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silverfish

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Posts posted by silverfish

  1. 18 minutes ago, winnie said:

    Might have been, but those ones aren't the same as the ones I have.  Has she changed her style?  I'd really like to add one for Jessie to the same necklace.  This is what mine are like. As you can see, the way the top of each pendant twists makes them lie nicely against each other. 

    ATattooNecklace.jpg

  2. Hi Alicia!  Nice to see some of the old names pop up, and good to see how well you're doing.  That's such a beautiful photo of your family!

    I don't know if you remember me ... I've had a long hiatus from GT too.  I've been busy with my own little greyhound group here in England.  A few years ago I got involved with supporting a local branch of the Greyhound Trust and now manage their website and a very active Facebook group for them.  Getting new photos for the website is like getting blood out of a stone, but it still brings in a good number of people to adopt and Brambleberry Greyhounds has been commended for their high number of adoptions considering that they are relatively small - for the last couple of years it's been over a hundred adoptions a year and still climbing.   We have a new girl - from Brambleberry, naturally - called Jessie. She's a pretty white and blue fawn, she's a smart girl, and is learning fast. We've only had her since February. 

    I don't suppose you're the lady we used to get the tattoo number necklace tags from?  I seem to remember it was someone called Alicia ... 

    Jessie-Squirrels_2-CuckooHollow11Jul19.jpg

  3. If this fails to change the problem, the next thing will be a light coat for her to keep her warm. She's too touchy to allow us to put a blanket over her without serious growling. Of course with a greyhound coat/pajamas, they're usually made of fleece or flannel, which will be static-y!

     

     

    Yes, a lot of coats are made of fleece, but flannel is usually a lot less likely to build up a static charge and there are people who make fleece coats with a flannel lining. Also be aware that anything made with synthetic fibres can potentially build up a charge, including knitted jumpers. :)

     

    BTW, I had a dog once who would do this from time to time, and it turned out that it was the fault of a crocheted 'Granny' blanket I'd given him. He would catch a claw in the holes and panic!

  4. Of my six, none. Not to the extent of growling, snapping or biting.

     

    I've had two who - just at first - would wake with a bit of a start and give me the stink-eye .. the worst Jack did was give a little squeak a couple of times when he was really new. I'm not sure I'd even really call that 'sleep startle' in the true sense of the word, it was more a 'where am I, who are you? Oh yes, I live here now, don't I?'

  5. those cows will take care of her" and I looked up and they were chasing her out of the field. She came running to me, scared out of her wits. Really big animals intimidate a lot of dogs, and not just Irish dogs.

    True. Our first greyhound, Jim, was also our first dog. We made a lot of mistakes with him, but he was a great dog, very intelligent, and very forgiving. One mistake I made was to walk him through a field of bullocks before his recall was solid. He took off chasing them - just for fun, but still not acceptable of course. One kicked him, and he never again took off after any large animal. Instead, he'd take a wide detour around them or stick very close to me as we walked through. We don't have many sheep around here, but when I discovered that he also wanted to chase sheep to make them run, I took him to a place we knew and walked him into a fairly tight enclosure of sheep on the leash. Well, one old ewe was right up by the gate and she stood her ground and stamped at him, and began to move forward. That was enough for Jim - he never again looked at a sheep either! Caution is necessary. Know your own dog is necessary. Training is necessary, but with the right dog and the right training, it can be done.

     

     

    Think about this: if thousands of young greyhounds every year are killed because they "won't chase", that means there are a lot of greyhounds out there without the very high prey drive we are assigning to all of them.....

    That's very true, too. There are a lot of greyhounds with no prey drive or very little. They really have no interest in chasing and killing. Our Jack would chase rabbits only to playbow to them when he caught up (which he did also with hedgehogs), and Renie might possibly break out into a trot for a few paces if a rabbit popped up in front of us, but then she'd drop back to a walk as if to say 'Oh, it's too much trouble'. I think they simply took her by surprise!

     

    I train mine to come when I call them from various rooms in the house, then in from the garden. At that point I move the training outside, but it's more a matter of creating a strong bond between us and a wish to be a part of the pack and to keep up with us than formal training in the sense that most people mean it. Calling them between two people is a great way to do it - making it a game - but mostly it's just responding to their behaviour and rewarding as appropriate. That's just what works for us. :)

     

     

    As to how long is it, well, how long is a piece of string? Three weeks is too early. You need to work on the trust between you, and letting your dog know s/he is part of the family. I also make a habit of giving a small treat every single time we come in from a walk or any kind of trip out of the house. This conditions them to the fact that coming home is a good and desirable thing.

