# Lurchers



## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Hi can anyone tell me what Lurches are like as pets, my husband and I have been looking for another dog to join our family for a while now we were looking at afghan hounds and grate Danes but we now have the chance to rescue a lurcher pup.
It would be joining our family of a springer spaniel and 2 cats, I work from home so there is someone here all of the time and we are very experienced with dog's (i'm a groomer).

So if anyone has any info on what these dogs are like (I know they are cross breeds so there will be no definite answer but a ruff idea would be good) we would very much appreciate your help.


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## ziggyjrt (Sep 8, 2009)

hi, i can only speak from my own personal experience, we adopted our lovely lurcher Lucy, when she was 1yr old. she has never been any trouble, kind gentle temperament, she is good with children,other dogs and loves cats.
all dogs have their own personalities , its a matter of how they are brought up.Lucy is now an old lady of 13 and we love her to bits.
i would have another lurcher they are wonderful dogs, you can't go wrong with a lurcher imho, Lucy has lived with our ESS,crossbreeds our jack russells lots of cats and has got on with all of them
good luck with whatever you decide


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## Acacia86 (Dec 30, 2008)

LOL!! I have just made a thread on Greyhounds! I wanted giant/large breeds....have cats.... and i have an ESS to!! The threads were minutes apart...weird! lol!!

I have no advise....sorry! But i love Lurchers! 
xx


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## MerlinsMum (Aug 2, 2009)

Two nice books and a link:

*Walking Ollie
Along Came Dylan*
both by Stephen Foster. All about a rescue lurcher and his life and what it's really like to own one!

and also LurcherLink... fab charity rehoming all types of lurchers & greys up & down the country and an informative forum too all about lurchers.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Acacia86 said:


> LOL!! I have just made a thread on Greyhounds! I wanted giant/large breeds....have cats.... and i have an ESS to!! The threads were minutes apart...weird! lol!!
> 
> I have no advise....sorry! But i love Lurchers!
> xx


ROFL! how weird!
Hope you get your greyhound.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

MerlinsMum said:


> Two nice books and a link:
> 
> *Walking Ollie
> Along Came Dylan*
> ...


Thank you I have just orderd the books from amazon and the lurcherlink is fab thanks


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## nutmeg (Sep 13, 2009)

Good luck, I have never owned a lurcher but everything I have read seems really lovely, they remind me a lot of greyhounds, although I could be wrong there.


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## xxwelshcrazyxx (Jul 3, 2009)

I have just seen this on a behaviour and animal specialist page. I thought it may help you to read. xxxxxxxxx


A Greyhoud or Lurcher in the Family 

Greyhounds and Lurchers

Both greyhounds and lurchers make excellent family pets as they are gentle, calm, sensitive and good-natured. 

Greyhounds and lurchers have been developed primarily for racing and hunting. Some greyhounds are bred as show dogs and tend to be slightly larger in build. Although greyhounds and lurchers can be lively, they are normally very loving and affectionate with people and it is this quality that makes them very suitable as family pets.

Like all dogs, they need to be cared for by taking account of their special needs. Greyhounds and lurchers have been primarily bred to chase rabbits and hares. However, they will often transfer this drive to other small animals (such as small dogs and cats). In addition to this, they have been selectively bred to be fast runners, making it possible for them to catch up with most prey animals. 

In some dogs, these traits have been encouraged and developed, as in the case of racing greyhounds or lurchers used for hunting. Once inherited traits have been developed, and the dog has learnt to enjoy the chase, little can be done to help the dog unlearn this behaviour.




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Every dog is different

Some greyhounds and lurchers can go through life without showing any interest in chasing small animals. Others, however, do have a strong desire to be predatory. 

If your greyhound or lurcher is from the Blue Cross, then your dog will have been assessed by one of our trained staff. You will have been advised about the strength of your dogs desire to chase and any necessary precautions to be taken.


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Exercise, leads and muzzles

Greyhounds and lurchers can be surprisingly lazy at home and are usually content to lie around resting. However, they do require 2 or 3 good walks every day. Once outside, they like to use up their energy in short bursts of very fast speed when off lead. Being sight hounds, they enjoy chasing things that move, so care must be taken to ensure they cannot get into trouble by chasing animals, people or traffic. They should be kept on a lead until you are absolutely certain that there is nothing to chase and only allowed free exercise if you are certain they will come back to you when you call. Greyhounds and lurchers are usually good to walk on a lead and rarely pull.

