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.

moosemama your latest photo of Pip is absolutely scrumptious. He looks so sweet, such long legs and whiskery face! Would love to see one with his new coat on...

He is adorable moose! What happened to his leg? (Been away far too long, it seems :( ) are you going to enter a pic of him in his milgi coat into the milgi online show? I've entered Sprocket and my 2yo DD

Cunny -here is a bit of sourcing for your forthcoming event... www.amazon.co.uk/Dickie-Collar-Black-White-Yellow/dp/B00FW0VNYK

Thank you Lady Turmoil.

Cunny, he had two injuries in quick succession. First one was a puncture wound on the top of his foot - haven't a clue how he did it. He was leaping around the garden like a spring lamb one Friday morning, came inside and I found he was fountaining blood everywhere every time he put his foot down - cue emergency trip the vet. Fortunately it wasn't serious, but he was in a lot of pain with it.

Then just as that healed he was doing he same loopy Lurcher routine in the back garden, on yet another Friday morning, came careering down to the house, disappeared down the side alley towards the back door and all I heard was screaming. Ran out and he had his head thrown back, screaming at the top of his lungs and flailing around on three legs. Rushed to carry him in, seriously thinking he'd broken his leg, put him down and ds1 noticed blood on the carpet.

He'd injured his knee/stifle. He had a massive haematoma that was filling up like a balloon on his knee joint then pouring out whenever he moved. That one ended up with 4 visits to the vet in three days and narrowly missed needing an xray, but fortunately there was no bone damage and he was just put on antiobiotics and anti-inflammatories and had to have complete rest for a week. We think he skidded on black ice on the patio and either slammed into the wooden step ladders that had blown over in the night or just dragged his leg along the paving slabs. There's a blind spot from the kitchen between the patio and back door - so I didn't actually see it happen, even though I was watching him play out of the kitchen window seconds before.

Just about to put him to bed in his new coat. Will get dh to take a photo and bluetooth it across to my laptop.

Hadn't thought about entering him in the Milgi show - we'll have to see whether or not we can get a decent picture of the wriggly little big monster first.

Ok housecoat picture is now up on my profile (second one down).

I's not a great photo, but as predicted he wouldn't stay still, as he was very keen to tell us it's past his bedtime and that's exactly where he wanted to be!

Will try and get a better picture for the competition if I can.

Should say, the coat is so much brighter and more vibrant in rl. It's a really beautiful coat and soooo soft and snuggly.

He's getting big Moose!

I've been away busy for a few days - Moose, pup is gorgeous, and yes please do send us a pic for the comp. The nice thing is that there are donations to rescues too up for grabs for the winners. So glad you like it.

Looking forward to seeing a certain visitor at the end of the month for a weekend of fun and greyhounds.

Lovely coat and pip is gorgeous!!! Not a bad photo at all!

Ooh ouch, poor boy! Is he all fully healed up now then? I imagine it was difficult trying keep him on complete rest for a week That coat is gorgeous on him, it suits him really well, I do love the owl fleece :)

Thanks folks.

Cunny, yes thanks he's much better, although still a little stiff on it sometimes when he's been lying down for a while and he has a little bald patch with shiny new pink skin across the front of his knee. I have been reading up on conditioning and fitness in running dogs and am going very steadily with his exercise at the moment. I've read a few articles via LL and am very conscious that it's very easy to accidentally over-exercise too soon and cause even more damage.

We have just come back from puppy classes where he passed his level 1 club test. He passed his puppy foundation about 7 weeks ago and this is the next step up before moving into the main class, where you can do KC good citizen if you want to, but there's no pressure. There are also 8 levels of club tests/awards and I think I'll probably be sticking to those, as our main purpose for going is socialisation.

We met some of the trainers and helpers from his 'baby' puppy class again for the first time and they were amazed at how friendly he is with other dogs now. He's still nervous, but actually chooses to go and say hello, rather than hiding behind my chair like a quivering jelly. Today he met a lovely young rescue Lab girl and he liked her so much he invited her to chase him - which is a first with a dog he's never met before.

I was so proud of him receiving his certificate in a room with 7 other dogs, only one of whom he'd met before and him lying there quietly, relaxed by my feet instead of being stressed and panicky.

Its lovely to hear he's doing so well! Mistlehound is also getting a lot better - she used to be very defensive (and get quite shouty about it) but she's starting to pick up the courage to have fun with other dogs, not just other pointies. She still automatically assumes that pointies are more likely to want a game and be more friendly than other types of dogs though.

It never ceases to amaze me how the most reactive pointy will usually be interested in other greys. We find this with our two boys - very happy to sniff, do walks etc with other greys, but much less comfortable with non pointies.

Though Mick has made huge strides through BAT - he can now pretty much cope with seeing other dogs on walks at quite close quarters provided they are on leads which is amazing progress. He gets stressed by off lead dogs bounding up to him (which I think is understandable) and I suspect we won't get much further with that, especially as he is now elderly, with declining eyesight and arthritis. Looking at it from his perspective, I can see why he'd find it worrying. But I'm really overjoyed at how far he has come - he is now so much more confident and relaxed. It's so lovely to see.

It is funny how they know their own kind, wouldn't think there was that much difference between dogs. Lovely to hear all your positive stories with happy doggies :)

Cmotdog def recognises other pointies. I think its because no one else wants to RUN like a pointy - and thats his fave thing in the world

Hello there, are there any saluki cross owners on this here cushion?

Theres a saluki cross at the local rescue centre that im interested in. She looks lovely and so like my old lurcher!

