Beginner Essentials: What Do You Actually Need?

Bringing  a new hound home is very exciting, if not totally nerve wracking, but  it’s sometimes hard to know exactly what you need, especially if this is  your first dog!

Pet shops are  totally overwhelming, and ultimately, you will end up spending quite a  bit more money than is necessary as you blindly walk up and down the  aisles wondering what you may or may not need.  Worse still if you ask a  member of staff for their advice on what you need!

Thankfully,  greyhounds don’t expect much from us.  As long as they have a comfy  place to lay their head and don’t go hungry…everything else can be  worried about later!

The last  thing you want to be doing is getting your hound home and realising  you’re missing something important, so you’ll tend to want to have these  in situ before you bring your hound home.
It’s very  easy to get carried away in the pre-hound shopping, goodness knows we  all just want to spoil them…but all you need it the essentials to get  started!

What we would consider to the essentials include:

-  Food and bowls: Get your hands on a 2-bowl raised feeder, for food and  water, online.  The ones from generic pet shops never quite go tall  enough to cater to greyhounds…and of course, don’t forget a good quality  diet.  Whether you are feeding a form of kibble, fresh, raw, you’ll  want to have the food at home, ready for your new arrival!  This is  particularly important for raw feeders, as you’ll need to make sure to  have food pre-defrosted.

-  Collar, lead, muzzle, pet collar and ID tag:  Most rehoming centres, at a  minimum, will provide a leather fishtail collar, lead, and muzzle set,  but you will also need to get an ID tag to meet legal requirements the  moment you step foot outside the rehoming centre.  This can be attached  to the provided collar but would be best suited in being put onto a soft  pet/house collar that they can comfortably wear at all times.  We love  the dog tags by Red Dingo, the quality of these tags (particularly the  ring) is unrivalled.  Once they are on your dogs collar, they are  definitely not coming back off!

-  Harness and doggy seat belt: This is really important and something  that is so massively overlooked by so many people.  You are legally  required to suitably restrain your dog while they are in the car, and  one of the easiest and safest ways to do this is to clip a doggy seat  belt (preferably a head-rest seat belt) to a harness.

- Poo bags: This one is fairly self-explanatory, but you’d be amazed at how many people forget them!

-  Comfy bed: There are so many available, and we will do a post just  about bed options in future, but any bed will do…they aren’t fussy!   We’ve found they quite like having raised ‘sides’ on their beds and  would definitely recommend a memory foam or deep stuffed base.  They  haven’t got a lot of padding on their bones, so need something to  support them!

- Waterproof coat:  Again, there are countless options available out there.  But!  Don’t  fall into the trap of buying any form of coat from generic pet shops as  they will not fit.  Seriously, in no way will these appropriately fit  your hound.  Don’t even try, it’s not worth the time and money you’ll  waste on them, only to return them!  You want sighthound-specific coat,  long enough to cover their whole back and for it to overhang their  delicate little bottoms!

- A toy  or two: Although this doesn’t necessarily fall into the immediately  essential part of adopting, it is nice to have a couple of options  available should the mood take them.  It’s quite unlikely that they will  play with them, but you never know!

You  could also consider having something in place to help with settling in  such as an Adaptil or Rescue Remedy plug ins or spray.  Having some  training treats handy is a pretty good idea though, to aid in the house  training and other settling in goings on.

Depending  on how you intend to set boundaries for your hound in relation to the  kitchen or other rooms,  you may also want to look into buying and  setting up baby gates prior to having your hound home so they know  straight away what is and isn’t allowed.

If  you are rehoming from a reputable rehoming centre, like our Charity Of  The Year, Barley Greyhound Sanctuary, much of this will be provided as  part of the adoption.  Or at the least, be available to buy from them at  an additional cost.  Most greyhound rehomers, at the least, provide a  collar, lead, and muzzle set.

Everything  else like grooming supplies, millions of toys, Cleo the caterpillar,  enrichment items like Kongs, excessive number of treats, chews and other  silly (yet adorable) things like bow ties and an entire wardrobe of  different coats for all the different seasons, can all come later.  Just  let them settle in a bit first!

Many  experienced owners might tell you that even our short list is excessive  and all you need is food and a bed, but everything we have listed is  important.