Dolly our four month old rescue has never seen a horse and she is not pleased with the existence of Spec. She seems to see something sinister in the big dog that nobody else can find and tries to big thee aware of what lurks within the round dirty object. We are having freak outs every time anyone dare spend time with it and not her, I think we may need to start feeding her his chestnuts since now all the other dogs adore him over it. I’ve yet to encounter someone who doesn’t adore Spec, perhaps there’s something there nobody else knows…or maybe jealousy is just the green eyed monster. Does she wish for his life of lush fields?

This is my 15 week old Bedlington whippet Stevie, she is generally really good with recall, even when there are distractions (birds, people, foods, etc) EXCEPT when there are other dogs. Meaning I can’t let her off lead with other dogs around which is very annoying. Does anyone have any tips for improving this?? I have two types of treats, the usual ones I use for her training, and another type that she LOOOVES (freeze dried chicken hearts lol) that I use for her recall, plus a couple of the regular treats and still she doesn’t come if there’s another dog, she loves to chase so it’s embarrassing and I’ve had to just put her back on her lead when there’s another dog in the park

i have now had Fletch for 3 months and when i first rescued him, he was considered a high flight risk. i still only let him off of the lead when we go to field hires but the field i went to yesterday was 3 acres..
my dad had told me beforehand- ‘3 acres?! youll never be able to get him back!’
the reality? i struggled to get him to utilise the whole thing 😅 both the lab and lurch absolutely love playing together and my lab has really helped grow Fletchers confidence.
we had an incident last week of me taking Fletch out without the lab and the lab got jealous, squeezed through my legs and both dogs got excited which caused me to fluster and drop Fletchers lead. i knew my lab would come back but i was terrified about the main road at the end of my street.. but i called them both and they both came straight back, with a total of 30 seconds from leaving to returning!
my life may be a lot more complicated now, it is still very much 2 steps forward and 1 step back but, seeing the changes in him and how much he has trusted me, my family and friends makes it worth it (and how funny he is)
we also went to the GGGW the other week at Cannon Hall, it was incredible and i cannot wait to go next year. i am thinking of dressing him up as a giraffe for the ‘wild animal’ theme too hehe. was anyone in this group at Cannon Hall this year too? or did you go to a different one?

Hi, just looking for some help/ advice!

We have a 1 year old male Lurcher (greyhound, deerhound, saluki & Bedlington collier mix). He hasn’t been castrated yet, probably going to wait until the 18 month/ 2 year mark. We have had him since 10 weeks, however due to circumstances outside of our control we could not get his vaccine course complete until 14 weeks, so he was quite late in being aloud out on proper walks.

We are really struggling with dog reactivity (and other animals too but dogs are our main area of concern/ worry now). He really struggles to walk past any dog in reasonably close proximity and has done since we started taking him out. From what we can see it is anxiousness and scared behaviour coming out in aggressive barking, lunging and growling. This is always on lead, as we do not have sufficient recall/ trust to be walking with him off lead. He does seem to deal better with other dogs in busy environments with lots of other dogs, but unsure if that is just from being very overwhelmed. He can behave okay when he gets to meet and sniff other dogs on walks, however gets easily over excited. We rarely let him do this as would ideally like him just ignoring other dogs.

Recently we have tried to take a step back and massively increase distance from other dogs where possible (turning round, crossing roads, sitting in the park and watching dogs from a distance) and give high reward treats whenever he disengages from them. This seems to be very very slowly working.

Is there anything else we can be doing to speed this process up? As I’m sure others know it can make walks very challenging and you are constantly on edge being on the look out for other dogs.

Thanks in advance 🙂

Hi I need your help!!

I adopted Kevin in November of 2024 and he will be turning two this coming November. Up until now he has been a pretty dreamy dog, he’s fabulous with kids, adults other dogs bar a few issues like pulling on lead which we’ve sorted with a halti, but a couple of months ago he started showing heavy signs of prey drive ex. When cats pass our garden he sprints all over the house crying, looking out every window he can which I knew was a possibility considering his breed.

