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

[EasterBunnyFuntStoleAllTheEggs]

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.

Aw scuttle she was a beauty!

I have found a pic of ShyDog in her gorgeous milgi coat. What do you think? Enough coverage? Now I've seen a pic it does look more covered on her tummy than I was remembering.

I'm assuming you're not camping on the north face of K2.

For camping in the UK, for a greyhound, a Milgi coat will be fine. I can understand those PJs if you live in northern Canada and have 6 feet of snow every winter, along with little booties for your hound's feet and other snow adaptations.

The fleece you've got, the Rainbow Hearts, is even thicker and snugglier than our normal fleeces as it's got that lovely strokeable pile. The main thing to remember is that she should have an air mattress or bed which is raised slightly off the floor, even by a couple of inches. This will make a huge difference in keeping her warm.

It's a beautiful pic - I love that gorgeous coppery fawn colour, it's so striking.

And I meant to say, looking at the pic, the coverage is just what we intended. It goes right down over her chest, and is lovely and deep round her sides. Her bum, thighs and tail area are also well covered.

And here's another completely gratuitous pic of our darling Booty when she was still with us.

You got the sofa to complement the dog then Scuttle? Lovely picture of her!

I've seen PHs on dogs camping in the UK in OCTOBER - I think that's quite a significant difference from July!

I understand that one of those silvery heat shield mats under any bed will also be a good idea for camping for both dog and human.

Hi, whippet will be nine weeks on Monday.

He's doing fantastically well except he has gone off his food.

We've been feeding him petsathome dried puppy food mixed with petsathome wet puppy food. At first we soaked the dried food first. But then he went off it so we have been leaving the kibble dry and just mixed with a bit of the wet food. Now he has gone off all of that. He has had a couple of days of only eating it if we hand feed him it bit by bit!

Now he isn't keen at all but will eat treats as we have started to train him.

He was already on the petsathome food when we got him. His poos are fine but can sometimes be soft. He has energy and also sleeps well and is growing very well and a healthy weight.

However, if he has now gone off his food I need to go out tomorrow before work to get him new food.

Our vet recommends Royal Canin, but I am also looking at Other makes.

Any recommendations on food please?

We will be shopping at petsathome. Thank you.

I wouldn't go with Royal Canin. It mainly lines the vets pockets!

I would also take him off the P@H dried/wet food combo.

Here is a useful link for researching food:

www.lurcherlink.org/llink/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40586&highlight=cheap+food

Personally I favour feeding raw but appreciate it's not for everyone. P@H sell Prize choice frozen minces as well as Nature diet trays which is packaged raw and can be found on the shelves as is NatureHarvest.

There are a number of FB groups for learning about raw feeding.

Thank you. I would do raw food but my daughter is a vegan and whilst she can cope with commercial food she would not be able to feed raw meat or tolerate it in the fridge!

I thought that the royal Canin was being pushed in the same way the mirena coil is pushed at hospitals! My consultant had a pen, notepad etc all with the mirena coil logo! I refused the coil,and I think I will refuse the royal Canin too!

I will have a look at the link, thank you.

If you'd rather stick with dry food have a look at Millie's Wolfheart, I think it's only available online (though delivery is incredibly quick) but it's an excellent food and exceedingly good value compared to other premium foods.

I feed my four (three whippets and vaguely whippety mongrel) the countryside mix (plus the mongrel gets a bit of the salmon & veg mixed in) and it's fabulous stuff, without a doubt the best food I've ever fed.

For their evening meal they also get one 400g can between all four of one of the various premium European tinned foods sold by Zooplus as a topper for their dry. So far we've tried Rinti, Rocco, Gran Carno and Bozita, all of which have gone down very well indeed!

Thank you, I like the look of Millie's Wolfheart. Is the countryside mix suitable for a pet puppy? He will be nine weeks on Monday?

Royal Canin is horrible stuff, as Peanut said it's sold by vets purely because they make a profit from it.

Millie's is excellent, but expensive - worth every penny, but not everyone can afford it. Canagan is also very good but again, pricey.

If you want to compare brands, ingredients and reviews have a look on this site.

Thank you.

I've read up here

www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/dog-food-reviews/0778/millies-wolfheart-dog-food

More good than bad reviews. I can tolerate the dogs wind, my daughter less so and the general consensus seems that Millie's Wolfheart does reduce the smell, somewhat!

MWH is perfectly fine for puppies, y youngest has been on it since he was 8 weeks old

I've just been reading their facebook page.

It's not the cheapest but it's not the dearest either. Delivery is only £2.49 for next day delivery if I ordered on Monday.

Decisions, decisions!

Definitely not going for Royal Canin. Petsathome is convenient and my daughter is hoping to get a work placement there in the future so I was cannily hoping she would get a staff discount!

However, the quality of the food is important for health, behaviour and poo consistency and excessive wind!

I'm also looking at CSJ.

Some very food reviews and much cheaper.

