to take tea with the Trotwood family!!

Well, they're here! As of last night, the Butter household has become (at least temporarily) a four hound household. Gulp!

Callie and Mick travelled very nicely in the car and got on fine with Andy and the Norty Minx. In fact, Minx seems delighted that she's got two new friends to play with. Got them home, and within thirty seconds both had ended up in the pond.

Took Callie to the vet as we were very worried about her mouth - terrible smell. She's been given ABs, her lymph nodes were enlarged and her throat was sore, bless her, and she'll be going back in on Wednesday for her dental.

Peaceful night last night except for comedy moment when three greyhounds attempted to get into bed with me and DH.

All well this morning - off to the greyhound field shortly for some nice off lead play together.

Hi All - back from three lovely weeks holidays in france. After the rather hairy start with lurchergirl needing the end of her tail amputated, we eventually managed to set off and had a lovely time. Both dogs have discovered the joys of sprinting along a deserted beach and whippetty even discovered splashing in the sea .

I will now try and catch up with everything that has been going on whilst we've been away .

Hi all! So much has happened since I was last on thread.

Scuttle, I am so sorry to read about your lovely Boola . What a terrible shock it must have been so soon after losing Booty. I do hope you are getting on okay - sounds like having a houseful of new grunds is just the tonic!

Pleased to hear that Sam is getting better, Lock and Cunny I'm glad to see that Sprocket is on the mend after his Staffy altercation.

We've been so busy here I haven't had time to update re. Sadie. Not that there is much to say: lots of sleeping, the occasional schnaffling of food when the opportunity presents, more sleeping, a trot out, followed by a snooze, another wander, some grub, and a little nap. Just an average day on Pointy Planet, really .

We did have a small trip to the vet during our first week. Turns out Sadie may be allergic to plaster dust. We had the plasterer in for two days and Sadie took a shine to him and spent some time snoozing on his dust sheets. The following day her coat looked a little odd - kind of sticky-out clumps on her body. Then within 30 minutes, her head was tufty, too. On closer inspection her skin looked sore so we whisked her off to the vet to part with £37 for some bloody piriton.

We did get her registered and weighed though - 27.5 kg. But she has most definately lost weight since then. I can see an awful lot more ribs and vertebrae than before, and her hips stick out now. So as her appetite has increased I have upped her food. So we'll need to keep an eye on that.

Other than that, she has been an absolute star. Can't believe how well she has settled.

Yikes, these pointies have been keeping their vets busy, haven't they!

Poor Callie Scuttle . Tonsillitis on top of all the unsettling she's been through - lucky she's in a good place now!

I don't think I stand a chance of actually catching up properly with all that's been going on whilst I've been away! So many posts!

The GGG is just down the road from us though, so we will (more than likely) drop in. If you see an unruly bunch with a black whippet and a tiger-striped greyhound/whippet there - it's probably us.

We had a bit of a shock earlier though, as lurchergirl gave a completely unprovoked deep teeth-baring snarl towards ds2. I was sat just behind him at the time and saw it all. She was not asleep, he was not being loud or disturbing her at all, she was lying on the floor (not in her bed/crate), he walked close to her and she gave a deep, threatening growl followed by staring at him and her lips rolled up to show her teeth - at which point I picked him up (away from her). We are a bit at a loss as to how to deal with it tbh. She has snapped a couple of times before at whippetty eg when he has invaded her space, but never at any of the people in the house. She usually just ignores the boys. I think we are going to have to get some professional help before it gets worse - I suspect it means going back to basics with training. She maybe needs to see the boys as something positive, rather than something to be ignored. It's difficult.

Oh Scuttle what is it with your pond?? :o I seem to recall Andy went in it too earlier on in the year didn't he?

Welcome back Magrat! Glad you had a good holiday How is lurchergirls tail healing? I wouldn't like to say why she growled at your DS though maybe she felt a bit intimidated if he was quite close to her and 'standing over her' iyswim?

