Hawthorn

It can be hard at times Pam - I'm constantly catching myself thinking or about to say something negative and then have to quickly turn it around.

DOES YOUR GREYHOUND 'UNDERSTAND 'EVERY WORD YOU SAY'? The photo below shows my beloved first greyhound Charlie with me a month before the end of his life. He'd had degenerative myelopathy for about three years at this point - managed very well with multiple 5-10 minute walks every day, weekly hydrotherapy sessions and ramps for steps and the car. Even so, you can see that his back legs had lost a lot of muscle by this point due to this progressive neurological condition. However, on this occasion he had still managed to climb with relative ease (my partner was with me and would have carried him if necessary) to the top of the biggest hill on our favourite walk, where this photo was taken and where I later scattered his ashes. PLEASE READ ON for some important information that I've recently been given and have been guided to pass on to all animal lovers. I'm sure you've heard it said at some point that 'your dog understands every word you say'. Personally I didn't used to believe that this was necessarily true, although I knew that they did discern a lot from our tone of voice and body language etc. However, from my work as an Emotion Code practitioner for people and pets I (and more recently as an animal communicator) I now know that it is completely, and sometimes devastatingly, true. One of things I was shown just recently to illustrate this involved one of my own dearly departed greyhounds, my very precious and deeply cherished Charlie. He was almost 13 years old and had been suffering from degenerative myelopathy for about 3 years at that point. I'd come home from work after leaving him for four hours and found him unable to fully support himself on his back legs and very distressed. I phoned my then partner (now my husband) to come straight home from work and he lifted him into the back of my car for me. I got in the back with him to support his back end and we drove to the vet in very frustrating rush hour traffic. As I was struggling to support Charlie in the back of the car, I decided it was time to let him go and said so to my partner. I have now been shown that Charlie understood exactly what I meant and that, although he didn't mind leaving as he knew it wasn't a good idea for him to remain in his physical body any longer, he was nevertheless frightened by what I'd said. He has of course forgiven me and our love remains as strong as ever even though he's been 'gone' for almost 14 years now. The lesson here for me, and also for all of you, is to please be very very careful indeed about what you think, and especially what you say, about and particularly in front of, your companion animals. They understand our thoughts in the same way but spoken words are more powerful, and written words are even more powerful. PLEASE SPEAK ONLY IN LOVING AND POSITIVE WAYS TO YOUR ANIMAL COMPANIONS and also please talk to them (very lovingly) about any issues that you are dealing with in their life or even your own life as that will also be affecting them. You can also ask them questions about what they'd like you to do for them and if you listen very careful you may be able to pick up what they are transmitting to you energetically in response. Sending you and your beloved animal friends my heartfelt love <3

Thank you so much Greysmom for all of the information! I won't be driving as although I'm entitled to a rental car free with my flight package I don't fancy driving in a strange to me country, especially on my own. I think I may have to ask the hotel if they can suggest something - coach trip or something. I really do fancy a trip to the coast so will have to see if they have anything on offer. I'd have loved to be able to come to your adoption group's picnic but I'm flying home on the 18th. Maybe another time! Do you know what shopping will be like in Medford? I fancy shopping for clothes whilst I'm there!

Thanks MerseyGrey! You're very welcome to come for a visit. We have a lovely nature reserve across the road which is great for walks. Thanks for the info about Astoria and Yaquina - I'll look them up.

