Rehoming a lurcher this weekend... What are the essentials and where to buy?

[Eatsleepwork]

Very excited that subject to home check we are collecting a lurcher this weekend.
He is used to using a crate and is 26'' tts.
I have nothing prepared... Absolutely nothing!
Advice on the essentials I need to buy and the best/ most cost effective places to order them would be much appreciated.
So far I've got bowls, feeding stand, crate, bed, house/ outdoor collar, lead, coat (fleeced or waterproof or both?!)
Tia

I have two pointy dogs their check list of essentials would be

Sofa
Bed (human)
Warm human
Garlic Sausage
Squeaky toys
50 million collars (okay that's me not them)

I think you have everything else covered :)

Mine don't wear coats in the summer, except in the evenings when camping as it gets chilly they have Equafleece jumpers which are both warm and waterproof and excellent for running dogs as they don't twist or move when running, they can also be used as house coats in the winter when really cold, and can be used both as a single layer in the cold weather or an extra one under a coat.

A long line might be useful when you are both gaining confidence in recall, extending leads are not generally a good idea with pointies, a long line should be used with a harness.

The rescue might have recommended a raised feeder but I would do your own research and draw your own conclusions. Current thinking is that they are slightly more likely to cause bloat (very dangerous), but like weaning and side sleeping etc in children, it goes in fashions and phases and favours one or the other. Personally I don't use them.

Where is he coming from? Name? Picture?
Your op is woefully lacking in details

There is also a pointy thread in the doghouse with loads of lovely people to give you loads of advice

Ooh, how exciting!

Are they fine coated or rough? My very fine coated only needs a fleece at night this time of year, rather more hairy ddog2 doesn't need one at all in the summer. You could probably leave anything else till later in the year once you know them.

You'll need an ID tag (much cheaper on ebay than PAH), house collar for the tag, and a wide sighthound collar (MeggieMoo, Kitsch are my faves). Some people prefer a harness, but I only use them for running with my dogs, though if you'll be using a long line for recall training you'll need one.

Lead - obv never an extending lead - but otherwise whatever you like though MeggieMoos fleece and web leads are great and kind to the hand.

Food - whatever they are on to start with, but don't buy too much and see how they go.

Treats and a gundog whistle - you want to start establishing/ reinforcing recall asap - in the house to start with, then outside with someone else bringing them on the lead to you.

Squeaky toys - which they may or may not like.

Chewy toy

He's from a local rescue (scared to out myself here ) but is a sandy coloured whippet cross with beautiful colouring and around a year old. I've been assured that he is good with cats, dogs, horses and children, very well behaved and had great recall. I've had a home check with another rescue that was fine so hopefully this one will too!

Cmotdibbler I've name changed but I met you in the park a few months ago with your two dogs

He's fine coated and beautiful!
I expect I will have lots more questions to come...

we were only wondering the other day if you had got a dog yet (were driving past the park)

How exciting!

my short haired lurcher girl needs a soft beddie (I use old duvets, she's like princess on the pea and has 2 folded duvets on top of each other).

Mine does not go on beds/sofa, but she lies on/at our feet happily.

Wide lurcher/grey collar (can get them on Amazon), non extendable lead, garlic sausage as reward for training {wink} (as mentioned by previous poster

lots of love

Good quality kibble (we like Millie's)

squeaky toys, esp. rabbit shaped ones.

Tell us more about your lurcher! They are such fab dogs.

We took our time to make sure we were ready and we got everything organised with work/ house etc- been talking about it for almost a year!
We (ds mainly) are so excited. One issue is that one of my best friends has a dog with the same name- is it a big no no to change it?

Just re-read your list, you mean you have a list, sorry I though you meant you has already bought those things, sorry.

Collar and lead, so many places

Kitsch
Slouching Hound
Meggie Moo
Silver Peacock

There are loads more, Meggie Moo is by far my favourite, but you won't get suff by the weekend, you might from Kitsch if you let her know it's urgent. You will need a 5cm martingale. Mine rarely wear house collars as they can be a strangulation risk, however they do when we are away from home and I am with them all the time as I worry about them getting out in a strange place without id (they are chipped). You might want one on your boy for a while for the same reason, personally I would take it off when you are not there especially in a crate, but lots of people don't.

As I said I don't use a raised feeder, but use heavy earthenware bowls that are not easy to move, we have cheap stainless steel for travelling, the Range are great for both, or PAH or Amazon.

Bed whatever you want to spend, mine have these for travel, car boot, down stairs and Tuffies nests in the bedroom which I'm not even going to link to as they are scarily expensive feel free to google when you are feeling strong. He will sleep on sofas and beds though, it is genetically encoded and almost impossible to stop

Crates used to be a good price at Argos but haven't needed to buy a new one for years and years.

