Are you a Greyhound, Whippet or Lurcher owner? Come and have a seat on yet another 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 stories, advice and shopping tips!
AK Creations
Dog O Nine Tails
Doggy Bags Bakery
Kitsch Collars
Meggie Moo
[[http://www.milgicoats.co.uk/ Milgi Coats
Silver Peacock

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.

Hi meerkate, just a hello from me. No advice as never had a whippet but this thread is the right place. We considered a whippy but have gone with a greyhound who we adopt tomoz. Have u considered a grey? Do some reading maybe, they are apparently top notch dogs

Good luck!

Hi TooOld, good luck with your new family member tomorrow. Not much advice but I'd say try to decide what your ground rules are and establish them from the start, e.g. do you mind if the dog goes on the furniture or not? What about beds? Are any areas out of bounds? It is very easy to spoil them first and then harder to try to reverse this later. Also try to go out right from the start, but expect a few days of little/no eating - don't worry, but drinking lots and panting lots (both signs of stress). If you have dc's try not to have friends over for the first couple of weeks or so and try to keep your dc's calm around him at first until he settles in. Make sure he has an area which is clearly his and where the dc's won't go and establish that this is his place to relax.

Finally, wait a few weeks and book him in with a trainer. I enjoyed training with both ours and it helps to socialize him with other (non-pointy) dogs in a controlled environment.

Good luck and post pictures (please)!

Hello all, can I join the pointy gang? My pup, Pip, is some kind of lurcher - greyhound/ beards collie maybe - very hairy and cute - grey, and looks like a wolfhound (smaller tho but she's a big dog iykwim). She's my first dog so it's all quite a steep learning curve - despite endless training I still feel like a complete novice! Anyway, just wondering how much you all walk your dogs. 15 mins haring about at full pelt seems to do the trick, but on the lead 2 hours and she's still going strong. How do you know what's enough, how much does it matter, and if you go out more just that just make them need more...? She'll be 1 this month if that makes a difference
Many thanks...

Hi meetkate, we got a whippet x three weeks ago but we already have a greyhound so she's never actually alone. She is very sociable and loves a fuss, she was crate trained so I left her in a crate when I first left her and she cried now I leave her out as I didn't want a crate in the house and she is quiet. They are usually left no loner than 4 hours once week and then short spells at other times. They are pleased to see us but when we're home they sleep a lot so guess they do the same when we're out.

Hope all goes well TooOldForGlitter!

Hi TooBusyByFar, I don't know about exercise. I have a greyhound who is exhausted by a 20 min mad run aroun with our whippet x but will walk happily for a couple of hours. What ever exercise we have he sleeps most of the rest of the day. Our whippet x will run 10 miles with me and still be full of life but equally will sleep a lot of the day if I'm home and sitting. She runs around with the greyhound without seeming to tired and will chase toys and balls for ages with my kids. They have a 30 min off lead walk in the morning and other in the evening and a couple of bursts in the garden. They run with me 4-5 miles at least once a week and I only take Lola (whippet x) with me for any longer runs. The greyhound is definitely fitter and has more stamina than when I got him and loves running around with a buddy but no idea if he would happily go back to not running at all.

Took them both to park run today as Lola's harness and the double line arrived today thank you mummy. They were a bit freaked out being so close to each other to start with but actually ended up running pretty much touching and didn't stop as often as they do when they're separate. I did seem to frighten lots of people at the start though

TooBusy, we both have Lurcher pups called Pip! My boy is 19 weeks old today and there are some pics on my profile. (We love pics ... hint ... hint.)

The general rule of thumb for exercise, especially for pups that are likely to be quite big when fully grown, is five minutes (as in constant walking, lead-walking, road walking) per month of their life up until maturity (around 18 months usually) - but you can also allow them free running on soft ground such as soft ground/grass and sand. It's because constant impact on their growing joints from hard ground isn't good for them and can cause problems in later life.

Your girl sounds similar to the elder of my two. He's Deerhound/Saluki x Greyhound/Border Collie, although there was some mention of Whippet in there initially as well. He's a hairy blonde/grey brindle, very beardy faced and heavy boned. (Pics on him on my profile too.)

cinnamon - had to laugh at your two soft pointy dogs scaring the other runners.

