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!
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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 don't know a lot about it so can only speak from personal experience. My two got on straight away but have had two incidents that I would call fighting one was while we were out and peanut had obviously bitten Lola. She was nervous of him for about 24hrs and back to normal and one where dh fed Lola and not peanut, they both went but she came off worse. Since then she backs away from food if she thinks he wants it. They eat normal food fine together but anything special we now separate them as he eats faster than her. If they have chews they go there separate ways anyway.

As for the growling when playing mine are very growly and bitey when they play but it just feels so different to the spat I was home to see. They each seem to take it in turns to pounce on each other and more often than not it's Lola that makes peanut yelp! I'd say most of the time she appears the more dominant dog but I really don't know as much as I feel I should about dog behaviour!

Are you still walking them together?

We've been running with a new dog this week, she's a pointer and it amazes me how much of the time she runs with her nose on the floor!
Lola's been soaking up the sun but peanut won't stay in the garden if I come in :(
Off to all about dogs tomorrow, guessing it's going to lots of opportunities to spend money! Hopefully the dogs will enjoy the social side of it :)

Pooch finds Blue too full on for playing. He tries to instigate and she ignores or tries to defuse it. Tbf to her his instigation usually involves full pelt running at her whilst growling.

Blue is becoming more confident off lead as I expected. He is wandering off to sniff and do his business. Today he bolted after a collie and lurchered the owner. I was mortified. He took off before my eyes and without warning. He did come back to me. At full pelt. He launched himself into her thigh and she remained standing thankfully. I did make profuse apologies. I had the children with me. I think if I am walking the dogs with the children Blue will have to stay on lead. For safety and sanity purposes. He's going to be one of those annoying dogs that bolts at other dogs that other owners will hate isn't he?

Peanut, it's still very early days. It doesn't mean he's going to be one of 'those' dogs at all. Just that you still have some work to do with training him.

You have years to mold him into the sort of companion you want him to be, it will come in time. I remember despairing of Oldgirl and thinking she was going to be the dog that we couldn't take anywhere, let off lead or leave with anyone and she turned out to be the polar opposite - easiest dog of the lot once she'd settled down and matured a bit. Keep your chin up, early days are always hard be it with a puppy or a new adult rescue.

We've been out for a very steady lead walk with Pip aka Mr Walking Wounded, Lurcherboy and the dcs today. Ended the walk in a nice little cafe that allows dogs in and enjoyed a hot chocolate alongside a table that had a couple of terriers sitting next to it. Lurcherboy was quite happy to laze about under dh's chair, but poor old Pip was so stressed by the other dogs being there he wouldn't sit or lie down and just stood next to me looking worried. He did walk past them quite happily to get out and said a nice hello to a couple of other dogs outside, I think he just didn't feel relaxed enough to be able to lie down in such a confined space with two unknown dogs nearby.

My Nelly would never lay down while we were out and about :( I think she did once when we'd been on the same green for a while and no one else had passed but she was so nervous she just couldn't settle, totally un-greyhound like!

Pooch just bloody barks and barks and barks if she is on lead when we stop for a picnic/coffee so we tend to avoid doing this stuff as frankly it annoys me so it would be high irritating for anyone else. Should have done more training and exposure to laying/waiting out and about when she was a pup so probably really only have myself to blame.

Thanks Moose. You're right. Got that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach thinking "what have I done getting another dog" but deep down I think that is still my reaction to the scrap they had a couple of days ago. Pooch is being wary round him still.

The two terriers were barking lots to try and get their owners to feed them off their plates. Cafe staff didn't bat an eyelid.

It's not too late to teach 'settle' to pooch. Kikopup has a video on it on YouTube if you're interested.

