DocsDoctor

Poor Gem, and poor you! This isn't something I have had to deal with, but other dog owners tell me good things about propalin syrup for clearing up incontinence problems in 'leaky' bitches. I believe it's not an uncommon problem, especially if they've been spayed. Have a chat with your vet about this, I imagine it would be prescription-only, as in the UK.

What a sweet boy. Looks as if he has fallen on his feet I have another brindle Doc here too!

Poor boy! Thank you for doing what you could for him. Run free Indigo Huckabee. Nothing can hurt you now.

I agree with teaching a 'drop' or 'release' command. I taught Doc this during games with his teddy bear, when it's already in his interests to 'drop', since he wants me to throw Ted for him again. So you don't need anything to trade up (though that's a good method too) and since we play with Ted every morning it's a good way of ensuring 'drop' stays fresh in his mind. On the odd occasion when he has grabbed some irrestibly stinky thing on walks I have resorted to Chad's method, more or less - I find that if I put my palm under his jaw he will unclench his jaw anyway and let me take stuff from his mouth. I do clean his teeth everyday so that has accustomed him to having his mouth handled.

I'm so sorry - what a horrible thing to happen, right out of the blue like that. Probably it was quick and painless for him at least. I do hope you and Throp are coping OK. Run free, handsome Hector

Does his injury mean that he physically cannot manage the stairs, or is it that he has now got himself into an anxious state about tackling them? Greyhounds are not the bravest of dogs and can get very worked up about things they think *may* hurt! If you are confident that it's the latter, I personally would try putting his collar and lead on, cheerfully saying 'come on, brave boy, let's go!' and gently leading him down. Have a few nice treats to hand to reward him as well. Otherwise, yes, you will need someone to help you with him unless you can manage a 'fireman's lift'. And yes, once he is downstairs it will be easiest on your and his nerves to keep him down there until he is fully recovered! HTH

This . Walks are Doc's favourite thing, for sure!

Have you tried a DAP diffuser? link- that is from a UK site, but I'm sure you can get them in the US too. Could help if as the previous poster says she is still feeling a bit anxious as she settles in with you. You can get it in a spray, too. Advice I have read for a dog who practises one particular OCD habit - e.g. licking - is to minimise its opportunities to practise this behaviour (since it tends to be self-rewarding and -reinforcing). But when it does, clap your hands to attract the dog's attention, and then give it something else to do - e.g. 'give paw' or some other trick you have taught it. I know you have more than one OCD habit to deal with here, but could this be a way forward? E.g. if you taught her a 'bed' or 'settle' command, to use when she is pacing in the night? There's a UK episode of Victoria Stilwell's 'It's me or the dog' TV series which should be helpful, if you are able to find it online - it deals with a Gordon Setter who was fixated on chasing reflections.

It's not quite what you asked for, but the Kennel Club website has a section specifically for children about keeping safe round dogs, which features a '20 paw code' sheet to download and print out (multicoloured but maybe you can edit that!) and an interactive game. KC Safe and Sound Scheme

This sounds very like my Doc, I used to worry about him but now after nearly five years together I just envy him his metabolism! Sometimes he will look a little TOO skinny and then I find that adding a little extra protein - a raw egg, some cheap (fatty) raw beef mince, green tripe - to his diet is much more effective than upping his dry food ration or adding in extra carbs.

I should think so, but maybe you could get out there with a shovel and clear a spot for him? Hard work but might make you both feel more comfortable! Has he ever encountered snow before, do you know? I remember Doc being very fazed by it the first time we had it in London, and I realised he'd probably never seen any before, having been born and bred in Western Ireland. These days he happily gallops about in it, not that we have had more than a sprinkling here yet.

Sounds as if she is feeling too cold, or too hot, in your room. Either that or your snoring is disturbing her beauty sleep!

Could it be his anal glands?

Good boy Al! It sounds as if he loved the boys and was a great 'ambassadog' for greyhound adoption with their parents too !