     

    When you think you are both ready, try it first in a safely enclosed field - and never, EVER punish by word, deed, impatient look or even a sigh, if your dog does not come back when called. Simply go and fetch them without a word and pop the leash back on, and try it again later.

     

     

    By the way, we have had one dog with a killer prey-drive who wanted to kill everything which wasn't greyhound shaped. She was not a good off-leash candidate for obvious reasons. And Jeffie (in my signature) wasn't a good candidate either because he was a clumsy dog (later we found he had degenerative myelopathy) and so easily spooked that a bird-scarer could have sent him running blindly. When he got old and a slow, he got to go offlead. He was partially deaf and wouldn't have been able to run far if he'd wanted to. I was so pleased for him that he was able to have a short off-lead period in his life.

  6. Bear in mind that I don't know you and I can't see what you have been doing with him or how you're doing it, but by what you have written it sounds as if you've been fairly confrontational with him from the outset. IMHO, taking food or treats or toys away to test a dog is going to result in one thing, and one thing only; stress to the dog. Many dogs cope with these small stresses without batting an eyelid. Many do not. Repeated small stresses can result in a dog who is looking for confrontational behaviour from you and fearing he is going to get it, which does not make for a happy relationship.

     

    As Jennifer (JJng) has said, best thing to do with a new dog is very little other than essentials, and just let them settle in and learn the routine. I use this time to bond with them and teach them that they can trust me. I do this by making sure always to speak gently (low, slow, soothing voice), and with frequent brief touches to the shoulder (a non-threatening area) when I put down the food, give them a treat, pop on a leash, or simply pass them in a doorway. I do not get down to their level while they're on their bed, and I do not test their boundaries. During this initial period, I make opportunities to tell them they are a good dog and give them praise. And after this initial period, I have a dog who is willing to be taught things, and who is eager to fit in and to please - and I can then start training and correcting.

    It is not too late for you to do this. Begin tomorrow as if Finn had just arrived in your house and try stepping back and relaxing around him. Don't ask for downs, don't buzz at him (except in emergencies), don't try to train, but work on trust and bonding. It could be that he's simply over-stressed and will respond well to this. See Spoon Theory for Dogs if you need convincing about the stress.

    In the meantime, yep, put on a nightlight so he can see you. If he growls at you again in the dark, try telling him 'good boy!' instead of correcting him. Just occasionally it works wonders in these cases! But do keep yourself safe. It doesn't sound as if he'll bite but as I said, I can't see him or what he's been doing around you.

  7. If there is no definite good reason I would refuse a 'preventative' op on a twelve year old. As MP 4 Pack says, a second opinion never hurts.

    As to the whining, well it might and might not be dementia (CCD). Jeffie had it, and did whine a bit more than usual, but mostly his dementia showed in confusion and ... well, not really lack of bowel control but lack of realising that when poop was coming he actually needed to get up and do something about it! Vivitonin helped him a lot, so it's worth discussing with the vet.

  8. So pleased to hear it's benign! Can't see the pictures though .. maybe you need to set permissions to public or something? I don't know much about Dropbox. I'm sure she'll recover beautifully now and do well. :goodluck

     

    I have a very similar story to tell about Sid, who had a huge mass removed from his spleen last Feb/Mar. It weighed 2.5kg/5.5lb and was full of blood chambers, but also came back negative for cancer. I had been thinking he was getting fat (like Jaina, he was losing his tuck) and I was cutting back on his food, poor guy, but he wasn't getting any thinner and was very hungry. Two 'experts' told me he was simply getting fat, so don't feel bad for not catching it. It wasn't until I could see it and feel it when he lay down on his side that I was able to take him in and say 'you won't feel when he's standing, but if you lay him on the table, there's a mass in his abdomen' that they found it, ultrasounded it immediately, and had him in the next day for surgery. In Sid's case, he was having some mobility problems as well, but he is a rear-leg tripod, so he has to walk differently and with more energy expenditure.

    He too had no excess bleeding during the op, but he did suffer a little from hypovolemic shock. He got over that very quickly and from the next day his recovery was uneventful. I was just so happy to have my old Sid back! And he was happy to start getting his proper rations again!

  9. This is a couple of weeks old now, but I wanted to add my experience.

     

    Our first dog, Jim, was totally small-dog safe. He would play with the little ones off lead and if they fell/rolled over/etc he'd stand back and wait for them to get up and they'd carry on playing. He was great! He was even scared of cats. He'd chase and kill rabbits though, and I'm absolutely certain that prey-drive had nothing to do with our one-off incident.

