Are you a Greyhound, Whippet or Lurcher owner? Come and have a seat on another new pointy hounds cushion!

[WhenSantaGotStuckUpACunnyFunt]

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
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.

TooOld I think you are being responsible! You are acting on his behaviour, getting advice, putting advice into action. It's a bit like starting a new job. You can't be expected to know all the policies and procedures right away. Probation periods are usually 3-6months for a reason. Similar with horses. It's commonly said that you never really know the horse until you've had him/her for all four seasons. Different weather can bring different behaviours. TooOld it would be wonderful if more dog owners had your attitude and approach.

Has he come from a kennel only background TooOldForGlitter? Sorry I can't remember . If that's the case then he's already come so far to have settled into your home. He's a dog and I think we have to remember that sometimes too. We love them so much and they're a big part of the family but do work differently to us and barking is a way of communicating! I often tell one of my minded little boys it's just the dogs talking to each other as any barking frightens him.

Thanks you guys

Cinnamon yes he had a kennel background. He only finished racing in June/July of last year and was then straight into a foster home with 2/3 other GHs.

Posted too soon (am at work trying to hide my screen!)

He was in foster in a very large house where everyone, even the "kids" was aged 20+, then he came to us on 12 October.

Peanut hadn't been in a house since he was 9 weeks old! I also agree a bark and running is pretty positive really. When peanut bit my minded little girl he was in the kitchen with me, heard her jumping around squealing and ran into the living room to bite her :(

I'm taking Lola to the vets tomorrow for the first time so I'm expecting the hassle to have her neutered ASAP. I just want worming tablets and flea treatment so we're going to a nurses clinic with no consultation fee. I'm amazed my mums puppy is being done at 16 weeks, they've terrified her with fears of cancer and she's said yes.

We were hassled and hassled and I used to smile and nod then "forget" to book her in. I booked her in when she was 3.5yo.

Cinnamon - 16weeks is so young!

Can I jump in here. I was planning on speying my whippet pup at 5/6 months. Is this not correct?

Monkeyface - spaying is definitely the way forward, but I have seen quite a few people advocating leaving it until they are a bit more mature - and there are various thoughts on how mature too. If she does have a season though, you will of course need to be very careful with her!

The vet nurse I saw today said they don't mature anymore after their first season which is blatantly not true! But she did say each season increases their change of mammory tumors. I feel I need to read more, I'm afraid I dont trust the vet to do things for the right reasons. The individuals may have fifteen ideas but I feel they push what the company wants. I don't understand why we need to vaccinate annually when children are jabbed and we are immune for life. I recently read an article suggesting reducing vaccinations to 3 yearly, which made interesting reading. As a responsible owner you never want to put yor animals at risk of anything but when Their care is highly profit driven it makes it very difficult at times I think.

Different not fifteen ideas!

Cinnamon - interesting discussions on the LL forum on both topics. And worming.

Thanks mistlethrush, I've had a look but not managed to find a lot, guessing I'm just not great a navigating LL.

Sorry I've been absent again. Haven't been well, which made catching up on the thread difficult and then it dropped of my Thread's I'm on Page.

TooOld, sorry to hear how worried you are, but agree with others. A warning bark, then removing himself from the situation represents a very good decision on his part and is definitely an improvement from when he nipped dd. I would keep him completely separate when you have children visiting too. We had a extremely fear aggressive (people and dogs) large breed years ago. To begin with we used to put him upstairs when we had visitors, then eventually we bought a really expensive outdoor kennel and run. He only ever went in it for an hour or two when people were visiting, but it meant that he was relaxed and felt safe and the same could be said for our visitors.

Spaying - it is true that each season increases the potential for mammary cancers in later life. Most vets seem to be recommending around 6 months for bitches at the moment and I have had a few of my girls done at that age with no problems at all. Interestingly the only one that did a develop mammary tumour was the one who was spayed after her first season (on veterinary advice at the time).

Cinnamon, if you have pet insurance it will be invalidated if you don't follow a standard, regular worming and vaccination schedule - so that's something to consider. It does annoy me, because more and more people are having worm counts done privately and discovering there's no need for worming to be as regular and there are vets and even veterinary bodies now pushing for less frequent vaccinations as well, but having spent close to £5,000 in vet bills this year I feel like we have to jump through the necessary hoops to keep our pet insurance from now on.

Mistle, am about to pm you.

I don't know enough about animal physiology to know why a vaccination would be life long for a human but not for a cat/dog, assume immune systems are similar amounst mammals. Glad to hear there are vets questioning it though. Will have to check my insurance policy, dogs up to date with vaccines and worming but I've been a bit slacker with the cats recently after vet wanting very expensive treatment for my seemly well cat who has remained well having not had treatment! Two of my cats are very old and I'm considering cancelling insurance for them as we've said we wouldn't have any major treatment done anyway! Wormed Lola today, love giving dogs tablets- stick them in peanut butter and they're gone! Cats oh my goodness, I find them several hours later stuck in the carpet quite often!!!!!

Hi Moose! Hope you feeling better.

I didn't realise you could get dog worm counts done. Interesting.

Those who've had home checks please can you tell me what to expect?

Cinnamon our elderly cat doesn't have insurance now. Nobody will touch him now he's in his late teens.