Yes, Doc was not unlike this when I adopted him. He is a big strong dog (86 lbs) who came to me aged 4 and straight from the adoption kennels. To begin with he thought he needed to chase anything that moved - cats, squirrels, plastic bags blowing in the breeze. He would also 'stalk' statues - early on we ended up with him standing with his front paws four feet off the ground in the basin of a Victorian drinking fountain, thinking that there had to be a real animal behind the lion mask the water used to come out of! To be honest I don't think this is that unusual a problem with ex-racers. Remember that all their life, and their training to date, has been geared towards ENCOURAGING their chase instinct. It's our role as adopters/ fosterers to introduce them to a wider world, and teach them that they no longer need to chase everything that moves. Thank you for taking this boy on, I'm sure with a bit of patience you'll be able to help him. Others have given you good advice about how to teach him to walk nicely on leash/ignore distractions, all I will add is that what helped us was time and patience. Gradually I learnt what was likely to set him off, and the signs that he was wanting to chase, and how to deal with that (watch the ears - you have a split second after those go up to recall his attention!). And he learnt that chasing was no longer always expected of him... these days (four and a bit years on) he definitely still has a prey drive, but is a delight to walk on lead, and works as a therapy dog too.

Here in the UK Doc enjoys: dried tripe sticks (very smelly!) pigs ears (fine for him but may be too fatty for some dogs) dried liver small cubes of hard cheese such as Cheddar (again fine for him but not suitable for dogs with a lactose intolerance) As others have said, some dogs will view bits of raw fruit or veg as a great treat but Doc always looks at me as if I am mad if I offer him these! He doesn't enjoy biscuit-type treats either, so I cut up some commercial chew strips into small pieces for people to give him on our Pets As Therapy visits, when I need something that is clean for them to handle and that he can be relied on to take.

Like FullMetalFrank I find baby wipes work well.

Welcome, and good luck with your search!

Her urine does NOT sound normal, please get this checked out by your vet as a matter of urgency! Take a sample of the pee in with you so they can test it. Your description suggests to me that she has a urinary tract infection or is dehydrated, is it very hot with you and does she drink enough water? Has she been running hard in the heat? I don't want to scare you but if so you must contact the vet NOW as that would indeed be very serious (exertional rhabdomylosis)! Re peeing in the spare room if she has an infection this could be influencing her behaviour, but my guess would be that because this room is not one in daily use, she doesn't yet see it as part of the 'house' (as in 'housetraining') and so it's OK in her mind to head off into there and pee if she's taken short. You don't want this to become a habit, so make sure you clean up well, using a proprietary pet-accident cleaner or failing that a solution of biological washing powder. Then you will either need to keep the door shut, or make her aware that this room is part of the house too, either by spending more time in there with her or maybe by feeding her in there for a while. This isn't a problem I personally ha ve had to deal with, but I've heard that a dog won't pee where it's been fed!

Here in the UK my vet used to say worming every six months was fine, especially since Doc is not given to scavenging, but she advised changing to every three months when he became a therapy dog since we would be visiting people who might have a compromised immune system. Keeping up to date with worming, flea and tick prevention and annual injections is a condition of registration with Pets As Therapy From what I have read on here some US posters opt for a fecal test, and only deworm if that is positive, but fecal tests here come in very expensive! I use Drontal and fortunately Doc's never had a problem with it. Fingers crossed for DeeDee's checkup and could the spot on her tail just be 'stud tail'? Do a search on here if you haven't come across that, despite the name the girls do get it too. Doc has it - a purplish baldish patch about a third of the way down his tail.

I'd also see if you can find a mixed-breed obedience class with a good trainer somewhere near you. (Make sure that it's someone whos uses only positive, rewards-based methods.) I found this was a great way for my greyhound to meet lots of new dogs under controlled conditions, and learn about all those other weird and wonderful-looking dog breeds out there. I learnt a lot about doggy body language too, and it was a great bonding exercise for both of us! As Buster is now nervous of other dogs, the trainer may suggest a one-to-one session to assess that and suggest some techniques, before you can progress to a class. Hope that helps!

