silverfish

I'd just like to add that allowing them to run flat out does not necessarily mean they have to be off lead.

He's beeeeaaautiful!!! Congratulations to both of you!

It depends so much on the dog. Jeffie would be flummoxed by a two foot high fence. So would Sid, actually, being an aging tripod. However, our first greyhound could and did clear more than eight feet with enough of a running start. We don't seem to see black chain link here, but it seems to me it would be nicer than plain metal.

I think this is the key to a lot of 'new dog' issues. It has certainly proved to be the case here, both with sleep snark and food aggression. The keeping your hands on her while she fell asleep is a great idea, and works for food aggression too - I always have my hand on a new dog while I put their dish down and they begin to eat, and hold onto a treat for just a few seconds while they take it from me. Trust is the key. An awful lot of early problems are down to fear and confusion.

I'm not a nutritionist, but my understanding is that they can't get the nutrients they need from muscle meat plus veggies, so no, it's not balanced if thats all you're feeding. You'll need to add some bone (raw or cooked literally to a pulp) or supplements. You'd also do well to add some organ meat from time to time, and maybe a regular meal of fish. Dogs aren't meant to be fed on muscle meat alone. You'd need to get some advice about properly balancing the diet, I think. I do know that you will need to supplement with calcium at least. There's some good advice on this site: The Whole Dog Journal.

Those examples do not prove your point at all. If an animal is endowed with a particular physical attribute, then for full health and mental well-being they do need to use it - assuming they are so inclined. If they don't, their bodies do not get a proper workout and psychologically it can be very damaging. Many of us have seen zoo animals in the old style 'concrete box with bars' type housing and they go stir crazy. Most Border Collies do most certainly need to have a job - it might not actually be herding sheep, but if they aren't given something to do, both physically and mentally, you will probably soon have a delinquent on your hands. Your analogy with travel is specious. Not only is it not a physical attribute we are talking about with greyhounds and running, but you choose not to travel, for various reasons. Nobody imprisons you and makes it impossible. If you were denied the opportunity to see, while having the full use of your eyes, or hear, while having full use of your ears, then we might be talking similarities. The RSPCA have a checklist of requirements, in this country, to determine whether animals are being kept humanely: "- somewhere suitable to live - a proper diet, including fresh water - the ability to express normal behaviour - for any need to be housed with, or apart from, other animals - protection from, and treatment of, illness and injury." It seems to me that being able to run flat out would indeed be 'expressing normal behaviour' for a greyhound. Another very good point I am perhaps a good example of the human equivalent of the lazy greyhound who can't be bothered to run anywhere: I have always been bored by physical exercise just for its own sake and so I have never chosen to exercise for fun. I am now, as I get older, paying the price for that. I have all kinds of physical problems, and have to force myself to do a certain amount of exercise because otherwise my muscles become very painful and I can't do a darned thing. Sometimes I wonder about the reason that retired greyhounds are prone to strokes. Our retired greyhounds are famous for their ability lie around looking blissfully happy doing absolutely nothing all day, and I think can fool people into thinking that they don't need to do anything much. But we know that in humans, being sedentary and not exercising properly can lead to blood clots. Why not in dogs? You might argue that active racers spend a lot of time lying around doing nothing too - and that's true, but they do have a structured exercise regime. They are let out into paddocks to play, and they are taken racing. IMHO, we owe it to our dogs to let them live as full a life as we can make possible for them, after they retire. Having said all that, you have to know your dog, train your dog, and choose your location wisely. I don't do much off-lead with the two I have now because Jeffie would chase and wouldn't listen and wouldn't even see where he was running because his sight is going, and Sid is not only a tripod, but an aging tripod with some aches and pains and he can get very defensive with loose dogs. I have in the past had greyhounds that I could and did let off-lead in the countryside every day, often twice a day. Not one of those off-leaders got into any kind of serious trouble. My first used to disappear off into the distance chasing rabbits and would come back to the exact spot he left me, 100% of the time. Never failed. He and the other two of them got the odd scrape or small cut, but they got them equally on and off lead. The worst injuries we've had over the years happened in our own house or garden - except Jeffie who broke his toe running in a completely safe, fenced enclosure on flat grass. Actually, Jeffie is the most-injured of all our greyhounds and he is the only one who has never been off-lead outside of a fenced enclosure. And that's why he never will be.

It sounds as if your boy has a relatively low prey drive but certain things can set him off. Off leash works for us with certain dogs and in certain places. The two I have now I don't let off leash much because Sid is a tripod (at present recovering nicely from corn surgery) and Jeffie is half-blind and not very sensible - they did go to a fenced in field this morning for a run .. or rather a sniff-fest and grass banquet followed by a gentle amble around the perimeter. Not much running going on there! Sports wrap? I had one greyhound with dewclaws that stuck out at an odd angle and I used Vet Wrap to cover them when he was off leash. He and his companion Renie were off-leash most days out in the countryside and did extremely well. Renie had low prey drive and was so lazy she wouldn't trot for more than a few paces if a rabbit popped up ten yards away, and Jack loved to chase the bunnies but would stop and playbow to them when he caught up - and he was far too sensible to do anything like jump fences or dykes. Once he was spooked by bird-scarers while we were out and he bolted, but merely to run to stand beside the car, waiting to be let in! Those two were great, so was Jim, our first (who was safe anywhere), but apart from the two I have now, we've also had a girl with a ferociously high prey drive who'd have chased and killed anything not greyhound-shaped. Point is: know your dog. If you are not 100% certain then err on the side of caution. In a dog park where many dogs are running off-leash, you have to worry about a couple of things: your dog's reaction to other animals, their reaction and temperament, and stupid people. Stupid people include those who bring their little dogs into the big dogs' park because 'he wouldn't hurt a fly' or 'he only wants to play', and those who bring their aggressive large dogs in and then release them. As for the cats, yes, oftentimes a cat is safe indoors, but when running outside it's seen as fair game, so be cautious.