Hi everyone I haven't been on here for a couple of years. My name is Kay aka Hawthorn After my beloved litter mates Sunny and Sophie passed away in the summer of 2016 I decided to set up a luxury home boarding service for greyhounds - Always Greyhounds Home Boarding - at my home in Hertfordshire, UK. This took off really quickly and I was soon inundated with lovely greyhounds and their equally lovely owners - I insist on only having lovely clients. I also have a website for this service: Always Greyhounds Home Boarding I also qualified as an Emotion Code practitioner and run this alongside my boarding service: New Waves of Light. This work enables me to release negative emotions and other negative energies that have become 'trapped' in the physical body as a result of traumatic experiences etc and which, if left, can cause emotional and also physical issues. I do this work for people and also greyhounds. My most recent creation is a house sitting service for greyhounds called Greyhounds With Love House Sitting where I will stay in the greyhounds' home 24/7 to take care of them whilst their owners are away. I will consider assignments anywhere in the world for house sitting. I'm very excited about this latest venture as it means I get to travel to great locations and meet wonderful people whilst taking care of their beloved greyhounds. In the two years since I was last here a lot has happened in my personal life and consequently I've discovered a newfound love of freedom, travel and adventure. In fact, I'm very excited to tell you that I'll be travelling to the US for the very first time in September this year. I'll be staying in Medford, Oregon, for seven days and although three of those days will be taken up with a retreat, I'm hoping to do some sight seeing on the other days. There are lots of firsts for me here: first time to the US (have wanted to for a long time!), first time on a long haul flight , first time flying alone and first time flying for many years. It feels a bit daunting, as there are so many new things happening all at once, but I know I'll be OK and that there will always be kind people around to help me if needs be. I'd really love to visit the coast whilst I'm there - really fancy walking bare foot in the sand - hope it'll be warm enough then! Would be lovely to meet up with some greyhounds and their humans whilst I'm there too if possible. If anyone has any suggestions or lives in the area and would like to meet up I'd be so happy to hear from you ... Will add a photo when I can remember how ....

I never crated any of mine either; they all slept in my room from day one.

Yes, I used liquid B12 for mine. I used the human dose for them (one drop which was around 90mcg) but I was able to use a form of muscle-testing (kinesiology) to determine the correct dosage for each of them. I used a brand called Metabolics, which is very pure, but don't know if available in the US.

You can't be certain there is no medical issue, despite what your vet said. The only time my beloved boy almost bit me was when he had a neck issue which had been completely missed by our regular vet and was later found by a greyhound vet.

"Some souls have a connection that lasts for all eternity". Tao Sunny and Sophie

My late boy Sunny developed very severe IMPA at the same age but we managed it and he lived until he was 11.5. I understand that the severity of this disorder varies greatly and that some dogs only have once incident whereas others, like Sunny, have relapses and require lifelong treatment. Let me know if you need to know anything else.

I'd also consider trying some calming supplements for the next few months. There are various ones available and each dog responds differently to each one, but I had good results with Zylkene for one of mine, at the maximum dose stated on the pack.

If all his ribs are showing he is underweight.

Sounds like he needs three meals a day. 10 hours is a long time to go without food isn't it. I'd give him another cup of kibble at lunchtime and possibly also another half cup at bedtime too. I also wouldn't worry at all about how much others are feeding their dogs. If your dog is underweight it's not going to hurt to give him another cup of kibble and you can always cut down later on if he starts to get too fat. I used to feed my greyhounds four meals a day.

Welcome and congratulations on your new family member! I live in Hertfordshire and have had four ex-racers from the RGT over the years. My last two passed away in August and I am taking a break from having my own greyhounds for a while, but have started a grey-sitting business so I can still get my fix! Hope you enjoy GreyTalk.

Look up Transient Ischemic Attack.

Cambridge isn't a million miles away from me - about 45 minutes drive. The RGT Greyhound Extravaganza is a nice event which is held every year in Newmarket at the Animal Health Trust, I think around June time, which isn't too far from where you'll be. I don't have any of my own greyhounds at present, but I have just started to do some grey-sitting, so if you ever need a carer for your little girl ...

One of mine had a serious autoimmune issue and had to stay on 10mg of prednisolone daily for life, and at times we had to increase this for a while. He had some side effects from this, mainly muscle-wasting, but lived until he was 11.5 (he was on prednisolone from the age of 6). Let us know how he gets on.

Do they know what caused this? Bacterial? Autoimmune? I would definitely take his temperature every day for the foreseeable future as it's a good way to monitor if his condition is under control. Take it at the same time every day and write it down somewhere so you can see any trends. Maybe he needs to be on a higher (perhaps daily) dose of prednisone to keep his issues under control for the time being, or even for life.