Something Doc and I found very helpful was attending some mixed-breed obedience classes with a good trainer. We're in the city too and the ones we attended were called something like 'good manners for the urban dog'. This was a great way for him to meet lots of different kinds of dogs under controlled conditions. It was helpful for me too, because I learnt a lot about doggy body language, as well as being fun and a good bonding experience for us both. You need to find the right trainer obviously, one who uses positive rewards-based training only and preferably has some experience of greyhounds - I found ours via our vet. I sympathise about the off-lead dogs rushing over. Bad manners on their owners' part, even if they call out 'he only wants to say hello/ play!' Bad manners on the dog's part too - see this article: 'He just wants to say hi!' This trainer's website is also very good and informative about dog behaviour and body language Turid Rugaas While greyhounds are very well socialised with their own breed - far better indeed than the average pet dog, homed at eight weeks - other breeds are new to them, making it natural for your girl to be curious about them. Some will be harder for her to 'read' than others so may appear puzzling/threatening. Doc for instance found breeds like pugs (squashed face, curly tail) and boxers (squashed face, docked tail, 'gladiatorial' stance) alarming until he got to go to know them, which the trainer told us was very common. Also, be aware that different breeds will play in different ways, something which may again cause misunderstandings - greyhounds and other sighthounds favour 'nip and chase', which can be terrifying for other breeds, but can themselves be frightened by bull breeds attempts to wrestle! You will both gain in experience as time goes on and get better about assessing whether the dog racing over is just being over-the-top friendly or intends aggression. Meanwhile, and if in doubt, I find it best to tuck Doc behind me (facing away from the other dog) and firmly tell it 'NO!' as it bowls up. If this doesn't feel secure enough, I'd suggest a small umbrella which you can pop open in the dog's face. I've never found it necessary to go further than this, but I know that some posters in the US carry sticks, etc - I think this is usually to deal with aggressive dogs left to run loose outside their homes, which thank goodness is not an issue round here.

Welcome! Twiggy is lovely and your foster is very cute too!

I think these training ideas are good but I would suggest that rather than trying to do this at home you should go out and incorporate some new sets of stairs into daily walks where she is on the lead anyway - try visiting some footbridges, subways, railway stations, friends' houses, etc etc. This is because I think it will be easier for her to grasp what you are trying to teach her in a new setting than in an existing one where she is used to rushing up and down under her own steam. If you go to more than one place that will also help her 'generalise' this new command. Pick some steps that are quiet, wide and not too steep to make life easier to begin with. Take some treats by all means. With Doc (who is a therapy dog, though as it happens there are no stairs at the day centre we visit!) it largely came down to practice. My stairs at home were the first ones he had seen and he found them difficult to begin with. Soon he learnt to rush up and down at high speed and actually I think it would be physically difficult for him to do them any other way - they are steep and narrow and have a dog-leg turn near the bottom. We live in town and need to go on trains and the underground so he learnt about 'stairs on leash' as part of the same process, as far as I remember. The first time we chose a quiet time of day and went to the station down the road to climb up the stairs and take an overground train one stop down the line, for a nice walk in the park, and then another train home. Ditto with the underground. He was already walking nicely on the lead by then, so soon grasped that he should walk beside me on stairs too. Bear in mind this will be more difficult for the dog on steeper stairs. Doc will still occasionally forget about me when faced with something very challenging but can be reminded to stay beside me with a gentle tug on the lead. Hope that helps!

Ditto to what Batmom said. As another poster said they can be useful for getting the attention of deaf dogs, but otherwise I can't see a point to them. For a 'remote attention-getter', I would suggest training your dog to respond to a whistle, which carries better than the human voice. Or you could carry one of those devices ('lure callers'?) which are used by hunters to imitate bird or game calls, I have seen these referred to by US Greytalkers but I just keep a spare dog toy squeaker in my handbag. That is always a sure-fire way of attracting Doc's attention!