rallyp

March 28, 2010

You really are having some kind of week there (I just really quick read your cat story too). I can imagine you're feeling really frazzled right now. Anyway, with this particular incident, try not to feel too bad about it, because based on what you described, Miles' behavior sounds pretty expected to me. There's a couple things that come to mind for me. First, it sounds like you've had him not quite 3 months? In the big picture, that is still really early in terms of him getting used to things and learning what is appropriate behavior and dealing with his new world. But one thing I've seen in a few of the greys that I've fostered, is roughly in that time frame (a couple months or so), they start getting to a level of comfort where they're more willing to push the limits in terms of their actions and behaviors. So where before, they showed no interest in the food on top of the kitchen table, they suddenly are counter surfing. Or maybe a little more applicable here, before, it was much easier to distract the dog on a walk when he sees something he wants, now, it's much harder to pull him away from that thing in that bush.

So that's sort of a more general view of the situation. More specifically, here, it makes total sense that Miles reacted that way. As soon as he got his mouth around that sandwich, it was HIS. And everything you did to try and take it away from him definitely triggered his resource guarding instinct. In the past, even though you were able to pry his mouth open and take something like this away, he probably didn't like it and likely gave you some subtle warning signs (maybe a lip snarl, licking his nose, turning his head away, a growl you couldn't hear..). In the subsequent times, he may have continued to give you slightly escalated warnings (low growls, etc.). So this may have been the point where he finally said, that's it. I've warned you plenty of times before and you didn't listen - hence the growl and bite. Keep in mind that having two of you taking the sandwich away would have probably felt even more threatening to him.

What's not clear to me is whether or not you've trained him the "leave it" command in conjunction with a trade-up approach. When a dog grabs something as amazing as a used sandwich or a dead bird, that "leave it" command needs to be really worth it to the dog. If you've taught it using a trading up approach, it's more likely that it'll stick. Also, it can take awhile for the leave-it training to really sink in, *especially* for extremely high value things.

So really, the more important questions is, what could you have done differently here? In the long term, you'd definitely want to continue working on the leave it command (and do it by the trade-up method). In this particular situation, given a dog who kind of knows leave it, but not to the point where he'd listen to me if he got something really good, and given that he got something that I *really* did not want him to eat (something that was a danger to his health), then I'd pry his mouth open too (making sure to wrap his lips around his teeth to discourage him from biting down), pull that thing out and throw it far away, and then move us away from there (get us walking) immediately. Once we're moving, I might get him to do a basic trick (look at me, touch my hand, etc.) and then give him a treat to get his mind re-focused on something else.

March 24, 2010

I think obedience training is very important too, not for the obedience itself, but because of the bonding and the relationship you build with your grey when you do the training. I kinda think 'obedience' may not be the greatest term here, it's more like learning how to communicate in a way that my dog always knows what I want from her (as well the other way around). That being said, I have learned that Lima Bean is probably flipping me the bird quite often :lol:

March 19, 2010

I would also like to suggest that actually teaching your dog to get off when asked might be helpful, given that she is not a mind reader and doesn't come programmed with this information. Logically why should she want to give up a couch or bed when she is perfectly comfy and content. Of course she can't challenge you for your stuff but a reliable off command is a very useful tool.

To remove her from places she doesn't want to off from in the mean time, just clip her leash on and turn in the direction you want go and well go, cheerfully. She will follow.

Jilly has a tendancy to be very grumpy - not snappy - just grumbly - if disturbed. But she also now knows off, very reliably. If she is not prepared to share my space nicely then she can go lie in her own. She gets it. But it did require me teaching her what I expected of her.

^^^^

THIS is VERY good advice.

March 19, 2010

"Voice of God."

February 19, 2010

Can you run with your dog?

I also find that Enza doesn't always *need* to run as one would think. She is actually more exhausted from a good long walk than from a sprint around the dog park, especially if it is a new location. On the weekends, I like to throw her in the car and find a new place to walk around for an hour or so and she always sleeps for *hours* afterward.

It's amazing all the parks I've discovered since getting her.

