GeorgeofNE

He must be absolutely enormous if he's skinny and weighs over 80 pounds! I mean tall!

Yeah--you started it, now you have to stop it. My dog also jumps on me--but I have not yet decided I want to make him quit entirely. When I've had enough I do as Meredith suggested and I turn my back on him and say "enough" in my stern voice.

This is the gate I have: http://www.amazon.com/Carlson-0941PW-Extra-Tall-Walk-Thru-White/dp/B000JJFNJK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1432815554&sr=8-1&keywords=walk+through+gate+with+cat+door Easy install, cat door at the bottom, walk through to clean the litter box and feed the cat in the cat room! Neither of my greyhounds has ever shown any interest in chasing my cats, so in your case I think you need to keep the gate up a while longer or possibly all the time.

Lonely and/or bored. And, let's face it, his clever plan is working! He whines and you reward him with getting up and keeping him company while he does nothing in the yard for 15 minutes! If a dog has to pee, he'll go pretty much immediately. Don't give him more than 5 minutes. If he doesn't go, then back in the house. Don't speak to him except for, "Let's go tinkle" (or whatever term you use), do not give him a treat, do not reward him in any way. After a few nights of that, he'll realize it's not going to work. Can I ask why your landlord doesn't want him upstairs? Is it hardwood floors or something? Because he's far less likely to get up to mischief or cause damage from boredom or whatnot if he IS upstairs with you. Perhaps the landlord didn't really think it through.

Half a benedryl is way too low a dose. I had two dogs with seasonal allergies (which is exactly what this sounds like to me--food allergies don't come and go). My vet had me giving TWO tablets two or three times a day. Try the benedryl (start with one tab, and make sure it isn't a decongestant--just the antihistamine product) and if it helps, it's not ear mites!

Well, I'll be the first one to mention the greyhound phenomenon known as "breed snobbery." My George had it. He ONLY liked Greyhounds. Period. No exceptions. Loved all Greyhounds, even from a mile away, but hated all other dogs. In 7 years, the only dogs he adjusted to were my parents, after being muzzled in their house with them for the first 8 hours. He also had a little crush on a German Shepherd that I just can't explain. But all others were met with a "bite first, ask questions later" attitude. I simply kept him away from other dogs and it wasn't an issue for me. I had him 7 years, and he never improved.

Doggles just really don't seem to fit any dog. I again. Don't bother.

I've been leash walks ONLY for, lets see, 20 years now. Same routine with all three dogs: get up, take dog out (one lap around the dog walking area at my complex). Go in, feed dog. Drink copious amounts of coffee. Take dog for long walk. Come home, shower, dress, go to work. Come home. Take dog out. One lap around the dog walking area. Go in. Feed dog. Drink copious amounts of Diet Coke. One hour after dinner, take dog out. Equivalent of two laps around the dog walking area (most dogs poop after meals). Go in. Take dog out one last time before bed--again, a lap around the dog walking area. Weekends are a bit different, but what NEVER changes is that I take him out IMMEDIATELY upon rising, and again immediately upon returning home. I can't imagine having to hold it all night and then being fed a meal before I have a chance to pee! It also might motivate him to pee quickly if he knows he gets his food after he does his business. Might try a little switch for a week or so and see if he's faster in the AM.

You've gotten a lot of really good advice! So if you just make a point of not stopping to chat with people on your walks, you eliminate the risk of her nipping at someone while you're doing that. The mice, etc. is irrelevant. The greyhound playdate behavior is pretty normal (some of these dogs play rough!), but if you sense that it increases any other issues, there is no NEED to continue going if she's getting enough exercise and play at home. And yes, the nursing home cannot continue with a dog who EVER nips.

If you're a new dog owner, you really shouldn't take the wait and see route when a dog goes from seemingly perfectly fine to vomiting multiple times. You need to take a sick dog to the vet. The behavior you're describing is not a normal "uncomplicated vomit." She could have ingested something when you weren't looking. She could have a raging case of worms. It need not be complicated finding a vet. Ask a neighbor, as the adoption group. I'm sure there are many good vets near you. Hopefully by the time you read this she's feeling much better, but if she were my dog, I'd have taken her in already.

Your little avatar doesn't say where you live, but just because you say he's your first dog, and it doesn't sound like the adoption group explained very much about greyhounds to you, it should be noted: do not EVER take your dog in the car on a hot day unless you plan on being in the car with the A/C running at all time. Greyhounds are not very heat tolerant, and can get heat stroke (as can any other dog). The temp inside a car, even with the windows open, rises rapidly and it's just too hot in the summer to take your dog in the car if you're not running the A/C and with him.

I second having a specialist review the films. It's pretty unusual for a healthy 6 year old to break ankle doing nothing in particular. That's often the first sign of bone cancer.

