Are you a Greyhound, Whippet or Lurcher owner? Come and have a seat on another 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 :o).

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Come The Day
Come the day I take that final bend,
Can I count on you to be my friend?
To see I?m treated just and fair,
It means so much to know you care.

For, what the future holds in store,
Now that I can race no more,
Should be addressed for every hound,
Who parts the punter from his pound.

Tell them I don?t ask for much,
A kindly word, a gentle touch,
Somewhere warm to lay my head,
A meal each day to keep me fed,
Not just life- but quality,
This is how it ought to be.

Do not see me swept away,
I long to live another day,
With peace of mind, tranquillity,
And those who care surrounding me,
So tell them all- you have that choice,
I beg of you to be my voice.

By Denise Dubarbier.

Just had a call from the vets and Pip has Campylobacter.

It's zoonotic, which means any of us could catch it - and it's not nice at all. It's also extremely difficult to treat, as some strains are antibiotic resistant.

So, he is seeing vet tomorrow night for a check-up and to start his antiobiotic treatment (probably prolonged) and no second vax until he tests clear - so he won't be starting puppy classes on week 1, if at all.

It's going to be tricky to handle with ds1's OCD tendencies, as he'll freak out if we tell him the truth. So, we are just having to be very vigilant and reinforce the whole, 'wash your hands when you've handled the dog' thing - although to be honest, in his case he washes his hands constantly anyway.

Good job I've been mega fastidious about hygiene since we came home, as I wasn't sure what was up with him.

Just to add to my joy, the vet is awaiting E Coli results and we will know those tomorrow.

Apparently his normal poos and weight gain don't mean much, as it tends to go in cycles when the bacteria beats the gut balance and the diarrhoea starts up again, before settling again with treatment and so on ...

He will have caught it at his foster home, as he was in with 2 other small litters of other breeds and I was told their favourite game was playing with each other's poo if their foster mum didn't get there quick enough. Eurgh!

Feeling thoroughly fed up and a bit tearful about it all at the moment.

Cheer up moosemama, it will all seem like a distant memory soon. I'm sure the fosterer wouldn't have known. It's sad that he's got it but you've caught it because you've checked it out and he will get better. Have some cuddles with him, I'm sure your lack of sleep makes things look worse!

So LL have put a request for a home check for me, what happens if they can't get anyone to do it?

Oh moosemama! What a poorly pup! It's not your fault. It could happen to anyone. The main thing is he is now at the vets and getting treatment. No doubt you are stressed and worried. He will be home before you know it bouncing everywhere and driving you bonkers.

Cinnamon which LL dog are you interested in?

No, the fosterer didn't know. She was concerned about his weight, but her vet assured her he was fine and just advised adding pasta and potato to his diet. A little odd, as the first thing my vet did when she saw him was take a stool sample to check for obvious reasons for him being so thin, but I suppose each vet has a different approach.

The silly thing is that he doesn't feel poorly at all. In fact he's a hyper-energetic bundle of mouthy mischief.

Peanut, he's not at the vets, he's here feeling fine and creating mayhem and indeed - driving us all bonkers.

Cinnamon, don't fret, LL will find someone to do it, they always do. It's a huge network of members.

On very rare occasions when they haven't been able to get anyone to homecheck they sometimes accept homechecks from other reputable sighthound rescue organisations.

Cinnamon, have you seen the latest 'other homeless hounds'? Sounds perfect for you ...

here

Scratch that, you were faster than me!

None particularly specifically, all the ones I think that's the one are not cat friendly. Lola is gorgeous and sounds as though she'd settle in with us. I love Colin but his cat status is not there, he was suffering sa but I wonder if he'd be better with another dog around. They have suggested Tess possibly being suitable but she's a bull x and I don't know anything about them, she's only 6 months old and has lived with cats.

Pie sounds a lot like peanut, he's gorgeous!!