This is really good advice. The mental stimulation from seeing and experiencing new places and things is REALLY tiring (and really good) for these guys.

February 19, 2010

YAY! Sounds like you're just the person I'm looking for! I'm in Central, just behind city hall. Not too far from you it seems. I've seen a little cow dog girl (I just assumed it's a girl, really not sure) walking around with her person, but I didn't want to accost them, ya know? I was going to check out Pacific St, but I maybe I'll skip that for the moment. Tomorrow morning I'm planning on taking a trip to Danehy Park... went the other night, but it's really too dark after work to figure out where everything is. The field in Melrose sounds perfect though!! And I've taken my shih tzu to the Fells a couple times already, haven't been with Boo yet. I'll have to PM you!

Oh you're definitely nearby then . That could be us you've seen - Lima Bean is a cow-doggie-style girl (white with brindle spots) - and we often walk through Central Sq. You shouldn't worry about accosting us, we love it when people stop to say hi. It's still worth it to check out Pacific St. park, if only to let Boo sniff around without you having to hold his leash. I'll respond to your PM in a bit! (gotta run...).

February 19, 2010

Do you have any fully enclosed/gated outdoor tennis courts, or hockey rinks (not in winter) around? Are there any schools in your city where the feilds are fenced? You may have to drive a bit if there is one.

If you can manage to find a time in the day when the dog park has no one in it, there's an option. That may mean going to bed earlier and waking up earlier.

Have any friends or family that have large backyards/securely fenced acreage that you could borrow for a couple times a week?

Several people have mentioned greyhound only play groups... call up your adoption group for info or if you didnt adopt him from a group, call up one or two near you and they should be willing to let you know what the scoop is.

You need to think, there is a way to let him run.

We have a crapload of tennis courts around, but isn't that kind of dangerous? And are the school fields open to the public?

I'll try and get some info on the grey only play groups.

Thank you for your help.

I'd avoid the tennis courts (unless they're covered in snow). The surface is too rough, they run with such power and stop and turn so hard, it's easy for them to tear their pads on a surface like that. We try to find baseball fields around here (during the offseason).

February 19, 2010

Congrats on your addition! Looks like he has made himself right at home!

My group,Greyhound Welfare has a chapter up in the Boston area. You could always attend a meet and greet or two to meet a few people to get together with. I know of one Cambridge volunteer who comes on GT, but most of the other people I know aren't regular GTers.

Hi there! That would be me :colgate . We'd definitely love to join you for any walks. Which part of Cambridge do you live in? We're in between Central, Kendall, and Inman Squares. There's a few greyhounds that live in Cambridge that I see now and again (one of which is usually off leash :yikes ), although I don't see them that regularly. There's definitely some greyhounds in Somerville (another GW person there too). I used to take Lima Bean to the Pacific St. dog park, but they resurfaced it with this awful gravel-like surface so we don't go there any more. We often meet up with a few of other Greyhound Welfare adopters/volunteers to let our dogs run up in a baseball field up in Melrose or sometimes go the Middlesex Fells to walk the trails there. We'd definitely love to have another greyhound join us.

If you're interested volunteering with Greyhound Welfare, definitely let me know! I can tell you about the kind of stuff we're doing. We actually have an open house this sunday over at Diggity Dog (in Union Sq, Somerville), although unfortunately, I won't be able to make that one. We usually have them a couple times a month and often have it at the Cambridge Petco near the Cambridgeside Galleria and also the Cambridge Petsmart over near the Alewife T.

If you ever do get a Sunday off, I definitely recommend joining one of the Greyhound Adventures walks. It's a great group of people and dogs.

Rally, Lima Bean, and for the next little bit, Missy the foster dog with the BIG personality

February 15, 2010

That's exactly what I have done. Lima Bean has gotten into large amounts of chocolate three different times over the last couple years and the amounts were probably about 30-60% of what they say is toxic. I figured I wasn't going to take any chances so I gave her the hydrogen peroxide and made her throw it all up. (Weird side note, she loved the hydrogen peroxide too ). She has also stolen a chocolate bar out of my bag on a couple of occasions and I didn't bother making her throw up for that. I don't think I've ever noticed any lingering ill effects.