Peanut terrifies a lot of people :(

Oh I didn't know there was a pic thing - will try and sort that out later
Thanks for the welcome... Pip is big and scares people with her size and speed so I often have to limit the off lead time if the park is busy
Cinammon - When you run how do you get them to go at your pace? Pip only seems to have two speeds -walking or sprinting - she would pull me over I'm sure :(
Nice to meet you all

People are often scared of Lurcherboy as well. In fact I've seen people cross the street to avoid him and he's the soppiest dog we've ever had.

I think a lot has been done to improve the general public's ridiculous impression of sighthounds as viscous killer dogs, but sadly there's still a long way left to go.

TooBusy, could you try some heelwork training and build up to her trotting next to you? Check out Kikopup's videos either on YouTube or her website Dogmantics. She's brilliant at teaching totally positive, non-punitive training methods.

Nice to meet you too.

They both run at my heel unless we are at parkrun so there are other people to chase or when we do a run with other dogs and then they're at the end of the line and do pull a bit. Peanut is very good on a lead so doesn't usually like to be pulled backwards and Lola just kind of gets into my rhythm once we get going. If it's quiet I let them off and they need go far.

Updating. Bob is here, got back at six with him. Was perfect in the car not a peep from him he just lay down and snoozed. Toileted outside, eaten his tea in one big gulp! Had a short walk outside where he met a chihuahua who he ignored and a lab who he greeted beautifully. We are ALL in love with him. Will post pics tomoz. Thank you so much to everyone for fantastic tips and advice

Hello girls, great to hear all the tips on here, and lovely news about Bob TooOld!
Have been talking to a v knowledgeable, charming, very opinionated whippet-obsessive lady about half an hour from where we live whose whippet litter is due any day now. She is going to be my tutor in all things whippety, by the sounds of it - been breeding and rescuing them since childhood(!) and has decades of experience accordingly.
She was almost amusingly dictatorial on the topic of food, routine, company needs etc. I think my 'interview' as a prospective whippet owner went well, but MAN I need to upgrade my thoughts on all of this dog owning business - one choice nugget was 'of course, the occasional tin of dog food is fine'... Eek! I find it hard enough to feed the four of us - do I have to be mincing chicken livers every night, do you think?! What do you pointy dog owners do about food?
Oh, and she recommended taking the puppy (IF we are allocated one in due course ) to work with me - actually, I may just be able to swing that one, as I work in a hospice, where dogs are adored, and there is a precedent for small, well-behaved, quiet dogs being under a desk here or there - but how likely is a PUPPY to be in that category do you think?!
Thanks for any thoughts I don't want to be getting in over my head, is the thing!

PS Cinammon - I would totally consider a greyhound - must read up on them too. I would also be very happy with a rescue if we didn't have a cat, and weren't first-time prospective dog owners...

Meerkate, as first time owners, a rescue may be even better for you. The rescue will match you with a suitably compliant dog for your needs, exercise requirements etc. They will also be able to match you up with a cat-friendly dog. The prey drive of a pup cannot always be predicted, whereas it is a much more 'known' quantity in an adult.

I can't imagine trying to train a puppy which is left alone for 2 long days a week, or even that employers would be very impressed by taking a puppy to work with all the time that would mean being distracted from your job. A calm adult on the other hand would probably fit in a dream at a hospice. I believe many greyhounds are used as therapy dogs because of their calm nature. Our older grey x whippet is certainly MUCH calmer than our whippet and would be wonderful in such an environment. Don't be put off my scare-mongering about rescues, there are lots of us on here with rescues who would be able to give a more balanced view.

Magrat I will definitely think about that. I have contacted Evesham Rescue this week about a lovely little female they have there at the moment - they haven't got back to me yet. The thing is, in all my rescue site scouring I have rarely seen cat-friendly dogs advertised! This one says 'no cats' too but they have only had her about three days so I guess they have to start off saying that - surely they can't know for sure?

I too struggle with the idea of taking a puppy to work!! I think we'll quietly draw a veil over that one

I agree that in many ways a rescue would be better for us - I am by no means set on a puppy, nor on a pure whippet by any means.

