Should I get a greyhound?

[AlreadyGone]

There's a greyhound thread a few years old which I've read and found very helpful. But there's still a few questions I'd really like help with.

We've been thinking about a dog for a while but couldn't decide / settle on the right breed.

Then a couple of weeks ago we met a beautiful greyhound. He was so calm and peaceful and friendly and tolerant I totally fell in love!! And then I find out they don't need hours of exercise - bonus!!!!!

But we do have 2 DCs, 7 & 5. We have a piano and a drum kit and generally sometimes they want to make quite a bit of noise.

Am I kidding myself? Are we just totally unsuited to have a greyhound?

Is it true they all need quiet homes?

Can they be trained to get used to kiddy noise?

Can they be taught to play?

Will they go to chase when on the lead and pull me over?

Where is the best place to buy pretty greyhounds coat?

What would I need to get? Haven't owned a dog before.

Read lots of greyhound forums especially ex racer forums as they have habits created by years of kennelling and racing. For instance our grey circles and laps before she does anything like go upstairs or for a wee in the garden etc.
We bought a bed about 100 by 70.
It's squishy with a velvety top layer so holds heat as they can get cold.
Ours has an outdoor coat but the rescue should have some they can sell you like ours did.
We have a harness and double lead which works well for us as I feel more secure in case she saw a small fluffy

We bought her a couple of teddies with squeakers which she loves but doesn't know how to play ball yet.
Charcoal biscuits are a must in our house as her wind is horrendous if she's got to the bin

They are prone to sensitive tummies sonon advice from the rescue we give ours chappie complete with half a can of meat in it to build her up abit as it's great for sensitive dogs.

I couldn't figure out why she was such a nightmare if there was food around like if I'm cooking meat etc until I found out they are often starved for 24 hours before racing to make them quicker. Bloody disgusting.

She has calmed down around food now which I have been assured will happen as she knows her food will be available and she doesn't have to run or fight for it.
Lots of gentle touching and practice with whistling for recall and patience and that works for us.

2 greyhounds both ex racers here in a very busy house with 2 boys 8 and 10. Think football, piano practice, ps4 (loud) and our 2 take it all in their stride. Our ddogs are 7 and 9. We've had the 9 yo since he was 3.

Sight hound collar, muzzle, a coat and an indoor fleece if they feel the cold. No extendable leads. Re beds-old double duvets folded in two do ours fine.

100 x 70 would be good. Hounds generally like to spread out rather than curling up.

You'll need:
martingale collars
tag collar and tag
lead (not an extending one)
coats - outside waterproof and indoor fleece unless your house is very warm
bowls
dog bed

They make loving, loyal pets who will soak up no end of love and comfort. Greyhounds all the way! 😍

Yes get one, or two I have two, not biased at all
Brilliant with kids! Mine currently put up with a 12 week old baby since newborn and several friends with kids from 2-16. Are known to try to approach kids when out in public, they adore then.
Mine sleep through most noise, and when they play (not too often they sure do it well!
Don't worry about burn out, I have my boy from a similar situation as PP, my boy had his last race mid-late November, I adopted him 11th December, he had been a champion so lots of racing if anything he seemed to appreciate the rest more than my girl.
Mine prefer a big squidgy duvet folded up to their several beautiful beds so don't spend too much on a bed, might be worth considering a nice duvet instead?
You'll need a special collar for a grey, I prefer martingales as do several people I know as they are harder to escape from, lots of beautiful ones on ebay. (they get addictive) and coats are easily available on ebay too, so many beautiful ones!
Buy a long lead but make sure it isn't extendable as these can be dangerous for sighthounds, and a raised feeder is pretty useful as is isn't good for them to eat and drink off the floor.
Best of luck finding a beautiful new family member

Love reading these replies....am hoping to add a hound to our busy household and like the idea that a gentle pointy/lurcher x might be a possibility and might even ignore the cat.....I keep looking longingly at the EGLR website!

OP are you getting him from the RGT? If so they will give you a coat, muzzle, collar and lead. They won't be pretty but you will do you until you can replace them with nicer ones! It's advisable to keep them on whatever food they are currently on at first, and if you want to change it to a better quality one, introduce the new food slowly otherwise they get upset tummies.

