Thinking of rehoming a greyhound; a few questions....

[RainySmallHands]

We have a dog-shaped gap in our house and have been musing over greyhounds....

Some context: DD1 is 4; DD2 is 1. I am a SAHM. DH works variable hours, sometimes a night a week away from home, sometimes from home. We both grew up with dogs (me Border Collie; DH Labrador) and owned a lovely GSD girl who died when I was pregnant with DD1. DDs are used to my parents' Border Collie / Lab X who is very soft (but a little neurotic).

The little I have read about greyhounds seems very appealing - I like the fact that they seem lazy (like me!), but I am slightly worried about their disposition. We will be doing work on our house in the near future, so may have some upheaval and will hopefully have DC3 within the next year or two. Is it unfair to expect a dog to cope with this? Also, we have a busy house and visit family lots locally (DDog would come with us ) - would that be okay?

Or, would a pup be a better option? I really want to do this right and I am wary of rushing things and getting the wrong dog for us, IYSWIM.

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

We have a whippet and a greyhound x whippet, who we adopted when they were aged 1 year and 6 years, respectively. When we got whippetty, ds1 was 6 and ds2 was almost 3. I also grew up with a border collie cross (who died when I was in my mid-20's) and who I adored, but I now wouldn't have a non-sighthound. They really are very kind, gentle dogs who are eager to please.

Both ours are very lazy, but are happy to go on long walks too. Greyhounds generally walk well on the lead too, as they are trained to do so as part of being racers, so they can be paraded before the races. They may need some house-training and other obedience training, but as adult dogs the natural insinct is to keep their environment clean. They are generally a heck of a lot less work than a puppy.

They may not like the "busy-ness" of a home with young children, but ours are crate trained and know that if it gets too much, they slink off there and the boys will not bother them.

I would definately say to look at a greyhound (or possibly a lurcher?) - a good rescue will be able to match you with a dog who would fit well into a house with young children.

Thanks Magrat, that was one of my main concerns - that a greyhound might be too fretful to fit into a rather chaotic household like ours...

But, as you say, a good rescue centre should be able to make us a good match. But how do we know if a rescue centre is good? Presumably we should go to a specialist greyhound/lurcher rehoming?

It is interesting that you would always go for a sighthound now. Our childhood Border Collie cross was a bit of a character, and to be honest, although I loved him to bits (he died when he was 20 - when I was mid-20s), I would never have a collie with children in the house now.

rehoming centre

My house is like a mad house most days. We have various children appearing for weeks on end and then dissappearing again just as fast only to be replaced by a new strange child for a few weeks (dd1 does not seem to have 'normal' friends, she meets children who seem to move in with us for large amounts of time)

There are several dogs coming and going (fosters and helping out with my parents)

I am always decorating something. In fact I have a plasterer coming on Thursday about my stairs.

My terrier is as mad as a box of frogs. My whippet/whiggy/whatever type dog appears to think she is a cat or some sort of circus performer.

We have intermittent dog vs cat wars.

I foster Greys. Obviously there are some who would find the constant noise and comings and goings of my house too much, but the rescue are aware of how, um, busy my house is and match us with appropriate dogs.

We have crates and 'safe' corners that my own children and the strange children are taught not to go near.

A pup would find the choas too stimulating and you'd end up with a nuerotic, hyper active, over tired pup. Plus puppies and small children are a match made in hell ime, a grey would be a much better choice for you. Or an older staffie.

Your life sounds similar to mine and I'm thinking ex race dog. They are usually very well trained by the time they're re homed and thanks to gambling they are bred to be healthy!

I don't know where you are, but Greyhound Rescue West of England regime further away than just the south west. They also use foster homes.

I'm sure others on the pointy dogs thread will be able to suggest more good ones.

Stupid phone, rehome not regime.

Oh, the fact that Greys are fostered in busy households is reassuring. D0oin, your hectic houseold sounds great . They can't all be delicate little flowers, after all. A peaceful crate where they can escape is somthing we'd definitely consider.

And you are right regarding a pup. The thought of having another small thing to wipe up after fills me with dread TBH.

Sleepless - have you made any enquiries yet?

We're in NE England, BTW, but would happily travel to Yorkshire or Cumbria.

Greyhounds Galore are great. Am on my way out to work now but can link later if you can't find it on Google. They are who I foster with and rehome around the NE. You'll find them vair friendly indeed.

Another option is to look at Retired Greyhound Trust website, theu have a list of all their registered branches and charites, find one near you :) if you have anymore questions come and talk to us on 'A new cushion for pointies' we are all sighthound owners on their and we have our resident grund expert *ScuttleButter', she knows looooooooooooooads about grunds.

