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.

I tried to train Lurcherboy to pull me up hills, but obviously did too good a job teaching him loose lead walking. Which is a shame, as I could really do with a boost up the back of the sandbanks when we're on holiday, but he won't have any of it.

Pip hates mud too. He picks around the edge of it, lifting his little paws up high like a proper wuss.

Bedding - mine are both rough-coated and Lurcherboy has a thick, oily coat, so I guess they're probably quite a bit stinkier than elegant and fragrant greyhounds. They get done about once a fortnight, unless they start to whiff sooner and I decide to sling them in sooner. I add either a sterilising tablet or squirt of simple solution to the load and do them on as hot a wash as possible without ruining them. It tends to be 60 degrees for actual beds/mattresses, but blankets get a boil wash every now and again as well.

I am sitting here sewing an eviscerated fluffy duck back together. It's Pip's favourite toy (he hugs it and uses it as a pillow at night ). He's teething really badly and ds1 managed to help him pull it's leg off earlier, which then led to it being unstuffed. It's particularly gross, because he's teething really badly, so his gums are bleeding and it's a cream duck. The things we do for our dogs ....

Bobby doodle has a big fleecey bed that I sponge wash once a week if muddy and a pile of cheap fleecey blankets that I bung in when I do a cool wash, once every 10 days or so maybe. Dunno if that makes me slovenly

Oh little Pip teething, poor pup!

Just reading about housecoats. Bob has started to get chilly since the nights have turned so much colder so will be measuring him tomorrow and ordering a snuggly house coat.

I managed to sneak a Christmas gnome bandana past DP. Just popped it out of the cupboard as if i'd had it from day one, as I have been known to do with new shoes on occasion

Mistlehound is rough coated too - but not remotely 'oily' - really find shaggy bit and thin greyhound type coat underneath - she doesn't whiff perceptibly and her bedding (including the fleece blankets on the sofa) get done when they need to. I think she might be due a bath - but its certainly not a regular occurrence.

I hope Pip's teeth come through properly soon and he stops being in pain.

How old is Pip now mistle?

Just nosed at your profile mistlethrush, your cakes are outstanding!

Our lovely girl had afab time at the beach -she rolled on a dead seal. i have NEVER smelled anything like it. Had to do an emergency shower as soon as we got in and wash her coat. we had to drive home with all the windows open !

Dogs - don't you just love them!

TooOld - Pip is Moose's puppy. Mistlehound is 3ish - difficult to know given her past.

Pip's 23 weeks old now TooOld. We found one of his lower canines in the middle of the living room floor last night, checked his mouth and sure enough, that was the one that had been bleeding such a lot.

Thank you for the compliment re cakes. I'm very amateur and just do them for the dcs and dh.

Scuttle, gotta love her choice of perfume!

Oh my god.....DH let her out this morning and the back gate wasn't bolted and had blown open in the night!!

Cue half an hour trying to get a dog with no recall back whilst trying not to frighten her towards any roads.

Thankfully she has a preferred toilet place/route that we take her on involving back alleys so she headed there. She stayed near to us but would NOT let us get her collar, or take a treat from my hand.
Eventually after lots of softly softly from me she came close enough for me to get her collar really slowly so she didn't bolt.

Jeez, what a way to start Monday morning. My heart hasn't slowed down yet. DH is at work still feeling sick with guilt as it was him the didn't bolt the gate yesterday.

At least we know she didn't want to peg it miles away from us. She's just so jumpy of any sudden movements and her reactions are so bloody fast!

So glad you managed to get her back!

Moose has a puppy that she's been training to come for treats for a whistle - and you do this to start with in the same room - then move to being in different rooms - then perhaps garden / house etc.

We're really lucky that ours (despite being down as a potential escapologist) doesn't actually want to leave - she got through the gate the neighbour's children left open and was just pootling in the drive and came straight back - and more recently when she decided that she could jump the front gate it was only to get into the front garden (of course, she couldn't get back into the garden when I called her from the back door so I panicked a bit until I saw her waiting the wrong side of the shut gate)

I've tried a bit with the whistle/clicker and she seems frightened of it and then therefore won't take the treat.

I need to start some classes soon, I was waiting for her to settle a bit first but she needs something should an emergency happen again.

I have started blowing the whistle sharply before I give her a dentisick-her fave. I'll carry on with that I think for now.

Could have been so much bloody worse. Just so relieved she didn't head towards the road.

You need to talk to Moose about what are the best treats that will stop her refusing - although I believe liver cake is particularly delicious for pointies... Mine really liked some lamb flapjack she had recently and was certainly verhy attentive when it was in the offing.

Bless you PatTheHammer, that happened to me about 2 weeks after I got my first greyhound. She kept me in sight at all times but didn't get close enough to grab her and she wouldn't come when called, took 2 1/2hrs of me and my parents chasing her around the forest before we managed to corner her! My two love liver cake I make it from TheCunnyFunt's recipe that was linked maybe in an earlier thread. I'm planning to use a whistle for peanut as his recall is great if there's nothing around but he really has so think about what he wants when there's another dog/people to go to and I want him to always choose me and quickly!

