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.

Oops. Done it. (i think)

Oo, posted too soon. Also check out the websites and FB pages of local branches of Greyhound and Lurcher rescues.

He pinched my sitting-on-floor-leaning-beanbag too the bastard

Sounds like he's already got his paws well and truly under the table!

GRWE, cat trainable whippet x girl on LL.

If anyone's after a real 'looker' Stanley at LL is a lovely dog - I've met him and he's very friendly. I understand that their existing bitch is not happy with him though so he can't stay in his current foster family. Not sure he would be ideal for very young children (although the ones with him at the moment are quite young) as he's very playful and rather young....

He's gorgeous, think I vaguely looked at him. We are definitely set now :)

Been very quiet here! The dogs are definitely getting used to bring out in the dark and getting more adventurous :)

I didn't think that you'd contemplate swapping! And I don't think that he would be ideal given your changing small people situation at your house either. But if someone's looking for a stunning feathered, cream saluki cross he'd fit the bill...

Hi everyone. I'm back fishing for tips again. Really hope I can just be on this thread and just 'talk' soon!

Wanting to get Bob some toys to play with but being new to greys i'm not sure what he'd like .

Would a ball be a good starting point? He likes to eat carrots and ive noticed when he is feeling playful he doesnt eat his carrot but throws it about and catches it iyswim! He has two teddies but just snuggles with these. We havent done much with him as hes so new, just established rules, let him settle etc but hes doing so well I was thinking a couple of toys might be an idea.

While i'm at it with the relentless questions ....may as well ask, what size kong would be best for a grey?

I definitely wouldn't swap and I can see how people end up with 4+ dogs!

My Nelly dog didn't play with anything! She liked to chew rawhide bones but just never played :). We briefly had a greyhound who went mad for balls, he popped all my boys ones so we got him an indestructible ball which he went mad for in the garden. Peanut plays with most things but his favourite is his squeaky ball, he will chase a tennis ball but doesn't pick it up once he gets there. He plays more since we've had Lola though. I think you will just have to see how he reacts, 3 greyhounds and all very different with playing. I got peanut a kong that was within his weight range on the packet :)

Mine doesn't 'get' kongs - and much prefers a ball - but we've had to limit indoor toys to really light ones as she's a really good thrower - and things hit the ceiling / lights / pictures / people.. so they have to be light! She has a couple of squeeky toys that she has had for ages without destroying (much to our amazement). Outside she has a safe stick and we sometimes use a ball flinger to throw a ball for her. She likes a frisbee too - but its getting chewed too much at the moment to use. Most evenings she gets a chew of some sort unless she's not finished the one from the previous night.

Have a ball flinger we kept from last pooch as I couldn't bear to get rid .

Will stock up on chewies tomorrow and need to try a kong to try to head off the SA he is starting to display. Thanks.

Mistlehound is using quite a few of mistledog's things - although the waterproof that amply covered mistledog is at least 3" too short even to be 'the right' length rather than 'ample' on mistlehound... completely different shapes. She uses the same car harness though, and many of the same beds etc. We have got new leads as we normally have her on a slip lead rather than one that clips onto her collar.

We had a large red kong for Lurcherboy, but he couldn't empty it. Pip can though. I think by rights dogs 25kg plus would usually have a large kong, but I'd go for a medium in the first instance and see how he does with it.

I'm thinking about buying one of the kongs for elderly dogs for Lurcherboy, as they're softer, so easier to chomp to squeeze the stuffing out. He doesn't get that you need to chuck it around and bounce it to get the bits out. If Bob is a bit of a thrower already, he might do better, but the large kongs are very heavy even unstuffed, which doesn't exactly encourage picking up and dropping/throwing.

Oldgirl, who was the size of a Border Collie, had one of the giant black indestructable kongs, as she would quickly destroy all the others.

Lurcherboy really doesn't get on with kongs but he loves his treat dispensing ball and busy buddy.

My GH likes a treat ball which she pushes around with her nose to get the treats out (took her a while to catch on), and a kong. She likes soft toys for snuggling with and flinging about in the garden but she doesn't "get" balls or frisbees. She's a lazy so and so with no prey drive so I wasn't surprised she didn't like balls but my DS was rather disappointed!

I refuse to click on the cute doggy links! I can't have another so it's best I don't look.

