GeorgeofNE

First question: if she "hates the crate" why are you putting her in it? My first dog did too. My adoption group INSISTED I do it. Every instinct told me not to. I thought about returning him. They asked me to speak to a behavior specialist before I did, so I did. I was sobbing on the phone with her, and she said, "Sweetheart, if you know he hates the crate, why on earth do you keep putting him in it?" I explained about the group's policy. She said, "All these groups mean well, and do the best they can, but there is no "one size fits all" solution for a newly adopted hound. If your dog hates the crate, it isn't a "safe space" for him, and neither of you will be happy until you stop using it." Problem solved. I folded the "wirey box of torture and doom" away, slid it under my bed, and never put the dog in it again. He stopped howling. His chronic "happy tail healed, and I no longer thought about returning him. Sometimes your gut knows what it's talking about!

I am highly qualified to respond! I too live alone and work all day. In my area, a daily dog walk would run me over $2,000 a year. Money I really can't spare. There are no "neighborhood kids" who are available or willing to actually do anything besides their school activities. We just don't have that kind of population here--kids don't even have to clean their own rooms, never mind work for money....anyway, a normal healthy dog should be able to hold it all day despite what some people say. Millions of them do it. There was no such thing as doggy day care or dog walking services until fairly recently (10 or 15 years?). George was my first greyhound. At first I attributed his inability to hold it to SA. Then I decided it was a UTI. Because any time he was on antibiotics, he could hold it. And we tried heavy duty doses for 3X longer than normal. I kept thinking he was cured, and he kept starting up again. Despite spending literally thousands of dollars on vet bills, antibiotics, and every test under the sun, I never really figured out George's problem. He even had an ultrasound and he had no anatomical abnormalities. He did go a year once without an accident--but the other 6 years I had him it was hit or miss. And a dog walker (which I did try for a month or so) made no difference. It didn't even seem to be the length of time he was alone. He just had to go when he had to go. My initial solution was to put a belly band on him with a Tena ultra absorbent human incontinence pad. That worked keeping my house clean, but I did feel sort of bad for him because I know he just couldn't help it. Heck, he would pee right in front of me--and he'd get this totally zoned out look, and seemingly GALLONS of pee would just gush out of him. Once I realized he was peeing in the exact same spot every time he did pee (which wasn't every day) I put hospital-grade human incontinence pads on the floor, and he peed on those. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than coming home every day and sobbing while I attempted to clean the carpet for the 10,000th time. You see, he was a good boy, and what he did was lift his leg on the patio door--as close to getting outside as he could. The pee splashed off the glass and onto the pee pad! Everyone who followed George's saga knows that this was actually a victory of sorts for us.

We had a dog who had an eye removed. He did just fine! Aside from the fact he looked like he was winking all the time... Ironically, years later my father had an eye removed. He did fine too, but because he had severe Alzheimer's, he was very sad when he woke up eyeless (after agreeing 100 times to the surgery). He was given a very expensive, very real looking fake eye, which he stopped using when his dementia became so bad he was fighting my mother when she tried to clean it. And he refused to wear is cool pirate patch.... Long story short: dogs do better than people with one eye!

I don't quite understand "Willow will get more alone time at night." Does this mean you're going to separate her from your and the rest of the dogs with the idea that is somehow going to accomplish "alone training"? She's going to know you're there. She is going to feel like she isn't part of the family. And it's not the same as you actually leaving the house. Do you have cameras in your home so you know that she was "barking and carrying on for hours"? Or is the destroyed bed your only issue? Because she could have just been bored and playing with it. My dog grabs his bed and shakes and plays with it all the time. As to "looking guilty," it's more likely that you somehow expressed your displeasure and she was concerned about your tone of voice or body posture. She doesn't know or care that she destroyed something you paid good money for so why would she feel guilt? Suggest you do the alone training as described by McConnell in the "I'll Be Home Soon" booklet. I understand you aren't a dog rookie, but forcing her to be alone at night when you're home isn't going to make her better at handling you departing the place, it's really not.

I don't know who told you to ignore her when she seeks out affection, but my personal opinion is that ANY time a dog comes to me seeking affection, he gets it, however briefly. If I'm busy, I might give him a pet and then say, "OK, go lie down now" or something. My dog hated his crate. Unbeknownst to my adoption group, his foster mother found out really quickly that he hated his crate and stopped using it. When he came to me, I was told he was "used to it." Well, he wasn't, and it almost drove us both over the edge! If your dog is housebroken, you might consider just leaving the crate door open and seeing what happens.