I looked at Storm on EGLR but he's not cat safe, they have a gorgeous puppy called bear but I just don't think I have it in me to have a puppy. House full of kids, full time work, school governor, preschool committee treasurer and babysitting and Bodyshop parties for extra money doesn't leave me a lot of time or energy but I am tempted as he's house trained and sleeps well plus he would be able to grow into our mad house!

How about you peanutpatty?

I'm still waiting to hear from the rescue I applied too. They are waiting for more info from the foster families of the dogs I'm interested in. The rescue did ask me if I would be interested in a puppy but with a 2.9yo and 12mth old in the house I think a puppy is beyond me at the moment. Unless s/he was toilet trained! Really I want something I can take running now, not in 18mths time.

I keep cruising Scruples and LL but we've an elderly cat who is dog savvy but we need a cat safe dog. The cat treats the place like a hotel. In fact worse than a hotel. Only pitches up when he feels like it. We go on holiday later in the yewr and I'm struggling to find dog care as it is as our usually doggy day care is coming with us! ERROR on our part there. I said to the man about the house that if we have to take the dog we will. He said no. He is saying this cos she is a noisy impatient toad and finds it tough to settle anywhere else other than the car or home eg if she's out then she's out to walk, sniff, run, play. She doesn't want to take five and put her feet up, refuel etc and let's us know. Tbf she is getting better but it's proving hard going.

Moose - sorry I misread your post. Hope he has a speedy recovery.

Oooh Moose I hope that its something that does get sorted out asap. And that you can limit it to just Pip.

Brunette - she's not the dog for you to keep - and its not fair on your existing dog, although you might be able to improve things.

Peanut - my lurcher - who is just under 23" TTS but unreasonably long for that height - regularly jumps so that her head is the same height as mine - mainly when she wants to see over something - we think she was probably in a shed or a barn and could see out of a window a bit that way so got good at it? Luckily she doesn't put those jumping tendencies to use, and hasn't gone over our 4' gate.

Sebastian - depends on the dog in terms of fence height. We had a plan of what to do if we found ours was an escape artist - but she isn't and wants to stay with us so its not been any problem at all. We did take her out on a lunge rein in the garden for ages though, just so that there was no temptation!

Cinnamon - all the bully lurchers I have seen have been absolute softies... the only real issue with them is other people's impression of them...

I've had a read around the Internet about them and other than one disturbing site I found, they all said they're very soppy but often bond with only one person.

I've had a call today the lady is coming Thursday evening!!! She mentioned a greyhound I may be interested in which I assume must be Pie, although I only commented on his other homeless hounds thread. I showed him to dh who was very excited but the lady says he's 35-36kg so another big boy. He's 6 months younger than peanut but otherwise sounds very similar. The idea of what we already know is good (greyhounds) but the logistics of two big dogs isn't so good. I have no experience of multiple dogs at all.

Hello all, Just wanted to come on and say thankyou to Mistle, Moose et al for all your lovely advice re rescuing, lurchers and the like.

I decided that a lurcher was perhaps not suited to us, because of the fence situation, and that we are surrounded by (very tempting) woodland with squirrels and deer and all things lurcher, I was worried we would rescue and then lose someone!

So anyway, I emailed a local rescue who would not home to children under five, (one of mine is), explained all about us and got a phonecall to say she judged everyone individually and did we want to come along and meet some puppies? We've been today, and am utterly in love with a little 12 week old poss retriever cross, black, fluffy and scrumptiously gorgeous:) We are picking her up on Saturday, and so far she is going to be called Mabel.

Thanks to all in the pointy hounds for your kind advice, I'll probably still lurk, but will mostly be in the new puppy thread, bleary eyed and tearful:)

Cinnamon, just looked at Pie and he is one beautiful boy:)

Ah, congratulations on your newest family member sebastian.

Sounds like a sensible decision, given your fencing and surrounding temptations.

See you on the puppy thread.