Exciting!

Yes lamb. She did mention a collar and lead. Not sure about the coat. Although I guess he will probably come with the manky coat he's wearing at the kennels.

Very exciting!!

I will update you all tomorrow.

Ours came with the lead and harness and muzzle and we paid for a collar and outdoor coat.
I think altogether with the rehoming donation I paid just over £200 and she is worth a million of that.

I'm looking at matching owner and greyhound snoods and leg warmers for her at the moment 😀

I love love love greyhounds with their baleful eyes and lovely long pointy heads. My dog is part greyhound (not that I am biased) and I would only consider greyhound whippet types for another dog. Always a rescue. There are so many lovely ones for rehoming I genuinely don't understand why so many people insist on puppies

I've read that lots of people buy cheap duvets and covers instead of expensive beds? So it's all easily washable.

Oh, sounds like you've made your decision!

I was coming on to say, yes!

We adopted a 20month old male greyhound almost 2 years ago - very noisy house here with 4 boys, our youngest was 5 yo when we got him.

He's been a great addition to the family.
He plays, boy, does he play!
In fact he never raced as was 'too playful' according to the trainer who relinquished him to the rescue we got him from.
Nobody has told him that he is not a retriever - he would play fetch and chase a ball all day long...

My point is, yes, there are breed characteristics, but more important is that you find the dog for you. Sadly, there is a huge choice of greyhounds out there...

Hope you have fund getting to know your hound!

Gratuitous photos of my lad in recent frost

We have one proper memory foam bed (lucky eBay purchase - Orvis without the price tag) and 2 cheap single duvets quartered and in a cover.

You need MeggieMoo for collars/lead (beware: greyhound accessory porn )
MigliCoats for, well, coats - great quality and run by a MNer...

Mine love a Kong toy stuffed with pate although he is otherwise not very food driven - we are still trying to get some weight on his bones, he is very skinny, more so than he needs to be.

I have a lurcher that we adopted from a rescue in late September he is around 18 months old. Altough he is quite big (his head is around knee height), he does fold up really small and walks beautifully on the lead, he was also great with our elderly cat and walks off lead with brilliant recall. He sleeps on a single duvet folded over that's really easy to wash, downstairs he sleeps on the sofa but is also a fan of the rug in front of the door as he (v u usually) gets too hot I think.
He is amazing, we all adore him (kids 9&12), very loving, people orientated, curls up on the bed or sofa with us, sometimes thinks he's a giant cat!
He copes with household comings and goings and noise just fine, (is a bit nervous of male visitors).
Do it. - you won't regret it!

Some excellent points already made so I won't restate them. Couple I'd add. It's worth teaching your DC that greys can sleep with their eyes open so it's important DC learn not to disturb them and let them sleep in peace (which they do, quite a lot!).

Secondly, and very importantly, greys have a reputation as being gentle and even as being a bit dim, but I think this is hugely unfair. While they are racing most are not given very much individual attention or training like pets do, so playing with toys, responding to training cues and even making choices about being handled will be alien to their experience. One of the most rewarding and incredibly moving parts of adopting a greyhound is gradually watching their true personality unfurl as they learn that they can play and can have fun. I do a lot of training with ours - because it massively strengthens the bond between us, in that it teaches both of us to learn to communicate and listen to what the other is saying. Watching a pointy learn new stuff at class and the pleasure they experience in receiving praise and their choice of reward is real lump in the throat stuff for me. Our newest boy came straight over from Ireland just before Christmas - pretty typical ex racer in terms of upbringing and we've started gently introducing him to simple training games and he's already got surprisingly good recall. He'll be starting classes shortly - fortunately our trainer is APDT, sighthound friendly and all about making it fun for you both. I'd also recommend Jim Greenwood who regularly runs sighthound workshops all over the country (often hosted by the various rescues he works with).

I'd recommend Meggie Moo collars - yes you can buy others, but as far as I know she's the only manufacturer who regularly tests both her collars and the components in a safety lab. For a sighthound, a collar is not just a fashion accessory, it can be a life saver.

