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 everyone

Some of you may've seen my greyhound query thread here

Well, I have been to see some retirees today and I am mega excited!I LOVE THEM! It is official. DH grudgingly admitted that he liked them more than he thought he would... and that they didn't make him sneezy He is secretly excited though, as he was the one who arranged the visit.

Went to the local race track where they have just opened a new RGT kennels. Only 10 kennels though. We stroked the dogs and asked lots of questions, and have a handful of bumpf to read through and a DVD to watch.

Having never really been up close and personal with a greyhound before, my first impressions are:

BEAUTIFUL!

Bigger (taller) than I expected.

Very quiet (I worked in a kennels in my Yoof and was expecting a cacophony...). Only one dog did a few barks in all the time we were there.

Clean.

So, there we have it. I am officially obsessed now. My DPs say I am becoming a greyhound bore.

However, my only concern with these particular hounds is that they have never been fostered nor lived in a normal family situation. But, is that to be expected with retired greyhounds? Because if that is normal, then there'll be no stopping me...

Welcome!

Just got back from a day out with the DCs (DH in, asleep as works nights) to a lovely welcome from Billy. He was broken after our walk this morning - some off lead sprinting followed by woods - and seemed to be getting up when we got in!

Rainy we have not had a moment of regret after getting Billy. He has his moments, obviously, (see above) but he's one of us now for better or worse and his quirks make him all the more loveable to us.

He'd never lived in a home before but seemed to take most things in his stride. It took us about 6mo together to truly know him and him us; it's a long slow process. Even the most laid back ones have their fears and trepidations about something!

A good kennel is key, especially the after care they offer.

So pleased you fell in love with these dogs as much as we did. There are so many that need loving families.

Oh, and it might be worth going to several different kennels to see how they work. You might click even better with another kennel. We settled to adopt from the second kennels we went to - just got a really good feel from them. We explained our criteria (small children) and they had our chap waiting for us in the paddock when we arrived. The other kennel just sort of showed us around and said well take your pick...

It just felt as though the ones we adopted from had listened to us and we were happy to take their advice and knowledge of their dogs over looks and a few first impressions iykwim.

Thanks for the advice, Betsy. We did actually try to arrange a visit to a bigger kennels slightly further away, but the lady who runs it is on holiday until the end of the month.

The couple who showed us round today seemed to know their stuff, and they certainly seemed to love the dogs. They listened to our enormous list of requirements (children-friendly, dog-friendly, cat-friendly, possibly rabbit and chicken-friendly, good with traffic etc.) but you're right - we need to visit another kennels to get a better feel for it.

They did say it was possible to bring the dog with them on the homecheck just to see how they react.

Welcome from me too. It's all very exciting!

Betsty, I guess Billy is just feeling more like he is "home", so he feels a need to guard it? (Not a clue, actually - ours would let any burgalar in with a lick and a wag).

Our two are certainly starting to see themselves as more of a pair though. We came downstairs this morning (they sleep downstairs) to find the two of them squashed into one bed - the size of which is plenty big enough for one dog, but waaaaayyy too small for two - both on their backs, legs in the air expectantly awaiting belly tickles.

Ah, that's cute. They love each other now!

Welcome Rainy - how exciting!!

I was at Celia Cross Greyhound Trust today and observed a lovely couple deciding to reserve a shaggy lurcher - they were grinning from ear to ear and it was lovely to see

Right, I URGENTLY need advice from all those of you who have TWO or more pointies as we are potentially, perhaps, maybe, about to add a second pointy to our family [scared]

So, tell me all the pros and cons please as she could be coming home for a trial soon (and I will never let her go again given half a chance...)

In particular Margrat - tips and advice about leaving them home together whilst you are out...

Welcome to Club Pointy Rainy! Our grey had lived in a home before, he has been someone else's much loved pet until his owner had to go into nursing home. He was one of four greyhounds so living with us has been a huge change for him, going from one of four dogs to an only dog, with a completely new family. So instead of watching him turn into a pet from a working dog, we've watched him turn into our pet from somebody else's.

Magrat that's lovely! Sounds like they're the best of friends now :)

Lock, a reply to your FB pic I'm not sure if my comment went on or not, anyway 'We always see the Red Arrows up here! They only live a couple of miles up the road.' there, I said it! :o

Hi grund thread!!

Just popping in with message from my dog walker, she has 2 rescue greys and organising a pointy meet in my local area (York) It's the 1st Sunday every month, starts in a dog friendly pub, goes right along a river bank, past 2 or 3 safe free running fields, slightly through a pretty bit of the town centre and ends up back in the pub! If anyone wants further details, feel free to PM!

Oh Lock how exciting! What type of pointy is she?