Glad you've found a good one Sebastian (and well done for persisting past the 'rescues don't home' and finding a suitable one for your family that they will home with you) -she sounds lovely, but make sure that you get plenty of chew toys in for that breeding!!! With our chewers we have found that having plenty of nice things to chew does deter them from chewing the things you don't want them to (but not stop, but where would the fun in that be?).

Cinnamon - two dogs is easier in many ways as the two dogs will amuse each other some of the time at least, if it works well. If you can get complementary dogs it can also help to take the heat off the timid one, get the bouncy one exercised more etc... Where it becomes more difficult is finding holiday cottages that take more than one, or getting a car big enough!!! Or indeed, boarding them with someone. Oh - and double on the insurance, vets bills and food...

Dh is concerned about the car! We had a big boot but he wants to try it with two before we commit. My mum used to look after Nelly, my stepdad is afraid of dogs and so wouldn't have peanut without her there and he couldn't get the time off at short notice this year. He made me cross this morning, he knocked on the door as we were going out and said oh it's not jumping up today, no he's not because we are home, he only jumps because he's excited to see us. Peanut went to say hello and he (can't say kick because it wasn't) but he pushed him with his foot and had his knee up again straight away. I know he's a big dog but there's really no aggression in him at all. At the time I was trying to get 5 children and a dog out of the door to be on time for something so I didn't pursue it!
Money is our other concern but when you owe as much as we do what's a bit more?!?

What we like about our lurcher is that she can actually fit in the footwell of the passenger side (with feet). So for short trips she goes there. That means we don't need to strap her into the back seat where she normally travels for longer trips. Most of our dogs have travelled in the footwell at least some of the time. However, a greyhound just won't fit I think! (Our lurcher didn't think she would but has found that its actually ok).

Cinnamon, your financial situation sounds similar to ours!

What car do you have? We have a Xsara Picasso and there's tonnes of room for two large dogs with a good quality dog-guard, but not for two in a crate really. Lurcherboy and Oldgirl did used to share a crate, but only because they used to squeeze into tiny beds together anyway and loved to snuggle up in tiny spaces.

I think it's actually a legal requirement for dogs to be restrained in a vehicle these days, either by seatbelt harness, crate or dog-guard.

My stepdad is also scared of dogs. He didn't used to be as bad, as we used to stay at their house when we visited from Lancashire and he was ok as long as we crated the dogs in our room when he was around and took them out for long periods, but now he won't even come to our house unless we lock them in the garden. This causes problems when Mum offers to babysit, because she doesn't want to spend all night sitting here alone and he won't come, even if the dogs are locked in the kitchen, behind a door and dog-gate.

Pip has just come back from the vets and she was over the moon with him. He's gained half a kg in a week and she was stunned by how much he's grown as well. She said she reckons between that and how healthy he seems generally we should hopefully be able to knock the campylobacter on the head with one course of antibiotics.

Oh ... she said judging by his feet and knuckles, he's going to be massive!

Ah well - they fold up small these lurchers don't they?

Our dog rides in the footwell at the front. She has to as the buggy takes up the boot and the back seat is filled with car seats. We don't really go out in the car with her that often. If we got another dog we'd be stuffed car wise at the mo.

Our issue with another dog is that our existing one can be food possessive and so we would have to feed them separately.

I'm thinking we'd be best getting a dog rather than a bitch but I am concerned about males marking. Do they tend to mark indoors?

We have a Picasso too. I've checked laws and its not a legal requirement but sensible, especially with my babies in the back possibly being crushed by flying dogs!

Peanut is my first dog but he's very god with wee's he had wee's up the bin in my kitchen but not really sure why, could be marking I suppose. He wee's on everything while out though, Nelly we'd on lots while out too though just a squat rather than a leg raise. If you have a bitch already then there probably isn't a lot to mark anyway?
We haven't needed to take peanut and the pushchair at the same time as ds2 is almost 3 and only really uses it when out all day as he still naps.