Many greyhounds and lurchers need to be muzzled when let off the lead. This is not surprising when you consider that they have been bred to chase and catch small animals. Muzzling minimises the risk of a bite occurring at the end of an accidental chase as well as giving you, the owner, peace of mind. Use an open basket-type muzzle that allows for plenty of cooling air to circulate rather than a tube-shaped muzzle. Basket-type muzzles also allow for drinking, particularly important in hot weather. 

Some greyhounds and lurchers are not safe to let off the lead even when muzzled. This is because small animals can suffer serious injuries when a large, fast, muscular dog like a greyhound or lurcher crashes into them, even though they cannot bite. You will require a strong collar and lead that will not break if your dog attempts to chase something fast moving.


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## JSR (Jan 2, 2009)

Interestingly enough I rehomed the sweetest, gentlest lurcher last night. She was a whippet x collie I think but I can honestly say I was EXTREAMLY close to taking her home myself!! 

I have met alot of lurchers and while yes they do very often have a high prey drive (obviously cos that's what they are bred for) they are usually extreamly sweet and kind dogs. I know many of them that live happily with cats and rabbits and they are generally a wonderful family pet. 

I've promised myself as I get older I'll add a few lurchers to my pack...they do need good exercise but once they are tired they sleep for ever!!!:smilewinkgrin:


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Thank you everyone, I'm not too worried about having a lurcher with my cats as if we do get it it will be 8 weeks old when it comes to us so will learn to live side by side with them, my ESS is a dream with other dogs as long as she is top dog in the house she'll be fine.

Like I said we are not sure what we will do yet as we are still resurching the breed as the chance of this pup as come out of the blue.


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## Freyja (Jun 28, 2008)

It is difficult to say what lurchers are like. They do make super family pets but there are so many different crosses that are all classed as lurchers it is difficult to say what they can be like. They are crossed with working breeds, Terrier breeds and other sight hounds although these are technically long dogs not lurchers.


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## sullivan (Aug 29, 2008)

My mate had a lurcher and she had him from a 8week old pup as she had 2 cats and wanted them to grow up together they were very close and yes hed chase but it was all in game and the cats would chase in return. he was very friendly although she had to watch as he was not good with flea treatments and anisetic having a very severe reacction being neutered, She also had one or two occasions where hed tear round the garden and manaed to catch himself on a plant / tree branch and tear his skin. {very thin skins }. He didnt much like the cold and was very happy to curl up with you. Good with all that met him and was well behaved although she found him the hardest dog shes owned to house break. He was with her for 7 years and it broke her heart when he had to be pts with hodgkins diease he went down hill very fast. She sais even now that he was the best dog shes ever owned and he was very laid back although its not the case with some.. She has now a 8 year old rottie who is totally soft.


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## terriermaid (Nov 5, 2007)

i.ve got a lurcher pup and spend most weekends with loads of lurchers ut: like you say it depends on how you bring them up ,there great dogs and its lovely that there so chilled ,


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## mickyb (Oct 31, 2008)

I have always had lurchers, they really are so gentle, only need 2 twenty mins walks a day and a good sofa, or soft bed, they give you so much love, it's unbelieveable hope you get one


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## Patch (Sep 29, 2009)

Freyja said:


> It is difficult to say what lurchers are like. They do make super family pets but there are so many different crosses that are all classed as lurchers it is difficult to say what they can be like. They are crossed with working breeds, Terrier breeds and other sight hounds although these are technically long dogs not lurchers.


Good post, and just to add the Terrier x sighthounds are within the Lurcher `type` but are more accurately called Whirriers and these days Lurchers are not limited to sighthound x working breed, any sighthound crossed with anything else, [ other than sighthound to sighthound which as you rightly say is a Longdog ], and in any percentages [ ie sighthound x single other breed or crossbreed / bitza etc ], are still Lurchers :smilewinkgrin:

You are so right about the variety, and not all Lurchers are gentle sweet souls that look like Alfred on Heartbeat, my Lurcher is Border Collie x Saluki and is mentally wired like a full worky BC but with extra physical speed so quite a combination, he does`nt chase small furries and adores my cats, [ he was`nt brought up with them, he was 15 months when I adopted him and he had never seen cats before then nor anything else as he had been kept locked in a shed or garage all that time and his only knowledge of humans was that they beat him every day  ].