Ive been scouting around for a small greyhound / lurcher or whippet and came across this 9 month old girl which could be a great thing.

Ive been reading up on salukis though and they seem to be mental? :/ this wasnt what i was expecting! I was looking for a placid dog but im happy to have a little bit of craziness! Are all these things im reading saying how nuts they are, OTT?

Anyone here have any experiences of them?

Also this dog is 9 months old and perfect sized. Is it fair to say she could be fully grown now? :)

General consensus is my boy has a good bit of Saluki in him. He's quite highly strung, especially compared to my other Lurcher who has Deerhound and Collie in him, but he's got the sweetest nature.

He's not aloof, like a lot of people describe some Saluki crosses, but he is very sensitive and easily upset.

He's very vocal as well. Mostly chatty, but also whiny and sometimes noisy with it, which would bother some people, whereas it doesn't generally bother me, as it makes him good company and we have some proper old chinwags together.

He's quite single minded and can be stubborn, but is easier to train than a lot of Saluki mixes I've met. He can really move, which makes recall very important. He was quite easy to train in that department as a tiny pup, but now he's 7 months and getting teenagery, we're having to work a lot harder with him.

I think it probably depends which way the genetics fall, iyswim. He's not all that Saluki to look at, other than his build. He's very slight and narrow chested, with a tendency to looking ribby and hippy, but is rough coated, rather than smooth or silky like a lot of Saluki crosses. I think his coat comes from whatever else is in his mix, but as we don't know, we can only guess at some degree of terrier.

As I said, my lad is 7 months old. He's currently just heading towards 25.5 inches to the shoulder (he was 22 inches in November, so has shot up over the past couple of months) and still has quite a lot of bone on his knuckles, so has a way to go before he's finished growing. He's quite likely to make 27/28 inches, possibly a bit more, but is all legs and folds up very small. A bitch is likely to come up smaller, but of course it depends what breeds she has in her mix.

I can highly recommend going on Lurcher Link and asking about Saluki mixes in their Advice Needed section. There are some very experiences Lurcher people on there, including quite a few that favour Saluki types and they would be far more qualified than me to answer your questions.

If they are very saluki based I think recall can be a problem - just sometimes they decide that they don't want to come back so don't - and there's absolutely nothing you can do to make them. However, having said that, I know a lot of friends (now) who have saluki cross lurchers and they are lovely, and they love their dogs, and they 'work' for them and their lives. Lots of the ones I know are very affectionate, like having lots of attention - from what I have heard, at times, they are more aloof, but some still love attention and contact. Ours has very little, if any, saluki in her - and it really doesn't matter!

I've never met a saluki x lurcher but most people do say that their recall isn't great and that they are quite aloof but don't let that put you off. I would say you won't know the personality of a dog until it's in your family. We got a whippet x in August who was on the go all day and a bouncy loonatic but although she does like to play and has bags of energy in our environment she is a lot calmer and sleeps quite a bit as well as being trained out of jumping all time. Having said that we were looking for a more lovely dog than our greyhound so she did fit our needs.

I've just been out running with my two, they were both quite sedate today and when I put them back on their lines at the end even Lola didn't pull! It has been a week since peanut came with me and Lola only did parkrun with me last Saturday so guess they needed to ease back in slowly!

Thanks for sharing your experiences! Im swinging back and forth over this one. I keep reading aloof as well which i find really offputting. But then if i think about my old lurcher, maybe she was aloof to some people. I didnt do all this researching before i got my old lurcher and she was perfect. Im beginning to wish i hadnt with salukis!

Ill let you all know what i decide on :) picking a dog was so easy last time but now i have dd i want to make sure i get the right dog. Life is more hectic these days and i also want dd to have a doggy pal :)

My best advice is to get in touch with the rescue, have a chat and then if it all sounds good, go and meet her. You'll soon see whether or not she's aloof, although bear in mind dogs in rescue centres can sometimes completely ignore visitors as they see so many and have no reason to invest in them, iyswim.

As I said, my boy has a fair amount of Saluki in him and he's not at all aloof - in fact he's a cuddle monster, who still likes to curl up on my lap despite being bigger than my adult Lurcher.

If you are really keen on getting a Lurcher, I'd recommend getting in touch with Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue and/or Lurcher Link. Both rehome nationally and both are excellent at matching dogs to families, so you stand a much better chance of finding the right dog to suit your family. Also have a look on the Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher rescue's FB page as it can help to keep you upt to date with which dogs are coming up for rehoming soon, as opposed to the list of available dogs on their website.

Thanks moose. I think youre right. Ive sort of broached the matter with the rescue, theyve said she can get very giddy which sometimes scares children which i take to mean the jumping all over. However cinnamon says she has resolved that with her saluki x (well done!) so perhaps that is a short term problem. Shes having training and is out every day with volunteers. The more i talk about her the more i want her! :)

Ha yes i know my old lurcher stared right through us on every visit which made my dp not even want her! I talked him round though.

I realise that by talking about my old lurcher every other sentence is making her sound a total legend ha!

I'm sure your old lurcher was a total legend. I still harp on about all my old dogs, even though some have been gone for many years now. I know how it is, each one is so special in their own way, always missed, never replaced.

Exactly - everyone keeps commenting that we are rushing into getting another dog after losing our last (by the time we adopt itll probably be 8 or 9 months) but we see her as having her own personality that a new dog wouldnt replace so its never been an issue for us. I dont know if anyone else here knows what i mean because in RL people i know just dont get it

Call the rescue and have an honest and frank discussion then that might be the decision made for you iykwim?