tydyelady

Opie gets a neckie every day - BUT they are not whole necks, they are pieces. They are about anywhere from 2- 4 inches long, and thickness depends on what part of the neck they were cut from. He gets his neck piece after we get home from work, and he has had his walk, and evening poo. Then about 2 hours later, he gets his dinner. He is kibble fed, with canned add ins and a meatloaf square. (I make a tray of meatloaf - beef and turkey, and cut it into squares, and freeze them for taking out for his dinner each night. A tray lasts about 3 weeks.) As to where I get the necks, we have an ethnic type grocery store here called SAARS, has lots of Mexican and Aisian things, besides all the regular groceries. I get a few packages of the neck pieces, and some chicken feetsies for Opie there.

Definately NOT air snapping (he does this to us when he is excited) - this is Hey I don't like you, don't come near me behavior.

DH is the primary walker in our house. We don't have a fenced yard, so Opie gets walked 4-5 times a day. There are often loose dogs running around the neighborhood, and Opie will growl and bark at them. This is understandable. Sometimes he will bark at deer, sometimes not. He also growls/barks at some people - all of them women. Let me back up a bit and say that he has always seemed to favor men more than women - he immediately goes to them. With women, its hit or miss. When we first got him, he and I were on a blanket in a park, and a woman approached us to talk to me about greyhounds. Opie growled at her. This too was understandable, as we were on a blanket, and a stranger approached, bending over to talk to me. I have never had a problem at dog parks. He goes to anyone and everyone there, leaning, wanting to be petted, rubbing his muzzle on them. Yesterday DH was walking him, and a new neighbor (woman) came out to say Hello, and Opie started growling and barking at her. DH does pull him back behind him when this happens. Shortly after this, another couple was walking down the street, and the woman approached DH and said this was the dog she heard about and wanted to meet him. He proceeded to growl and bark, and actually snapped in her direction. Obviously this behavior is unacceptable. DH is at a loss as to what to do. I personally think that he has let this behavior go on too much (barking at stray dogs, dogs behind fences, deer, crows - he hates crows!) and it has escalated to people he deems unacceptable. Could really use some advice, as do not want to walk him with a muzzle on. For background info - Opie is 9 years old, male, already on thyroid med, no medical problems. He has growled at me in the beginning, over resource guarding (treats), and we had couch issued. I practised NILF with him, I am the sole provider of food, treats. We worked through this issue - and this was shortly after we got him, at age 4. So why this issued with strange women? It never happens with men. And why on walks and not the dog park? Oh, and I want to add that some strange women he is fine with, so its not all women. Thanks, could use your help on this one.

Opie seemed to know "Back Up" when we got him., and immediately started going in reverse.

OMG I just read all this today, and saw the pictures!!! OMG, I just can't stop gaspin!! -- his poor feetsies!! :( Scary for me, as our vet wanted to amputate Opie's toe after some past problems, and then DH stepped on it and broke the nail. I just had a bad feeling, and opted to see if it would heal first - which thankfully it did. Your poor poor Rogan - and poor you. I am so very sorry, and almost speechless at the way the whole thing was handled. And not to tell you right away! Big hugs to both of you, and I will be praying that the feet both heal quickly and completely.

Prayers for your precious boy.

I remember Adam's story well. Many prayers going out for this sweet boy.

Yes, its called nitting, and many greyhounds do this. Opie will do it to me or DH, in all sorts of places on our bodies, when he gets really excited. I think its sweet, and he never hurts us. Some people don't like it and discourage the behavior.

We have a big boy too, 92-95#, He's very fit, just a big boy, all the pups from his litter were big, but I think he is the biggest. We feed him 3 cups a day total (1 in AM, 2 in PM) but he also gets add ins - good quality canned food, home made meatloaf, and a turkey neck when we get home from work. We put warm water in the kibble, plus the add ins. As someone mentioned, they are not used to just dry kibble. And hopefully as your boy gets used to a home will not feel the need to eat so fast - maybe!

I too remember when you brought this cutie home and posted pictures. I am so very sorry for your loss, he was a lucky boy to have you for his last years.

Opie loves DH's bran muffins (NO we don't give too much! LOL) Pizza crust - we call them pizza cookies Peanut butter cookies - well, I guess that one is not wierd at all since most of them love peanut butter Little yogert balls out of pack of trail mix type snack.

Back from the vet, no talk of toe amputation this time. But to make the story even stranger, when she took the bandages off, lo and behold, there was another toenail piece - this time with a pointy edge. Huh? Where did that come from? First nail broke off, she cut all his nails shorter, and of course blunt, now where in the heck did this pointy nail come from? Is he just sloughing off toenails? But from where? Anyways, it looks better, its bandaged again until we go away next weekend, back for a check and rebandage before we leave. This is baffling. His other toenails all look fine, so it doesn't appear to be that toenail autoimmune disease. Any input on this would be appreciated.