Sounds lovely Inthepotty, sadly York is too far from me

Cunny, I was very impressed by the red arrows. The ponies in the riding arena were less impressed No one fell off though and it was amazing watching them fly over!!

Cunny, she is a scruffy, wirehaired whippety cross. In fact she is a shaggy female version of Sam.

If you go to the Celia Cross FB page and look for Pickle you will see her

Will try a linky, hang on: Ickle Pickle

She is gorgeous! I love scruffy dogs, they remind me of my favourite book when I was younger 'Nancy Nutall and the mongrel' I used to wish like mad that girl in the story could be me :o

Oooooo, Lock, that's so exciting. She's beautiful - I am very jealous. They will look lovely together. I love the look of the wiry lurchers, but unfortunately the amount of pollen they would bring in on their coats is not compatible with ds2's hayfever.

How does she get on with Sam? My two ignored each other the first time they met (which we took to be a good sign). Wrt them being left the first time, tbh we took Scuttle's advice and since they hadn't been a problem together whilst we were there, we didn't separate them. The only time we do separate them is for eating, where whippetty gets his food put down in the utility room and we have a pet gate across the doorway there, which we close and then lurchergirl has her food put down on the other side. Once they've finished, I empty anything left in lurchergirl's bowl and let whippetty out (otherwise he eats anything she has left, which is doing his waistline no favours atm).

We want to see lots and lots of pictures!

Sam has not met her yet, we are still in the 'thinking about it' stage.

Am very tempted but also very worried about it.

Sam was very vocal and very destructive when we first brought him home. This was resolved by crating him.
What will be do if we get Scruffygirl. Crate them both? One big crate? Two crates side by side?
Give them both the run of the house? Will they be vocal and destructive? Or was Sam vocal and destructive because he was home alone?

She is gorgeous though, but it is such a big step...

We used to crate whippetty every time we left the house as he would destroy everything in reach. However, about a month before we got lurchergirl we tried letting whippetty have the crate door open when we were out and he got the run of the hallway and utility room, but we closed the stairgates to prevent him going upstairs or into any of the rooms. He surprisingly seemed OK with this (though he'd throw himself at the front door if we went out at times other than the regular ones). Now, we have beds for them downstairs and they get the run of the hallway and utility room when we are out (everywhere else is blocked off for them when we are out), but we have separate crates for them in the living room - which due to the strange layout of our house, is upstairs.

Surprisingly, whippetty is much calmer now we have lurchergirl and less bothered about us going out.

Have decided not to pursue the idea of adopting scruffygirl for now. She is adorable and I do really feel a 'thing' for her but I am just worried about changing how life is atm.
After the nightmare we had with Sam being so desperately ill and ddad passing away so suddenly it feels that life is only just in the past few months getting back to some sort of normality and I finally feel slightly in control of things again. I suffer badly with anxiety and depression and am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel after 9 months in a dark place.
If things with scruffygirl were not to work out, or she would take her time settling in and life would be stressful again for a while - I am just not ready for that...

So we are all a bit sad and disappointed but feel that, for now, we should not look into adding to the family

Hey Lock I have suffered similarly and waited a long time to be well enough for Billy. In fact, when we told people we were getting a dog there were quite a few dropped jaws and "Don't you have enough to cope with?" comments. Only you can know when it's right. Billy has absolutely supported my wellness and on my finishing off/follow up visit with my CBT therapist I talked about him a lot. (Even found myself doing a bit of evangelising about retired racers!)

Oh Lock, what Betsy said, only you know when it's right. Are you ok?

I am so proud of Sprocket! You remember he mastered going down stairs? Well he's always needed a bit of help getting up. We came upstairs to bath DD. leaving Sprocket downstairs, I came into our room after bathtime, put DD on the floor, turned around and lo and behold, Sprocket! I had actually walked right past him and not noticed! He was lying in his corner :) so he'd come upstairs all on his own!!

I am fine, thanks, a bit weepy because my reluctance to take on the perfect Pickle has highlighted how 'not fine' I am, if that makes sense...

Anyroad, I should not feel sad. Pickle will find a fab home, Sam is very loved and won't suffer for being an only dog, and one day, when the time is right, I will feel confident in taking the plunge and getting a second dog...

Well done Sprocket for mastering the stairs!!

Yes I know what you mean. It's not like Sam will miss what he hasn't had will he? The time will be right one day :)

You sound very self aware - you could have rushed into it but you did stop and think. When I become anxious I worry about bad things happening... and not being able to cope; financially, emotionally, whatever. It's the not coping that's the biggest fear.

You did cope with Sam and all the other things happening at once and that must make you a very strong person. You know how testing things can be and you've chosen not to take that road right now and that sounds a very sensible and healthy decision!