Ours are insured as long as we don't move companies! Home check- chat about you and your family, while ticking a sheet and a few notes made :)

Hi everyone, Scuttlebutter invited me over to your thread as myself and my DH are thinking of adopting a greyhound.

We are moving from a flat into a house with a garden and thought that once we are settled in would be good to look into getting a pet. I am a SAHM with an 8 month old DS and my DH works full time.

I would be picking up the bulk of the dog care with DH helping me out on weekends but I don't mind that and have lots of places where I live to walk a dog.

I have also found a rescue local to where we live that arranges walking groups so thought I could start going along and walking some of their dogs and seeing how we get on as I will need to be able to walk the dog and have my son with me.

From the reading that I have done I thought a greyhound would be a good choice for us as a family - what do you all think??

Each season does increase the risk of mammary cancer in later life subject of my final year research paper many moons ago Virtually nil if spayed before first season, risk increases with each season, you lose the protective effect of spaying wrt mammary cancer after 3-4 seasons (though still prevents unwanted pregnancy, false pregnancy, pyometra and ovarian/uterine cancers)
There are pros and cons of spaying at 6 months ish and allowing the bitch to have a season - we discuss on a case by case basis. Large breeds are less likely to have urinary incontinence if they are allowed to have a season, which in most cases outweighs the hassle of getting them safely through a season without being mated.
Most vets are now aiming at "vaccinating more pets, less often" and vaccination schedules only repeat the killed vaccines (lepto and parainfluenza) annually, with parvo, distemper and hepatitis (live vaccine components) every 3rd year. There are a lot of unvaccinated pets out there, no where near enough vaccinated animals to give any sort of 'herd immunity' and pretty regular outbreaks of parvo in particular.
It is a fallacy that human vaccinations give lifelong immunity. The NHS tries to give cover to high risk groups (the young, the immunocompromised) and balances that against the cost implications of vaccinating the entire population. Hence flu vaccines every year, but trying to get >90% coverage of children for the childhood illnesses, but repeating them for pregnant women etc.
It's possible to get blood antibody levels measured for parvo etc before revaccination, though likely to be more expensive to organise than a booster jab.

Hi Miggs - I've never had a greyhound - I've got a lurcher now (although I think there's a fair bit of greyhound in her as she's not got that much between the ears)(apologies to any greyhound owners ). In terms of my dog, I love the fact that she will take as much exercise as you can throw at her (think 16 hrs on the go with short breaks for meals) but will also cope on 1.5 - 2hrs and sleep the rest of the time if that's on the agenda. And she'll switch from one to the other without an issue. Mine wants to be everyone's friend. And can take anything between 1/3 and all of the 3 seater sofa....

My last dog was a permanent fixture when we brought DS home (I was walking her until the day before he arrived) and soon got to go out with the buggy without any issue - DS loved watching her chase after her frisbee and retrieve it. We think she had about 1/8 greyhound and goodness knows what else.

Mistlehound has visited a dog osteopath whilst we had the opportunity as I was travelling down to stay with my parents down south to go to a funeral - he dealt with the areas I knew were a problem in her back - then thought he was done but just checked her neck and found an old stiffness there that he said might have been the thing causing the problems in her back - so I'm going to look at all his recommended 'maintenance' exercises you can do with your dog and follow them. She can now stretch without her back 'twinging' the muscles (you could see a slight twinge) and she seems more inclined to run more of the time.

Hi Miggs28, I have a greyhound and a whippet x. They greyhound is certainly easier to walk with a pushchair. I have a mummy clip and I just clip his lead to that and he trots along next to me. My previous greyhound was the same but she got quite lazy in her old age and wouldn't walk very far. Peanut has improved his stamina and is happy on 6 mile runs but equally happy with two 30min walks a day. I think they are perfect family pets, very affectionate, don't require lots of long walks and are pretty chilled out most of the time. If you read up thread you will see they're not always perfect with children but then all dogs of one breed will never be the same. They only thing I would say about greyhound is they are often very food orientated so you will have to vigilant with your little one with food. I also have a greyhound proof bin (tried several until I found one she could get into!). House training my first was easy she got it straight away but peanut was a bit more of a challenge, he's got it now though que a puddle on the carpet in the next hour or so!.

Thanks for your input bakingtins!

Thank you for the feedback. I think we will be as careful as we can be when we look to rehome and hopefully we will be able to visit a centre a few times to get to know the different dogs there as well as possible.

I do think a greyhound would be a good choice for us as a family and i would so love for my DS to grow up with a pet in the house so he can begin to learn the importance of caring for an animal from an early age.

Lola is definitely not a morning dog! The last few days it's been much more noticeable, she does a wee and a poo and turns around to go home. Once she's out she'll walk happily but as soon as we get home she belts upstairs and gets in our bed! She's just come down now for the first time :)

Ours goes out when I get up then goes back to bed - normally on the sofa. However, if I go upstairs to have a shower, she joins me and lies on the hard floor, just so that she can be with me She is happy to go out asap though - and will carry on without additional sleeping time until the next opportunity if given the chance.

Dh is usually still in our room when I get in and I go up too. SHe will dig herself a little nest between the top of the duvet and dh's pillow. Sometimes I have to call her several times to get to come down but because I start work at 7.30 they need to go out before. I do sometimes take them out with my minded children later in the morning too but I wouldn't want the pressure of doing it everyday.