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.

I totally understand that and it's so hard not to be able to have all of the children you want to, whether it be 1, 2 or 6! Whether you chose it or not I think it's a shame a family can't be a group of people who are together in whatever way rather than a predecided perfect package, considering society in general!

Off to bed now and look forward to the photos of new doggies :)

And definitely don't want to fall out about it either :)

Deerhound x sounds like a lovely scruffy hound Meg

Wrt walking separately I don't mean everyday. I just mean if I want to do a bit of training one on one with BlueBoy or when we start taking him running with us .

We get four weeks free insurance with PP so we may continue with that. We also get some of his current food which we will then ditch probably and move him on to raw. Anyone else got a lurcher on raw?

The rescue haven't got back to me with measurements yet so I can't order any coats. All he comes with is a muzzle which he hates wearing, I was thinking short periods of time indoors with it on.

Apologies in advance for the questions:
How do we get him used to the muzzle?
What collars do I need?
Is a harness preferable to a collar?
What coats?
Any recommendations on raided feeders?

Thank you all so much in advance and I'm sure these questions have been asked and answered a million times before so thank you again.

I think there might be some deerhound in mistlehound.. she's just so long and so solid compared to lots.... But she's not that big, so it might just be bedlington.

We have mistlehound in a martingale collar... there's lots of choice. But we use a slip lead rather than putting a lead on it. We have a tag collar for inside that is fixed length and means she doesn't need a big collar on all the time.

Muzzles - ours only wears hers for racing as she doesn't need to wear it regularly. She doesn't care about having it becuase it means its going to be her turn soon. Getting used to muzzles - peanut butter smeared on the inside is a good start... and make sure that its associated with good things - I wouldn't put it on in the house - I would put it on for walks if you are required to and he will start to associate it with that - the box muzzles that LL have are good because there's plenty of room for panting, they can eat treats through the holes, and on some of them, the colours make them look less threatening!

Coats - we've got a really tough waterproof made to measure from LL. We're going to get a fleece - I think we'll go for an equifleece - she only needs it when its really cold to mainly keep her undercarriage warmer as she has very thin hair underneath despite the scruff on the top.

I'm tempted by the milgi waterproofs for when its raining in the summer!

I've only muzzled greyhounds and they're so used to them, peanut runs his around the furniture for a few mins but then settles. Is there any particular reason you're muzzling him or just until you know him a bit better?

Mine both have a house collar with their tag on that they wear all the time and then a martingale when they're on a lead. They are matching and made by dog o nine tails on fb. They have harnesses and a double line for when we're running and I have a single line for when I only take Lola. You may fine your pooch is keener to run with you with a doggy buddy :)

Mine don't have coats, I've ordered Lola a Milgi raincoat as she really hates the rain but it hasn't arrived yet :)

Muzzled on walks until we get to know him and if we want to go to Askern then he won't be able to run without one. He spent the beginning of meet and greet walk pawing his face to get the muzzle off so it was taken off as we were getting nowhere fast.

As we will need to exercise him on a long line to start with we will need a harness I think.

I like the Equafleeces too. My horse has one of their exercise sheets. Pricey but a worthwhile investment. Good thing about them is they are also waterproof so might be a good versatile item on cold wet days as well as winter ones.

Do you all have raided feeders?

I assume raised feeders? And no I don't.

I've never muzzled mine while walking in a lead but that's a personal preference. Presumably as they're sending him to live with another dog he must be good with other dogs and you will be keeping him closeish in the beginning but it has to be your call. I walk in a forest and often don't see others and if I do have time to get mine on a short lead, particularly Lola as she loves to jump on everyone when she's them.

Meant to say obviously your call and you have to be comfortable and definitely worth trying mistlethrush's recommendation of peanut butter.

Welcome Meg, tell us all about your new Lurcher.

I have two, Lurcherboy (not his real name obviously) who is 8 and came from Lurcher Link. He's Saluki/Deerhound x Small Grey or Whippet/Border Collie and only 24" to the shoulder, but very solidly built. He's a grey/blonde brindle and really scruffy.