If your dog has a lumbar spinal problem, joint supplements are certainly not going to help with that particular issue. Compression of the spinal column won't respond to all the neutraceuticals in the world. Although for those people who believe they work, you might notice some difference in her overall physical attitude. If she does have LSS, it is important that you keep her weight on the slim side, and give her regular, gentle exercise, e.g. leash walking twice a day to keep her muscles strong. George took gabapentin and Deramaxx daily and it probably added a couple of years of relative comfort.

I am so sorry for you, and for her. Please bear in mind that waiting until the pain is unbearable doesn't benefit either her, or you.

My mixed breed dog, Kramer, was bitten by a squirrel once. In the squirrel's defense, Kramer WAS trying to kill him at the time. I called the vet, hysterical. The vet said, "You know those rabies shots he gets every year?" and I said, "Uh huh..." the vet said, "Don't worry about it. And squirrels almost NEVER carry rabies." And that was the end of that!

For what it's worth, I disagree on the name change. Call him whatever you want. Start now and in three days he won't give a rat's necktie what he used to be called. I have two cats and a greyhound. Sounds to me like things are going to work out fine based on the progress you've made so far. Just have a safe space the cat can run to that the dog can't get--they actually make a baby gate that has a tiny door at the bottom that you can open for a cat to go in and out of. The gate itself has hinges so you can swing it open while it remains mounted in the door frame. I'd suggest putting something similar in the doorway of whatever room houses your litter box. It's important the cat never be disturbed by the dog whilst using the box. The last thing you want is the cat deciding elsewhere is more private. What a handsome boy he is! And the cat too.

I believe Hills has some sort of deal worked out where they ALWAYS take this expensive stuff back. I expect Chewy.com gets reimbursed.

I see you are in the Boston area, so I'd recommend you take him to Angell Memorial if that's not in fact where you've already taken him. It's in Jamaica Plain, and is a teaching hospital and they have the best of everything available.

She'll learn soon enough to go on a leash. I'd suggest daily leash walking (4x) until she figures it out. Good for her, good for you, and she will enventually go. It's not like greyhounds are not permitted to pee when they're leashed up at the track, so I bet if you give her a little more time, and try the leash walking, you'll be laughing about this in no time!

For what it's worth, I had George for 7 years and he came when he felt like it! It's kind of funny to me, how George made it perfectly clear he had no intention of being trained. His name was Chile for five years. Never even flickered his ears when I said it, and I hated it, so I changed it to George. He learned it in 3 days. He learned that there was only one acceptable place to walk with me when we were leash walking. I did teach him to sit. But that's really about all he was willing to give me, and trust me, I tried! He would look at me with this expression that sort of said to me, "Don't you know who I am? I'm a racing dog, not some trick pony!" and just refuse to do what I wanted. We learned to live with each other happily, but it was a huge adjustment for both of us, since I am actually a pretty good dog trainer and my prior dog would do anything I asked of him--usually before I even asked! It'll all work out. Just give him time.

She is apt to just go lay in her crate when you leave if you just LEAVE and don't create a situation in which she knows you're leaving, e.g. moving her to a guest room and putting up the baby gate. What do you think she's doing to do if she is just left where she normally hangs out?

Every Saturday and Sunday, going on 12 years now. Never had any problem, although I don't ever leave a dog alone with a bone because they can get stuck on their lower jaw if the shape is just right. From time to time, a piece splinters off as well, and that needs to be tossed out before your dog attempts to eat it! All my dogs have loved them and look forward to chewy bone day.

I have had and lived with dogs my entire 54+ years. I have never seen a dog (except sick ones) who don't "act hungry" all the time. My dog is male, but the same size as your girl. I feed him 1 cup in the AM and 1 cup in the PM. He also gets two large sized Milk Bones (one when I leave for work, and one after last potties), and I let him lick my dinner plate or occasionally give him a bite of my food. He looks just right on that amount of food, and I expect your girl would to. Please resist the urge to add weight to your dog. If she's your first greyhound, she no doubt looks thin to you. She should not look like a Labrador or a Pointer, she should look think and steamlined. There are a whole lot of fat greyhounds out there.