I still have days where I question myself for taking on Pip, but I try to focus on the fact I've now had 7 dogs and other than the one that was a rescue from a puppy farm and had serious issues, they've all turned out to be great in the long-run. It's a bit like kids. When you have a newborn it's all a bit of a shock and you find yourself exhausted, wondering what you've done and thinking wistfully of your old life - but as they grow and you learn about each other and bond life gets less stressful and easier.

It's ds2's birthday today, so I've been baking and cake decorating this morning and have two very unimpressed dogs as a result. It's a pain not being able to let Pip out into the garden on his own and having to keep him quiet. He usually has a good blast around the garden in the morning, then sleeps until lunchtime, so now he's just prowling around the house whingeing and bored.

Dh has taken ds2 to see the new-ish Muppet movie, as that's what he wanted to do today, so I have the dogs, ds1 and dd to supervise whilst trying to decorate a blastoise pokemon cake. No stress then!

Think we'll head to our favourite village for ice-cream after tea and walk the dogs up with us to get them. That will at least be a decent lead walk and a bit of variety for him. Can't take him in the park at the same time as Lurcherboy as he starts boinging on his lead when I let Lurcherboy off and I'm worried he'll pop a staple.

Sounds like a busy day moosemama!

Had a lovely day at all about dogs, had lots of lovely compliments about our dogs and they were so good :) we entered Lola in mini miss, peanut in lovely fella and both in family but didn't get a prize. Dh is sulking now and won't enter them in anything else he reckons! They had a big pool for swimming but it was £12 so we didn't do it. They also had a play pen so they had a belt around in there as well and we got them a few fresh baked treats. Dh was worried about Lola doing fly ball without any training so we didn't do that and there's an agility thing near us that neither will try so we didn't do that. Was just lovely walking around seeing all the dogs and my two saying hello to everyone :)

Running today and post run :)

Lovely pics Cinnamon!

Yesterday, dh, ds, cmotdog and I went to the Forest of Dean to do the 10 mile off road cycle trail, and cmotdog got to run free with us. He loved it, and was impeccably behaved. Today, he is shattered!

I thought greyhounds didn't like water!!

Great pics Cinnamon, MuttonHound has been visiting PIL and their Boxers this week.

Here are her new friends (I have to admit being terrified about introducing them - but they actually got on well).

Thanks! She looks pretty settled :) I like boxers.

My lurcher loves water. She will head off for a swim with no stick to chase in the summer. I've never had a dog who would swim for nothing like that before.

Mistlehound is shattered. We had a quietish day on Friday as I had a rehearsal and concert in the afternoon/evening. Saturday we went into the Dales and did a decent length walk. The first style was a disaster - it was one of the 'walk up' stone steps types with a gap at the top. DH ended up posting her over a 5' gate to me (all 29kg!). The next style I stayed with her to encourage rather than vice versa - it was the ladder style - she managed to get up but then was faced with a 6' drop (not a problem when faced with a 12' drop down onto the beach, but apparently this was insurmountable) so she ended up on DH's shoulder to get off... The next one she managed all by herself - and by the end was hopping up into the gap without bothering about going up the steps at all. She was studiously studying the grass rather than meeting the gaze of the sheep (and was praised whenever she was doing this not looking up) and was obviously quite unsettled by them (which is a relief but we will not be taking any chances). Yesterday I took her out early then DS and DH took her to the park when I was singing for church - then we all took her out in the afternoon - only lead walk but still things to think about... Then we've been to Castle Howard today - where she was really interested in the falconry display (they were all eagles and vultures!) She is fast asleep on her bed.

Pointy fans how do you know when nails are too long? The hounds. Not mine.

I try to trim mistlehound's regularly so that its not an occasional 'trial' but just one of those (annoying) things I do (like inspect feet for thorns etc). On hers, and my last dog's, you can see where the quick comes down through the nail - and the nail is wider from the front (top) to back (underside) - then it narrows down with no obvious width to the nail - and if you trim the thin end that's fine. I would do that - and when you next take him to the vet, ask them to show you what length you should be clipping them to. My aunt-in-law sandpaper's her border terrier's nails. Lots of road walking also helps!