It's such a difficult choice as I want to find something and stick with it.

He didn't eat this morning so we had to get something before I go to work. My daughter will be alone with later for 12 hours so I had to make sure the dog starts eating again whilst I am at work.

Petsathome is nearby so we took him along (in arms, not on the floor) and I got Burns puppy food

www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/burns-extra-puppy-food-2kg

And James well beloved puppy food punch to use as wet mix

www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/wet-puppy-food/james-wellbeloved-puppy-food-pouches-with-lamb---rice-150gm?pageSize=32#

Puppy ate the whole lot and spent ages licking the bowl clean! Even with his previous food he never relished it as much as this.

Hopefully he will poo ok and the food won't make him hyper.

CSJ is much cheaper because there's much less meat in it. Most of the meats listed on their ingredients lists are fresh rather than meal, which means once the moisture has been removed there's a lot less meat in the food than it initially appears.

Most of their foods are very heavy on the grains which would put me off. It's not necessarily a problem, all mine can tolerate grains just fine, but the volume of poo they produce has always increased dramatically on anything involving grains so they're now completely grain free.

My lurcher is on JWB - although she can't tolerate the turkey version (she seems to be intolerant to turkey). For us, kibble just has the benefit of convenience. She gets things like mackerel in tomato sauce, carrots or half a tin of chopped tomatoes to 'top' it quite regularly at supper time.

Mine were on Canagan for a long time, but both seemed to develop loose stools with it over time and I also believe the high protein levels contribute to Pip's general nervousness, despite them being from very good protein sources.

They're both on Skinners Field and Trial Salmon and Rice now. It's 20% protein, which is around the level Jim Greenwood recommended at the workshop I attended, both dogs have lovely shiny coats, are bright eyed and bushy tails and do nice compact poos on it. Might be coincidence, but Pip is also far more relaxed and much less anxious since he's been on it. It's half the price of Canagan as well.

In an ideal world I'd have them both on raw, but we just don't have the facilities to do it in this house now we've lost our friendly local butcher who used to let us buy in bulk and store it in his freezer for collection once or twice a week.

Bugger found a dying wasp type thing this morning. Downed it in to crunches before I could get to him!

Hopefully, wasps are nutritious!

He is loving his new food and poos so far are nice colour and consistency. Plenty of energy but also sleeps well.

How are everyone's hounds doing in this heat? Mine's going for walks by a stream so is in and out a lot which helps - although on holiday in Cornwall on the hot day on the beach we were going into the sea and then she was coming back and flattening herself into the shade in the shade tent we have - she has worked out how to use it properly and was very glad of it - the combination of the sea dips and the shade tent meant that she was able to go to sleep rather than pant which was good going on a beach that was hot to stand on in bare feet.

ShyDog is so DUMB about the heat! I have to tempt her out of our suntrap garden and into the house where it's cool and shaded. Otherwise she would just lay there panting and overheating. I've been walking her earlier in the morning and later in the afternoon, and skipping the odd walk. Most of her walks are off lead and she does a lot of zooming. It's way to hot for her to be doing that!

This morning on our walk she delightedly rolled in something foul and I suspect rotten. It was very very bad. Ordinarily I lump her into the bath and wash her in there but I had god daughter toddler here and I have no safety gates upstairs, and DS who is autistic was home too. I settled for "washing" her in the back garden - what a farce! God daughter cried for ShyDog's plight, ShyDog did a lot of dodging water and shaking, and DS did a lot of shouting. We were all done in afterwards!

Does anyone elses dog seem to go off of their food after a while?

ShyDog has been on several different brands and after a few months on each she seems to lose her appetite for them and I have to search for a suitable alternative.

Mine is doing well with Burns dry puppy food and james well beloved wet pouches for puppies.

I've had free insurance for a month from our vets, with Pet Plan.

Pet plan phoned me today but I had just got in car with puppy so as it was boiling hot I've asked him to call back tomorrow as call will take approx six minutes.

I've got an online quote with them but have no idea if they are a good price and good cover.

Any advice on your whippet insurance please?

Thank you x

I had went with the best quote from comparethemarket.com which was with more than and is £37 a month for both mine which is greyhound and whippet terrier x he's much more expensive being pedigree and bigger I guess!

We are walking 6.30am and 8pm and they seem fine, very lazy all day in between! Lola is a sun worshipper, she goes out as soon as the sun hits our garden and lays in the sun, she then comes in staggering as if she's drunk and cools down inside and then goes back to bake and does this all day long! We ran yesterday morning 6.30-7.30 and it was already too warm by the time we finished for them, first run in a week for them. Thinking I won't take Lola to parkrun tomorrow at 9 as it will definitely be too hot.

Found 2 terrier dogs in a crate in the boot of a car Sunday afternoon in tesco carpark. We only went in for two things so I said if they were still there when we came out it would only be 5 mins so then I'd call someone but really don't know who! As it was they were gone but poor little things were panting away :(