I'm pretty sure Jeffie would be, if he saw anyone using it. He's scared of balls anyway - though this does tend to be footballs rather than tennis ball sized balls. Several of ours have been scared of rapid movement above their heads. Most have 'grown out of it' quite quickly but Jeffie has not. Pretty sure he'd bolt if he weren't on lead.

Looks like a wart to me. An old lady wart.

Yes, it's been our experience that some do have thinner skin. I think it goes along with the thinner, silkier type of coat - although maybe those with thicker, woollier coats get a bit of protection from the extra fluff, too! Susan, Jack and Sid - thick, fluffy coats. Hardly any nicks and scrapes. Renie - flat soft, silky coat and thin skin. She didn't get many nicks, but that's because she was a princess who wouldn't even walk through a wet patch, let alone throw herself into bushes or try to jump fences etc Jim - kind of middling coat. Got a few nicks but nothing major, and he was a real daredevil and very playful. Used to tear around with other dogs, and jump anything he felt like jumping. Jeffie - flat, thin coat and clumsy. He is ALWAYS picking up wounds, and half the time I have no idea where or what did it!

Filling in the gaps will probably help. It's the flashes of movement which are so tantalising in all likelihoood.

Can you put up a solid fence inside the existing fence, so Marlow can't see them? I've found that if they can't see the other dog, they might be interested, but they seldom go nuts in the way that the do when they can see them.

And I thought it was bad enough that Jeffie mows our lawn with his teeth and they both burn 'pee holes' into it and cut corners to make mud tracks in the grass. Good heavens - three feet deep holes? I second the suggestion that you fill one of them with sand and keep that as a dig spot. People have suggested this in the past with some success - one idea is to half bury durable toys in the sand to teach them that they can dig there, then later you can completely bury suitable objects for them to dig up. That way, if you can get them to confine their efforts to one spot, your yard will be safer for them, and all you'll have to do is sweep the sand back in, occasionally. I've never had to try this, but good luck!

It's fairly impossible to diagnose ringworm from a picture Ringworm tends to be bald spots (not necessarily round) with redness and perhaps crusting at the margins, and they tend to spread and a get larger over time. There may also be broken hairs at the margins, and as they spread, you may see hair regrowing in the centre. However, Sid had very similar symptoms with small bald spots in various places over his back and flanks and I suspected ringworm. Vet took a look and said 'that DOES look like ringworm' and took scrapings and hair samples from various sites and sent them off for mycology and bacterial reports and ... nope. Nothing showed up at all. Took him back after a while to a different vet who said it would be unlikely, and that he'd never yet seen a confirmed case of ringworm in a greyhound, but checked him all over again, and ... nope, nothing. He still occasionally gets the odd bald spot about the size of your dog's, but they come and go. Jeffie has shown no sign, nor have the humans in this house and the conclusion is that they are idiopathic. Skin is a difficult thing when it comes to disorders. I'd just wait and see if it heals over and doesn't return, or if it gets bigger, more inflamed, weepy or anything else unusual. If it changes, perhaps get the vet to take a look. If it clears up, forget it!

If it's a lump and it's squishy and you haven't noticed it before, then personally, I'd get it checked out. Better a moment or two of embarrassment (though most vets are happier checking out nothing than seeing something too late) than missing something important. Thyroid cancer, for instance, can be aggressive and the tumours are hard to remove. Adams Apples are usually fairly rigid and knobbly rather than squishy. It's possible she does have a lump of fat (no importance) or an insect bite, or a small sebaceous cyst. But in case it's not, let someone take a look. That's JMHO.

I think it's a question of management. With people, they do steroids and inhalers and nebulisers etc I believe. Not sure what it would be for dogs, but I imagine the vet would know. If not, see if you can get a specialist referral. The specialist often have access to newer, better treatments than local vets do. Good luck with him! And ... build another bedroom!

:LOL

Hahahaha! Yes, that's the one! Good thing there was a NSFW warning at the top, huh?

That's great! So you can stop worrying. By the way, I think this is a very common thing that vets have to check out. A lot of people worry that their dog has an infection because of the drip.

The lump is halfway down? Not the glans then - that would be at the base and has been described as the dog's 'olives'! Maybe he got something in there, like a grass seed. That would definitely need a vet visit!

A certain amount of discharge from the sheath is normal for male dogs, but if it's more than usual, if it's smelly, or if he's paying it more attention than usual, it would be worth getting a vet to take a look. Sid had an episode of a huge amount of pussy discharge recently and basically the vet did end up giving him antibiotics, but only because it was actually dripping down his leg! One thing you can do if the vet is saying it's normal but you're finding it messy, is to mix up a barely warm solution of saline using about a teaspoon of salt to a pint of water, get a large syringe (without the needle, obviously!!), and just gently rinse out the sheath. Do it outside on grass, and just take a square of towelling to dry him off with. Be very careful inserting the syringe nozzle so you don't hit the penis - which is obviously going to be very sensitive - and squirt in ten ml several times. I usually squirt it in, and hold the end of the sheath shut with one hand while I squish it about a bit with the other before letting it run out again. You will probably find he really enjoys this. Now I'm going to sit back and wait for one of the horse people to post the Willie Washing Song.

Oh, the 'horse whiffle'! Yes, mine do that, too!

I prefer 'famous Sid and his EX-corn'!