Going back to the vet tomorrow to take off the bandage, and DH and I have decided to just let this heal. Opie is walking almost normally (as normal as can be with the foot bandaged). We discussed the whole event and details for the past few days and this was just a nail that cracked because DH stepped on his foot when Opie was lunging for a crow. The nail was definately hanging off an existing nail. We were so upset, with all the blood, the vet got us a bit nuts about perhaps this being an additional nail, amputating toe, etc. Unfortunately it was on a toe that got infected before, but that was coincidental - he could have stepped on any toe. The bleeding was actually on the side of the toe, not the toenail itself (or most of the blood), as they were on pavement, and it rubbed raw across the pavement. Depending on how it looks tomorrow at the recheck, we will just let it heal and go on. If in the future he has any more issues with this toe, we may decide to xray. But not biopsy, no amputation now. To me, now that we are all calm, this is crazy.

done

My dog is so Bombproof he sits and watches fireworks! (Good dog Opie!)

Its definately not a horny growth. I think the nail might have come off of the the nail underneath is what we are all seeing. I can't believe I wouldn't have noticed an extra nail growing on his foot. The only concern was that this toe was the one that periodically becomes inflated, so wondering if something else was going on there. My instinct tells me to wait and see if it heals. Tonight after work he was bouncing all over the place - we did our best to calm him down. He had a short walk and pooped, and then is back in the house. Foot is all bandaged, and does not seem to be bothering him much. We have a baby sock on top of his bright orange vet wrap. Any other opinions are greatly appreciated.

Opie(he just turned 9) has had an issue with one of this back toes for a while. The toe would appears to be infected, as it swells up, both times after running. First time, vet took some fluid out, did not see anything abnormal, gave antibiotics, toe got better. About a year later, same issue, we took same course, toe got better. Today DH was walking him, a crow jumped on the ground, Opie lunged to get it, DH somehow managed to step on the toe (of course the same toe), but just the nail, and the nail was hanging off, short, and bleeding. We rinsed and wrapped, and by the time we got to the vet an hour later, the nail fell off in the wrapping. However, the toe still has a nail on it. Vet was baffled, as we were trying to decide where the nail came from. As there was lots of blood from the side of the toe, it almost looked like it was an additional nail trying to grow out. So the issue now is what to do. Opie is home on antibiotics and pain meds, We go back Friday for a recheck. We were given lots of options to consider. Do we see if this heals basically and do nothing else? Do we go ahead and do some Xrays and/or biopsy? If there is an issue, amputation would possibly warranted then. Do we assume that this is a chronic problem and just amputate, and then the toe would be sent for a biopsy anyways? Very confused, and don't really want to amputate toe if it is not necessary. I know some people have done this with toes that won't heal, or chronic problems, but my gut reaction says not to just jump in and do this. What else do I need to consider here?

I am so very sorry to hear of your losses.

Chicken Feetsies!!!! I actually bought some today for Opie, because the store was all out of turkey necks. He's had them before and love them. So after his after-work walk today with DH, I had a nice feetsie waiting in the bowl for him when he came in. Was he ever excited!

I would not use those Milos chicken jerkey treats - they are on the recall list for jerkey made in China that is making dogs sick.

Someone in our Sunday morning greyhound group boarded their hound for 5 weeks I think. Husband had a job overseas for the entire summer, and company was paying for wife and children to come for a month. Like the OP, I think that there are times when you can and perhaps should leave them, if a great opportunity to travel comes up. This person left their girlie with the same person I board at - a woman who has 5 greyhounds, and boards greyhounds. She was fine there. We even had our Opie there for 5 days during that same time period, so the girlie houndie had a friend there. I would not hesitate to leave Opie there if i had an opportunity for a long trip. Would I miss him? OMG yes! But I know he would do better than I would. so to the OP, if its a trusted place you are leaving your hound it, the dog will be fine, and love you just as much when you get back. Go and enjoy your trip!

It has been my practice for about 3 years now, ever since the first "China scare" came out, to NEVER buy anything made in China. Made in USA or Canada treats are all I buy. Just because they sell it at Costco doesn't make it safe - they have never stopped selling those made is China treats.

Opie's T4 was .2, and with supplements , when retested was .5. I started another thread about this a month or so ago, and I will be having him retested, full panel, supplement free, in a few months. He never exhibited any signs either, except for aggression, but that was not aggression, it was me not knowing how to read greyhound body language.

What is supposedly wrong with the canned food?? I don't use it, just the kibble, but this is always disturbing.

I use Best Pet Health Hip & Joint Plus (Glucosamine, Chondroitin & MSN) from Costco. They don't always have it in the store, but you CAN always order it online. http://www.costco.com/Browse/Product.aspx?prodid=11232670&whse=BC&topnav=&cm_sp=RichRelevance-_-itempageVerticalRight-_-BrandTopSellers&cm_vc=itempageVerticalRight|BrandTopSellers