You might want to consider getting a DAP
Collar or Diffuser or both, can make the settling in process so much smoother.

Shout if there is anything else.

Hahaha spent far too long typing all that out

It's a great list- thanks ever so much. Have spent a long time shopping online today

We recently adopted a lurcher to go with our existing family of three greyhounds.

I can personally testify to the amazing service of Meggie Moo collars. You will have time to get one from her if you email/FB her explaining the circs. One reason why I'm so passionate about them is that they are the only collars I know of that regularly are safety tested in a proper lab. Her velvet leads are also excellent quality, tough, hard wearing and washable.

When we adopted Butterhound, we did the meeting/got the go ahead on the Sunday, I emailed Meggie Moo that night, she posted the collar out next day and it arrived on the Thursday. Picked up a tag at my local Timpson (in our small Tesco store) and when we collected her on the Sunday she was beautifully equipped from Day 1.

I'd also recommend a lightweight raincoat and a fleece housecoat for colder winter nights, though that's not so urgent at this time of year, unless you are camping and caravanning.

I'd agree not to bother with raised feeders. We use whistle recall with our new girl as that's what she was doing at the foster's and it's brilliant. I got a little batch of cheap as chips whistles from Ebay and now we've got them on the car keys, house keys, my clicker lanyard, and another chain we keep in the car, so we're never without it. Top quality, high value treats - eg hot dog sausage, cheese etc. Our lovely Rally trainer lent us the Pamela Dennison DVD on How to Whistle Train Your Dog - we've been following the straightforward exercises in that and it's working brilliantly. She's on Youtube if you want a look. There's a very useful page on FB which lists secure dog fields - we use one very regularly and they are so handy in the early days when you are wanting to train and strengthen recall without distractions/interruptions.

We are also doing a nice basic training course with our dog trainer (APDT member) - she's really enjoying clicker work, with a view to moving on to Rally in a few weeks.

Keep an eye out for workshops with Jim Greenwood - a v good trainer who specialises in lurchers/working dogs. I'm taking Butterhound to one in July that he's doing in Somerset.

We also booked her in shortly after arrival for a once over with our vet and to put her on the books - that all went very smoothly.

She's a bit more chewy than our greys so we got a Stag Bar, and a few chewy, squeaky toys.

Pic attached of our beautiful Butterhound.

I much prefer harnesses rather than collars on pointies (or any dog really), so mine all have Houdini Ultra harnesses (colour co-ordinated with matching leads of course!) from Indi-Dog. There's some better pictures of them on pointy hounds on this FB post. They're completely made to measure, can be completely customised and are very reasonably priced.

I use the deep engraved tags from here for mine. They last for ages and you can fit loads of text on the bigger tags. Legally the minimum information you need on the tag is your name (just surname is fine) and your address but the more you can put on the better. Mine have my surname, street address, postcode, home number, my mobile, OH's mobile plus a second "I'm chipped" tag with the name and address and number of our vet practice.

Mine each have a jumper and a fleece coat from Equafleece so we can layer up when it's really cold. We've had them for ages and they wear really well, they also wash nicely and dry really quickly. I've also had some custom fleeces made by Forest Fleece which are lovely, although it took a while to get them.

Tuffies beds are great. They're not cheap but they last for ages, are easy to clean and are great for dogs that might have a bit of a nibble now and then. Mine have two nests, a medium (just big enough for two whippets to squish into) and an XXL (which can fit all four in at once), plus a mattress one. So far my hooligans have destroyed two sofa cushions but the Tuffies are completely unscathed.....

I mostly use bog standard stainless steel bowls for food. One of my whippets has one of these slow feeder bowls though because without it he troughs his own food then steals from everyone else Water bowls are all big ceramic ones.

VetBed (or similar) is great for putting in crates. It's cheaper to buy it in bulk and cut it down to size yourself.

Antler chews go down very well in this house. As do Anco Roots. Mine enjoy squeaky toys like Kong Squeezz Jels and the Rosewood BioSafe fruit-shaped toys that Pets At Home are currently selling. Anything cuddly is gutted and de-fluffed within about five minutes of getting it home. Squeaky tennis balls are very popular on walks.

Food wise, if the rescue has had them on one particular brand I'd stick with that for now. You can always change to something else once they've settled. If they've been fed whatever the rescue has happened to have in then I'd just start them on whatever you want to feed long term. I really rate Millie's Wolfheart, all mine are on one formulation or another. They also share a Wainwright's grain free wet tray in an evening along side their dry food. All About Dog Food is great for researching foods and allows you to search by requirements and budget.

Thank you so much for all this information. I've been researching all day and think I know what I need now!

Did you bring them home EatSleepWork?

It's next weekend now... We needed longer to prepare and increase our fence height so we have a few more days to get everything we need! Exciting