It is with the heaviest of hearts that I write this. I can hardly believe it, but just three weeks after saying goodbye to her litter brother Sunny, we have had to say goodbye to Sophie too. Sophie was hit very hard by Sunny's departure, and I suspect that her grief hastened her end. She had been dealing with a number of chronic health conditions for a while but we hoped she would be with us for some time to come. However, she declined rapidly after Sunny's transition, and with no reasonable expectation of recovery or improvement we could not allow her to continue suffering so we did the kindest thing we knew and let her go peacefully at home surrounded by love. We believe that she had a form of cancer which had spread to her lungs. This is the first picture I ever saw of Sophie on the rehoming centre's website. There was something about this picture that spoke to me, so I looked her up on Greyhound Data and was astonished to find that she was litter sister to Sunny, who we had adopted three months earlier. I pointed this out to my husband but he said it was too early to adopt another just yet. Next morning, I got a phone call from the rehoming centre to let me know that she was Sunny's sister and to ask if we wanted her. I said we would go and see her, but my heart knew she was already mine, and so it was. Sophie and I had a very special and close bond. We had very similar personalities, both highly sensitive with a dislike of crowds and noise, so we understood each other very well. Sophie was always with me, and quite often snuggled up to me, or lying on top of me. Sophie was happiest at home and did not generally like strangers, but she was the sweetest, funniest, snuggliest girl with those she trusted, and very perceptive. On two occasions she possibly save our lives, once from an undetected gas leak, and once by alerting us to a fire in our garage. I always felt like I had hit the jackpot with Sophie. She was beautiful, sweet, clever, snuggly, she roached, chattered and purred. I actually caught her chattering on camera once when she was waiting for a treat: I have so many beautiful pictures of Sophie that it's hard to choose but here are some of my favourites. On our favourite walk in the hills, resting amongst the wild flowers: Looking very cute whilst waiting for a treat: How I will miss that face and those beautiful eyes: This is a special memory for me. Sunny was out of action, so I took Sophie to the hills on her own. As it was too warm to walk, we just sat in the shade together. Sophie was content just to lie there for a long time taking in the view and just being together: I always intended to do this with her again, but life got in the way and I never did: She didn't like me taking close ups of her head, but I sneaked this one: Rest in peace, my sweet, beautiful girl. Thank you so much for all of your love and trust. I don't know what I'm going to do without you. "And can it be that in a world so full and busy the loss of one creature makes a void so wide and deep that nothing but the width and depth of eternity can fill it up!"~ Charles Dickens (1812-1870) We will always love you and miss you.

Put the water bowl in a raised stand.

