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

[TheCunnyFuntIsAGrittersWife]

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
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
:)

Our dog is being brought round this afternoon!!!

Any tips for me? She is in kennels at the moment so I'm guessing it will take some adjusting for her.

Thanks for all the advice so far, and I'm really enjoying hearing about all your pointies, they all sound like such lovely characters. We went to buy some balls yesterday from the pet shop and I told DS to choose a cuddly toy for her - he chose a cuddly donut!

How exciting, I have nothing useful to add except, squeeeeeee .

Yourhand - we took ours back, not knowing whether she'd cope as an only dog, or whether she was housetrained, or how she'd be with DS (7). She was in with other dogs, with a companion in her run - and the rescue said that she always waited until she was back in to 'perform' so they didn't think she was housetrained. She wasn't (despite being 2 ish). That first afternoon (when we didn't know that we'd be bringing her back) we took her out every 30 mins - for a walk around the block or into the garden. She lasted 4.5 hrs and then, having just come in, did a wee in the hall. It took a while - and it was a case of catching the very slight signs and immediately acting on them to start with, but she did eventually get the idea, and I would say that she is properly housetrained now.

That night we left her in the kitchen - she was OK to start with but got more and more worked up - I ended up taking her mat up and putting it by my bed (she'd already managed to bounce on DS and DH by that stage) and we went to sleep where she could keep on checking I was there - so really close by the bed (but not on it).

Given she had come from where she could hear lots of familiar dogs and was sharing with another dog, we thought that this was better than leaving her upset and alone. We have, after 5 months, progressed to the stage where she now sometimes sleeps on her snuggly bed on the landing, although she still has a bed (not as close) in our room that she can choose instead if she wants to. Ideally she would sleep in the hall, but we have a way to go to get there.

We walked her using a slip lead - and I read this and it stopped me losing her one early walk. We didn't let her off until we had officially adopted her - just before christmas - up until then, once she had settled down, we walked her in a harness and a 2m lead so that she could have a bit more freedom than the slip lead.

Don't buy a big bag of dog food until you've definitely found one that suits - we had found a make and DH bought a different flavour and it turned out that the new one didn't suit her (at all).

Kong toys can be filled with kibble mixed with yoghurt and frozen (if your dog can eat both) and these make a good treat and distraction.

How exciting YourHand, how's it going? I have nothing useful to add I'm afraid, Sprocket had already lived in a house for a couple of years before we got him so I skipped the moving from kennel -> house stage.

:o at Very Tall Whippet! I'm sure you'll convince DH one day MrS, you just need to keep chipping away at his resistance

I have to give Scuttle credit for that Cunny, from the Terry Pratchett series where Corporal Carrott is just a very tall dwarf!

Hope all is going well YourHand, I keep coming back on here for an update like a live birth thread!

Well, of course, just because he is very tall does not mean that he is not a dwarf.

Keep up updated, YourHand. Nice to think of another pointy dog finding a good home.

That is exactly my argument, Magrat. If dog is a whippet, says he is a whippet, but just happens to be a bit tall, but is otherwise a vision of whippetiness, then Mr Slant's DH can be happy that he is sharing his home with a VTW and a SBPF whippet (Small But Perfectly Formed). In fact, as a science teacher, Mr. Slant could remind him of a normal distribution curve, and explain that without the ones on the top end you wouldn't have that beautiful shape. So really, having a VTW is a service to statistics as well.

And Good Luck, Your Hand. We are all looking forward to hearing more about the new arrival. Pics are good too (hint, hint)

Scuttle

BTW, do you think MN HQ would let us keep the inappropriate bunny smilies just for the pointy hound thread.

A cat has gone missing on our street this week... I did have to hope our two had not somehow sneakily been busy.

I have to say too, that considering the way Jessie tries to curl up on your lap, she is equally convinced that she is a very tall Iggy.

Hello all! Sorry I didn't come back yesterday was too busy fussing anxiously over new arrival. It does feel as big a commitment as adopting a child!

Dog is very nervous and shy, she spent all afternoon sniffing round and round. It took her a while to figure out that the dog bed was comfier than the floor. She was stopped in her tracks by the tv, the washer, and me holding a mug. All she's known is kennels and track.

Left her in the kitchen last night. No barking or crying, and no accidents when I came down at 7. [impressed]

She didn't eat any food yesterday. This morning I made her scrambled eggs (I know but apparently she is used to kebabs and pizzas from takeaway, the dry treats and kibble weren't appealing to her) with a little kibble and she's been so odd with it! She's grabbing a tiny piece from the bowl, then taking it into the garden. When I shut the outside door she took some pieces, put them on her bed, and rolled them into a pile with her nose! Hasn't eaten them though.

I will try to do pics but will need to find my camera's usb lead which I put in a safe place!

Oh bless her, Your Hand. Take it very gently these first few days - she is having to learn an enormous amount. Most greys love a routine - so the more you can give that to her, the quicker she will adapt and settle.

Scrambled eggs is actually a very good breakfast - often used for convalescing or recuperating dogs, or ones with sensitive tums. The rolling with the nose thing is what ours do too - usually when they don't want to eat it straightaway, sometimes they actually roll the food into a hiding place (under the duvet or similar). Keep reinforcing going outside regularly for toilet breaks and praising massively if she performs - all of ours "got" housetraining very quickly but we were very slow to pick up on grey's signals to go out - they are often very subtle.