     

    We used to walk a certain route at night for the last pee break. As we live on the edge of a village, the choices of route are limited and this was the nearest and most convenient, so please, no suggestions that we could have 'gone another way'. ;)

    Along this route, there were two dogs that would come out (loose) and bark and growl at Jim: one an elderly JRT crossbred, and the other a terrier mixture of some kind called Taz. Taz was not content with patrolling his own house frontage like the JRT, but would follow us and snap at Jim's heels if he could, often several days in a row. One evening, this was happening yet again, and I was (as usual) doing my best to keep Taz at a distance, when he ran in a little bit too close, and one time too many. Jim swiftly turned and grabbed that little dog, gave him one shake and pinned him in the gutter for a few seconds before releasing him. Taz ran off screaming, but as it turned out was perfectly okay. However, he never chased Jim again, and Jim ignored him completely in future when he came out to watch us go past (Taz grumbling under his breath). This was simply a large dog telling a smaller nuisance animal that he'd had enough, and Jim continued to be perfectly safe loose with small dogs and continued to play with them. Never another incident with little dogs until the day he died.

     

    Perhaps your Frenchie's barking gave a signal to your greyhound that he was annoyed. Then along comes the source of that annoyance for a sniff. Seems kinda dumb of the white fluffy's owner to approach and follow a dog that was barking at it. Hopefully the white fluffy's owner has learned a lesson too.

     

    Per your description, it didn't appear that your dog has ever been small dog aggressive. But on that day he became annoyed,aroused or overly stimulated and reacted.

     

    I agree with the others: do not muzzle, don't let your kids walk your greyhound, and even you should be on a higher level of alertness *just in case* when outside. I would not allow mixing with small breeds at a day care either.

     

    Agreed. :nod

  10. Oh no - so sorry to hear about Throp's issues!

     

    Osteoarthritis doesn't usually cause progressive bone loss. If anything, you might get extra bone laid down around the joint as a result of the disease - not helpful bone, but not as catastrophic as the changes you get with bone cancer. It's explained very simply here. Rheumatoid arthritis is different - I believe you can get osteoporosis with that.

     

    Hoping for the best. All fingers crossed here!

  11. As RedHead says ... our first had a good solid prey-drive and would chase and kill rabbits, hares, birds, mice etc, and yet behaved perfectly well with the smallest of dogs, even playing rough-and-tumble with them. He would stand back when they fell and rolled to wait for them to get up. He was also afraid of cats.

    I can't take credit for that. He was a working Traveller's dog before we got him and they like to keep both sighthounds and terriers. He will have been accustomed to small dogs because he would have had to work with them. :)

  12. I've posted the link to my FB group for the RGT branch I volunteer for, with just that in mind: many people are happy to manage their dogs accepting that they have a high prey drive, but there are those who want to try to work through things and - to be fair - many dogs who are capable of learning and adapting. I was amazed at what I managed to achieve with my high-prey girl Susan in the five months that we had her. I don't know if she'd ever have been safe enough to allow free running with non-sighthounds, but at least I was able to walk her through the village without her trying to kill other people's dogs!

  13.  

     

    Is the Droopys name a well-known/common line? I looked through his pedigree but Droopys seemed to pop up out of nowhere (Droopys Fergie) with no link to her parents.

     

    We have Droopys at Brambleberry! :) And I was brought up in Essex.

     

    He is rather gorgeous, isn't he? Sid weighs in around 32/33kg with a leg missing. He's a big boy, too. It makes no difference really, except that I can't lift him if I need to. I can just about lift Jeffie, who is as tall, but not as muscular. And of course, you need bigger everything from coats to beds etc.

     

    I hope he does well with the cat training. It sounds as if he is at least cat-workable and that you have a handle on it. I have never cat-trained, because we don't have cats, but from others I have heard that muzzling is the way to go until he gets the idea.

  14. Sometimes I feel like this is the Kevorkian house for old greyhounds. Of 11 greyhounds only 2 came to us young. The old ones lasted anywhere from 60 days here to several years, although the average was just over a year.

     

    Mikey is our current senior. He came to us at 12.5 on Thanksgiving and was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Other than a few bad days you'd never know he was sick.

     

    When he goes there will be room for another old one.

     

    My coworkers think I'm nuts. Guess I'm in that elite group of greyhound lovers that does get it.

