Crochet Greyhound Dog Snood

 

Please meet my rescue ex racer greyhound Benny!  He's very loving, lazy and adores fusses.  He also likes being warm.

For those that don't know, a greyhound's coat is very thin compared to most dog breeds so they do require clothes when its cold and as we live in the UK, it's cold 90% of the time.  I haven't worked up the courage to make him a jumper as it would be quite large and oddly shaped.  A snood was the next best thing I could make for him.

A bit of a background - we adopted Benny when he was 2 from our local dogs home who advised us that he had been racing up until he was turned over into their care.  When we first got him, we realised that he had been mistreated as he wouldn't let us touch his ears, wouldn't let us leave him alone in a room and was obsessed with plastic bags (some "trainers" use plastic bags with drug filled treats inside to "train" the dogs).  He was also very food driven and didn't know how to play.  Even though we did a lot of research into greyhounds before we brought him home, we did even more research into mistreatment and realised that his behaviour showed all of the tell-tale signs of abuse.  

He realised pretty quickly that there was no competition in the house for food or water and that treats would be given to him freely so the food drive settled down pretty quickly.  Benny was born in Ireland and its the country's practice to tattoo dogs in their ears as a form of identification when they are pups.  However, the tattoos in his ear have been altered so when you go to search for his identification records they don't exist.  So, we think that his tattoos were altered as an adult dog which is why he didn't like his ears played with.

The separation anxiety took us months to address, one of us always had to be with him.  The dogs home had informed us that he had been placed with 2 other families previously but they returned him within days - one family left him alone for hours and he pulled down their curtains.  But, slowly, he realised that when we leave the house that we always came back.  Now, we can't even walk out of the door without him jumping on the sofa and getting comfy!

Originally, we had him on a collar and lead when walking and I knitted a simple snood for him.  Over time the snood has stretched and has now been transformed into ear protection against fireworks.  I saw somewhere online about someone who had created a 'tapering' snood specifically for long necked dogs like greyhounds or whippets so I have designed my own for him.   

Since we now walk him in a harness with lead, the snood will also fit flush to his neck fur and doesn't get in the way of the harness.  For reference - Benny is a large male greyhound with exaggerated hind leg muscles and a long neck.  

Instructions

This is a crochet tube essentially which uses decreases to taper one side.  I've made it as simple as possible so its quick to make up.

You will need:

2 x DK yarns (using both together at the same time)

6.5mm hook

Tape measure

Tapestry needle

Scissors

The foundation chain will need to measure 23 inches when its stretched out (not loose)

Next, double crochet until the item is 3 inches wide.

Once it is 3 inches wide, decrease each row by 1 stitch - I crocheted 2 stitches together on mine to decrease and continue doing this for 5 inches.

The piece should now measure 8 inches in length and be slanted on each side.  Tie it off and leave a long tail so sew up the seam.

That's it.  

Benny didn't shake this snood off once it was on and it fits nicely.  

 

Boop shot.