Who here has adopted a Greyhound??

[wvdisluv2]

Our grey came from Seabrook racetrack in New Hampshire. She raced for 3 years and was just a few precious months away from "retirement". We adopted her through a local Long Island rescue group called LIGHT (LI Greyhound Transfer). They only do LI adoptions but I'm sure the group you met a Petsmart will hook you up with a wonderful new addition.

We would have gotten another one after our Kimya passed on (the one we put down with the brain tumor) but our Janky (the one in the picture) just ADORES being the Queen of the household and the apple of her Daddy's (DH's) eye. She tolerates our other mutt, Mikhouse, but seriously, she was sulky and sullen from the day we brought Kimya home until she passed 1 1/2 years later. When that poor dog finally died, Janky went from moody grump to joyous Queen of the universe in two seconds flat.

Sad but true. Janky is 11 now, so we'll just wait until G od decides to call her back to him before we bring another grey home. Maddiemouse is right. It's dang near impossible to have just one.

Potato chip dogs!

Here's the whole brood before Kimya's passing:
Left to right, Janky, Kimya and Milhouse.

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That was "their" couch. DH and I had our own. It was hilarious watching all three pile on! Notice the sulky look on Janky's face to be sharing "her" couch with the other greyhound. Kimya used to "talk" to us. She make this "rooing" sound and if you imitated her, she'd get louder and funnier, like she was singing to you. She also gave wicked awesome "ear kisses."

What beautiful Pups!!! LOL Potato Chip Dogs!!! I've heard that so many times about Greyhounds!!! We are mutt owners (see avatar) but many moons ago (like 20 yrs) I volunteered at the Pensacola FL Animal Shelter which housed many of the retired greyhounds. What sweeties they are!!!! Never met one with a bad temeperment. I've heard the fenced yard is important unless you are providing them with extensive walks daily. Is it true they will chase a peice of paper in the wind forever?

 

[malibuconlee]

I would love to. About 40 miles or so from here is the Greyhound Museum and Greyhound Hall of Fame. It's a pretty cool place to visit, they have dogs that are retired living in the museum. They are sweet dogs.

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

I can't believe I just found this thread. We hardly ever go to the community board section. We first met Keystone Greyhounds at the Hershey Bears hockey games last year. By 5/3, we'd adopted our first: Max. 4 yo, 75#, dark brindle male. We've never heard him bark, except some light woofing when asleep. Not even a Roo. Our Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies book says it is by Lee Livingood. She lives in the Harrisburg, Pa area, and sometimes has greyhound only manners class. To further our bond with Max, Christine took him to all the Manners I classes.
There were about 120 at the Keystone picnic in September. There, and at other meets, I've never seen such a quiet and well behaved breed. My history is with Labs and Collies. They seem so happy to see other needlenoses. My parents watched him while we cruised 10/25-11/1 with DCL, and are now considering one of their own. I'm sure other breeds have their support/friendship groups, but the greyhound groups seem to be the most organized and active. (Had those with other breeds make this observation as well)

I think there's a pool at the office to guess when we get #2. We were warned by many about the potato chip dog factor.

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

Max will zero in on and target the smallest leaf or bit of paper. He's earned tremendous trust from us, but is always on a lead when we're outside of the fenced in back yard (fence added after Max so that he could have more fun outside). I've been holding the lead a couple of times when he "launched". There is a lot of power there. They (like many breeds, but more-so) just want to make you happy, and respond very well to positive reinforcement.

Ditto: take care with anesthesia. We're lucky, our vet is on his 2nd greyhound.

Some need more exercise than others. Max enjoys a nice 1 mile (or so) walk daily. Always with both of us. Loves to play "find it" with treats in the back yard. Given to "crazy running" in the back yard sometimes. Makes you smile just watching him. Heard of others that aren't interested in running at all. And at least one who gets 5 miles of walks a day, and it still isn't enough.

 

[Jennasis]

I've heard the fenced yard is important unless you are providing them with extensive walks daily. Is it true they will chase a peice of paper in the wind forever?

Yes to the first sentence and yes to the second!

Like I said, when we first got Janky, we had no fenced yard, so we walked her twice each morning (once when we woke up, and once before heading to work), then again when coming home from work, then a nice LOOOOONG walk around the whole neighborhood, then two or three more trips out to go potty before bed. a Lobor of love but well worth it.