Blue I'm so glad to hear it's all going well with Sadie! Apart from the trip to the vets, bless her. Her days sound a lot like Sprockets days :o

We might not be able to go to GGG now :( :( DP wants to take me away for a long weekend next month :o (last minute deal thing) so we might end up going away for that weekend. But if we don't then we need to save money so won't be able to afford to go. If we are still here for the weekend of the GGG I might ask my friend if they could take me and Sprocket. Offer petrol money etc. Not sure if this would work though as they have 2 dogs and their greyhound has the boot to herself and doesn't take kindly to intruders. I'm desperate to go :(

Oh we went to the seaside today :) I taped a plastic bag round Sprockets leg so it didn't get sand in it. DP and P went off in the arcades (my 14mo can now use 2p machines ) while me and Sprocket went for a walj up the beach. He wasn't impressed by the sea though :o

Cunny, really hope you can come Would be lovely to meet up with you, and Sprocket. Glad you had a nice time at the seaside today.

The four hounds have had a very good day today. Lovely walk this morning, and much snoozing this afternoon. All now settled on various sofas and duvets, while DH watches Independence Day. Bless.

No pond snorkelling then? :o

I really hope we can go, with or without DP the miserable arse

Lurchergirl's tail is healing very well, thanks, Cunny. We had a slight hairy moment when we took the dressings off (the vet in france said to just do this ourselves) as there was a scab formed in the layers of the dressings and as we removed the dressing the scab ripped off and her tail started bleeding heavily again. Cue a rushed visit back to the vet to get it checked over and rebandaged. Aside from the stubbly hair growth on it now though, it seems OK.

The growling and baring teeth thing really threw us though. Especially the baring teeth thing as it wasn't a startle reaction, she actually looked at him and then curled up her lips and bared teeth at him. Atm we are keeping the two of them strictly separated. I think it has certainly been a warning we need to heed and we need to look at what needs to change to ensure no repeat performance (or worse).

I'm glad to hear her tail is healing nicely Magrat. I hope you figure out why she growled at your DS and that you manage to sort it out.

I'm such a bloody IDIOT I forgot to put Sprockets muzzle back on after his tea and he's licked his leg raw :( the stitches are still in but it's bled a bit. I don't think he'll be able to have them out on thursday now :(

Oh, Cunny, so sorry to hear Sprocket's been licking. Hope he heals by Thursday. Fingers and toes crossed.

Glad also that Lurchergirl is healing nicely too, Magrat.

Took Norty Minx and Mick to local dog show today. Was a sea of mud and weather steadily worsened through the afternoon, but am delighted to say that both woofs have returned home with rosettes. Also met up with Minx's previous foster mum, who was over the moon to see her and absolutely thrilled to see how well she was looking and how she has settled and bonded with us.

Tomorrow we are going to visit Callie and Mick's owner in hospital with the dogs - we've been told different things about being allowed in but the latest is that we can bring them through and go out to the ward garden. R, their owner, is so looking forward to seeing them and I texted her today to let her know about Mick's success so we'll be taking his rosette down to show her - she was thrilled to hear about the show. It is making such a difference to her peace of mind to know that the dogs are being cared for and loved in a home environment and that she can see them regularly.

We spoke to a behaviourist from the rescue today regarding lurchergirl and got a few ideas. He thought it probably stems from her not being very comfortable with the ds's, so we need to get her seeing them as something positive with lots of treats i.e. if she looks in their direction when she says her name, they treat her etc until she is actually acknowledging them and coming to them when they call her (at the moment she completely ignores them). Ultimately though, he said that as it involved one of the dc's, we had to seriously consider bringing her back to the rescue in the hope of finding her an adult only home as she is extremely gentle and tries very, very hard to please with adults, but not with children.

We are all in something of a turmoil at the moment. We don't want to hand her back, as rescues are overflowing with aging lurchers, especially brindled ones. She is part of our family and she and whippetty are now very close. Otoh if she is not comfortable around the children, will she be better off and happier in an adult only home? I am also terrified of missing the warning signs of this happening again. She and the ds's are never, ever left unsupervised and she did warn with a growl first, but even so, it has just shaken my confidence.

Oh Magrat :( I really hope it doesn't come to that, hopefully it's a solvable problem.