To the OP,
How any Lurcher will be in personality/temperament/looks/size etc depends on the strengths of predominant traits of the parent breeds and of course on how they are raised. 
As there are unlimited combinations of breeds the only potentials to go on in a pup are each individuals parents and what might be apparent in them, for instance my lad is mentally BC predominant but a litter mate of his might have been mentally Saluki predominant, another could be solely BC brained and showing zero Saluki traits and vice versa, and appearance wise could be anywhere within the range of either or both parents, so using my lad as an example there could have been one looking and acting like a Saluki, one like a BC, one looking like a Saluki but wired like a BC and vice versa, and any combination of percentages in between - as is the case with all crossbreeds which is why anyone breeding them [ unethical breeders in other words, which I consider every crossbreeder to be as there is no justification for it ], should never ever try to claim how they will turn out because there is no way to know until they are grown, there simply is no single answer on what a Lurcher `will` be like.

This is my lad - completely different to what people generally think of as `what Lurcher`s look like` :laugh:


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## StaffieEllie (Mar 4, 2009)

My boyfriend has two lurchers, and they make lovely pets. Very kind, loving and laid back so great around children.


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## Nicky09 (Feb 26, 2009)

The only lurcher I've met was a former stray rough coated whippet mix. She was such a sweetie loved everyone


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Thank you all for the comments, I understand a lurcher is a *type* of dog and not a breed the pups we may get are mum is greyhound/wolfhound and dad is greyhound/whippet.
Not 100% sure what we'll do yet as we are still doing our research and the pups are only 3 weeks old so we have a few weeks left to choose.

We were looking at Grate Danes and had an appointment to go and meet the breeder and see her dog's next week, we still may go but if we have the chance to rescue a dog but go for a pedigree instead I honestly don't think my consionce could take it lol, what ever we choose to do the dog we do end up with will be very muchly loved.
I will keep you all up to date with what we do.


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## Nicky09 (Feb 26, 2009)

That could be a very big dog with so much greyhound and wolfhound in there. With that mix I would say pretty high prey drive, bad recall only let them off in a safe area but they do need offlead runs. Good luck with your new puppy if you do get it.


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## terriermaid (Nov 5, 2007)

wow wolfhound thats unusual ,so basicly its all hound (a long dog)


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Nicky09 said:


> That could be a very big dog with so much greyhound and wolfhound in there.


Yep that's why we are considering it lol, whatever dog we get it must be a big one, like I said we are also considering Grate Danes and before that Irish wolfhound and afghan hound was the 3 dog's on our list to choose between.


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## Nicky09 (Feb 26, 2009)

Very good choices I adore wolfhounds and danes. We were thinking of getting a wolfie


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

nicola1980 said:


> Thank you all for the comments, I understand a lurcher is a *type* of dog and not a breed the pups we may get are mum is greyhound/wolfhound and dad is greyhound/whippet.
> .


I made a mistake the mum is a greyhound/deerhound not a greyhound/wolfhound:blushing:


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## Tula (Nov 2, 2008)

Here's one of mine.. She's deerhound X collie/greyhound


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Tula said:


> Here's one of mine.. She's deerhound X collie/greyhound


Wow she's stunning!
What is her temperament like?


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## Tula (Nov 2, 2008)

nicola1980 said:


> Wow she's stunning!
> What is her temperament like?


Thank you.. She's daft as a brush and twice as silly!! Get a good camera though as they often only have 2 speeds and the forward speed is usually too rapid for the average camera like mine lol









This is my Whippet X Collie


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## hairydog (Feb 15, 2009)

My daughter has a lurcher, mainly Irish Wolfhound, with a bit of Rhodesian in her, has a spikey ridge right up her back, and somthin else we believe, but she is the loveliest dog you could meet, and every one falls in love with her, she is called honey, cos of her colour, has a lovely rough coat, not as fast as some, and can be quite lazy!!


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Tula said:


> Thank you.. She's daft as a brush and twice as silly!! Get a good camera though as they often only have 2 speeds and the forward speed is usually too rapid for the average camera like mine lol
> 
> 
> 
> ...


ROFL! love that first pic so funny and your other dog is lovely thanks for putting the pics up.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

hairydog said:


> My daughter has a lurcher, mainly Irish Wolfhound, with a bit of Rhodesian in her, has a spikey ridge right up her back, and somthin else we believe, but she is the loveliest dog you could meet, and every one falls in love with her, she is called honey, cos of her colour, has a lovely rough coat, not as fast as some, and can be quite lazy!!


She sounds lovely, the pup we may get is a rough coat.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Well after a lot of research and sol searching my hubby and I have made our mind up lol, we are going to get the lurcher pup! 
It just would not have felt right getting a pup from a breeder knowing that there was a litter of rescue lurcher pups that were needing good homes witch we could offer.