I'm in a difficult position regarding coats since my own business has been referenced already several times but if I mention it, what has previously happened is that complaints are made about me advertising, so I won't. I'd say though that you should aim for a fleece coat and a waterproof outdoor coat to start with, and then gradually build up the inevitable collection of spare fleece, Christmas coat, lightweight raincoat for spring, selection of jaunty bandanas to show off the swanlike neck, superwarm raincoat, knitted snood, etc etc. Suffice to say your greyhound will end up with a better (and probably more expensive) wardrobe than you.

You should also be prepared for the almost inevitable second hound - most adopters find they are so gorgeous and so addictive that one soon becomes more. We started with one, and before we knew it, had four. Currently down to two greys and a lurcher.

Good luck!

We fostered a pointy to do a bit of cat/kid testing with her.

I used a double quilt folded into a single cover as a bed, as it was easy to wash. She had a fancy collar to look pretty, but I found it easier to walk her in a harness, as she was enormous and I felt like there was too much pressure on her neck with just a collar.

It's worth getting a raised feeding bowl, as greyhounds can suffer from bloat. Everything on your kitchen counters is fair game to a pointy nose, so consider not letting her in the kitchen at all.

I will re-iterate the point about greys sleeping with their eyes open and being easily startled. Teach your kids to call the dog's name while approaching her, and really reinforce this. Put a spare bed for her in a room where the kids don't spend time, so she can take herself off there when she's had enough.

Good luck. I give it six months max before you are looking for your next one 😉

@phillpot12 If you think a pointy might be for you, my next fosterers arrive tomorrow into our 2 cat (+chickens) household and due to evilgingercats 'cats have sharp corners, leave them alone' intensive training program will be cat tested thoroughly. Just sayin'

yes - just do it
I am currently on my second lurcher (who is now 13) and both were rescues they are the best dogs ever
as pp have said - the biggest bed you can manage and raised eating bowl and NO extendable lead.

Yes the sleeping with eyes open is quite a sight to start with

We always teach our kids as with all dogs they have to respect the animal. The dog has even won over the hearts of the very rigid in laws lol!!
She just walks up to them,leans on them and neighs like a horse and their hearts melt

We have a double lead that attaches to her collar and harness as we were told neck leads can damage their necks if they jolt quickly. Ours has met the local car park cat twice and my mums cat a few times now. She sniffs them whilst we all hold our breath and get ready to pull her back but she just wags her tail and walks off.
She's met our very large rabbit a few times now but only when the rabbits in her house.
It's the teeth chattering and vibrating that we love. Always when we open the fridge

We have also experienced the greyhound scream of death twice now!
She strived her toe on the back door and we thought her foot was dropping off and she came down the Taurus and straight into the front door via her head.
It's so loud!! We have got used to it now thank god.
I really hope you find one and give it a lovely home. They are beautiful gracious animals.
I'm already saying I want another one

It's the husband that needs convincing.....will be in touch if I get the go ahead for a not too huuuuge whippety/pointy/lurcher to add to our brood! Lots of window shopping in the mean time!

@CMOTDibbler didn't manage to tag you in my reply....!

Good luck! They're brilliant dogs - I now have two with the newer addition having arrived a week and a half ago.

Getting the new one has really made me appreciate how well the old one has come on in the past 21 months and even in the short time with the new dog he's learnt not to eat the cat biscuits (or the cat but that's still a work in progress), not to poke his snout all over the kitchen worktops, we seem to have conquered the indoor markings (everything crossed about that one!) and respond to his new name.

I'm working on his recall and socialising with other breeds, he's fine with big dogs but not little ones. He's also a bit clingy and I'm dreading leaving him behind in the house for the first time.

My old dog only had a couple of those issues but I think it's inevitable your new dog will need some help settling in after kennel life.

You will hardly notice a greyhound in your house because it's sleeping all the time so I wouldn't worry about the size of the dog too much, just look for the right temperament.

I've never had a dog before so I'm a complete novice. And the dogs I do know are all bitches.

Do boy dogs generall cock their leg everywhere? (Might be a dumb question)!

The lady at the rehoming place said the greyhound bitches are more bossy/territorial.

What are all your preferences for boy/girl?