Greyhound/hound owners - can I ask some advice?

[gerbo]

We have our new beautiful boy home from Dog's Trust. He's 4 and in good health.

I have a few questions and the net seems full of contradictory opinions!

1. He came with a martingale collar (wide) and harness. Should he wear this collar all the time, or just a house collar? (Haven't bought yet) Do you put the martingale on for each walk and attach lead to it, or attach lead to the harness?!

1. He has sloppy poos. I know this is probably nerves, but we're wondering about his diet. He's on Wainwright's complete dry food. Is the packaged raw food much better for them? Is there a better quality mid to high price fry food which is better and may result in less mousse like poos?!

1. Do we leave terry brushing for a while as it may be too much stress? He's been here only a couple of days.

He's seemingly settling well, is toilet trained, seems calm and relaxed and loves his duvet beds! I think his foster carers did a great job....

Any advice gratefully received.

@gerbo Sorry I can't be more specific I'm not great with IT and Mr.Hubbs does all the ordering online. However if you physically go into a Pets@Home the raw food I speak about is right next to the mince.
Regarding a coat I will take a look at my history and let you know.
Hope that helps.

Thanks everyone! Thanks @fliss444

The gas is awful!! Our small lounge is gassed out in the evening/ makes us all laugh but surely not a great sign for him?!?

Re the tuff wear harness, can you still put a coat over it? It looks bulky.

Think we'll leave nails to the groomer, it looks a bit risky to me!

I'll leave teeth brushing for a few weeks until he's settled.

Thank you all for your help.

Our girl had sloppy poo for the first 6 weeks or so, then it started to firm up - we didn't change her food (Wainwrights Salmon & Potato) , I think it was just as she got less and less stressed.

Natural yogurt has done wonders for the gas...doesnt stop it completely, but it's only one horrific one every couple of days now

Oh, and ostrich bones for teeth are great!

Congratulations OP! He’s beautiful! I’m in the market for a rescue greyhound and I’m loving all these photos. Very exciting!

Totally recommend plaque off chews for thr interim op, you can get them on amazon and they really seem to help plus ours loves them and they don't upset his typically delicate greyhound stomach :)

Congratulations

We said one!

@RuthW

Congratulations

We said one!

I love how they sleep!

Oh wow Ruth w! They look so relaaaaxed.....

One thing I've noticed so far is all the attention he draws....is it his size? The muzzle? Surprising.

We have a fabric house collar (or two....) with the tag on and use a leather fish tail collar and lead (as pictured in an earlier post. We just use a harness in the car.

10 months in, we still use the much maligned cheapo greyhound kibble, topped with half a tin of Butchers or sardines/tuna/mackerel. Plus a bit of sunflower oil, a few porridge oats and a spoon of Greek Yoghurt in the morning. And the occasional egg. His poo is mostly fine (sometimes sloppy when he's really excited on a walk - or stressy with bird scarers going off), hardly any wind now and he has a coat like a seal.

Gratuitoius Galgo pic. The black guy (6) has been with me 3 weeks and his cheeky side is coming out. The brindle (11) has been with me for 6 years. I lost two boys in the last 6 months one downside of adopting older dogs.

I never wanted any!!

Agree with the ostrich bones for teeth.

Ours gets a few comments as well. There are several greyhounds in the village and word gets around.

We didn’t muzzle ours after the first day and he’s been fine, and is offlead for much of his walks (not near roads).

Maybe they can rotate their eyeballs and see just as well upside down!?

Those of you who use a muzzle- how do your dogs cope with it? I am in NI and greyhounds legally have to be muzzled when in public so it’s a concern if I adopt and dog isn’t happy about it.

My saluki cross uses a muzzle (or she drags my Lurchers along by an ear!) Very soft plastic and she doesn't mind at all.

This one. Black one. Dh sort of grimaced when I suggested pink!!

Congrats OP (and yes totally normal to be anxious and slightly “what have I done?” it’s a settling process for you as well as them)!

We don’t use a martingale but a thick leather collar that came with her from the (greyhound specific) rescue. I think there called herring bone collars or something like that.

We started giving ours Harrington’s to see how it went as they come in paper bags not plastic and she is absolutely fine on it and has been for about 3 years. Her poohs were v sloppy when she first got here too.

Have fun!

For sloppy poops my lurcher does well on Millies Wolfheart. It’s grain free. He has a fish based one but can only tolerate the 50% protein one. Tried a 80% protein one once on recommendation of dog trainer and well that ended rather explosively we add a bit of wet food for flavour but only about a quarter of a tin with each meal.

Congratulations, they are the most beautiful dogs. We have had our rescue girl for just over three months and she is very settled (as you can see!). We feed Arden Grange dry food topped with Forthglade wet meat/veg. Poos are easy to pick up but do need two poo bags to contain the smell so I am going to try the yogurt suggestion. I hope you have a very happy life with your new arrival.

@UhtredRagnarson our boy is five with a muzzle. Initially we used treats at the bottom of it in our palm to encourage him but now he'll just put it on.

I may buy a black one as ours is tan- black would be more discreet.

Thank you @gerbo and @Easterbunnygettingready

@gerbo
I bought my dogs coat via Amazon from a company called Kellings Dog Coats. They ask for measurements and it fits him perfectly.
Re frozen food for dogs there is a very good company named Natures Menu who deliver. They are more expensive though.
I also give my boy Cod Liver Oil daily which can be liquid or tablet form. (Also meant to say there is bone/calcium added to his food for nutrient content. )
Good luck and I can assure you that you are in for a lot of loving and fun with your greyhound. They are incredibly loving and love their backrubs and tummy rubs when they are ''roaching'' on the sofa (I swore my dog would not be allowed on the sofa -- ALAS ........)

Thanks all! @fliss444 i know what you mean- a year ago i never would've believed I would have a dog stretching out over my sofa all day😂

We're all feeling more relaxed now I think, it's day 4 and I can feel my stress levels falling, and his poo is definitely firmer - hopefully a good gauge of his relaxation!

He also did some play and zoomies yesterday in the garden, hopefully a good sign.