Are you a Greyhound, Whippet or Lurcher owner? Come and have a seat on the new Pointy Hounds cushion!

[TheCunnyFunt]

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!
AK Creations
Bonnie dogs
GRWE shop
Our very own Scuttle's Milgi coats
Silver Peacock

Jake
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!
By Denise Dubarbier
:)

lock didn't see your ds carrying him but one of the kennel girls was lifting and shifting

Can I ask everyone for housetraining tips. Am taking out every hour, usually wees on command, cue treats and praise. Still having accidents though including last night just after taking him outside. Should I remove rug where he's been for now? He did it in front of us so not sneaking off. He's hugely food orientated so almost as if look at me give me a treat!

Hardly wees and has never pooed on a walk.

We had a rug in the kitchen that Billy was fond of using if we didn't make it down in time in the morning. We did remove it; it seemed to smell right for toiletting for him and it was also much easier to clean up afterwards as he went on the tiled floor after that. Only for a while though; it seemed to get better as we established more of a routine.

Routine was what worked for us. So walking and feeding at more or less the same times every day. He was mostly housetrained when he arrived but only went really reliable after the establishment of routine, and continuing with it for a month or so. We had a protest wee when I took the DCs up for their evening bath for example; so I made sure I let him out for a wee just before this.

My belief in routine was furthered when the routine changed or got thrown off. So about 2 months after we got him it was Xmas; we went to the ILs for a few days and he peed everywhere. When he's been back to kennels when we've been away he always as accidents there for a while. Perhaps it's tension and being in a different place too though; even though they don't seem stressed I think they can be and we don't notice.

So I guess, in my VERY limited experience (like, that of one dog!) keeping on what you are doing will probably, eventually work out fine. But it will take some time. I'd say it took Billy about 6 months to settle in absolutely and for us to bond completely.

Hello, Paddy!

Betsey is absolutely spot on. Greyhounds love routine, and really flourish on it. That includes housetraining. Given time, they will also learn how to "tell" you that they need to go out - sometimes the signls can be very subtle, and we've missed these in early days with all of our dogs. After a while, they learn how to let you know in a more overt way, and everyone is happy, but we still do the whole routine thing too.

Also, make sure nothing on the floor still smells of wee, or that could be encouraging them to keep marking. PAH do a variety of odour killing sprays etc that are designed to work specifically with dog wee.

The other issue of course is that after a summer of having doors open and being able to pop in and out of the garden at will, we are now in the wet and cold weather, which means that egress into the garden is more restricted, and like many greyhounds, there is a reluctance to go out even when the door is open. Time for the gentle and loving shove up the bum! We also have the variation here of "Yes, I will reluctantly go out the garden, but will then stand pathetically by the door, refusing to wee, till you let me back in." Sigh.. More tough love needed.....

our lovely lurcher goes like clockwork on a walk .
the second she is off the lead poo then wee probably right next to the dog poo bin!
BUT often we will wake up to a poo movie landing if yucky weather when letting her in garden bt night
and she is 8!
any answer to this?

not movie landing!
on the landing!

Help!

Have posted on my original thread, but this might get a bigger response.

hope grund birch will try us out for a fortnight from this weekend.

Smallest grund, ex racing.

What do I need to have? Food, bowls, basket, rug, lead, collars if not provided,
Do I need to put all food away in the kitchen? Do they really eat weetabix for breakfast?

Bitch not birch!

:o poo movie :o is that with Eeyore, Tigger and the others? no advice though I'm afraid, I haven't done housetraining at all as Sprocket had already lived in a home for 2 years.

I made Sprocket a shoe thing today :o with a chunk of memory foam, that bandage stuff that sticks to itself and a food bag. It worked though, he walks much better with it on!

And speaking of his paw, Scuttle did you get chance to look up that cream?

thewhistler how exciting!

Sighthound collar.
Muzzle.

You'll probably get given both these by the kennel.

And YY to all the food put away! My homechecker had a tiny bitch that leapt up on the worktops from the first. She also advised me to get some child locks for the fridge - our chap hasn't tried this yet but his recent form tempts me to think he will!

We are all soooo excited.

Fridge locks might be good for us as well as pooch!

HI Cunny, something like this would work -

Udder cream here

or you could even use something like this

Ohh sorry Whistler I missed your post! Yy to everything Betsey said. No idea about Weetabix though, Sprocket's never had any (off me anyway!) and milk tends to give him the squits. So he just has his kibble twice a day with extras mixed in a few times a week!

any chance of borrowing a crate - I can't imagine Paddy being able to roam around at night - he'd eat the house

Thanks Scuttle, Ooh would normal E45 (not foot & heel) do the job? I have nearly a full tube of that in my bedside drawer!