The pups are 5 weeks old now so that gives us a chance to get things ready before it comes home as it will be a few weeks yet.

Dose anyone know of any puppy classes in south Wales as I have not heard of any?


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## Mickey the lurcher lover (Oct 5, 2009)

As my username suggests I am lurcher crazy. I am not the oldest person in the world though so I haven't got years of experience. However, the only things I can say about any lurchers I have had are good things. I currently have a belgian shepard x greyhound and a poodle x whippet. My greyhound lurcher is older and calmer where as my whippet lurcher is only 14 months old and is a little over the top at times. They are both couch potatos at home though. My little boy - Frankie - is a born runner and I have had to put a lot of work into teaching him boundaries. His idea of safe distance and mine are comparitively different. On top of this he can reach extreme distances extremely fast - slightly nerve racking at times. He is very intelligent though and also hates to be in trouble so is learning fast. I carry lots of disgustingly smelly treats in my pocket to tempt him to stay closer to me. They are both imensely affectionate and are like furry todlers who follow me around the house and constantly want to sit on me. My big lurcher Cassie sits on my lap and nestles her snout into my cleavage when I am studying. Very uncompfortable for me but love overrides this. Either that or complete stupidity! they both understand chasing parameters but again this has involved some work. I think lurchers are so sensitive and loving that they will try very hard to please you and not get on your bad side. I can see the temptation is hard at times. My neighbours cat comes into our garden and they are very disapointed at having to leave it alone. You can use agility and other activities to focus more positive behaviour and my dogs relish it. Every dog is different and will pose different issues but these are my experiences.Mickey.


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## Patch (Sep 29, 2009)

nicola1980 said:


> Well after a lot of research and sol searching my hubby and I have made our mind up lol, we are going to get the lurcher pup!
> It just would not have felt right getting a pup from a breeder knowing that there was a litter of rescue lurcher pups that were needing good homes witch we could offer.
> 
> The pups are 3 weeks old now so that gives us a chance to get things ready before it comes home as it will be a few weeks yet.
> ...


Congratulations on your forthcoming new family member :smilewinkgrin:

Many vets practices have puppy socialisation groups now so well worth having a ring round to see if there is one near you, or they might know of classes, just make sure to steer clear of the choker, rattle bottle, squirt bottle and training disc [ sic ] user brigades, puppy classes are for them to socialise but not all so called teachers seem to realise this.

May you have many years of joy with pup :smilewinkgrin::smilewinkgrin::smilewinkgrin:


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## Tigerneko (Jan 2, 2009)

aww congrats on choosing a rescue pup!!

But.... can't you get the Great Dane too? They're my favourite breed  i'm sure your OH won't notice one little teeny tiny Great Dane in the house


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Verbatim said:


> aww congrats on choosing a rescue pup!!
> 
> But.... can't you get the Great Dane too? They're my favourite breed  i'm sure your OH won't notice one little teeny tiny Great Dane in the house


ROFL! my hubby would have one like a shot it's me that has to rain him in lol.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Ok so we will be getting our pup in 2 weeks time, I have been doing a lot of research on this cross breed and have read that they will need a good coat to go out in and maybe a jumper for the night time when it's cold is this right? and if so where can I get coats/jumpers for lurcher type dogs from?


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## Nicky09 (Feb 26, 2009)

A dog that size maybe get a blanket for a pony. Just get a normal dog one for when its a puppy


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## happysaz133 (Jun 5, 2008)

So glad you went with the lurcher pup, they are the most fantastic dog! I absolutely LOVE them. I hope you will share photos when you get him/her. 

A good place for collars/coats/jumpers for the hound types is Kitsch Collars, I really recommend them.


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## nat1979 (Jan 2, 2009)

nicola1980 said:


> Ok so we will be getting our pup in 3 weeks time, I have been doing a lot of research on this cross breed and have read that they will need a good coat to go out in and maybe a jumper for the night time when it's cold is this right? and if so where can I get coats/jumpers for lurcher type dogs from?


Try these links i use these to get my stuff for my whippets and whippet x 's

collars

Sighthound Puppies, Whippets & House Collars.htm

Affordable Greyhound Coats, Lurcher Coats, Whippet Coats and Accessories

Home


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Nicky09 said:


> A dog that size maybe get a blanket for a pony.


