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.

haha that sounds perfect so do you think that perhaps a greyhound wouldnt quite fit the bill? perhaps i should contact hounds first or evesham lurcher rescue?

Both EGLR and Hounds First are highly reputable rescues - I know people who are involved with both, and I volunteer for EGLR in a small way. You will be in very safe hands with both of them.

A greyhound (especially a younger one) can cope with a surprising amount - it very much depends on the dog. I know plenty of greys who go running with their owners, cope with boisterous DC etc, though by nature most are laid back, and are not going to be climbing the walls if they haven't had at least 3 hrs of agility like a collie. How can I put this nicely as well? Erm, they are not the brightest of dogs, bless them. Ours can cope with basic obedience classes and we do fun agility at sighthound playgroup but they are mentally knackered afterwards and when training, it doesn't take much to fill their brains up. However, they are laid back, adorable, astonishing to watch when running (there really is nothing like it) and remarkably healthy and long lived. I wouldn't describe them as fragile - I know masses of senior hounds and a lifespan of up to 14/15 is quite common. Skinny, yes. Needing a coat when it's cold, yes. Absolute divas - YES!

With lurchers, a lot depends on the cross - and this is where a good rescue like EGLR will be able to steer you, after finding out about your family and activities. Both rescues often have puppies, so you could even end up with one.

EGLR have pretty much entirely lurchers - of a wonderful variety. Their website allows you to search by suitability with DC, and the rescue also makes sure that most of their dogs have been in foster so have very thorough assessments.

HF have a wide selection of both lurchers and greys and whippety hounds, as well as Salukis and their crosses. Again, let them steer you to the right dog for you - the right pointy will be out there.

My only warning will be that one pointy is rarely enough - they are curiously addictive. We started with one, and now have four!

Good luck.

My lurcher managed to knock a 4x4" post (standard fence post type) with her knee and broke it off at ground level. There was screaming - but nothing was broken although she was a bit bruised and grazed! We think ours is at least 50% greyhound - there really isn't much between the ears, but we didn't get her to be the most intelligent dog - indeed, having had a collie cross, something less intelligent is beneficial! Having said that, a collie / greyhound lurcher might be just about right as long as you didn't get all the collie brain. LurcherLink are also another lurcher rescue (they do have one non-lurcher accidentally) - HoundsFirst and EGLR also good. LL would not let you take a dog home that wasn't suitable for your circumstances - we were offered the choice of two out of the 30 or so on their books at the time.

We are restricting ourselves to one at the moment... two would be nice though.

thanks for the advice i think i will see how we get on on sunday as it stands the place we are going have no cat safe greys at the moment but are aware that this is what we need but hey are more than happy for us to come up and take a few dogs out walking with dc's and impart their knowledge onto us after this dh and i will sit down and chew the cud as it were. I am secretly very happy that iv got him this far i may just e-mail evesham and houndsfirst in the mean time though sneaky sneaky

I think a lot depends on what they've been used to too. I take my greyhound running and when I first got him he was totally exhausted running 4 miles, now he can do 6 miles with a reasonable amount off lead so he's actually done a lot more than me and he's done it at fast pace. Walks wise he will happily do 2 hours walking, he is only 3 this month though so quite young. He is pretty tough really but is quite wussy with it, he's been knocked off his feet by my whippet x and not made a sound but ds1 stood on his feet the other day or he gets a beechnut between his pads and he squeals so loud!
My whippet x is rock hard though, she runs into stuff, gets knocked flying etc and jumps up and carries on! She will literally go forever, whether it's running or walking. She's slightly more intelligent than our greyhound, totally agree with scuttlebutter on the subject of brain size, but still doesn't need masses of mental stimulation.

Hi all, hope all the pointies are doing well :) Jack is settling in brilliantly, it's hard to imagine the house without him already. I am taking him to work for the first time next week! Eek! Cats, he is a rescue and has been a brilliant addition to the household. He loves going on long walks although slows down considerably after the first half hour or so (so do I!)

Does anyone else's hound not sit at all? Jack is either standing or horizontal, I felt like a failure at his first training class because I just could not get him to sit.

Sorry MegBusset I forget what Jack is . Lola sits no problems but peanut won't, it's supposed to be very uncomfortable for greyhounds to sit but some do :)

I've come home to find the remains of a loaf of wholemeal bread and it's plastic wrapping in the dog's bed. All because MrPP was in a rush and didn't put it back in the bread bin. His defence was that he had pushed it to the back of the counter....... Blue was the culprit. The evidence stuck to his tum gave him away eg a small piece of the plastic from the bag. It's a combination of funny, not funny and down right annoying. I'm not mad at Blue. He is an opportunist and MrPP gave him an opportunity.

Blue sits. Even on walks. Not sure if it's cos he's had enough or needs a breather!

