u/MsDaniW

We were CONVINCED that Mary had terrier in her, based on her wiry fawn coat, floppy ears and beard, but apparently she’s around 75% sighthound and 25% gentle giant. The saluki in her definitely explains her gorgeous almond shaped eyes.

And she has 40 relatives in the Wisdom database, including two brothers and a daughter. We don’t know much about Mary’s background but we thought she’d had puppies, which this seems to confirm. Several of her relatives’ listings report them as having been rescued from neglectful or abusive situations, which would explain how timid she is, bless her heart.

It’s a good job her life now is nothing but snoozing in comfy beds, running around with her mates, and being treated like the absolute DOGGESS she is.

You weren’t exaggerating about the tissue thin skin on these dogs. Mary seems to end up with scratches and scrapes every time she goes off lead. Today, she came dangerously close to getting a thorn in her eye after spotting a squirrel and taking off through the undergrowth. The scrapes don’t seem to bother her - they stop bleeding quickly, she lets me bathe them and she doesn’t lick them or anything. I’m reluctant to keep her on lead all the time (I want her to enjoy herself when we’re out - our woods are very safe apart from the brambles) but obviously, I’m worried about her getting seriously hurt. Is this just life with a lurcher?

(Mary has been with us for a couple of months and is our first lurcher - our previous dogs were collies and shepherds.)

Today is the first day it’s rained since Mary joined us at the beginning of June. She’s on the hairier side (we think perhaps she’s a wheaten mix - waiting for the Wisdom panel results) but I’m guessing she may need a coat at some point. We’ve never had a dog who needed one before (our previous girls were great fluffy collies and shepherds) so I don’t have a clue where to start with types of coat or where to get them from. All suggestions gratefully received.

Dog tax - Mary blending in with the parched grass

Our beautiful Mary has been with us three weeks now. She’s settling in so well, bless her. I think having me there all day has meant she and I have bonded very quickly.

She’s quite wary of my husband though, albeit only when he’s standing up (she’s very happy to go to him for snuggles on the sofa). When he walks in the room, she bolts. And if he comes out when she and I are playing in the garden, she’ll hide behind me.

Being a rescue, we don’t know what her life was like before. She has quite a few scars on her upper thigh area and has definitely had at least one litter. (And obviously, she ended up in the pound.)

I feel bad for both of them. I don’t want Mary to be frightened and I don’t want Mr W to feel disheartened either. He’s such a gentle, caring dog dad (our previous three all adored him).

I realise it’s only early days and we’re familiar with the rescue dog 3 days to decompress, 3 weeks to understand, 3 months to feel at home theory. And I know she’ll come to love him, but I’m wondering if there’s anything we can do to help her get used to this big tall man who turns up every evening and hangs around at weekends too.

I work at home, so tend to do most of Mary’s walks solo, which we realise isn’t ideal for their bond. (We go out for an hour early morning and again late afternoon.) Does anyone have any suggestions for helping her get used to him?

Dog tax…

We’ve always had rescue dogs (collies and shepherds), but we recently adopted our first lurcher - a gorgeous three year old called Mary. I’m learning everything I can about sighthounds, and I’ve read that lurchers aren’t great at regulating their temperature as their skin and coats are so thin. We’re expecting a heatwave here in the UK next week, so I’m wondering whether anyone has any tips on keeping Mary cool? I’ve been doing what we’ve always done for our dogs - no walks while the sun’s up, fans and water bowls all around the house, chicken juice ice cubes, and soaking her ears and feet with a cold wet flannel. All tips gratefully received.

Dog tax…