Well after much thought and deliberation I went back to the retired greyhound trust on recommendation and had another look. To cut a long story short I’ve reserved one. So its looking good but I now have to see what she is like with my son and retroboy has to meet her too.
Her story is she was no good for racing as all she wanted to do was play and after seeing her with the resident cat I’m feeling confident with caution that Olly will not be savaged.
So on saturday we are going on the monthly greyhound walk and will be taking the boys to meet her and then a home check will be pending.
I am feeling nervous but excited and to be honest I’m more scared of this than when I was having a baby.
Anyway heres a link to her and her name is Mini http://hollinhall.retiredgreyhounds.co.uk/Dog/?dogId=6c37679a-aafa-b7c1-f9b2-52224c417439&from=adopt-a-greyhound

She looks lovely, hope it all works out for you and Mini.

Very cute – looks a little like our Poppy.

Take your time with her an be patient and you will be rewarded.

If you have any questions feel free to drop me an email – in profile.

Cheers

Danny B

Good luck, I’ve had mine for two years and she’s been brilliant. Just watch where you let it off to start off with (lots of the greyhoundy people never do, which is such a shame mine never raced either and she won’t leave my side on walks without bunnies etc). They are lovely dogs, I’m sure you won’t regret it, PM me if you want any pointers

That’s one beautiful, beautiful dog. I’m a big fan of these hounds and know they’re brilliant domestically.. enjoy her!

Lovely dog!

We used to have a greyhound but we could never really let him off the lead as he would just head off at maximum speed towards the horizon.

Be careful around anything that looks like a rabbit (e.g. very small dogs, cats, and of course, actual rabbits).

Those eyes! Can’t stop looking at her eyes! What a cracking hound, looks so bright and alert, so full of life!

Hope it goes wonderfully for you!

I miss my mutt – he’s with my girls but I get to see him as much as them do not too bad 🙂

Beautiful dog

Aww, looks lovely.

Don’t be afraid to use a (wire racing) muzzle if you’ve got somewhere to run but are worried about her grabbing other dogs/cats/squirrels. If she’s from racing stock she’ll be used to it anyway.

PM me if you want any pointers

I think retrogirl has enough on her plate with Mini let alone giving her another dog to look after!

Good luck btw, she looks lovely

Is it true they are the laziest dog?

Apart from 15mins a day they will out sleep anything!

Whoop ! Really hope it works out. Fingers crossed for the weekend.

I NEED PICTURES THOUGH ! 😀 😆

Is it true they are the laziest dog?

I had to coax mine off the sofa tonight with food to get to go out for a pee. Yes, that’s right, it’s too lazy to even go for a p*ss.

Worse than students.

Best dogs in the world.!!
I have a failed -rabit -hunting lurcher.She is marvellous.
They are as soft as smoke and just want to please you.
Only snag is they take up all the sofa!

I’m jealous! Good luck but you wont need it.

afkt – Member
They are lovely dogs, I’m sure you won’t regret it, PM me if you want any pointers

Shes just said shes getting a greyhound, why would she want a Pointer?

igmc

Lol! Beautiful beasties! We used to look after a few retired racers and loved their personalities. Here’s some photos of Mick, who ran at the speed of light in ever decreasing circles…

Greyhound photos

Very nice and sort of tempted by a greyhound although I’d worry how one would get on with our cats. I think lurchers are fab too.

My dog is a lurcher and cats send him into an uncontrollable excitement. If he ever got near one, the outcome would be fatal.

I was also very surprised to read about the greyhound getting on with cats above. Ex-racers will tear anything small and furry apart 🙁

The thing is when is racing going to be banned?

I was also very surprised to read about the greyhound getting on with cats above. Ex-racers will tear anything small and furry apart 

our lurcher chases cats with great enthusiasm a friend however owns a lurcher a grey and cats no probkem. His grey was savaged by a squirrel not long ago. Needed £200 of stitches!

Our two lurchers will chase cats when they’re out for walks. But they’re fine wiith our own, they’ll quite often all curl up on the sofa together. Sometimes the cat chases them, sometimes they chase the cat.

Not all Greyhounds will shred small fluffy animals. Our old hound would chase squirrels and cats but the one time he actually caught a cat he didn’t know what to do with it, had his nose clawed and barely looked at a cat after that.

Ours walked well on and off the lead but did bolt the first time we let him off (in an enclosed field). We worked on call and return with treats for rewards and he got it pretty quickly.

Hope the walk goes well, they are awesome companions/footwarmers/interactive rugs.

Looks like you’ve got a great dog there. I’m not a fan of dogs at all (we’re a cat only household). But a mate has a few rescue greyhounds, and they are the loveliest, softest, most affectionate creatures.

Little sods for staring up at you, giving you the big eyes, when you’ve got crisps 😀

She is gorgeous.

Our two came from Hollin Hall too 🙂

Absolutely brilliant dogs. One of ours is an ex racer, the other wasn’t interested like yours.