Hi All,

just to let you know there is a Hound walk in Silverdale tomorrow at 10.45, meeting in the carpark at the bottom of Shore Road if any of you are interested www.facebook.com/groups/629580777077461/

Jack's a lurcher/deerhound x. Very long legs and a bony bum! He likes to be sprawled over as large a space as possible.

Dee only sits up when on the sofa and she wants to look out of the window. Greyhounds have an array of other poses I find.....but her favourite ones involve lying down to some degree!

She's in a mood with me today as I've put her fave blanket in the wash, it started off as a soft throw on the sofa that my MIL bought us. She's gradually adopted it and ruined it so now it's a skanky dog blanket. It did really stink so I've had to wash it, I've rotated a put two of her fleecy blankets on the sofa but she's ignoring them.

Scuttle mentioned hounds first earlier, does anyone else follow them on FB? There is the heart-breaking story of Stanley on there at the moment. I was actually weeping when I read his diagnosis the other day. So glad that he will live out his days in a happy and caring foster home though.

Lol at Blue the bread thief......our labs used to do that, worse was they buried part of the loaves (usually frozen ones my mum had got out to defrost) in the garden and then they would bring dirty big bits of it in every now and again

Love reading all the stories!

My lurcher pup keeps sneaking her kong outside and burying it. She has 2, both are buried. Can't find them, so annoying!

I've had to issue a standard NO FOOD EVER to be left out now. I realised I had left a box of muesli out. It has raisins in it.

Had a lovely evening walk with the dogs. Pooch was a good girl. Blue actually started off the walk wagging his tail which is a first! I was doing some "ready steady GO" with Pooch as I'd forgotten treats so had to resort to being fun and rewarding with cuddles. Well it seems Pooch is not allowed cuddles with out Blue muscling in on it. Made me laugh. Also nearly had me over on my arse too due to his exuberance at being cuddled and scratched. Also seems he is a fan of "ready steady GO" too. He was on springs! Pinging along and launching into an easy bouncy canter. Was lovely to see!

Then we came home to find Miaow in the kitchen. Fortunately Blue had his muzzle on. First off he sweetly sniffed. Sniffed a bit more. Then air snapped. Not sure if intention was to maim/murder/scare the cat but its made me question his cat friendly/trainability.

A friend of mine has a bull Lurcher and a new Lurcher pup. Thinking that once Blue is off lead that I might arrange a play date. This excites me and equally terrifies me!

Fiscal, we too had a kong. Think Pooch must have buried it too. Can't find it anywhere.

Pat, most of Blue's hours are passed flat out or curled up. If I cover him with a towel he stretches right out. Really should get him a housecoat.

Yes to HF on FB. So sad about lovely Stanley.

I decided to take Lola to parkrun today and dh said peanut cried for ages and wouldn't lay down at all! I feel bad taking only her but can't take both now and I need to get her used to a race start for our half marathon in may. They had been for their normal walk before, assuming it was her he was crying for.

Sounds good peanutpatty! It's so hard to remember always with food, peanut is tall but not sneaky but Lola is much brighter than him! If we don't shut the kitchen door properly, so it latches, she will open the door.

Poor Peanut! Can you give him a special kong for occasions like PR? How did you do? I'd love for Blue to enjoy running. I might give him another try and see what happens.

He wasn't alone though, dh and the boys were home and tried to engage with him :(. Slow but I had a sickness bug Thursday so didn't want to push myself too hard! My pb of my home course is 26:08 and we did 28:08 :) beautiful morning!

Our two collie crosses used to love racing - but you had to start them off together with 'one two three GO!!' and they'd tear off growling at each other.

Mistlehound has had a number of things in the kitchen... the worst was a cheesecake which was waiting for DS to finish his first course and have a slice for his birthday....

OK so I am trying to order a Perfect Fit harness from here but really confused by the sizing. Jack's girth is 72.5cm but that's as far as I can get! If anyone's bought stuff from them can you help me work out which size he needs?

(This is a matter of some urgency since we found out today he can slip out of his rubbish Pets At Home harness, when he appeared next to DH in Sainsbury's )

I highly recommend this lady for harnesses. Will have a look at that site and see if I can figure it out.

I meant to add earlier - teeth snapping at cat -could be an invitation to play rather than any ill will - but certainly worth keeping a careful eye out.

Sizing - I would be looking at either the medium or large sizing - so, if I went on the medium (suitable for a whippet lurcher) the sizing chart below suggests a msm or a msl for the 3 bits - the m would be the right girth. My lurcher has a slightly larger chest so would need the l in the 20 but would manage a m in the 40.

I think it depends on the width you want so for the 20mm one you need a large and the 40mm one you need a medium.

Lola bounces at our cats but never bites them, she just wants to play.