Feisty 49, we had a gorgeous show dog (Engish setter) and he was raised on Puppy Chow and then Dog Chow. Dog was stunning, shiny, soft coat, everything you want in a dog. Given that Purina has survived as long as it has, you KNOW that their food will sustain a dog just fine. It depends on the dog, and also your budget. We shouldn't attempt to shame people who cannot afford $50 for a bag of premium food into not buying what they can afford. As long as it has the AAFCO seal of approval, it's all fine. MOST food allergies have nothing to do with the grain either. MOST of them are protein source allergy. So switching to grain free because you suspect food allergies is a waste of time.

Grain free is a fad and nothing more. Feed your dog a quality diet he likes that produces good poops, and relax!

Not sure how quickly you expect an injury to heal. But you haven't even had the dog a week. Deep breath! Did you do any reading? One really useful book is "Greyhounds for Dummies." I found it invaluable!

I had my first greyhound for 7 years. Spent thousands of dollars on vet bills. Never did figure out why he peed during the day. Not every day. Once he went a whole year without doing it. Eventually I put a pee pad in the spot where he would pee and just gave up. Current dog could probably hold it for 12 hours if he had to! I share your frustration.

I just want to say how sorry I am you had that experience. I was sent to have one of our family dogs put to sleep when I was much, much younger (my parents were out of town and I was home with the dogs). The first shot didn't do it. It was awful. I had to scream for the vet to come back and help.

I can't even process the idea of your dog in the apartment with your sister "staying in her room." Does she not like dogs? In my experience, if the dog knows someone is there, but is being ignored, he's going to be unhappy. My dog George hated his crate from day 1, but I followed my group's advice to crate him. Eventually it got so bad there were three complaints in one day at my condo. Fortunately, I was chairman of the condo board, so PFFFFTTTTTTTTTTT to the complaints (not really--I went and visited everyone who lived around me and explained, and all but one of them were really awesome about it). A day or so after I finally did what I knew I should have done all alone (ditch the crate) one of my neighbors came by frantic thinking I had gotten rid of the dog because of her complaint. She was thrilled to see my now silent George wagging his tail at her! George never touched anything in my condo that wasn't his, and my current boy, Buck, never has either. The two dogs are as different as night and day, but unless your dog has already shown himself to be destructive, he'll probably just jump on the couch and sleep all day if you get rid of the crate. Leave the crate up and open for a week or so. My first dog was a mutt, and he totally flipped out when I put his crate away. I had to put it back up and put him in it (but I stopped locking the door) and it took him two months to be transitioned out one step at a time, but he was a bit of a freak! It probably won't take your dog that long.

When you say "pain relievers," what are you really talking about? Rimadyl? Deramaxx? Tramadol? It makes a difference, as two of those are NSAIDs and one is a pain reliever. "Remarkable joints for an ex-racer" implies that all greyhounds that raced SHOULD be expected to have bad joints, which is incorrect, so if that's your vet's description, you might have stumbled onto a vet who isn't greyhound savvy. And yes, if he does have a joint or spine issue, he does need to be walked, and he absolutely should not be in a position where weight loss is even part of the discussion. Gentle, regular leash walking is beneficial, and keeping up the muscle tone is essential.

If you're going to share your home with an animal, it needs to be comfortable for both of you. You may prefer not to have rugs and mats around, but if you want your dog to be happy, rugs and mats it is. I had my George for 7 years. He was terrified of shiny floors the entire time. You need to compromise sometimes, when you have a pet! Can you have someone from the group you got him from come over and take a walk with you? They might have some insights into his behavior.

I'm going to suggest you talk to your adoption group. If you live in the city, it's a bit odd they'd send you home with a dog who is fearful of loud noises. That's also WAY too much food for a dog of that size. Unless you didn't mean you're feeding her all of that at once? In comparison, my 64 pound male gets 1 cup of kibble in the AM, and 1 cup of kibble in the PM, with several large Milk Bones during the day as rewards. Your dog does not need canned food, and rice is not a magical cure all. You need to 1) go to the vet and have her stool checked for parasites, and 2) fast the dog for 24 hours, then start her on a diet of plain rice and either boiled chicken meat (no bones, just the meat) or boiled hamburger. Keep her on that for a few days (the vet can give you more guidance on this) and then start her back on the kibble she is used to. Add a bit of warm water to it, and perhaps a SPOON of canned (since you already bought it). Pumpkin can help--but a newly adopted dog with diarrhea really needs to go to the vet. Good luck. We've all been there.