Greyhounds

trudij

Percy has got a very high pain threshold ( Ive only known him scream 3 times, twice with injections (always for effect!) and once when he misjudged running under a fence and whacked his shoulderblades badly - hes allowed that one, you could hear the crash indoors!!),hes certainally more butch about pain than my fella!!! he's a touch of arthur in his hips, but thats it, and frankly, he raced 92 times till he was 5,winning 19 of them - so hes not exactly had an easy life. Hes 9 years old and people are astounded when we tell them hes that age.

They are all different - some go on for years and years without any problems at all, others are more accident prone and injurable (have I just invented a new word??!!!)

Indie_Kid

Ours wasn't toilet trained either. All the other dogs we've had, we've had them when they were much younger (from 6 weeks to around 17 months old, grey was 4 years old) and therefore, probably much easier to toilet train.

Ours was scared of loud and sudden noises. One time, I dropped a tin on the floor and she ran off into the front room, scared.

Kimberley

Sounbrette what sized crate would I need? I have been told that some ex racers have never lived in a home so how long does it take for those dogs to settle in a home and become clean? I'm looking at some greyhounds in another kennels tomorrow but these ones have never been inside a house so if i chose one of them then i'd need to crate him/her at night and when he/her is left when i'm at work.

How long do they become clean?

brook2jack

Ex racers are used to kennel life and I have never had a problem leaving ours alone. That being said she has out other dog for company and psychologically relies on the other dog alot. She definately would suffer separation anxiety if left without her friend.

Both our dogs are females and grey females can be quite dominant.

Ours was a failed racer so was rehomed at 18 months. She was quite quick to house train but took some time to get confidence up re children,lorries, hoovers etc.

She does not have a high prey drive so we can let her off lead and she will come to call. Friends with dogs with high prey drive cannot let dogs off lead except in very confined areas and wearing muzzles. Failed racers may be easier in this respect than ex racers.

That being said she is a very easy calm dog to have.... Visitors are not jumped on or pestered but you do have to watch out for food they will steal. They are ideal dogs to introduce to nervous children because they are so calm.

However I would be wary of introducing them into a house will small children because they have delicate legs which they splay out when relaxing which are easily trod on and some have a strange habit of sleeping with their eyes open and being startled when woken.

You have to get them coats for cold/wet weather and have at least a three seater sofa to share but they are easy affectionate dogs to live with.

lostinrates

brook2jack wrote: »

have at least a three seater sofa to share but they are easy affectionate dogs to live with.

No, mine happily shares the 2 seater sofa or even an armchair with me....so long as she is on top of me not the other way round;)

Mine is also not a wimp,she will occasionally show me a sore foot, but doesn't flinch from injections/microchip jab..which is nasty!


The difference might been mine was with me from a puppy?

I haven' had the experience of a greyhound from racing kennels but a lot of friends have showing greyhounds from showing kennels as house dogs when they are older, and we've had other sighthounds. Personally I found this gryhound harder to house train as a puppy than any adult from kennels we've had and harder than anyone I know with an older kennel grey has found them. She didn't like going out in bad weather. She's much tougher now, but still has to be reminded occasionally that crossing her legs all night because its windy and raining is not an option.

brook2jack

You can tell when it's cold or wet .... The grey won't go off the path in the garden she just points her rump grass wards.

We take ours camping but have bought her a camping sofa to lie on outside the tent and she has a selection of wooly jumpers to keep her warm.

Our vet suggested we give cod liver oil daily as this helps to delay onset of arthritis and decreases amount of medication you need to give.

Ex racers also often have very poor teeth and many missing due to diet and lack of gnawing opportunities.

One other thing ex Irish racers such as ours can have a bit of a "thing" about collies as they are often used to "encourage" greys to run around when they are puppies.

Sid_Wolf

We used to live with 2 Greys, they are the worlds most lazy dog im sure!!!

They got 1-2 20 minute walks a day and were left on their own for about 6 hours, never destroyed anything, but did sh*t on the floor, that was a habit that was hard to break with them as they were used to living in kennels.

They took up loads of room on the sofa, in fact they had their own one!!

Watch what you feed them tho, the 2 we lived with were fed wagg, not only that (its a cr*p food), but they were given HALF A JUG twice a day!!!!!!!!!!!! As you can imagine they had awful wind and their turds weren't exactly turd shaped a lot of the time!!

Kimberley

The kennels that I will be fostering or adopting for is the one in the link below. All the dogs are described as clean in their kennels so i'm guessing they will be in a house too. I don't have a three seater but he/she is welcome to use one of the two seaters because I have bought a few throws to cover it.
http://www.rgtcroftview.co.uk/default.htm

dizziblonde

brook2jack wrote: »

at least a three seater sofa to share but they are easy affectionate dogs to live with.

Only a three seater sofa? Blimey, my three legged cat can hog one of those on her own... or a double bed... canine amateurs! I think it's like women's handbags where the amount of crap you carry fills to meet all the space available... the amount of pet expands to fill all available slobbing out space.

lrr_2

Big loveable lazy dogs, amazing how many people think they want to run around all day. The one I had years ago just wanted to sleep upside-down on the couch all day.