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.

It was the twats that owned it that were the problem... often similar problems with staffies... and quite a few other types.

Spot on mistle

I hope bob recovers well. I also hope you've reported it to the dog warden.

Grrrrrr! They (the moron owners) should have intervened the first time the dog snapped at Bob and chucked it on a lead and moved hastily on. If they'd behaved considerately straight off....... The fact the dog also bit you is even more reason to report them. Makes my blood boil. Poor Bob!!!! Hope you are ok too.

Oh my god, I totally agree that you need to report. That is an aggressive dog that attacked you and your dog with no provocation.
There is no way that they don't know their dog is like that and therefore the dog should have been on the lead.

Winds me right up

Last week I was chatting to a woman at the edge if the park, both our dogs were on leads. A male dog hurtled over from the opposite side if the park. He sniffed Dee in quite an aggressive manner but she just stands there and doesn't do anything so he moved on to the other dog. She was a bit more nervy so turned her back end away from him. He starts growling and snapping....predictably owner does nothing except feebly calling out. If your dog runs the length of the park at other dogs like that, and not in a playful manner, then why isn't it on a bloody lead?!

I bet the owners of the cairn terrier justify it by saying its a small dog, but causing poor Bob to have stitches is nasty damage

Poor Bob :( I hope he recovers quickly and it doesn't affect how he reacts with other dogs in future. I can believe they saw him snap at Bob and did nothing then blamed it on Bob! I hope you are ok, my friends dog was attacked while my friend was pregnant and she got bitten pretty badly she said she was pulling her dog off the floor trying to get the other dog away as the owner was nowhere to be seen. She had her two year old with her too and when the owner caught up she said it was a shame the dog didn't do more damage and that her sprog wasn't taught a lesson too. Horrible horrible woman, why would you want your dog to hurt small children?

Im fine i had high leg wellies on so it just caught my leg at the top as it jumped, just a scratch really.

Bob seems fine this morning, back to normal and was fine on his morning walk. Same as he always is with other dogs big n small so im mightily relieved it doesnt seem to have affected him in that way. Will be calling the dog warden first thing tomorrow morning.

Just read all your experiences too, makes me so angry. No wonder dog owners get a bad name huh.

Glad Bob seems ok with other dogs and it hasn't knocked his confidence.

Dee just had a fab time at greyhound playgroup this morning. She was allowed 2 off lead runs with a group of 5 other hounds. They were so funny, all excited and chased each other a bit and then they didn't know what to do! They kept just coming back and standing by their owners

In the end I had to run up and down to instigate them running, wow they are bloody fast though! So pleased she came back straight away both times at the end of the session, no fuss with putting the lead on at all. She enjoyed greeting all the other dogs there and seemed really comfortable as they were all pointys like her.

Also may have purchased a nice fleecey house coat and posh kitsch collar

Haha Pat, sounds similar to us, I have to run before Bob will run. Lovely you have houndy friends for your girl, she must love it!

Am also looking at housecoats, quite taken with a festive red one with white collar.

cinnamon Utter utter scum. People like that should not own dogs. I feel utterly sick at that.

Evening everyone - just thought I would introduce myself as a hound lover. I am very excited to have found a like minded group of people.

You've only got 2 whippets and still no room 2Whippets? I know some people that manage 4 lurchers and a greyhound (not sure how)!

Mine just expands to fit the room left on the sofa. Although the other night, her mat was down in 'my' end of the sofa, and I was sitting at 'her' end because DS had been that end and the mat was down... so she got up onto the mat, then squeezed around behind me and settled down in the very tiny gap, still partly behind me. She then has the temerity to complain if you move

Hi 2whippetsnobed. We have a greyhound and a whippet terrier cross. Greyhound has his own sofa and whippet squeezes between dh and I on the other sofa :)

Love the picture of a greyhound with his own sofa, seems so 'right'.

Yep definitely no room in the bed - I have to let dh in too!

It's very quiet here at the moment, hope all hounds and owners are well :)

Mistlehound is doing beside me in her sleep as she has a nice chasey dream. I've never known a dog to have SO many active dreams - she can drop off and go into a dream within 5 mins and can have several sessions of active dreaming in an evening on the sofa - the whole sofa shakes when she really gets going.

We love watching them dream it's so lovely! Peanut talks as well as running in his dreams :)

Mistlehound occasionally wakes me up having a howl in a dream in the middle of the night....