February 13, 2010

Changing the main protein of her food could cause it, that could be a pretty major change for her system. Lima is real sensitive to any changes to her diet (i.e., any change = pudding poo, guaranteed).

February 12, 2010

I've struggled with trying to find a solution to corns for a little while now and I'm convinced that there really isn't a cure-all that works for everyone. I think the best most of us can do is figure out a good way to manage them. For us, we hull the corn when it gets big enough and then treat it with bee propolis. The corn always comes back but the bee propolis seems to lessen the both the depth of the corn and amount of time it takes for the corn to grow back. When the corn grows big enough to cause more pain, but before we get to hulling it, we use a thera-paw on that foot. I would also avoid going with the surgical route - it's more painful and intrusive, and it never seems to be work permanently either.

January 26, 2010

:lol: i love the one's with character, but that character is usually associated with a very inquisitive and inventive mind, and that usually means trouble .

i think dogs like this can really thrive when you do something like clicker training with them. nothing really fancy, clicker training is excellent for learning new things, and it gives their minds something to do and adds to their bonding with you. the best part (for me, an extremely lazy person) is that it's really effective in short little spurts. we just do 10 minutes here and there and that seems to keep her mind occupied and, more importantly, tired :colgate

January 26, 2010

Wow. It does sound like he's got it pretty bad. I think you're going to need to do a really regimented program of "alone training" in combination with the medications to help him calm down a bit. The one thing that struck me in what you wrote was that you work at home, so he may have never learned to be by himself. And when I say regimented, you're going to want to do baby steps with him - so leave the house for a minute, and come back. And do it again. And then increase the time, by maybe a minute. And do it again. Keep increasing the time if he doesn't go nuts. However, as soon as he goes over that threshold of losing it, you'll have to step backwards again. So if he started howling at 5 minutes, then the next time, go back to 2 minutes again. And build up... Unfortunately, this can take awhile (as I'm sure you can guess) and you may have a lot of setbacks (1 step forward, 2 steps back). But I do think it's doable and certainly worth it. Good luck!!

January 26, 2010

How long have you had Chai? If she's really new, you might want to really start from scratch - maybe keep her crated to start. Sometimes having too much freedom at the beginning can be overwhelming, or too exciting, or just too much temptation. Also, if it's really early, she may not fully know what's allowed and what's not. Make sure she's nice and tired before you leave for the day - so hopefully she's had a good long walk, maybe done some training exercises (i.e., so her mind is tired too).

Keep in mind too, that if she can get to her food, even if it's inside a secured container, or on a shelf or whatever, then it's fair game. I learned the hard way just how 'ingenious' my dog was with getting into food, no matter how secure. I now have to keep anything edible behind a closed/locked door or on top of the refrigerator. The other thing I had to learn too, and this was even more important, was that when I'd come home to the 40lb container of food dragged out into the living room, tipped on its side with the supposedly dog proof screw top lid off, and most of the food gone, that there was no point in me getting angry because unless I caught her in the act of doing it, she'd have NO IDEA why I was mad. So now, when I find new random things on the living room floor (like destroyed sardine tins or a punctured beer can), I just have to laugh and actually scold myself for leaving it accessible because I'm the human, I should be able to outsmart her, not the other way around.

Oh, and you can't really blame her for pooping on the floor. If she gorged herself, she's probably going to have to go. She's certainly not doing that to be 'bad'.

January 26, 2010

You've only had him for 6 months, so the sudden change in his routine when you went away from vacation may have messed him up a little bit. It's almost like, he's finally figured things out, and then all of a sudden things have changed, and that could stress him out. However, given that he's consistently peeing in the crate and he'd been perfectly fine before, one of the first things I would have considered was if it's something medical, like a UTI. If he's still young-ish, 6-8 hours is not way too long to be crated at all.

Oh, and don't worry too much about getting a dog sitter in the future. Remember, this is all a learning experience for him. Some dogs are extra sensitive to having their routine changed and react a little worse than others. But that's part of his learning. He'll realize that different people can take care of him and everything will be ok. You certainly want to be able to go out of town and not worry about your dog!