40mph couch potatoes 🙂

Beautiful dog. They look so calm. Having a dog to come home to is one of the best feelings in the world.

Feeling very excited and also very nervous. When I do eventually get her home what do I expect? I am expecting to do house training as she has been in a kennel. Websites have told said to be hands off and leave her be for the first few days but some advice would be nice as I have looked after dogs for people but this will be my first ever dog for the family.
ps would love to see some pics

The Mrs got the dogs before she got me so this is second hand info, but:

Yes, they needed house training (Glad the dogs pre-date me here!)
They had never seen another dog, so there was lots of OMGWTF when they say other breeds
They had also never seen a television or a mirror, with hilarious results.

I’d ask the lady from Hollin Hill any questions you may have, she’ll know better than anyone what to expect 🙂

Prepare to want a friend for Mini 🙂

Mini will have plenty of friends from dogs of friends but it was a big job getting mr retro to agree to the dog in the first place so 2 would be seriously pushing it. Looks like the cat will be Mini’s friend when he comes round 😉

Lovely looking dog there! Well done on giving her a chance to enjoy a relaxing retirement too. Just remember the first rule of STW Dog Club: Threads about dogs are useless without pictures

lovely dog! Hope it all goes well and you enjoy your new pet.

Are you ready for the smell of dog fart constantly lingering?? All greyhounds fart for England. Lovely looking beast!

Lovely looking lady. We have four… 🙂

As everyone has said, be careful about letting her off lead, or walking her unmuzzled until you’re very sure of her temperament or motivations. None of our dogs go off lead, and the boy always walks muzzled.

Also be careful of people letting their small fluffy dogs run up to yours with a cheerful “oh it’s ok she won’t bite!” People don’t realise how strong the ‘prey’ instinct can be in hounds. When you remind people how much their dog looks like a rabbit, they usually get the message 🙂

Our lurcher has confused little dogs for cats or rabbits on occasion, she has always pulled her charge when she gets close gives them a polite sniff and then runs back to me!

Speaking as a long time hound and lurcher owner I’m finding some of the comments hear about not letting them off the lead quite sad. Yes you have to be very careful, selective and fully aware of their hunt and prey wiring but they are very trainable dogs.

retrogirl – enjoy the hound, they are fantastic dogs, just give it plenty time to settle.

I have two rescue Greyhounds, I adore them. I’ve had them a year next week. They are 6 1/2 and 3 3/4.

There were half a dozen accidents in the first couple of weeks, but we’re ok now. I take them out regularly and when they wee I say “Do wees, good girl/boy” so now when we are in I can say (in a silly voice) “Do wees?” and they know they can go out if they need to.

Teddy’s teeth were awful, awful, AWFUL and he had 16 out – he’s a much happier boy now.

Their coats and skin were bad, but I feed them on James Wellbeloved and all shiny and lovely now.

Stairs. They’d never seen stairs so coped with them by leaping from top to bottom, with me in tow. I was almost pulled over, but they’ve learned now.

Other dogs. They’ve never seen other breeds. Dot gets nervous and tries to run, Teddy gets nervous and tries to bite.

However, a year of socialising (muzzled) they now stand calmly and even sniff other dogs in a friendly fashion…. small fluffy dogs are another matter. And cats galvanise them into action, if they were off the lead they would deffo chase cats.

I could go on, but I won’t, please email me if you want any more info, meantime, here’s a picture.

Here’s an old post I dug out of an earlier thread:

Inky, Blue female. Ex-racer, retired due to injury.

They are amazing dogs, so affectionate and gentle. They took a while to come out of their shells but are now real characters.

The place they came from “cat tests” them (I dread to think what this entails for the cat!). Ours are both cat-friendly. In fact they used to live with a cat in relative peace.

They took a while to get used to a bike – I think they were scared of the freewheel noise – but now bikes rides are good fun for all concerned. They won’t do all day mind, but an hour or so is not a problem for them.

As everyone is saying, they don’t need a huge amount of exercise. Ours get approx 30 mins in a morning and 40 mins on a night at this time of year but more in the summer. They’ll walk all day quite happily though. The rest of the time they’re sleeping… Ours are left alone all day whilst we’re at work and save the odd shredded letter or upturned bin (see food thief notes above!) they don’t give us any bother.

Ours have caught the odd squirrel and bunny with gruesome consequences, but as said above, they’ve got hundreds of years breeding to do just that. You can trace their family trees via their ear tattoos, Mrs S managed to trace Bomber’s back to 1770!

They show none of the aggressive tendencies of other dogs, they’ll always just run away if challenged, and only ever bark in play if we get them really riled up. I can’t imagine them ever biting someone, Inly will occasionally nip if she’s massively excited (i.e. I ask for it).

I wouldn’t walk them near roads off the leash but I wouldn’t trust any dog in that situation. Ours run freely off the leadwith no bother up the woods. Seeing Inky at full tilt is an amazing sight – so fast!

Man can they fart though! Bomber earned his name.

I’m struggling to think of any reason not to recommend them!

Neil.