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.

We are revisiting them tues, will try and take pics then

Ahem ... well yes - it seems your ds and I are thinking along the same lines!

Oo yes, definitely try to get some pics for us.

And she's gorgeous moosemama!!

Thanks, but I have wussed out of contacting them. Noticed today that someone else has enquired on FB and then started questioning myself and the practicalities of getting her over here and being homechecked by a UK rescue etc.

They work with 2 UK rescues, but one is up north and the other down south and we are in the middle. The one up north insists all neutering is done at their approved vets, so I can't see that working in our favour - especially when the other enquirer already has one of their dogs and is more local to them.

Would say I'd sleep on it again tonight, but I have ds1's annual statement review first thing tomorrow morning and am ridiculously stressed about that, so not sure another night's sleep is going to make things any clearer.

If nothing else, it's helped me to realise I can fall in love with smoothies as well as scruffies I suppose. I've always been a dedicated scruffy admirer in the past, but she has definitely made me think twice.

Actually, thinking about it, lurcherboy looked smooth when I first saw him - and when he arrived. He only developed his scruffy elements as he matured.

Cinnamon - I would go for playful too (Barry) because of the children. But I would rename him Barney - enough similarity for him to make it easy but slightly better than shouting Barry!

We did'nt do any ggwalks... just too frantic this weekend - concert last night - another this afternoon (I hadn't managed to get to any of the rehearsals as looking after DS whilst DH went to them so it was a bit skin of the teeth at times...) and then another rehearsal this evening.

My friends baby is barney, not sure I could do that! Still have to win the battle though!

Harry is better than Barry... or even Lary! But then you could perhaps think of names that are not even 'proper' names that might suit... Tally, Cali, etc.

Tbh, we named Jessie when we got her as we didn't know her name before - she was found as a stray. She's an oldie, but within a week or two she knew her name. Lots of livercake when they respond to their name is a great motivator. I'd call him what you like. (Of course, I'm assuming here you'll have already won the argument on which dog to get)

That's a massive assumption MagratGarlik, I'm not good at these things! DH feels guilty that he pushed me to have Billy and it ended so badly so I may be able to win.

Have had a message from my friend that the brother of her lurcher is looking for a new home, have added his pic on my profile. He's called Mali, he will be 2 in September.

He looks nice? Has he previously lived with cats?

I don't know anything about him, just got a number to talk to the owner. A bit apprehensive as to why they are rehoming him, his brother is lovely and lives with a tiny dog but I don't know more than that until I call. Dh thinks he's too chubby

I have had a Cali and my sil has a Tally.

I think it's fairly common to change an adopted dog's name - as Magrat said, stuff enough treats down them every time you say it and it quickly becomes more attractive than their old name and of course has the advantage of being a clean slate with no negative associations. So you could just pick a name you like and not worry if it doesn't sound similar to Barry.

Oo I've seen Mali - if it's the same one. Is he the one on Lurcher Link? They look too similar for it not to be. If so, he has lived with cats before and liked to play with them, but according to the OP not in a prey kind of way.

He sounds lovely, everyone keeps emphasising how lovely and gentle he is.

Mali on LL

Have had a look and it must be him, he's in Norfolk too.

I am relieved to have survived ds1's annual statement of SEN review.

Afterwards Mum walked up to drop dd at nursery with me so we took lurcherboy. Mum insisted on holding him while I walked up the drive with dd and he really didn't like me walking off out of sight. Poor Mum got quite a shock when she realised how strong she is. I think she thought because he looks so slightly built he'd be a wimp.

Mum then left and I took him in the park. It was very interesting. He stuck to me like glue the whole way round. Did half an hour off lead with him just following me around and me suddenly changing direction etc. Then stood and let him sniff a bit and did a couple of easy recalls, which he did really well, so got the ball out as a reward ... and he instantly changed into a beligerant (sp?) so-and-so.

First catch did a loop around me, than stopped in the middle of the field and stared at me instead of bringing it back. You should have seen his face when I just ignored him and walked purposefully away. Poor confused dog.

After a couple of minutes he came thundering after me and when he came properly to me and dropped the ball at my feet I told him he was a good boy and threw it again. Each time, same thing. He held it at a distance and didn't return - just stood there staring at me. I didn't recall him, because I knew he wouldn't do a proper recall and I'd effectively be training him not to come when called. Instead each time I walked off.

Then he started trying to pre-empt where I was going to go and head me off some distance ahead, so I just kept changing direction and not acknowledging him until he came back and gave me the ball.

It was lucky that we had the whole park to ourselves for over an hour, as I could just keep on doing it over and over. He's got some sticking power though - stubborn boy - because even when I hid from his view (I could see him and the rest of the park) he still took a good few minutes to come back and give me the ball.

Kept it up for about 45 minutes and I could almost hear the cogs turning in his head as he tried to work out what on earth I was up to! It was working though, by the end of the walk he was coming back faster and seemed to be getting the idea that he didn't get another throw of his ball unless he came back properly and gave it to me.

Ended 'the game' when he lay down looking exhausted and he's been spark out ever since we got home.

I am hatching a plan to confuse him even further by taking multiple balls, next time we play the game. Currently he thinks he has the upper hand when he's in possession of the ball, so I'm interested to see what he'll do when he realises I always have another one.

Am also going to do more sessions without the ball and him being rewarded for staying with me and coming back when called, as food treats were good enough reinforcers until the ball appeared and then they were useless.

Sounds like he's been waiting a long time, due to a relationship break up. So no suspicious reasons for needing to rehome him.