Scuttle great that you had a good day at the show despite the weather! Did norty minx place in a 'most mischievous hound' class?
Lovely that you can take the dogs to visit, their owner will be so pleased I imagine!

I really can't see the stitches being removed on thursday now :( his leg looks very red and very sore. Where the skin is pulled back together was looking really well healed until now. I cannot believe I was so stupid

Magrat you are doing your very very best by Lurchergirl; any behaviouralist that came into a situation like that with children involved and just said 'If you do X then it's all going to be fine' surely couldn't be trusted? He must have to cover himself.

You've been as careful as you could have been every step of the way with her and it's so hard; you've bonded so closely and the thought of taking her back must be heartbreaking.

Billy sends healing vibes to his injured brethren...

Oh, magrat I don't envy your decision at all , but Betsey is right about the behaviourist having a blanket 'return' speil for all incidents involving children.

S leapt up, turned and yelped/snarled at DD2 the other day, but DD had just leant on her rather heavily so I think it was a pain response rather than anything else. My own fault - I should've been watching them more closely

Sprocket's injury sounds nasty, Cunny. I hope the injury is looking and feeling better soon.

Thanks for all your words. I see what you mean about the behaviourist basically needing to present returning the dog as an option in order to cover himself.

I have spent the day making liver cake (I think I have now been promoted to a god-like status in the eyes of the dogs for producing such wonderful treats ) and have been getting the boys to give little pieces to the dogs if the dogs react positively to them i.e looking when they call lurchergirl's name gets a treat etc. I am hoping the boys will soon be seen as providers of the yummy livercake. I also cleared up any of their beds and added to the crates in the house so they now have crates downstairs in the utility room where they sleep and crates upstairs in the living room (our house is an odd design) which they can lounge in - there is to be strictly no lounging outside of a crate for either of them and the boys know not to approach the dogs in their crates.

We will see whether that helps at all.

Magrat, so sorry to hear about your situation. On the positive side, here are a couple of thoughts. As this is the MN board, all the dog conversations are naturally geared towards homes with (often very young) children, but for rescues, homes with young children are actually a small part of their demographic. Far more homes are adult only - probably well over 70%. Rescues can and do find homes for dogs like that - just look at us. Andy wasn't suitable for homing with DC - far too nervous. He copes fine with occasional visits by nephews, closely supervised, but a toddler would send him into meltdown. We've taken on a number of older dogs - these are often very popular with older folk since they can both enjoy a more relaxed senior lifestyle and an elderly owner doesn't have to think about a 15 year commitment.

By raising the possibility of rehoming the behaviourist is also helping to make sure you are fully aware of all the options and this is very helpful for owners when worried about a situation like this. It gives you choices and helps you to feel less hemmed in. If you look at many of the threads on here where a DC has been nipped/bitten (sadly, a frequent occurrence) what always strikes me straight away is the panic and the anger limiting people's options. Usually, after the first shock, they start to think about options and can gradually move away from some of the more extreme kneejerk reactions. Not suggesting this is you for a moment but the very fact you are working on the issue, thinking about ALL the options means you are very much more likely to come to a good decision for all of you, you, your DC and lovely lurcher.

Unlike some rescue peeps, I am not against rehoming where a situation isn't working out, especially where there are DC. It helps nobody, least of all the dog, when everyone is walking on eggshells or worried sick. All I can say is keep on working with the behaviourist, but rehoming could end up being a good option for all of you.

Cunny, Andy sends Sprocket lots of dude love

YY to all that Scuttle has said. He's just doing his job, presenting you with all the options. If I were in your situation I'd feel the same; worried and stressed but so, so sad at the prospect of taking her back. When I said that he had to cover himself I didn't mean to dismiss what he said as formulaic and defensive practice, just that it was an option that, given there are young DCs involved, he has to give you.

Might you give the rescue a call to keep them in the picture?

BG Billy has snapped at my DS1 before. It was such a warning and so, so far from him (even though Billy could easily have reached him) that it didn't worry me... he had sore hips at the time and DS1 was stroking him just as we were going out for a walk. He must have hit a painful place. DS1 didn't even realise what had happened!!