Greyhound, Whippet or Lurcher owner? Here's another pointy hounds cushion!

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Pointy hounds include-
Greyhounds (Grunds)
Whippets (Whippys)
Lurchers
Italian Greyhounds (Iggys)
Salukis
Afghans
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 :o ).

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.

We went to a GBGW - have to have a scruffy turning up! What I found interesting is that I think of mistlehound as a lot smaller than greys because a friend had a greyhound bitch that was ENORMOUS. However, quite a few of them on the walk were only just taller than mistlehound. Someone else at the weekend also said that she thought there could be deerhound in her - its the solidity. And agreed that she's never going to look thin because she's got such a huge rib cage - much wider than many of the greys yesterday - also has the depth too. I wonder where she got that from?

WilliamShatner The pups haven't been weaned early, it's normal for mum to be getting sick and tired of them at that age. Weaning actually starts at around 4 weeks old. Weeks 6 to 8 are actually very important as the pups start to learn bite inhibition from each other and their mother. Unfortunately a lot of less than ideal breeders don't want the extra effort or expense of a litter of pups on solid food and so let them go early instead.

Yes, we made it to the GBGW. Had a really lovely walk, and two hounds were rehomed as a result, which is fabulous. Have attached a pic of the girls relaxing with their medals after the walk.

Here's mine, minus medals :)

Thank you Castillian. Yes, we saw the mum and she didn't want the pups to suckle.

Every time our puppy goes to chew on our hands or clothing we are immediately giving him one of his toys to put in his mouth.

He has been brilliant so far. Phil's third night last night and he slept all night. First two nights he cried in his crate and we ignored him.

He isn't called Phil!

Phil's means his!

If anyone's looking for a Lurcher puppy, a bitch Lurcher Link took in at the end of last week has had her pups - 5 HUGE puppies with long necks and long noses already - their mum is a grizzle short haired saluki cross. Sounds as though she has a lovely temperament and was just happy to be somewhere safe to have her pups.

Oh, bless her MT. ELGR have 16 puppies who were born in foster a few weeks ago, and one set have some massively cute blue puppies and I am seriously tempted

She just looks so settled - amazing given how little time she had to settle in before the pups arrived. (and can you believe that pup is only a day old!)

Fab pics from the GBGW walks! Love seeing the hounds. I never thought I'd be so passionate about a particular type of dog. I love all dogs but Sighthounds really are special souls. Breaks my heart that there are so many ill treated and in rescue.

Anyone been following Meera on DogLost? The Saluki who was stolen? She's been found!

WilliamShatner Like I said, that's completely normal but the pups should still have stayed together until 8 weeks old as those two weeks are an important part of their development.

I agree with you Castillian. It's an unfortunate start in his life but we are doing our best for his welfare and to nurture him.

We've had him since Saturday and so far, so good but we understand that he is very, very, young.

He is very bright and alert and understands very well. Obviously we make a big fuss of him but we don't want him to become anxious or suffer separation anxiety as he is obviously very attached to us.

Indoors, we've gone about our daily business at times so that he can settle or play by himself, but we are still in sight. We've moved his night time crate into the living room and he's just taken himself off to sleep inside!

I had a length of pipe insulation that I've cut into lengths and he loves carrying them around like a stick!

William, if he likes something like that I would consider getting something like a safe stick for him - I would be really worried that he might set-to and eat chunks off the insulation and have consumed a whole lot before you find out why he's having a quiet 5 mins and potentially end up with serious vet treatment required. There are also some soft dog toys in a similar shape available. Or he might be OK with pairs of old tights tightly knotted so that he can't get any large pieces off and it makes a fairly solid but still chewable and pullable toy.

Yes, we are supervising the foam pipes, so that the moment it starts to deteriorates it can be thrown in the bin. He isn't so keen on hard toys at the moment but he has lots of toys including some hard rubber bone toys that are too tough for him at the moment!

He loves his crinkly snake toy and has an assortment of made for puppy toys but really enjoys carrying the pipe aloft! He doesn't chew it, he likes holding it aloft!

However, your suggestion of a safe stick sounds a better idea so I will get him one of those, thank you for the tip.

Ive only had large breeds before, so a whippet is new to me. I've ordered this book

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0764103121/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I've not had a puppy so young before either, my dogs previously have all been ten weeks or more, so again it's a learning process and this thread is great for posters advice as you all have more experience.

He's probably a bit small at the moment but my whippet boys all absolutely love the Kong Squeezz range of toys. You might need earplugs but they seem to find them really satisfying to just sit and mouth.

Antler chews are ok even for puppies as well. The day I brought my youngest home he set to and started tackling a piece of antler that was almost as big as he was

We made it to the GBGW! We ended up going to a smaller one as the one I had originally planned to go on was cancelled. Was much better for me tbh as it was more of a gentle stroll! Barry had a whale of a time. Anyone else's still asleep lol?

William I found the best puppy book is one called "Life Skills for Puppies".

I missed GBGW because I was at a Jim Greenwood workshop. Have to say it was fantastic. I learned loads and we were able to get Pip offlead with dogs he didn't know and discover he is now absolutely fine and loves playing with them, which is great, as he used to try and run away and head home/towards the road in blind panic when he was a bit younger.