     

     

    I don't think you're nuts. I think you're a greyhound angel. ;)

     

    This struck a chord, though Doc at 13.5 still looks pretty good until one sees him move. He is arthritic, and wobbly, but he still looks forward to walks 3 times a day -even if they only last 5-10 minutes now. As we totter along :gramps I fairly regularly have to explain to people we meet that yes, he is an old chap, a wobbly chap, but also a happy chap - and that getting out is an important part of that, both for his morale and to prevent his joints seizing up.

     

    And when we are back at home he still eats like a horse :chow , and romps with his teddy bear, and wags his tail. These are things he has always done, but like others I have noticed a new depth to his love. He loves more than ever to be cuddled, and sung to (even though I don't sing well!), and each evening after dinner now he comes and settles on the rug beside me on the chaise longue - something he did very rarely in his youth.

     

    Goodness knows how much longer he has got. The vet told me 'I think he will let you know when he has had enough', which I would hope is true. It is painful to see him getting weaker, but I am also happy that for now I can continue to watch him carefully, keep on doling out his medications, and experience his excitement still each morning when I come downstairs and another new day begins :yay .

     

    Well that's enough, especially as I can hear him squeaking about a lunchtime walk from downstairs! Cherish your oldies, everybody!

     

    That is so sweet. I'm with you; the oldies love to get out, even if it's only for a very short walk. DH took Jeffie into the field today - something we don't do very often anymore because it's a little bit of a walk to get to it, and they have to get under the stile - and he had a wonderful time! But he can't do it every day. Mostly we drive somewhere so they can continue to walk in different places, without walking too far to get there.

     

     

    Yes, I notice mine get more cuddly as they age. I've had two now that never chattered until they were seniors, then they started to show their affection that way. They love snuggles and hugs, especially when I get down to their level and hug them on their beds. Yes, you have to build up the trust and yes, I continue to watch their body language very carefully and move away when they've had enough .. which is usually when they've stopped air-snapping or pawing at me to continue! :wub:

     

    I hope Jeffie will let us know, too. Actually, what I hope most is that he'll just pass away peacefully in his sleep.

     

     

  15. I will ask the vet, again, regarding gabapentin -- there was some concern about being hard on the kidneys but the pain she is going through has to be addressed somehow.

     

    She will be 15 on May 16 this year and I am planning her birthday!

     

     

     

    To be quite frank, at her age, I'd be going for quality of life now rather than worrying about potential problems in the future (eg kidney damage). FYI, Sid was on it for a couple of years and no change to his bloodwork or issues with it at all. What you do have to be careful about is this: you must not stop it suddenly, or it can provoke seizures. Not a problem, all you have to do is remember and tail it off gradually if you need to stop giving it. :)

  16. We have on old guy (coming up to 13) who has always been skinny and now is becoming skeletal. He's losing muscle because of DM, which doesn't help. I'm trying sardines/mackerel (he doesn't much like fish, unfortunately) puppy kibble, and canned puppy food (he's been on this some time and is now a bit 'meh' about it), satin balls (he won't eat them raw, but ate some dry-fried for a while then threw up and went off them), cheese sandwiches, enriched bread (a bit like challa) with butter (he'll eat a little of both but only now and then), cooked chicken/beef/organ meat (works for a few meals, then not), and now we're onto home-made pan-fried burgers made from compressed ground beef or turkey and onion-free sausages. He adores sausages, and will eat the burgers. He also gets a drink of full-cream milk last thing at night.

     

    I guess what I'm saying is that when the oldies get fussy, you may need to be prepared to ring the changes and feed something only for a few days then move on to something else. Fat in itself isn't bad, providing your dog doesn't have a pancreatitis problem, but raw fat is better than cooked. Jeffie won't eat his food if there's too much oil or fat on it, so again, you have to see what they will and won't accept. Jeffie doesn't like egg or pasta or cheese sauce dishes, but all of those can work well for keeping weight on. And yes, it's a good thing if you can offer more frequent, smaller meals, rather than overloading them on one or two big ones.

     

    But basically, I think that - within reason - the oldies can probably be fed whatever they like to eat and don't worry overmuch about trying to balance things out perfectly. Isn't it better to have an old dog eat a decent amount of something, rather than turn his nose up and starve himself?

     

    My problem now is that Sid wants everything Jeffie gets. And since he's an aging tripod he can't afford to get fat!

  17. I can't tolerate NSAIDs but do fine on Codeine - it's not the same thing. Sid, my eleven year old, is on codeine plus NSAID, and does very well. It's a low dose of codeine, and I haven't noticed any side effects. No constipation or diarrhoea, no vomiting, no lack of appetite.

    However, I second the advice to check with your vet before giving anything, particularly if she is on anything else. Drug interactions can be serious. I hope she's OK!

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