Hello- hope it's ok to ask a question here: seemed like the best place! We are seriously considering adopting a Greyhound. Have been researching a lot and it has thrown up a question which I'm hoping you can give me some advice on.

Firstly, basic background- we have one dog already- fairly big breed, very friendly. We have a 5yo and also a cat.

I know we would need to be matched to a child-friendly/cat-friendly/dog-friendly dog (don't want much do i?) but I am interested to know whether anyone has gone on to have problems with the chasing of small animals (even if dog is cat-friendly) and if so, how do you manage this? I am prepared to put the work in and can do all walks on lead if i have to- but just wondering in how many cases this is necessary? Is recall generally as bad as I have read about?

Thank you- and I'm sure if things materialise I will be spending plenty of time on this thread

My lurcher is not cat friendly (she thinks they are great to chase out of the garden) but she has learned to live with a chinchilla in residence in the sitting room - the chin did have to move out for 6 months as the dog was gradually desensitised to having a small furry around. Whilst she chased rabbits and squirrels, she has been known to play beautifully with small puppies of tiny breeds - so can clearly differentiate between different animals. Indeed, when she's on the hunt for rabbits (not caught one yet) she will ignore much closer birds inc. pigeons to look for possible rabbits.

Thank you mistlethrush. It's good to hear of these sort of experiences. I am fully prepared for some hard work and just trying to imagine the different scenarios that can happen- how likely it is that I will need to muzzle etc- or is that the norm?

I am hugely excited by the prospect of it but want to have considered it all properly.

Some grey rescues suggest you always muzzle when out I think - I know some lurcher owners that muzzle when off the lead, but leave muzzle off when on the lead (but that's generally down to mouthy 'play' which is a lurcher thing and easily controlable on the lead). A friend has 2 rescue greys - they are only walked on-lead and have their muzzles put on if there are dogs or sheep nearby (in Wales!) despite being on the lead. My lurcher only wears her muzzle for racing - and will play with other dogs without any problems - although she 'reads' terriers and other pointy hounds much better than any other breed of dog.

Oh - and if you introduce them right, muzzles don't need to be something horrid for the dogs - dogs that are muzzled on every walk get to associate the muzzle with going for the walk (and peanut butter smeared on the inside will help) - and some muzzles can allow the dog to even pick up toys such as balls on ropes - you need a good one that provides plenty of room - my dog can drink quite happily with hers on. My dog associates her muzzle being put on with it soon being her turn to have a race - so its exciting rather than nasty.

Thank you- that is great advice. Just thinking ahead- IF I ended up needing to do a lot of lead walking with a Greyhound, which is fine, just wondering how it would cope with seeing my other dog off-lead. Or whether separate walks would be the way to go. Hopefully off-lead walking would come with time...I'm probably over thinking things now!

There are lots of different greys that need homes - you can add to your list of requirements 'ideally able to go off lead to play with my dog' . We didn't know whether we'd be able to let ours off as she was almost certainly a failed worker, and, having been in the pound 3 times, a possible escaper / runner. But she isn't - she doesn't want to get lost and makes sure she keeps an eye out on where we are, even in hunting mode.

Thank you! Your dog sounds lovely. Can I ask about the racing? Is that something you do for a hobby? Are there any organised walks/other events across the UK that owners can take part in?

There are 'great greyhound' events and gatherings and walks. There are quite a few show sorts of events. The lurcher charity I got mine from (lurcher link) does friendly racing once a month, and has occasional days when they have shows combined with it. They always have a greyhound race at it too. And there's a tripod large lurcher that regularly takes to the track very happily. Some greyhound rescues don't approve though.

However, if you are after a lurchery dog that is going to enjoy playing with yours, you might perhaps consider Max, Benny and Keeper ... not sure about all the cat-statuses...

I shall have a good look...but will want them all