Dee is a very active dreamer too, whines, talks and runs. Tail twitches and does weird suckling type noises as well. This happens EVERY evening. Its very funny, they seem all embarrassed if they wake up during it too.

My whippets don't often have active dreams. The older one will sometimes run in his sleep (legs going on his side like a derailed train) but the baby just snores and they both humphf if you have to make space on the bed/sofa for a person.

No1 whippy went for a naughty run this morning. He escaped when the dcs opened the door for school and shot across the green in front of our house. Wouldn't come back so I had to lock up and take the dcs to school. When I came home (only out for 5 mins) there he was pleased as anything to see me and running across the grass to meet me!
He is a bit of a bugger for not coming when called even after months of recall practise.

Anyone else's hounds struggle with recall?

Hi - I wondered if anyone can give me some advice about muzzles. I have a gorgeous small (22" tts) rough coated lurcher. We've had her about 10 months. We got her from rescue when she was 3. She is a fantastic dog for our family and is a typical couch-potato who loves tummy-rubs and doesn't really cause any bother in the house.

However, we don't know her history. she does have the odd growl at strangers when they pet her. And it is difficult because when people come in our house, she goes bounding up to people and looks all sweet and lovely and confident, inviting attention. We advise people not to stroke her and wait until she's become used to their presence. Then she's usally okay.

Over christmas we are staying with family that she is familiar with. But there will be a young toddler present. I imagine the toddler is going to be very interested in the dog and want to go up to her all the time. For our peace of mind I am considering getting a muzzle for our dog to put on during parts of the day when the toddler and dog are in the same room. The only other alternative is to keep the dog shut away, but as we will be there 3 days, I wonder if it is kinder to let her have freedom and muzzle her.

What are your thoughts? Is this an odd or sensible thing to do? If I muzzle her, I would still be with her and I would feed her lots of treats whilst she is wearing it.

I think it is very responsible to consider muzzling her if there is an unknown toddler present - they can be very scary to dogs and the last thing you want is an accident to happen.

I would be going for one of these - I use one of the greyhound racing ones for mine when we're racing or coursing. You might want to get one of the coloured ones with the padding on the top of the nose if she's going to be in it for any length of time. Get her used to wearing it - smear the inside with cream cheese or peanut butter and let her stick her nose in to lick it off, when you do start putting it on her, feed her in it. She will be able to eat treats and drink whilst wearing it. (Some dogs even manage to pick up tennis balls whilst wearing it too!)

Alternatively if you're anywhere near Yorkshire, there's lurcher racing at the Askern Greyhound stadium (near Doncaster) on Saturday 14th. Its very informal and lots of fun. Anyone feel free to pm me for more info - greyhounds would be welcome I am sure - there was an Afghan at the last one, and there's usually at least one whippet race and a terrier mob.

My greyhound wears a muzzle when I have several older children in my house. He is usually fine but he has got a bit snappy in the past when they get very loud/squeaky. I really don't like it because of the image it gives but having had him nip a child it's better than the possible alternative! He drinks through his and can have treats but I have to take it off for him to eat, although he can carry soft toys around with it on. His is a plastic one with padding on the top, he rubs it around the room for a minute or so and then settles but happily lets me put it on.

I think it would be a good idea to make sure the parents are on the same page as you about their child being respectful to your dog too. Even with a muzzle on your dog could have a negative experience if she's harrassed for 3 days by a toddler.

Good idea to muzzle with strange children in the house I think. We are visting my mother xmas eve to boxing day and my nephew who is just over 2 will be there on xmas day.
I have two other nephews (3 and 4) who are visiting in the morning. I'm going to get Dee to wear her muzzle as although all the boys have their own dogs and are used to dogs, kids are very unpredictable!
She has never once appeared to be growly or snappy, in fact she seems to prefer children to adults, but I just don't want to chance it in case she feels threatened at any stage. After all, she will be in a strange environment at DMs house anyway.

Right, recall question. We are getting to the stage where she will reliably recall using the whistle in the house and garden. She also responds to the whistle straight away on the training lead (about 2M lead not a massive one). After the way she responded last sunday at the playgroup we would like to try outdoor recall soon.

My question is where did you do recall training with your hounds outdoors for the first time? I have a couple of locations in mind that are pretty secure and quite a way away from any main roads etc. 3 of them are fields that are fenced and/or bordered by water (which she has shown no interest in). Would we be better off using somewhere smaller like a fenced in basketball court or tennis court to start off with?

I don't fancy chasing her round one of the fields, its probably the safest in terms of she can't get out, but its also massive!