I guess so, Cunny. The main thing is that it is non toxic and moisturising. I did consider using my nice L'Occitane Shea Butter Foot Cream, but even I as a greyhound obsessive thought that was going too far! Really it just needs to be a nice simple emollient cream that can be gently rubbed into the sole of that pad. You don't have to go mad and do a full on foot massage . How is he doing? Is he limping on it?

He is limping round the house but now I've fashioned him a slipper (as mentioned above) he's so much better outside now, he actually trotted along this morning instead of hobbling and dragging behind looking miserable :o he looks stupid though but if it helps it helps! I only put it on for walks though. I imagine if I left it on he'd just chew it off. He seemed a bit and :( when I fastened him into it today but soon cheered up outside!

Oh bless him. Andy sends fraternal greetings to a fellow wounded warrior - he has a little eye infection at the moment and is milking it mightily. Not liking his eye drops and is demanding extra cuddles (which of course he is getting).

Oh poor Andy! I bet he's not a happy chap at the moment then.

By the way, how did the feet go down with them?

I wish Sprockets corn thing would make its chuffing mind up on what it actually is when he first started hobbling around I looked at it and it looked cornyish, it changes everytime I look! Looked at it today and it had vanished looked again later in better light and it actually looks like an old cut!

Poor Andy. I'm sending him lizardy love. My eyedrops make a horrid taste in my mouth about 10 mins after taking them.

And poor Sprocket. Wonder what it is?

Cunny,you must have thought me very rude not to have thanked you for them before or to have passed on a description of them being enjoyed by the hounds. I am sorry. Unfortunately, when we came back from the show, we unloaded the car the next day and brought the boxes (including the chickens feet) into the dining room. I made the mistake of opening the box to deal with a coat to send to a customer who'd ordered via website and NOT putting the lid back on. You can see where this is going.

The next day, I remembered the feet and said to DH "You know, I'd like to give them to the dogs now, I'll just go and get them." All I could find was the bag they were in, looking rather chewed and a bit bedraggled. I checked with DH if he'd moved them and the answer was no. So, I think we can safely assume that at least one of the greyhounds thinks they were delicious and sends their thanks. Callie is the only one with an alibi on the basis of her not having any teeth.

So thank you from the Butter pack, though I don't think all members were given a chance to sample these lovely gifts!

Of course not, I figured you would have more important things on your mind than stinky chickens feet!
:o :o :o So glad someone enjoyed them, I just hope they shared their loot with the others! :o

Betsey how do eyedrops give you a taste in your mouth? How odd!

Oh dear, oh dear. On Monday afternoon, I got fed up with a smelly house and car and dragged DH off to local Yankee Candle store. Also starting to think vaguely about Christmas and wanted to have a sniff of some of hte festive scents to think about. Stocked up basket with some lovely autumn fragrances, got some tea lights for the study and some air fresheners for the car. All good.

Fitted the little dangly thing in the back of the car and a delicious aroma of cinnamon began to pervade. All was happy in the Butter household and even DH said how nice it smelt in the car. The grunds seem to have taken this as a challenge - the equivalent of me throwing down a gauntlet - and every time we go out in the car the girls especially have been producing smells of eye watering intensity. I arrive at the car park each morning where we walk them and leap out of the car, gasping for oxygen - must look v strange for passers by. Even as i am writing this, Norty Minx is asleep near me on her duvet, and emitting a regular pffft as she snoozes. I fear my little tealights may not be able to compete....

:o :o :o :o

:o

Poppy gave Sprocket a biscuit today :) he's usually very snatchy with food out of your hand. He ignores her most of the time, acts like she isn't there at all, so I decided to enforce some positivty towards her. I gave Poppy a milk bone to give to him. I held her hand steady and he took it, ever so gently. I was most impressed.

Ha ha! I love that they pick their moments to ambush you. You're trapped when you're in the car of course! Maybe they're just getting excited because they're about to go for a walk.

Aww, good old Sprocket. They are such gentle dogs. I love it when Billy touches noses with mine when they get in from school. He's definitely improved too - when we first met him we took the dogs some chicken and he was waaay too enthusiastic taking it from us. Now he's settled in and he knows he's not going anywhere and he'll have it every day for the rest of his life... nice and gentle!