To help the bonding, she may also enjoy a grooming session -especially if she is either losing her kennel coat or going through a spring moult. A hound mitt is perfect - about £5 in PAH - a sort of rubber oven glove with pimples on each side that you use for grooming hound - just sweeping strokes over coat - picks up lots of dead hair and dogs love the attention.

I'm sure you are already thinking about these, but don't forget to get her ID tag made up, change her chip details, and book her in for a Getting to know you/introductory appt at the vets. Kennel should also have told you when she was last wormed so ask vet for their recommendation on frequency and mark on calendar. Also, don't delay on sorting out her insurance, and another handy tip once you have some good pics is to pre-register her on Doglost. Hopefully you will NEVER need it, but it's a brilliant idea to get your dogs' details on there before anything happens. The rescue may organise social events for greyhounds - playdates, walks etc - it's great to go to these, as greys really enjoy socialising wiht other pointies, and it's nice for owners to get together too (and compare collar porn!).

Good luck!

Lots of pointy hound owners will quite often give their dogs an egg (raw) too.... Some of them give it whole, but (in the winter at least) just crack it on her breakfast.

Have you got food that she's used to from the rescue?

PAH do baked bones that she might also like as a treat - good for teeth.

Quite a lot of lurcher owners also feed raw food all the time - we just give ours some chicken wings on and off for a change and a tooth clean (raw again - chicken is OK if raw, but the bones are dangerous to dogs if cooked).

'High value' treats might also be a very good way to encourage her at the moment - small pieces of sausage in a bag in your pocket, given only when you have asked her to come to you (rather than her mob you for them!)

My lurcher likes a tin of sardines or pilchards which are apparently v good for them.

The baked bones are v popular, and I get him a fresh baked bone from the butchers most weeks which gives him a lot of pleasure. Though as they are bigger, they last all week and hurt when lovingly dumped on your lap.

Jessie had been used to a diet of cigarette butts, guiness, pizza scraps and chips (from what we've been able to glean) when she came to us. She looked at all food she was given (including pilchards) with suspision when she first arrived and I'll admit, i resorted to hand feeding a few times. she wouldn't eat raw, kibble, pilchards or anything much really. Then one day i got tripe for them and she wolfed it down. She's still fussier than woody, but she has a reasonable diet now.

Mine likes pilchards in tomato sauce, and they don't adversely affect her stomach. Mind you, now everything is on an even keel, we're letting her have the odd thing here and there that's not on the 'strictly sensitive stomach' list and she's been fine - eg pizza crusts

So glad of this thread! We used to give our family dog (a spaniel) scrambled eggs so I'd remembered that and thought I'd give them a go.

I think she was being fed what food they had, but the lady coming to the kennels gives them all takeaway food (pizzas, cheese, doner meat, etc) apparently. I'm thinking it's probably more nerves than anything though. Will just keep offering stuff and hopefully as she settles she will get stuck in. Lady who runs rescue said about raw bones so will go get one tomorrow from butchers, and some other bits recommended to try and tempt her. She's drinking water so that's a relief.

She seems to have claimed the kitchen as "her" room, and has been mostly laid in their on her bed. Reluctant to come into living room and hasn't gone near the stairs yet.

The rescue is quite far from me, but we do have a local (mixed dog) rescue and they run lots of classes, play sessions, etc that we can go to when she is settled in.

Please don't ever feed cooked bones to a dog, they can splinter very easily and cause your dog serious internal damage! Raw bones are much better, I go to our local independent butcher and ask for some raw bones, usually end up with beef ribs. I get a few at a time and put each one in a seperate carrier bag on it's own and freeze them (thanks to Betsey for that tip!). The seperate bags are so they don't all freeze together so you end up with a massive lump of frozen bones :o

YourHand she sounds lovely, v. impressed at no accidents all night! Everything must be so scary for her at the moment, she'll get used to it all in time though. Hoping for piccies soon though :o yy to oily fish, I buy Tesco value sardines in tomato sauce for Sprocket, 34p a tin and he loves them! Plus the oil in them is good for his coat :)

I have finally registered today after over a year of lurking!

I have a rescue greyhound taking up every seat I want to sit on in the house.

Jazz, nice to meet you ! Is that one grey moving round to be with you and occupy your seat of choice, or lots and lots of greys?

One who just moves on to whichever seat she's seen me eyeing up! Also have 2 kitty cats who she is terrified of.

Welcome to the cushion Jazz! :o at no available seats due to Greyhound(s?) taking them all up, sounds about right, I'm sure Scuttle will be able to relate to that!

Ahh x post. Just the one. How long have you had her?

We give both ours a teaspoon of fish oil on their dinner at night. It helps keep them shiny. We also add seaweed extract, which has lots of minerals and is supposed to help their metabolism.

Also, wait a few weeks for her to settle in and then start going to a good (positive) trainer. Both ours loved it and it helps get used to other (non-pointy) dogs in a controlled environment. My trainer was fab, had rescues herself and the dogs were always guaranteed a big fuss there.

Welcome Jazz.