The other one is Pip, who is 8, oops sorry, 9 months old today and was rescued at less than 24 hours old, when he was found in the gutter at the side of the road with his sister. He's got a fair bit of Saluki in him and is very svelte and streamlined, but also has something scruffy involved most probably a bit of collie and a bit of terrier. He's a real bitza Lurcher really.

Peanut someone was asking about muzzles on the Berrow Beach Walk thread in chat on LL earlier this week. Someone said they take better to the very lightweight racing muzzles. If you pm Fi (Sir Lurcherlot) on there with your dog's measurements she will help you pick the right muzzle for him.

Lurcherboy was fed raw for years, but is back on kibble now as we no longer have freezer space and have lost the local supplier that used to keep our stuff in his freezers instead.

Lurcherboy has a celtic leather fishtail collar from barefoot leather. He has the dark brown one and it seems to look better the older it gets. Pip has a normal house collar with a tag-slider sewn in and id-tag that says he's chipped.

Both dogs are walked on harnesses. My favourite is Pip's which is the Perfect Fit, front clip harness as it's fleece lined, great for loose lead walking when used on the front clip and you can buy the individual pieces to ensure you get exactly the right fit for your dog. Their customer service are second to none and if you find what you've ordered doesn't fit, they'll talk it through with you and send out an alternative, before you've returned the first one, so you're not left without a harness. It's been ideal for Pip as we've gradually changed the pieces as he's grown and his body shape has changed. He started on an XS front piece and is now on a S, had gone from an XS to a S to a M girth and now needs a new shoulder piece in a M as well. It would have cost us a fortune to get a new harness every time he grew, but it's only cost £10 a time to change the piece he needed instead.

Neither of mine are muzzled, but I have had them both from pups and know their temperament. If Pip ever gets to the stage where he actually wants to run free with other dogs, I may get him one, as he's a typical Lurcher bum and neck nipper when chasing.

He has a gorgeous Milgi coat for bedtime, but we've been buying our walking out coats off a lady on ebay, who turns them round in 24 hours and is pretty cheap, as we've had to keep buying new ones as he grows. He's a scruffy, but similar to Mistlehound, as he's very fine coated and has almost no cover on his legs and stomach. I forgot his coat when we took him out last weekend and the poor thing was shivering really badly. I think we'll get him a raincoat for the spring/summer as I don't think he'll need a warmer coat then, but he's most definitely not waterproof.

Hi all :)

He is 18 months old, dark grey and rather scruffy, very hairy and seems totally chilled out :)

I was wondering about muzzles, and if it might be a good idea to get him one for walks until we know him better. Also very interested in harnesses.

My harnesses are from kisi she takes a photo and measurements from four different areas and makes a harness to fit at no extra coat to standard ones.

We kept mistlehound on a 2m lead on a harness for the first 2 months... that was while we were fostering her - and was a requirement of fostering - but it also meant that she had really bonded with us by the time we did let her off - because we had her on a harness and short lead we did not need a muzzle until we raced at Askern - and we had help in getting the right muzzle fitted when we got there.

Cmotdog has a house collar for his tag, and a selection of martingale collars for walks. I run with him in a harness and a 2m lead rein.
For coats he has Blizzard waterproof/ sherpa fleece lined ones, a red Milgi fleece, and a MeggieMoo jumper.

Any tips for his first few days home with us? I've read various opinions on where he should sleep, for example - in our room, outside our room, in the kitchen, in a shut crate... what would other people do to start with? He is in theory house trained but came from travellers so sleeping in a house might be new to him!

I guess the question is, where would you like him to sleep long term? I wasn't keen on the idea of a crate, but with the cats it seemed like a good idea at first to have cmotdog safely away from them at night and its worked out well long term that at night and when we aren't in he is safely contained and snoring. I wouldn't trust him in a kitchen at all.

Ours is a failed hare courser who was with the travellers, but he settled really fast. No prey drive, so we haven't muzzled, but he didn't go off lead for some time as we needed to establish recall

CMOT can you tell me how you managed the whole recall business?