I second the book Peanut recommended, it's about the best one out there at the moment for puppy training/socialisation.

Sounds really positive moosemama, how are they being left now?

Still not great cinnamon.

Pip seems to have regressed this week for some reason and has been making a noise before I get home from the morning school run, which is only 20 minutes. Mind you, he also started waiting in the small hours and calling for us recently too, so I'm not sure what all that is about.

After the JG workshop I came home feeling all empowered, but having had ds1 home sick for most of the week, I'm now wondering how I can possibly improve the length of time he'll be left for while I have all 3 dcs home for the summer. Hopefully my neighbours will go away for a good chunk of time (hoping they don't go at the same time as us like they did last year) so I can push it a little, but mustering all 3 dcs - including one that goes into meltdown at the mere suggestion of going out during the holidays - is far from easy anyway, but trying to do it in a controlled manner, as we'd need to for an SA programme feels like an impossible task.

Rather ironically, but as suspected, Lurcherboy is absolutely fine being left now he has Pip, even though Pip makes a racket and you'd think that would wind him up.

If I can't make any progress with it, we've decided to book a 1:1 with Jim, as I can't spend another year being stuck at home like this one.

At least you know that there's someone that you really feel you can trust to give you some sensible assistance that will help both you and Pip Moose.

I want to go on his stock training session.

Eurk! That should have read 'waking in the small hours'.

Thanks mistle, you're right, at least now I've met JG I feel like I have someone I trust that I can approach if I really feel I can't do it alone.

Hopefully we'll be going on the follow up workshop on 17th August, so if I'm still struggling then I will probably book at 1:1 at that point.

I'm still not convinced it's proper SA, rather than teenage gobbiness to be honest. He's happy to spend hours in the garden out the back, while I'm in the front of the house and will sleep in the kitchen with the door shut and me in the living room no problem at all. He was also fine at night until a couple of weeks ago - but we think that is probably down to our neighbourhood hedgehog paying us a visit.

Then, despite all that, he still whinges (loudly) if I go upstairs without him - but yesterday I was doing a lot of sorting out up there and let him come up with me. I was up there for three hours in all and eventually, after about an hour, he got bored and came downstairs, where he slept in his bed quietly until I'd finished. So it isn't the separation that's the issue. I think he just objects to not being allowed to come too and he's a noisy little monkey. Unfortunately that makes it a tougher nut to crack, as he's not actually anxious or distressed, just disgruntled and indignant.

I use mistlehound's stake-out peg and line when I'm gardening in the front garden as she so hates being left in the back garden on her own - pegging her out keeps her safe and means I don't need to be 100% concentrating on what she's up to rather than weeding. And stops her breaking out of the garden in desperation to get to me too. She has even squeaked (normally silent unless chasing things down the garden) at the gate which shows how distressing she finds it being left in the back and not allowed in the front with me! But she has, apparently, become used to the fact that she does get left alone sometimes - but that we always come back. Normally she comes into the hall from the sitting room where she's been sleeping, only if its a longer time will she have been waiting for us in the hall.

She went through a stage of waking us in the night but sticking her on a lead to go out in the garden soon put paid to all the fun stuff and she's back to sleeping through!

I love the pictures of all your dogs. The little puppy with its mum is fab.

Our guinea pigs have free range of the garden now I've made it escape proof but our whippet puppy wants to play with them and whilst it's only playful moves at the moment, I don't want him running at them, ever. They have lots of safe havens by way of boxes, tubes and a small run dotted around the garden but I'm not taking any chances and I've ordered a large rust proof metal run that will keep the piggies safe and can be easily moved around the garden by my daughter and I.

Obviously, as our dog gets bigger he could contemplate digging to get to them but I've made it clear to my daughter that if the guineas are out in the run, we are never to leave the dog in the garden with them unattended.

This brings me to the thread above where a stake out line and peg are being used.

This sounds like it could come in handy for us in the future when we are bringing in stuff from the garden and need a few minutes hands free from the dog!

I've previously had large breed dogs so being mum to a whippet is a learning process.

I've read that an extending lead is not advised for whippets as they can snap their necks. I don't like them to be honest, I've only ever used short leads when I had two german shepherds. A short lead means more control!

It seems that since I was last a dog owner there are a million more products available! I've seen a thing called a training lead.

Your kind advice and experiences from you all, on the stake out line and peg and training leads are very much appreciated.

(As an aside, I've phoned local vet and registered with them and on 2nd July have an appointment for check up and first vaccination. Puppy is eating well, pooing well, sleeping through the night until just after 5.00am and has bursts of activity throughout the day and is bright and lively at only just over six weeks).

Yes, definitely don't use an extension lead - even if on a harness, the speed they get up to could easily break the lead even if it doesn't damage you or the pup.

Martingale collars are great for long pointy necks. Ours really gets used only to hold the tag as she normally has a slip lead unless she's wearing her harness in which case she has a slightly longer training lead.

I would have thought a peg-out might get a puppy in tangles - mistlehound seems to accept that she's tied up and simply lies down near to where I am gardening, quite happily.