I think it's fair to say that Sunny had an interesting life. Sunny was born at a greyhound breeding/training establishment in Norfolk, England in 2005. Here's a picture of the litter: Allegedly, Sunny's racing owner picked him out by his tattoo (he was the first dog tattooed) and never actually met him. Sunny stayed in training with his breeder/trainer for a while, and was then transferred to another trainer in Essex, which happens to be the next county to where we live. When he failed to make the grade required for racing, he was transferred to a rehoming kennel in Essex, which is where I first met him and fell head over heels in love. I KNEW he was mine. He hadn't been cat-tested, so I took him home praying that he would get on with the cat, and he did, right from the start. Not long after we took him home, the rehoming centre asked us if we would represent them in the first ever national Retired Greyhound of the Year competition at the Great Greyhound Gathering to be held at Nottingham Racecourse in conjunction with the Retired Greyhound Trust. Of course we agreed and to our huge delight, Sunny won this competition. Here he is being presented with his award by Lt. Col. Duncan Green. He was such a strong, strapping lad in those days. And showing off all his prizes: A few months after that, we were contacted by the BBC to ask if they could interview us at Crufts, as we were planning on showing Sunny in the class for retired racing greyhounds. As it happened, we were delayed in traffic and missed the time spot for this interview, so the BBC asked us if instead they could have Sunny live in the studio that evening. Here he is live in the studio with Ben Fogle and Clare Balding. He was a little anxious but behaved impeccably. After his 15 minutes of fame, Sunny's life returned to normality with myself, husband Greg, his litter sister Sophie, and Mickey the cat. Sunny was a big, bold, confident boy and very exuberant at home. He always ran everywhere, even in the house, adored his soft toys and was often to be found using one as a pillow, and loved to run off with boxes and other things that he found around the house. One of my fondest memories is of his gleeful tail disappearing round a corner with some treasure or other that he'd found. He enjoyed this so much that I used to leave things around for him to “find” and he especially loved it if I pretended to tell him off – he would just run faster and his tail would be even more gleeful. Sunny was irrepressibly cheerful and fun-loving, which is how he got his name. I had originally called him something else, but after a few days I just knew that his name was Sunny so changed it. Sunny was a huge character with a huge heart, who made us laugh out loud many times a day with his hilarious antics. He was also very loving and loved to cuddle, resting his head in my lap, or being my bolster in bed. Another fond memory is of him making a flying leap on to the bed from the doorway, landing perfectly beside me and planting a tiny, perfectly placed butterfly kiss on the end of my nose to boot. For a big, exuberant boy, he gave the sweetest little butterfly kisses. Sunny had a special relationship with my husband Greg. Whenever Greg was around, this is how Sunny looked at him: A man and his dog: Sunny's greatest joy in life was running and we were fortunate to have access to some wonderful countryside where he could run to his heart's content. He really went for it and my heart soared along with his as he ran like the wind. This is when Sunny was most truly alive and joyful. The beach was Sunny's most favourite place to run and we had many wonderful holidays in North Norfolk with him and Sophie. He was so happy when he knew we were going to the beach, and as soon as his feet touched the sand he would prance around and do zoomies on the end of his lead until we reached a safe place to let him go. They say that into every life a little rain must fall, and for Sunny it began when he was 6 years old. We were on holiday in Norfolk and Sunny was running on the beach with Sophie whilst we were taking photos of them. My husband took this picture of them and showed it to me on the camera. As soon as I saw this picture I got a strong feeling/knowing that this would be the last time Sunny ran on the beach. Of course I was horrified, and tried to push this feeling away, and told no-one. A few minutes later, Sunny pulled up suddenly holding up one of his legs. We actually caught it on camera, but I'm not going to post that picture here. We rushed over to him and saw that one of his nails had completely come off. My head tried to tell me that it was just a one-off, that he'd bashed it on a stone, but my heart knew it was more serious than this. Over the next few months many of his nails came off – he had SLO. That was just the beginning, though, and some time after that Sunny suffered a Transient Ischemic Attack that temporarily affected his eyesight, and about 18 months later he developed a very serious case of autoimmune polyarthritis and nearly died from mis-management by the specialist veterinary centre where he was treated. He had a long road back to health from this but did eventually achieve remission for almost 3 years. This is a picture we took of him when he was in remission and when he had become strong enough to get up this hill once again: On top of the world - Summer 2014 When he was 10 he suffered a relapse of the autoimmune polyarthritis and this time the steroids weren't as effective, but we tried a different drug and eventually achieved remission again. However, by this time he was suffering from laryngeal paralysis and associated neurological issues. We kept trying different things and kept him going for a long time. His spirit was strong and he remained his usual cheerful self most of the time. Eventually, however, life became too difficult for him and we had no choice but to help him transition – I knew it was time. He never did run on that beach again. Sunny is not an easy dog to sum up. On the one hand he could be very calm and gentle, but on the other hand he was exuberant and fun-loving and irrepressible and loved to be “naughty” and think that he had got away with something. He was a dog of contrasts and I loved him for that. I love that I cannot adequately describe him, that he was greater than any tribute I am capable of writing for him. He was a dog who one minute was obliviously knocking everything over in his exuberance and joie-de-vivre and the next was giving me the sweetest, tiniest, most heart-breaking kiss that you can imagine. I have no idea what I did to deserve such an amazing dog as Sunny and I am so grateful for all the wonderful experiences I had because of him, and for all the smiles and laughter and love he brought into my life. My heart is filled with so many wonderful memories of Sunny, but I think this is how I will remember him best - running like the wind with body, mind and soul all in perfect harmony: Rest well, Sunny, my sweet boy. We will always love you and miss you. "Some animals...leave a trail of glory behind them. They give their spirit to the place where they have lived, and remain forever a part of the rocks and streams and the wind and sky." - Marguerite Henry “I have lived with you and loved you, and now you are gone. Gone where I cannot follow, until I have finished all of my days.” ~ Victoria Hanley, The Seer and the Sword

He is much better off with you than with people who think it's OK to de-bark a dog with SA, so it's all worked out well for him.

I have no experience with de-barking (and think it is disgusting that any owner or vet would do this) but I do wonder if the nerves in his larynx could have been damaged during the surgery and caused or contributed to laryngeal paralysis.

Thank you both.