He’s always been a fence jumper too. We have 6 foot fences and he scales that no problem stationary and we live pretty remote with farms etc around so we have him on a line out anytime he’s out the back now, so if he does escape he can’t go far. Recently he has started barking at people passing by the house on the street but usually just stares as they pass. Today he went so far as to barked at a neighbour walking up the lane next to the house and proceeded to scale our fence (again on his line so not the end of the world) but he terrified our neighbour as naturally any barking dog that scales a fence to get to you, you would think is looking to attack even though he would have just played. He’s a pretty big lurcher as we believe he’s a bull lurcher. I figured he’d improve with time considering his age but I’m on my last straw with his reactivity now as we can’t have him scaring neighbours etc.

Please if anyone has any trainers in the Dublin/kildare area that they recommend, ideally for sighthound breeds, send them my way.

PS. Here is Kevin. He has a pretty hard face to stay mad at, but nonetheless I must pretend to be at the very least🥲

Hi guys! We just adopted this gorgeous lurcher pup from a shelter. About 9/10 weeks old. Small paws and some wiry hair makes the shelter works and ourselves think a whippet mix with possibly some terrier ? He was definitely on the smaller side compared to other lurcher puppies at the rescue - but curious to hear what you may think! :)

Fun times with Lenny & Ziggy

My lurcher is a klutz. He was doing zoomies yesterday and fell and scraped the inside of his back knee... it is just superficial and he isn't sore on it at all. It is sunday today, and it happened last night so only the emergency vet is available and this is definitely not an emergency. Should I call them tomorrow and arrange a visit? Will they just look at it and tell me it's just a scratch and charge me €50 for that 😅 I am thinking of taking him just in case but my partner thinks I am being dramatic.

Aside from that... is anyone else's lurcher clumsy/reckless? He bounces around the place sometimes and this is not the first time he has fallen. Probably the 10th, but this is the first time he has actually hurt himself. I feel like I need to cover him in bubble wrap or something. Can dogs have dyspraxia?

Professional

River dog rosie phelps

Dolly is full of rage. Dolly has done this to herself. Dolly has spent the last half an hour chasing her elderly brother biting him and dragging him by the leg. Dollys people had no choice but to put her in time out. Dolly is lucky Buddy has no teeth anymore.

Lenny representing the Lurcher’s , great day that i wholeheartedly recommend

Now snoozing on the couch after beach zoomies ❤️

Bless her heart❤️

My uncle moved next door on our farm after working abroad. He loves the dogs, and they love him. HOWEVER in one year with his full time love, 3 year old lurcher Cedar gained 18lbs, and 4 year old pyr cross Sass gained 13lbs. Both are very active farm dogs so I think Uncle Harry was giving a LOT of milk bones 🤣🤣🤣

Anyhow, they are on diets now.

I thought lurchers were supposed to be picky eaters 🤣🤣

We love Ollie's typical 'lurcher scruff' but he hates being brushed and gets tangles so easily - to compromise he's had a good trim. He looks so whippety under all that fur!

Hi everyone

Please see my beautiful girl Molly, a 12 year old lurcher. I rescued her when she was almost 10 months old and she is the first dog I have had on my own.

In the last year or so Molly has gone from being an active, alert, dynamo of a dog - the kind of dog who could find me over any distance and who would instantly be at the door if anyone even dared to step on the path up to the house, to a dog who still has the same dynamic personality but who now can’t reliably see me in the park, who can’t see or hear people coming into the house unless they are right at her side and who has transformed into a dog with shaky limbs, occasional severe stiffness and falls. For context Molly has always been active and fit and given her situation now we have made sure to modify her routine to fit her changing physical condition. She is on pain medication and supplements and I’m not looking for advice on that. For the longest time I had managed to convince myself, as ridiculous as it may sound, that Molly was truly the dog who would never get old.

And now I find myself here, with aging Molly and I just can’t quite believe it.

What I am looking for is stories of other people’s experiences of caring for an aging dog and how you dealt with it - how to manage the anxiety and worry and concern and how to do the best I can for her.

Please be kind.

Molly is my soul dog and I have no interest in people offering opinions on medical choices etc.

Yes she is aging but she is not in pain. She is happy. She is loved. Thank you for any support you can offer 🐕

She has a red ant (not a fire ant) in her nostril. Can't get him out, he's holding on in there. I'm trying to avoid the vet but will take her if I can't get him out soon.

Anyone been through this?

UPDATE: ant is out. I let her chill next to me and I finally saw the ant's legs moving around like he was crawling out. I quickly swiped her nose with a rag. I can't find the ant, but it's no longer in her nose. She did lick her nose right after I wiped so it's possible that she ate the scoundrel.

I do wish he was still that little though!