My beautiful dopey lurcher is in the vets today having a huge gash on her hind leg stitched up :( they said she will probably need a general so she is going to be all mixed up and feeling sorry for herself for the next couple of days. No idea how the gash happened, she is walked off the lead because she needs to run and run and run, she didn't even cry out on the walk, and she's so stoic she didn't even tell me anything was wrong til I saw the blood :(( feel like an awful owner. Haven't posted here before but just wanted some advice on looking after her post op please..

Aw poor poppet. Our first lurchery dog was forever doing that sort of thing - we once didn't notice a 2 way tear on her chest and gave her her dinner - then found it and took her to the vets - who clearly couldn't give her a general after eating, so they trusted what we'd said of her nature, and we held her as she sat and the vet stitched her up with his head in her face... She was very whippety.

Recovery - nice and calm, somewhere she can lie undisturbed, but probably in the same room, chicken seems to be a favoured thing to give them to get them eating again.

I hope your vet is good on pointy hound anaesthetics - there's a link on the Lurcher Link page on recommended anaesthetics for them.

Hello Vanitas, so sorry to hear your girl has injured herself, but please don't blame yourself. They hoon around at such breakneck speeds that cuts etc are really common, even moreso in smooth than rough coated dogs. Hopefully if she was that stoic about the wound, she'll be fine once the effects of the general wear off. My old collie x girl was the same, I never knew she was ill or injured unless I found it as part of a routine check or she got really bad and she always bounced back, even after pretty major surgery.

After a general I think they usually recommend gentle food for a day or so, so things like a bit of scrambled eggs, chicken and rice, white fish. My girl always had to wear the cone of shame, because she was a wound worrier, but Lurcherboy barely glanced at his stitches when he was neutered. There are other collars and options available, including a soft collar and inflatable one and a tights body vest that stops them from being able to turn round and reach the wound - but that one may not work so well with a long backed dog and may also depend on where the wound is.

Let us know how she gets on.

I forgot, I was going suggest joining Lurcher Link and asking on their advice section, as there are lots of very experienced Lurcher owners on there with masses of experience of nursing sick and injured dogs.

Thank you moose and mistle! Same story with noticing the wound, she happily ate all her food, climbed on the sofa, when I got home from work she didn't get down to greet me so I immediately went to see what was wrong, checked her over and found a huge open wound! My exP had walked her and she gave him no clue she was hurt, and it was hidden on the inside of her leg :( she had the cone of shame (she hates it!!) on last night as she would have been licking it constantly, and will have to keep it til the stitches come out I think as she just chews the out other wise.. I tried to explain she definitely wouldn't need general, she will let you do absolutely anything to her and just bury her face in you if it hurts. She's so totally trusting and stoic. I haven't heard yet how it went, I don't want to harass then was they said they would call soon as. I will make her chicken and rice for dinner.. Should the rice be boiled? They said she has to rest for a week, so no running around.. I don't know how she will cope. She has never gone a day without her walk, which involves running so fast and exploring so far that she sometimes needs a rest just to make it back to the car... Any ideas on that?? Thanks for the reassurance :)

If it is anything like any of my previous dogs, you'll have to stick her on a lead even in the garden otherwise she'll hoon around there because she's not getting her walks.

If you haven't got a clicker, now is the time to get one and use her food to have training sessions rather than letting her eat it all out of her bowl - or stick some in a kong with natural yoghurt or peanut butter and freeze it if she likes chewing things - or if its kibble, stick some in a treat ball. Try to get her to use her brain a bit - hide food around the room and get her to search for it all...

Yes, boiled rice.

She's probably going to be exhausted from the stress and will also have a bit of a GA hangover, so missing her walk won't matter at first. After that, mistle's advice about wearing her out mentally is spot on.

I meant to ask if the chicken should be boiled!!! Not sure how else I thought I would cook the rice.. Thanks for the tips, I'll definitely try the frozen Kong treat.. Using the brain may be hard! In some ways she's very intelligent but in others.. We have tried hiding treats in the past but as soon as she can't see it she just looks at you, as if to say... What now?! I will definitely try it. She loves chewing so will do a new toy shop, she takes about ten minutes to destroy toys but they are a very happy ten minutes, and if I buy in bulk she'll be happy for hours!

Aw Vanitas hope she is okay. My GH has pulled a muscle, and also on another occasion cut her leg open tearing around off lead. I too didn't notice at the time that she had cut herself. Like others have said it's quite common.

Def keep her on a lead even in garden. I couldn't live with the cone of shame when ShyDog got spayed so covered her wound if I was leaving her unsupervised rather than using the cone but depends how much you can watch her.