Banjoman

Welkum howme Petunia. We no yu ar gonna be veree ha pee at ower frend Rocket’s howse. Yu gotta look afta hiz hyoomans fower him! Wagz frum Chancey and Nutmeg.

You say you intend to take the puppy out for a “long” walk before leaving it but it is recommended that puppies do not have long walks but several short ones / play sessions throughout the day. How much knowledge do you have of living with dogs? If this is your first one I’m not sure that you understand what you are letting yourself into. Over the years as a stay at home Mum I have had four whippet puppies in a house with a small garden and have been close to tearing my hair out with the things they can destroy in the few minutes you aren’t watching them, I wouldn’t dream of disappearing off to work for the day and leaving any puppy at home by itself! Even at ten years old my retired greyhound can still surprise me at the speed she can find something to steal and chew on / eat that she shouldn’t.

I knew somebody who adopted a rescue dog who was great except at bedtime when they shut him in the kitchen and said “Goodnight” to him, when he went for them! They soon realised that he was fine providing they didn’t use the phrase “Goodnight”. Goodness knows what had happened to the dog earlier but it obviously brought back memories to him. Maybe if you do feel you need to verbally chastise him, and we all do it without thinking, maybe you could use a different phrase to show displeasure? After all it is only a sound to a dog, the actual words only mean something to us!

Lexie, we need to kum to yu fower fashion tips! Chancey and Nutmeg

If I could post photos I would show you Chancey and my grandson sleeping together on the settee. Chancey was a leaping screaming maniac when I first took her out walking and she saw another dog but with care and watchfulness she accepted Dexter and he could fall asleep with his head on her. Although she is an ex-racer she might well have spent her racing life in her owner’s house or been used to a family (she didn’t like TV at first).

Great name! Handsome boy! Have fun!

Chancey was a leaping, screaming lunatic when we saw another dog when walking in the forest or around the streets so I was concerned about her behaviour the first time I took her to our local greyhound walk. I needn’t have worried because she just looked at them all and obviously decided we had come to the right place at last and just calmly walked in amongst them and we’ve been enjoying a monthly walk for four and a half years now! I expect you will enjoy taking part in this year’s Great Global Greyhound walk https://www.greatglobalgreyhoundwalk.co.uk/gbgw/

Ducky, both you and MaZy fought for her to stay with you but sadly it wasn’t to be. She spent a special last night at home with you and I would like to think that when she went outside not only was she reminding herself of the good life she shared with you but also that she was gazing up at the stars looking for all the brothers and sisters that she helped you care for and telling them to be ready to meet her because she was too tired to continue the fight any longer. God speed beautiful MaZy, run free with your family and WFUBCC friends. Carol, Chancey and Nutmeg.

Miss. Ducky, fank yu fower listing ower littul wyld hedgamahog, Miss. Sally and the veterinararee peepuls tryed hard to get rid ov those nastiest lung sqwermz but lost the fyte.

Miss. Jan we ar sorree that yur speshul boy had to leev yu but we ar shur he knew how mutch yu luvved him no matta ware he waz wen he began hiz jurnee. He waz wiv yu and that waz the impotent fing. Likkee kissis frum Chancey and Nutmeg and luv frum Mum. x

Sounds like a perfect last day.

I don’t like the idea of my dogs rattling around loose in my car. I have a VW Polo with a custom made crate in the hatchback area that greyhound Chancey fits into and smaller lurcher Nutmeg wears a safety harness and is strapped onto the rear seat alongside a child safety seat (for the grandson). Whilst Chancey fits the hatch cage I wouldn’t drive long distances with her confined in that space, she can sit up and look out of the window but not turn around but it is fine for any local trips we do, I don’t drive much.

Handsome!

Missr. Don and Miss. Chris we ar sorry that yur Rocket man hadd to leeve yu butt we kno that yu made the best deesishun fower him and now he iz enjoying ise kreem upp att the Bridge. Nutmeg and me were in awe ov his ability to get ise kreem and french fries 'cos we ar KNOT allowed them butt he gott them awl the time! We were KNOT here wen Rocket and Lexie gott marrieed but Banjo told me awl about itt and how he was proud to support Rocket Ov The Dezzert on such a speshul day and to sing and play fower him and Lexie. We send likky kissis to boff ov yu, Chancey and Nutmeg.