:laugh::laugh::laugh:


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

happysaz133 said:


> So glad you went with the lurcher pup, they are the most fantastic dog! I absolutely LOVE them. I hope you will share photos when you get him/her.
> 
> A good place for collars/coats/jumpers for the hound types is Kitsch Collars, I really recommend them.


Yep will put pics on when we get him/her home.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

nat1979 said:


> Try these links i use these to get my stuff for my whippets and whippet x 's
> 
> collars
> 
> ...


Thank you so much will have a good look at them.


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## Patch (Sep 29, 2009)

TRPD is an excellent source for coats, leads, harnesses etc, they always have a huge selection of sighthound coats and do made to measure as well, I have several coats from them, all excellent quality and all extremely affordable, best of all the profits go to animal charities, hth :smilewinkgrin:

trpdpetcraftproject - Home


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## terriermaid (Nov 5, 2007)

regarding coats ,i wouldn't rush out and spend too much money yet!! i have a 14 week old and the rapid growth is unbelievable ,things dont fit her from one week to the next ,shes nearly whippet size already and supposed to make 24"/26" she will be sharing my whippets coat untill shes out grown themhave you had a look on k9 community lots of sight hound advise on there


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

We have just been to see the litter of pups and picked ours, there were 7 pups to pick from (we had pick of the litter) and they were all so lovely I wanted to bring them all home lol.
We picked a little cream and silver brindle girl her name is going to be seren which means star in welsh she's lovely! and here she is.


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## happysaz133 (Jun 5, 2008)

She's the most beautiful pup! What breeds are her parents?


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## ziggyjrt (Sep 8, 2009)

well done you !! she's adorable i'm green with envy.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

happysaz133 said:


> She's the most beautiful pup! What breeds are her parents?


She is a rescue so not 100% positive but we have been told the mum is a greyhound/wolfhound and dad is greyhound/whippet.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Thank you both we are in love lol, 
Carys our springer come with us and she was fab with all the pups.


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

She's home! we picked her up yesterday, she's the most lovely little thing into everything lol she wants to be picked up ALL the time witch we are not doing but then she will cry and cry because we will not pick her up lol.
She is sleeping lots like puppy's do and then when she wakes up she go's mad for 10-15 mins but is then sleepy again rofl!
We are crate training her, she will not go into her crate to sleep herself so whenever she falls asleep we pick her up and put her in the crate, we are also feeding her in the crate.

She has had a few accidents in the house but she has also gone toilet when we take her out.
We take her out after sleep, play, food roughly about every 30-40 min is this ok?

Last night before we went to bed at about 12.30am we put her out and she had a wee we then put her in her crate in the living room and went to bed, she was crying and howling for about 1 hour but we never got up to her and after that she settled down.
My hubby got up at 3.30am to let he out but she had pooped allover her bed, he cleaned it up and put her out and she had a wee.

I got up at 5.30 put her out and she went toilet, put her back in her crate and then got up at 7am opened her crate but instead of coming out she peed on her bed in front of me!

Are we doing things right? it's just been so long since we have had a puppy I'm not sure.

Anyway sorry for the long post, here are a few pics of her first day with us.


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## Nicky09 (Feb 26, 2009)

She's gorgeous such a sweet face.


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## vet-2-b (Sep 25, 2008)

she is so cute   sorry i cant help you with all them but i do no that you take them out after feeding .30-40 mins sounds about right


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Well it's been a week today since we picked her up and I have to say she is fab!
She will go to the back door and cry to be let out to go to the toilet and we have not had any accidents in the house for 2 day's now!!!!!!

My cat's don't think much of her at the moment as all she wants to do is chase and play with them but we are working on her ignoring them, my lovely springer is fab with her (I knew she would be) she lets the pup jump all over her but also keeps her in line.
Here's a pic of them.


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## Freyja (Jun 28, 2008)

Looks like she's made herself at home. 

Typical sighthound theres nothing better than another dog to make a comfy bed. Mine always pile on top of each other and you wander how they manage to disentangle all their legs before they get up.


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## Jo1404 (Oct 1, 2009)

She's lovely! Our lurcher was the quickest by far out of our dogs at picking up toilet training.


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## RachyBobs (Oct 18, 2009)

Aww look at her, she does look like she has a tiny bit of wolfhound in there but not a huge amount, she looks more whippet/lurcher. Her claws look like they need clipping though, just with a pair of nail clippers  If you leave them scratches hurt lol xx


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## nicola1980 (Oct 5, 2008)

Her nails were cut the day after we got her


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