They, their and ScuttleButter

You might find a whippet a better scale for your home & lifestyle. All the benefits of grunds in a smaller package - you might prefer this around babies/toddlers?

lurcherlink & scruples are both wonderful rescues for whippets. Lurcher link aso gets lots of grunds to foster. They may have something closer if the main grey hound rescues don't turn up your dream dog quickly.

I'm a firm believer that any dog should have a space (bed, crate, corner) that's totally off limits to the children of the house.

Notices a rescue centre not far from me....

....

Inthepotty - don't!

I've been telling myself for a couple of months now that "Maisie Rae" on lurcher link is not meant to permanently reside with me

Spent a large proportion of today looking at dogs instead of doing useful things. Loved Red on Lurcherlink!

I think we'll give somone a ring and visit. So excited!

Rainy, what a fabulous idea! Do come over to the Pointy thread - you'll find out even more about the wonderful world of adorable pointy hounds. I know lots of people who combine hounds and children very well - as others have said, as long as you enforce clear boundaries and have areas where hounds can retreat for that all important afternoon nap, you'll be fine. Oh, and the shopping opportunities are great too!! Lots of collar porn

Greyhounds and whippets were found in an academic study to be the least aggressive of all dog breeds, they are usually gentle, placid loving dogs, who like being cuddled, like plenty of comfy sofas for snoozing and are also very healthy - lifespans into the mid teens are normal. Ours love visiting family members - more opportunities for being spoiled and as long as there's a comfy spot to lie on (and fart in an eye watering manner) they will be happy. As iwht any dog, you'll need to be careful when tradesmen are in the house with open doors etc but that's not specific to greyhounds. Good luck in your search!

I know people who have adopted greyhounds for years through the Retired Greyhound Trust.

They have all been very nice dogs (not prone to snapping etc.) although some of the ex-racers have been rather neurotic and prone to bolting if they get scared (at least one of them never recovered from his nervous disposition). All of them, however, are just the right height to stick their heads on the dining table and look at you in a mournful, soppy brown eyes way!

However, they also had a lot of dogs who have been lovely, well-adjusted and friendly. The RGT is very good and should be able to match you up to a greyhound (or lurcher, they do them as well occasionally) who can fit your situation - be that an ex-racer, a trained-but-never-raced, or a pet that needs rehoming.

Hi Scuttlebutter! I have lurked briefly on the Pointy thread after Cunny recommended it.

Need to work on DH a bit more - he was full-steam-ahead at the weekend but has cold feet after we dogsat the DPs mad BC this week. He's a pushover though. Once he sees those puppy dog eyes, he'll melt

BC are the complete opposite of greyhounds! I often forget we actually have a dog he's that quiet and lazy! Greys are just like large farty statues really :o

Forgot to mention, we have a baby, DD was 7.5mo when we got Sprocket :) she's 11mo today!

The woman at the rescue we got him from told me they had recently rehomed a dog to a couple with a 6 week old baby!

I also have a greyhound. We got him before we had kids and he has never put a foot wrong and has lived happily through total house renovations, children crawling all over him. He will trot alongside me on a 5 mile run or not be bothered if he doesn't get a long walk for weeks.

I couldn't recommend a greyhound more highly as a family pet. A friend of mine has 2 whippets and they are totally hyper and chew stuff all the time. Whereas our hound has never shown the slightest inclination to destroy anything.

Another greyhound owner here. He's gentle, affectionate and loves people. He lives in a house with two small boys and all that they entail; multiple friends over, 'discos' in the lounge and enthusiastic love giving at most opportunities.

He's been fine.

He does not like other dogs much (mutual ignoring his preferred option) and hates busy traffic and thunderstorms.

Nenufar

Our whippy never does anything as unladylike as chew anything she shouldn't, and there's always a bit of a squabble over who gets to dog sit when we go on holiday as she's so sweet and well-mannered in not just her own house but other people's too!

Grunds and whips can make for challenging times as pups, simply cos they are so darn fast, but once trained & out of puppyhood they are I think amongst the easiest of dog breeds to manage generally.

On a serious note have the owners of the two whippets you mention tried changing their food? The one time our whippet was fed Bakers (emergency) I resolved never to do it again as it gave her a horrible runny poo and made her a bit hyper for a few hours.

Our whippet selectively chews my shoes (noone else's), though he gathers ds2's and puts them in his bed to cuddle with them - tbh it's easily dealt with just by making sure they are put out of reach. In his case, I think it was also a separation anxiety thing too as he hasn't done it since ddog2 came into the house.

I did also used to think he was quite possibly the laziest dog in the world, until we got our greyhound x whippet, who is definately even lazier - I think a real greyhound would be even lazier still! I was talking to someone recently who has a greyhound and they said their dog actually turns round and starts to insist on heading for home if they think a walk is lasting too long!

I do think though that a greyhound is possibly a better option than a whippet with small children - our greyhound x whippet is just that bit "sturdier" with the boys than whippetty (though he is also verygood with the boys and very gentle).