We'll see if I get a response from Evesham soon...

meerkate I'd avoid a puppy personally if I worked your hours, unless you can make alternative arrangements to have someone with the puppy whilst you are out. An older dog would definitely work better for you. I imagine many of the rescues have been told if the dogs have previously been workers or been cat tested or if they are unsure it's easier to label them no cat friendly rather than run the risk.

cinnamon I'd love to see a pic of the dogs at PR! Sounds fantastic. Where did you get Lola from again?

Why is it that I now see pointies EVERYWHERE!!!!!???

The other charity who can't be bothered to ever get back to me have, however, found the time to send me a round robin email about purchasing Christmas gifts from them or donating. Errr, no thanks. Pfffttt.

meerkate check out Scruples too. They have lots of lovely whippets. They also have a FB page.

I don't know if the still have her but EGLR had a lovely cat friendly dog called Tally. If you call them you're more likely to get a response and the lady I spoke to was lovely.

Scruples still haven't got back to me at all other than to say I was accepted. I emailed twice about dogs I was interested in as requested and heard nothing.

LL had two whippets who were potentially cat friendly but one has stayed with her foster family the other may still be available. They also have Lola who's cat friendly. I was told both were too lively to have with my minded children but may be ok for you.

I got Lola from a local lady peanutpatty. She used to foster for rescues but she didn't agree with some policies so decided to rescue independently. She advertises in other homeless hounds on LL too. I will post a photo later, I took one blurry one but if I post from my phone it changes all my photos to the newest one I've posted for some reason!

Oh that's right. I remember now. Perhaps PM me her name and I will keep an eye out for her hounds as and when they come up. Tally is gorgeous. Shame they say she is too bouncy for children under 8. Look forward to the photo of PR. Would love to do one with a hound.

Have pm'd you and parkrun photo should be there :)

Meerkate - I volunteer for EGLR. Give Pip or Linda a call - that's the best way of getting a result; cat friendly dogs do come up but are v popular. I'm very good friends with their foster co-ordinator - she actually works as the manager of a care home for elderly people and her two lurchers, plus any fosters always come to work with her and are a very much loved part of the home, and doted on by the residents.

Got back safely from a very pointy weekend. It turns out that mistlehound, whilst not the fastest on the track, is actually pretty good at simulated coursing - probably her decent acceleration and then not quite such top speeds meant that she was able to follow the lure better than some faster dogs. She really loved it (she loves the track racing too and I don't mind that she's not the fastest as long as she's enjoying herself).

It was Exceptionally wet on the Sunday morning though, so I was quite glad that she got knocked out relatively soon and I could dry her off and get her coat back on her and get her somewhere that was sheltered and out of the wind. It was a pity it was so bad though because it definitely put people off coming - and there was no opportunity to get the stalls out on Sunday as it was SO wet and windy - opportunity lost there unfortunately.

Mistlehound is managing to go down the garden and sleep and not much else at the moment!

How's Bob settling in TooOld?

It put us off mistlethrush I'm afraid. Two wet dogs and three wet whingy children wasn't appealing :( glad mistlehound enjoyed herself!

I am VERY glad that her coat is nicely waterproof and also warm! I had a towel in my bag and gave her a good rub to try to get as much water off her as possible - but being a slightly shaggy she's still quite damp - but she dried out and was nice and warm when I felt under her coat 30 mins later just to check. I had a spare waterproof in the car, just in case we got too wet - and also picked up a knitted coat for her too on Saturday - you never know when you might need something like that and although she's rough coated, the rough bit isn't really much good at keeping her warm - she sort of has a thin greyhound style coat with fluffy bits on top that don't do much thermally...

Such a shame about the weather.

I think Pip's coat is very similar to Mistlehound's. He is being so pathetic about all this rain. Took me a while to realise he was cold, as the heating is on and I'm fine in tshirt. Found him stood flattening himself against the kitchen radiator, whining. Now he has his Dennis the Menace jumper on (which is of course already too small) and is still sitting pressed up against the radiator.

Lurcherboy just curls himself up into a ball on days like today. Neither of them want to go for a walk. It was all I could do to shove them off the back step to go for a wee.

Lucky really as dd is off sick, so I can't take them till dh gets home this evening anyway.