As for the chasing...yes...for the most part. Despite her excellent race record, she has a very low prey-drive. She is cat nuetral (but loves "yelling" at them when the barn cats wander up to the yard fence to taunt her). We have taken her lure coursing, which she excels at, but sahe has no interest in chasing or running otherwise. She did get out of the yard once, and was lost for two of the scariest hours of my life. I must not have latched the gate tight enough. DH drove the whole neighborhood for two hours, crying and calling her name. She turned up filthy, and scared to death about two hours later in the middle of our horse pasture. Likely she saw something worth chasing, bolted and by the time she slowed down, was lost. Since then she refuses to leave the yard...EVER...without me or DH and her leash. It's hysterical. Dh accidentally left the gate open one night and the mutt and our deceased grey got out and were terrorizing our barn cats. When we went outside and figured out they were gone, there stood Janky, standing in front of the open gate, shaking and yelling for the other two to come back!

Crate training...best thing ever for greys. We eventually were able to get Janky to think of the house as her crate, probably easiest house breaking ever! We kept the crate for her for thunderstorms (she hates them) but now she just heads for the dark closet during storms.

Our grey never was much of a "counter surfer" but she learned quickly that I am a pushover for treats, sleeping on the couch and in our bed. The 100lb mutt figured it out too!

I'm a sucker.

 

[louey]

Here is our Greyhound (Scooby) with one of our little dogs (Heather) snoozing in my bed

and another

Ok one more

Honestly ditto on what everyone else has said. We have had Scooby about 6 years now and I have to say she is the best dog, no lie. She was easy from day one, brought her home and it was like she had been here all along. Hope you decide on adding one to your family I don't think you'll be sorry.

 

[Mermaid02]

I'm already picking out names. I'd like a male (Maddy gets along better with Male dogs than other females). I just have to talk dh into it.

 

[louey]

Hey Mermaid02 here is a greyhound forum you might find helpful. I go on there sometimes lots of information.

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php?

 

[pat fan]

We have a grey and just love him! He's getting older now, but he's still the same as when we got him, sleeps 24/7!!! He never barks, gets super excited when someone comes over (for a whole 3 minutes) and then goes back to sleep. They do have bad teeth,though. Ours has had a few pulled over the years we've had him, but they are so worth the dental cost. Other than that, they are awesome dogs!! Here's a picture of our Brady...on the couch as usual!

 

[juligrl]

My cousin has two greyhounds. Her husband always wanted a greyhound so they adopted one through a local greyhound organization - after waiting quite a while for approval. She is the sweetest, most laid-back dog, but she had big-time separation anxiety. So...they got approved, very quickly, for a second greyhound. They are both sweet girls and boy can they run!

btw - what somebody else said about bad teeth - very true. Both their girls have bad teeth. A definate expense when you own a greyhound.

 

[MickeyMouseGal]

It seems greys get cancer more than other dogs. Do you know?

Greyhounds are great dogs. I knew many of them when I lived in Alabama (War Eagle! )
They are quite predisposed to osteosarcoma (bone cancer). Please take any lamenesses in your dogs seriously. Osteosarc is a bad deal.

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

I just saw this thread in our subscribed threads list. With thanks to the OP, I thought I'd ping it, to see how other DIS greyhound owners are doing. We haven't ventured over to Greytalk, etc., but do spend some time here. Chris and I thought it might be neat to have some greyhound talk here. Any other takers?

To start:
Max, just turned 5 at the end of April, dark brindle. He's our first.

Max was hosted by my parents when we went on our Halloween 2008 DCL cruise. On the Tuesday before New Years, they adopted their first. Dodgie, 4 1/2 now, champagne brindle. Mom says he's got "Eddie Cantor" (sp?) eyes.

 

[dhcoffey]

Glad you brought this up again. We're on our second greyhound. Her name is Lady, she's approximately 7, and a huge couch potato. She's white with a few brown spots. Don't even think about her going outside except for very short potty breaks. I don't think she realizes she's a dog (shh, don't tell!)

Heather

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

Ours goes on a mile walk each day. Sometimes even in the rain and/or cold. He really seems to enjoy sunbathing in the back yard. Boy, can his fur get hot quickly!

Dodgie gets 2-4 miles of walking daily. He had a ligament tear, and has a plate and 7-8 screws. The walking has really helped his muscle tone, etc.

Neat to see such a quick post to the return of the thread.

 

[Mermaid02]

Hey! OP here! I've yet to convince my husband we need another dog- I still want a greyhound though- just love their personalities!

 

[PaDisneyCouple]

Hey! OP here! I've yet to convince my husband we need another dog- I still want a greyhound though- just love their personalities!

Looking through our subscription list, and saw this one. Were you ever able to convince your husband?

Also: I think it would be neat if we could keep this thread alive. I know that there are greyhound "DIS" boards, but wondered if we could talk greys and Disney here?