Mali - that's not a LL dog though - its in the 'other homeless hounds' where other people post about lurchers that need a home - its an unusual site as its got its own dogs that need rehoming, but any other lurcher that also needs a home can have a thread in the other section too - and several rescues put info about dogs up there as a place that people specifically looking for lurchers might look.

Sorry, yes you're right mistle, I should have pointed that out. He's listed on LL, but isn't being rehomed through them.

Spoken to the lady this afternoon, two relationship breakdowns (one of whom left him all day, came home to eat and change then left him all night while she stayed at we new boyfriends) and a woman who has had him a month and has decided because he tries to get her cakes off the work tops and digs holes if she leaves him in the garden that she can't have him anymore! She's quite a drive from me and she has some interest in him so said carry on with our two tomorrow and then let her know. He said she had him as a pup and he's very playful and just needs someone to spend some time with him. She asked me more than she told me which shows she wants him to have a good home. She said she also has another greyhound and lurcher to rehome if we want to look at them too, good sales pitch

So is the lady you spoke to fostering him following the relationship breakdown?

Lurcherboy never seems interested in swiping cakes - but no baked potato is safe for some bizarre reason.

He was her dog, or one of a litter from her dog so she had him from birth until he was rehomed. Not sure she's a breeder but she rehomes dogs and said any of her dogs can come back to her if they need to for any reason.

Dh is seriously considering taking both tonight so we don't have to pick one, any advice greatfully received! Never had more than one dog at a time.

Mali looks wonderful - a gorgeous handsome boy.

Main things about being a multi hound household. You'll need a bigger car. You'll need a bigger sofa! Obviously, there's the cost implications - two lots of insurance, vets bills, food, kennelling on holidays etc. With two large dogs, it's worth buying in bulk things like food, treats etc. You can save money if there is a wholesaler near you.

It tends to be slightly harder to find people who are willing to pop in and dog sit if you need to go out for a few hours. Even non doggy people are often happy to wrangle one, but two can be a bit daunting sometimes. However, I'd strongly suggest making some friends in your local sighthound community and having a dog sitting circle so you can do sleepovers/days out for each other. Can also be great fun.

Walking - usually OK. If loose lead walking is not up to scratch, then off to training classes and it will soon be right. I used to walk three together - now we have four I do two and two when I am by myself.

If they all decide to fart together, it's quite something. Doesn't often happen - but mysteriously seems to be worse when we have visitors.

Overall, though, sighthounds are very sociable and really benefit from being with other pointies - we love being a multi hound home, though I wouldn't rush to be a four hound home again. I think two or three is perfect.

Had to laugh at farting being worse when you have visitors. Lurcherboy always seems to do it when my Mum is visiting and is even worse if she's babysitting and I'm not here.

I came back yesterday after a meeting at school and I swear poor Mum was actually green in the face - she looked a bit like this: but bless her soul, she has still just spent half and hour sitting in the boot of her car with him and dd while I took ds2 to his specialist dentist appointment.

The most I've had at once is three and it's fine, but I prefer two. With three or more it's easier if you are both around for walks, as when I walked mine in shifts the ones that were left behind objected - loudly. (Fortunately we had a detached house back then) Two together for walks is easy enough - but as Scuttle says, you may need to work with them individually to get them both walking on a loose lead in the early days.

I'm a strong believer in dogs needing canine company. As I put it to dh the other night - imagine being the only human in a dog household - unable to understand their verbal or body language, being expected to live by their rules and customs, which make no sense to you - as you can't understand them so they can't explain why they do them and having them control your food, toys and freedom. Then imagine the same scenario with just one other human to speak to and you can see how for some, the first scenario would be impossible to handle, whereas the second scenario would be much more likely to enable you to retain your sanity.

Dh has finally cracked and gone all gooey over a rescue pup - but it's in Spain. It is gorgeous pup and I will admit to having gone back several times to have a peek and check he hasn't been homed, but I can't get past all the dogs in UK rescue that need a home. Ireland didn't seem such a big thing to me somehow, as my family are from Ireland, I spent a good proportion of my childhood there and we still spend a fair bit of time there and see first hand the problems they have with dog welfare etc. In fact I did a report on dog welfare in Southern Ireland as part of my Cert in Canine Studies many moons ago. Manys the time we've caught a stray while we've been over there and nearly ended up bringing them home - so it wouldn't be too far of a leap to adopt from there. Spain just doesn't feel the same.

Not sure what to do, as it's so unlike dh to fall for a pup - it's usually me.

Mine does stealth licking of visitors Its OK if they like dogs, but not when they don't - and I spent an entire string quartet trying to stop her from going and telling the two violinists how wonderful she was and giving them big kisses... Her digestion has settled down tremendously and she rarely makes room clearing smells anymore... my friends two greys do though!

Moose - I'm with you on the dog rescue situation - although if he's fallen for one I can see your indecision... Would be quite a nice weekend break to go and see it

I would like a second.. but it all adds to the costs - its particularly the dog walking that would be a concern, otherwise I would go and collect Maisie from LL tomorrow.... If you get the right pair they do keep each other company and give each other much more exercise on walks. We used to race our two collie crosses - big open space, catch them both by the collar - one two three GO!!! and they were off, rarring at each other at full speed, then back again to repeat the process - they always started better with a 1,2,3 though! (unless they were playing chase through the sand dunes) (or one got the other cornered in a shallow bit of river) (or they were in the garden) ()

I know some people that have up to 6 dogs - often one of them being a terriorist and 5 varied lurchers / greys. I would find that too much to cope with I think!