Sounds awful scuttlebutter, my friends lurcher ate some of a dead seal and he smelt bad even after a bath! We haven't been to the beach since we got Lola as it's about 1hr 20 mins from us and she's still car sick so we're only doing short journeys. Going to try kwells with her and see, she's so anxious just getting in so we were hoping lots of little journeys would help but it seems we will need to give her something :(

Oh Pat, been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Oldgirl was a bolter and on more than one occasion escaped through a fence panel that had blown down in the night. Next door's garden isn't secure, so she'd be straight through their back fence into the park and off. Poor old dh once ran through the gap into the park in his dressing gown whilst trying to catch her. He caught her, but didn't have a lead and turned round to realise he was standing in front of a load of primary school children and their parents on the way to school, with his dressing gown flying open and his boxers on display! Fortunately they saw the funny side - he didn't though!

At least she didn't go far and although she was cautious, she did want to come back to you - even though it's very early days, so your bond with her is already building strength.

If you want to persevere with the whistle, choose something like three short pips and do them as she eats absolutely anything. The more you do it the more she will become accustomed to the sound and it will get less scary. You are right to desensitise her to the whistle using her favourite treats - other options would be liver-cake (as Mistle mentioned) and things that smell enticing, such as fresh cooked warm meat.

Once she's used to the whistle, start off blowing it at meal times, then gradually start walking away from her with the bowl as you whistle, so she has to come towards you to get her food.

Next step is to do it with something super yummy (nice big pieces of warm cooked meat, sardine or garlic liver cake etc) in various rooms in the house, then the garden, then from room to room, then increasing the distance - you get the idea.

She needs to be classically conditioned to associate the sound of the whistle with food, so she has an instant, unthinking response to get back to you as soon as she hears it.

Intermittently throw in something extra big and yummy, like a whole pouch of fish4dogs mousse or a whole warm/fresh cooked chicken breast instead of just chunks. The intermittent jackpot rewards will increase her keenness.

There is an excellent book you can use to work through a whistle recall programme called Total Recall. I recommend it to everyone.

Cocktail sausages, frankfurters, mature cheddar and liver also huge hits here.

Sorry I had got you mixed up.

The cakes are fabulous moose!

Oh Pat, you must have panicked! What a start to the week as you say. So glad you got her back safely.

Thanks everyone, just about calmed down now!

Thanks for the whistle training tips. I will buy some tasty bits tomorrow and start work. She seems to love cheese and those dog sausages so cocktail sausages will probably be great.

In other news she has finally discovered the sofa....taken her 9 days. She got on it at 6.30 PM and is not moving!
She doesn't seem at all traumatised by the days events. I went to work at 11.30 and got back at 5pm today so slightly different timings for her to cope ( I usually work mornings)with but she has managed fine.

DH is still feeling sick bless him, it's really knocked his confidence with her. He has taken a while to come round to the whole dog thing so I'm hoping it won't put him off as he was starting to bond nicely with her I thought.

Hello pointy hound experts, I wonder if I can consult your collective wisdom...

A friend of mine has a very handsome, large, rescue lurcher. She's had him about 3 or 4 years and I think he was probably about 1 when she got him. He has many lovely characteristics, he's great with kids, small dogs and people he knows and he's very affectionate.

Unfortunately he is developing some problem behaviours. He's always been nervous and easily spooked, he's the kind of dog that will be thrown by a plastic bag blowing or similar.

A while back he was startled when off lead in the park and ragged the person's trouser leg so he always wears a muzzle when off lead in the park but if people get in his space he kind of barges them with the muzzle, there's no growling or barking, he just head butts whatever part of them he can reach.

He is also getting worse with other dogs, small dogs and calm dogs he is fine with, he is really calm and relaxed with my 3 little ones, but dogs he doesn't know, from Springer size up, he has taken to shoulder barging. Again no barking growling or fighting, but tail up, barges then stalks off.

I'm looking after him a bit as my friend has suffered a bereavement but when things have settled down do you think she should see a trainer or a behaviourist? Should she try and find one with sight hound experience? Any recommendations? We're in west London. I think the root of his problems are his nervousness as he's a lovely dog when he's relaxed.

Also he pulls on the lead and has a halti but it doesn't look comfortable, what's the best head collar for a pointy faced dog?

Mothership - I would suggest going onto the LurcherLink forum and getting some very lurcher specific advice - including lurcher-friendly trainer suggestions if necessary.

What Mistle said! I'm not a pointy owner yet but I often cruise LL and it certainly seems to be a great resource.

I can't help either mothershipG sorry.

How about this boy peanutpatty?

Gosh, its been a bit quiet in here!

Had to take mistlehound to the vets this morning - she managed to catch the post on the end of the trellis for the apple tree and ended up in a screaming, quivering state - I ran down the garden in my dressing gown (in the dark) with no shoes on expecting that she'd broken something based on the noise she had made, but it seems as though she's got away, hopefully, with just a deep graze and bruising. The post is another matter - it was an 8' post with 2' dug in - clearly had rotted off quite a bit at ground level, but her catching it broke it off... So lead only exercise today and over the weekend.

Aw, poor mistlehound. Hope she heals quickly and is feeling better really soon.