I'm so sorry. Sounds to me as if it's past time to say goodbye, but it's your choice, obviously, and no one elses. Wishing you peace with whatever choice you make.

It's really not a good idea to take water away from a dog in the summer. I would suggest that you close him into your bedroom. If he starts up whining, take him outside on a leash. Don't talk to him. Don't play with him. Do not give him a treat. Give him a minute, and if he doesn't pee march him right back up stairs and go back to bed. You can't ignore the whining entirely, because clearly he DID have to go. But you don't want to let him call the shots either. If he understands that nothing fun comes of extra early rising, he will most likely give up.

Exercise her like crazy before you leave. Dog proof your house, and try the DAP diffuser, the Kong, and the radio. Buy and read the booklet, "I'll Be Home Soon" and spend the entire three day weekend doing alone training.

Next time you're at the vet, have them check her eyes carefully. When my mutt got weird on our night time walks, it turned out he had a vision problem. I suppose it's possible her depth perception is messed up and the stairs are scary?

Twice a day is really not enough, and for a male dog, tinkling twice on a walk is probably barely tapping the never ending reservoir! Take him into the yard on a leash if you need to. Rather than pushing him, try tempting him with something tasty! Make a huge big deal every thing he goes. Say something like "good tinkle!!!" and then every time you take him out, also say, "time to go tinkle" or whatever...just pick something and be consistent. I use tinkle and potty for my prompting. Don't just take him out in the yard and sit there. Walk around in circles saying, "Let's go tinkle" and then when he does make him feel like he just split the atom! Just because your dog is an adult doesn't mean he totally gets the housebroken thing, so it's really good to treat him as if he's a puppy in that regard.

K-9 Advantix repels mosquitoes, I believe.

Aside from surgery, which up here runs around $10,000, there is nothing you can do to "correct" LS. The only definitive way to diagnose it is a $2,500 or more MRI. I elected not to do that since the only reason you need a definitive diagnosis is if you plan on subjecting your dog to painful and expensive surgery with an iffy outcome. I asked the specialist flat out, "Would the course of treatment change at all if you knew FOR SURE versus you just suspect LS?" and she said no, so...I don't have thousands of dollars to spend on satisfying my vet's curiosity. Regular gentle exercise to keep the muscles strong is critical, and keep the dog slim. Gabapentin helped George. For what it's worth, I'm told that fecal incontinence is fairly common with advanced LS, but not urinary.

Yikes. Glad she's OK. You obviously now know that's too long outside in the heat. If you don't mind hours in 80 degrees and high humidity, bravo for you, but that's too dang hot for too long for a greyhound.

He found nothing and put her on an NSAID (I assume without running bloodwork first, and we all (should) know that NSAIDS can be very bad if your dog has underlying medical issues), and she's still yelping and he wants to do nothing? This suggests to me he isn't aware of the very high incidence of bone cancer in greyhounds. Not wanting to frighten you, but any halfway aware vet should know that when a greyhound presents with unexplained limping, it needs to be considered. I'd insist on x-rays if she were my dog.

If you can afford/handle two dogs, then why not get one of her own kind?? A puppy isn't going to be happy and relaxed when you leave. And there is no way to tell how a puppy is going to fit in until you actually get it. A nice Greyhound, perhaps a bounce, with a known calm disposition is a better candidate. Having said that, I got my mixed breed dog, Kramer, a cat for company. While they were never buddies, it did seem to help him feel less alone during the day.

Can't help you on the vet, but from the three days I spent in Pittsburgh, plan on it taking 3x longer than you think to get anywhere. The traffic is horrific! But it's a great city. A real hidden gem. Clean, friendly people--who knew???

If you Google "TPLO, Kramer" you will find the story of my mixed breed dog who had a total rupture of his ACL and the HELL he went through. After all was said and done, it was at least $10,000, and over a year and a half of recovery. We were very unlucky--he got a bone infection and almost died a year after the surgery. Kramer's initial surgery seemed to go OK, but he just wasn't healing. The doctor eventually blew me off and basically called Kramer a sissy--I no know he probably had an infection festing for a very long time. Nearly a year to the day after his surgery, I came home from work and he could barely stand. He was actually hot to the touch--and I rushed him off to my vet who admitted him immediately. A different ortho surgeon worked on him, removing the hardware from the TPLO (a screw had broken off in his leg), drained the infection, and he was on massive doses of antibiotics after that for two or three months. I want to thank my father for paying for all of this--because I sure didn't have $10,000! I tried to get pet insurance after his first surgery. HAHAHAHHAHAHA. The insurance companies know the odds of the other leg going and the policy arrived with pages and pages and pages of exclusions, making it not worth the paper it was printed on. Note--this was a BAD and unusual outcome. There are many success stories on the same blog that Kramer's story is on.

That's horrible. I didn't even know that could happen.