yaj said:
Kronckew,
:thumbup: You have beautiful greys, do you course them?
I am a sighthound lover myself.I've a 9 and half month old Caravan hound called Khamsin myself.He is 28" and 28 kgs as of now.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a261/yajnesh/cammystack.jpg
Yaj.
Gorgeous Dog, looks like he's in great shape! betcha get the standard 'that's a skinny dalmation, why don't you feed him!' line. ears look very saluki-ish but without the feathering of course. (for the others, greys and other sight hounds are
supposed to be skinny, they're bred that way & should show a few lower ribs/well defined musculature when they move & the 'tuck' just ahead of their legs where they become wasp-waisted (see yaj's picture), a fat hound is a very unhealthy hound)
Millie is a retired racer, she won about 25% of her races and placed in the money on about 2/3, she hurt her front paw and retired, so isn't allowed the stress of racing/coursing anymore. she can still catch a cat at 10 paces before it can turn around tho (that was one surprised cat!).
Blue has never raced but has been known to catch the odd hare or rabbit. it's unbelievabley exciting when you se him flat out (he wants to try the local muntjack deer, but so far they've managed to just get away), he just adores the chase & has a few battle scars from barbed wire fences that got between him & the bunny. he's not too keen on plastic bags on drag lines tho, so haven't tried lure courseing him. (my neighbor has 5-7 affies -no. depends on whether to count his girlfriends 2 or not - which he lure courses every weekend.)
munk said:
Bri in Chi:
"You know hounds. They do need company".
Is this true, Bri? I don't know hounds. A friend has a German shorthair and he's a one man dog. Are hounds affectionate?
munk
german short hairs are scent-hounds, ie. they hunt by use of their noses and do not need to see to chase their prey normally. i'm not overly familiar with scent-hounds, but i'm sure like other hounds, some do well alone & some do better in a multi-dog environment.
greyhounds are sight-hounds, and normally hunt visually rather then by following a scent trail. spanish galgos, whippets, italian greyhounds,caravan hounds, sloughis, afghan hounds, borzoi, salukis, pharo hounds, elks & deer, wolf hounds, are all sighthounds & generally have the same fine lines, tho come in a variety of sizes & weights. (mine are both about mid-60lb. ish)
greyhounds are used to living together at the track kennels & turnout yards, and being pack animals, are normally more comfortable when not alone. however there are exceptions, as well as some who get along well with cats.
here in england they are normally housed in pairs in the kennels, as opposed to individually crated as is normal in the USA. they are very affectionate and well behaved dogs and normally get along well with children over 5 years (mine both love my neighbors 2 year old, but some might not recognise smaller children as above them in the pack order)
greyhounds are one of the oldest domesticated canine breeds and can be traced back to pre-phaeronic egypt over 5000 years ago, so they've had plenty of time to get used to us & learn how to train us to their whims.
retired racers are normally a bit overwhelmed by the change in lifestyle, and may take a while for their true colors to come out as they've useually never lived in a people house, tho they of course have had daily contact with trainers and staff., and except for a few notorious bad end-of-the-line
race tracks (think below the border) they have been well cared for & even loved. (my millie was a kennel favorite & they cried when she left).
it is true that when they reach the end of their working lives, if they are not lucky enuff to be adopted into a loving home, they may be put to sleep as there are never enough places to go around. of course this is also true of the other breeds and heinzes found in shelters, where they are normally put down after 5 days if unclaimed, (or maybe killed immediately if it's a PETA run shelter).
hence my pleas - if you want a dog, don't buy a puppy, go to your local shelter & save one from the crematorium. saves a lot of trouble house training them as well when you adopt a mature doggie! they normally have a mix of pedigree'd breeds, heinz 57's (unknown mixes) of all ages and temperments. and they'll be a LOT cheaper than a pup from an unknown & possibly dodgy breeder puppy mill.if you are masochistic and want to be cleaning up puppy poop and ick, want your furniture teethed on and splintered for about a year, they also have puppies, but they tend to get adopted quicker than the older, but better trained and better behaved dogs.
if you want a REALLY great dog, look into adopting a retired racer, they may take a bit of house training as they learn what is & is not acceptable in their new pack, but when done they are the best....
and i, of course, am completely unpredjudiced.
CAVE CANES ET SEMPER PARATUS
Dic, hospes Spartae nos te hic vidisse iacentes, Dum sanctis patriae legibus obsequimur
If there are no dogs in Heaven, I want to go where they went
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Been looking at white shepherds on the web, and he sure looks like one. He's got that weird back end, too. Hope his hips are OK.