January 19, 2010

One thing I haven't really heard you say is if you spend much time doing training exercises with him. He seems to get a good amount of physical exercise, but I'm wondering if getting some additional mental stimulation would help. I've always found with Lima that she gets more 'ornery' when I get slack on doing our training stuff. But when I start doing it again, she settles down again during the day when I'm away. And this isn't really hard stuff, just basic clicker training for 10-15 minutes in the morning before I leave, rehashing all the stuff she knows, doing it in different orders, and maybe just working on one new thing. He really does seem like he's bored, and on top of that, he's curious and has an active mind. Instead of just giving him his toys and kongs, you might try to set it up so that he has to 'find' them. Hide them under different obstacles or whatever. I'm always amazed at how much mental stimulation will go with tiring out my dog.

December 29, 2009

Maybe exercise is a factor. I don't know. I'm just trying to figure out what could have triggered the problem last night after having so much success -- if we did something wrong (too many sessions in a day?) I want to correct our mistake.

Just want to reiterate, you're not necessarily be doing anything wrong. It's a normal part of the process to go a little past her threshold (that's how you know what she's able to tolerate at any given time during this process), just make sure that if you do pass her comfort threshold, you step back before you go forward (so in this case, do one less session, and when she's shown that she's able to handle it, increase the sessions again). Also, more exercise, both physical and mental, is definitely always going to help.

December 29, 2009

I think you're doing it right. Keep in mind that it's pretty normal to have a 'set back' as you progress. As you keep stretching her comfort level, you'll pass it and she might exhibit some of those separation anxiety behaviors. My guess is that there, that third time away so soon after being away the 2nd time might have triggered it. That's ok though, maybe reduce the number of times you leave in the short term, but you'll still want to build back up to it.

December 28, 2009

hate to be a debbie downer, but that double click drives me crazy. i double click to select words and every time i'm editing something, i'll double click and get taken to the top of the page :angry:

December 24, 2009

Yeah, I agree, I think this is pretty normal stuff. He's getting comfortable and he's exploring and more importantly, getting rewarded for his exploring. In my place, almost all of my low level cabinets are all baby locked. And most of all of Lima's treats are on top of the fridge. I've just taken the responsibility of knowing that anything that Lima is going to want (aka, food), needs to be out of reach or behind a locked door. I wouldn't be as concerned about things like the cords, phones, stuff like that, because he's probably not going to want them (they don't taste good).

He might be getting a little bored too. Lima tends to get more ornery when our walks aren't as long or I haven't been doing anything interesting with her like training or mixing up our walks or even our routine. One of the best things I've found is to work on training with her. Keeps her mind exercised and she's much less likely to get into stuff when she's on her own. If you read up on 'clicker training', you'll find lots of great stuff. It doesn't even really take that much time - 10 minutes a shot seems to be plenty.

December 16, 2009

Oh no Jan . I'm so so sorry to hear this.

December 16, 2009

Lima Bean can be a talker. Every now and again, she'll go on a long winded mix of whining, cooing, grunting for like 30 seconds. I swear she's lecturing me on her list of long standing grievances and then gets frustrated at me as I stare at her with an extremely blank, yet amused, look on my face. After this, she almost always walks away in a huff :lol:

December 15, 2009

George, Chris, oh, I was so sorry to hear this. . Kelsey is one of the first dogs Lima and I met on the greyhound walks and she was so awesome. That was a great slideshow George. I got a small thrill seeing those couple of shots with Kelsey and Lima on Crane Beach. I totally remember that day - it was really chilly and Kelsey was prancing around, almost dancing around on the beach. I also remember Lima wanted to join in and Kelsey totally shunned her .

I take great comfort in knowing she had a wonderful retirement.

October 29, 2009

whew. good to hear. sounds like decent news for now, eh?

phene! stop scaring your mom :shakefinger

October 9, 2009

Happy birthday Loca. You were an incredibly special girl and we're missing you greatly, that's for sure.

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