I'd say start out as you mean to go on. Ours sleep upstairs but not on our bed and that's what we did on the first night. They were both very easy, although Lola had a crate when we got her so she slept the first few nights in our room (dh carried it up and down every day). When we got rid of it we just put her bed in the same place and she stayed on it. Our previous greyhound had slept in the shower room next to our room, peanut cried the first night for about 4 hrs on and off until we put his bed next to our bed, he settled down and slept all night. We didn't feel strongly about him being in shower room but if he'd been jumping all over us at night I may have persisted :)

Fortunatly, cmotdog is v food orientated. So a gundog whistle (we actually have 3 all of the same frequency so its easy to find one), and lovely smelly treats. We started off in the house, call him across the room, then from upstairs. Then outside in quiet distraction free places and so on.
When we are going out, he gets a good treat before he goes off lead to remind him of whats in my pocket.

He loves stinky sausage, so I use Lidl chorizo which goes a long way and doesn't go vile in your pocket if forgotten.

Mistlehound wasn't housetrained (at all) when we got her - she thought that inside was where you did things. We think she was a failed worker - so had lived in a barn or a shed.

The first night we tried to leave her in the kitchen. I got up at 1 to take her out (again)(on a lunge rein) and cleaned up the kitchen. I left her again - but she started coming out with funny little high pitched woofs - clearly very unsettled (we'd not heard a squeek from her before then) - and I gave up and took her upstairs - she bounced on DS first (8' jump from doorway to DS in one) then jumped on DH (12' bounce from the door) and was removed and put on the mat that she had been sitting on a lot, right next to me - to start with I kept a hand on her until she settled. She had gone from a situation where she had been in a barn with a lot of other dogs - and another dog in the pen with her - and probably a group of dogs before that - to a house on her own as an only dog so perhaps her need to be with her people wasn't surprising.

Gradually her bed has moved from right next to me to a more convenient location in the room. Sometimes she doesn't come up to bed immediately and stays on the sofa, but normally comes up during the night. Sometimes she tells me its bedtime and goes first. About twice since we have had her she has stayed downstairs on her own!

Recall - ours stayed on the lead for nearly 2 months, then was left off the first time in very controlled circumstances - beach with cliffs on one side and not too many people! We only let her off to start with in selected locations where we had a good hope of getting her back - but we soon found that she had bonded well with us and wanted to stay with us - we rarely call her and expect her to keep tabs on us: we have lurcher bells for when she's busy in the dunes - again we don't call her and expect her to keep tabs on where we are - but she's pretty good with that - perhaps her 3 sessions in the pound meant that she doesn't want to try it again.

I think peanut was similar mistlethrush, in that he'd always had a kennel mate and loads of dogs in kennels all around and was then an only dog. He followed everywhere the first two months!

We've been for a run tonight, 6 dogs and 8 people in the dark along lots of cycle routes. They run so well together now, we kept them on the leads tonight and the stick together through the narrow bits. My friend and I are doing a half marathon with the dogs in may, she's done it before with her dog and said there's lots of drinking places for the dogs and Lola will easily run 13 miles.

I can't imagine doing a half with mine Cinnamon. Not the distance, obv, but just the 'hello! you run!, oooh, you wear running shoes!' constant excitement level of a big event.

I think mistlehound would be fine - the problem would be me!!!

I can now walk consistently so that mistlehound has to 'trot' rather than do any walking - this is a fairly fast pace! If I was to run she would simply lengthen her stride. Because of that I think that she would settle down to run very easily if she had anyone to run alongside!!!

Lola is so focused when running, she will do a parkrun now without stopping to sniff, wee or jump at another person. My friends Lola barks a lot at the start of parkrun and loves to be at the front!!

I did a hm yesterday and it did thin out pretty quickly and at some points I couldn't see anyone else!

I've been overtaken by a speed walker at training mistlethrush!!! It is so annoying when I'm trying hard me they are making no effort to keep up but when you see them belt off together down the forest tracks you can see why my pace is so gentle for them.