You have my greatest sympathy as I know how much of a shock something like this can be. My whippet had a disk go in his back and was instantly paralysed but at least I had him for two more days before I decided that, even though the emergency vet had said he could possibly recover as he had some feeling in his back end, his life would not have been the happy, carefree existence it once was and recovery was increasingly doubtful. Those two days at least gave me the time to get my head around what was happening, sadly you haven’t that small help. Your Moonshine was beautiful and I know you gave her a wonderful home so please try to hold the positive thought that her time with you was one in which she knew joy and love and that she loved you in return.

Please be glad that his last day with you was a really good day for him. What a great way to spend your last day with your people, enjoying bacon, horse pooh and treats, so much better than struggling to get up and probably in pain. A similar thing happened with our Rolo, the vet was booked to come at the end of the morning so we took all three whippets out for a walk in the forest and for the first time in ages Rolo went running off after a squirrel and when it was time to go home he was the last of them to come back to the car, trotting along at his own pace. That is the picture I treasure in my mind, him doing his own thing out in the sunshine, deciding when his walk was finished! You have equally happy memories to hold on to, tomorrow he could so easily have been much worse and you would be filled with regret.

Coming in late on this . I have had four whippets and now have Nutmeg, a whippet lurcher who is slightly larger than my pedigree dogs and Chancey, a 28kg greyhound bitch. I would love to take on another greyhound after Chancey goes on but know that I could not cope with it physically if anything happened to it and I needed to lift or carry it by myself. This was brought home to me when my last whippet suffered a ruptured disk in his back and for a couple of days I tried to look after him at home after the vet said there was a chance he might recover movement. By the third day I realised I didn’t have the strength to help him in and out of the house all the time and there was no way he was going to rest enough to make any sort of recovery possible so I made the decision to ask the vet to come to the house to euthanase him. I already had Chancey and this is now something I worry about, that if she has major mobiiity issues as she gats older then we are both going to struggle. I had to get her in and out of the car a couple of weeks ago after she had stitches in her side and two vet nurses put her in for me but it was a worry getting her out whilst she was still woozy from the sedation. I managed but it was difficult. When she is being difficult and won’t jump in the back of the car by herself I have to lift her front paws up onto the bumper then heave her rear end up and in and if she locks her elbows it can be quite hard and doesn’t do my back any good! That’s when we are coming home from an outing, on the way out she leaps in like a gazelle! I have been able to lift and carry a whippet for a short distance by myself but couldn’t carry it very far. Even a whippet can pull you off your feet if you are not prepared for it and both breeds can be eager to chase something like a cat, squirrel or rabbit when they see it move, however I have held on to four whippets and kept my feet and both of my current dogs would be after the local cats given a chance! The secret is not to let them have too much lead. Whenever I spot something that might excite my dogs I bring them in beside me on a short lead so that they cannot get the chance to take off, because once they start to run It is much harder to control them. As for leaving them alone, I don’t have to go out to work but try not to leave mine for more than four hours at a time.

Hello from greyhound Chancey and whippet lurcher Nutmeg down here in Dorset.

What a great photo of him! Love the earsies and the tongue adds the finishing touch. Hope you can get him in early at the vet.

I think you need to distract her from barking by getting her attention with a treat so that she is too busy concentrating on that to think about barking. Chris (Greysmom) is the one who can describe that technique. I would be wary of allowing your children to walk her without an adult with them, if a greyhound decides to take off at speed I doubt a child could hold it. When I first got her, my Chancey used to jump up to my head height whilst screaming at dogs other than greyhounds and it was all I could do to hang on to her with my lead held tight against her neck, on a longer lead she would have had me flat on my face. Walking out in the forest I taught her to stand still and let other dogs walk past, on the street I would cross to the other side of the road and stand still. Four and a half years later she has her Kennel Club Good Citizen Silver Award and could probably get the Gold but she refuses to lie down until she is ready!

Maybe you and the other greyhound owner can get together and go for a walk, they recognise and like their own kind and a companion should give him confidence. Maybe even just walking in and out of the building together for a few times will help him.

Kitty and Pilot in this house.

When my dogs have had tummy upsets I usually start them off on boiled rice then add fish rather than any form of meat. After that it’s scrambled egg then bring in the chicken.

Depending on what kennels she came from they might well decide to let her live there permanently if she found it too hard to relax in a home environment, in which case you have helped them to give her the life she needs. Hopefully you will feel you can try again soon with another houndie and she will have helped you with any minor problems you may encounter.

Why risk her suffering any pain + the risk of a major break while you are “considering” the options when you know in your heart what the outcome must be?