Hawthorn

Firstly, I'm sorry you got bitten. I do tend to agree that you may have inadvertently hurt Zero when you tried to lift him off the couch. They are so bony and heavy that's it would be easy to hurt them without meaning to and you just never know if they've got a bit of a sore back/neck/leg whatever anyway. The only time Sunny almost bit me was when he had a neck problem that hadn't yet been diagnosed. To be honest, if one of my dogs went to bite me, pain would be the first thing I'd consider, before I considered any "behavioural" issues. The other thing that occurs to me is that maybe Zero's hungry and/or bored and that's why he's going around the house trying to find things to eat whilst you're out? I assume he has a meal before you leave, but 10 hours is a very long time to be left, and maybe instead of muzzling him you could leave several filled kongs (some frozen some not) around the house and maybe a chewy bar or two (the safer ones made out of compressed chopped rawhide for example) to keep him occupied and take the edge off his hunger. I agree with using cheese to get him off the sofa rather than manhandling him. In our house, our dogs sleep in the bedroom with us and we have a little bedroom routine which involves the dogs getting a big, tasty bedtime biscuit just before lights out. The dogs love these biscuits and know that they only get them when they're lying on their beds in the bedroom so we find that the dogs watch us very carefully at bedtime and when they see us getting ready for bed they put themselves on their beds without being asked and expectantly await their biscuits. No fuss at all.

When Sunny had a problem with intermittent limping on a front leg, it turned out to be a neck problem - a bony misalignment causing irritation to the ulna nerve. In our case, we didn't get a diagnosis until we took him to see a very knowledgeable greyhound specialist vet. Painkillers and muscle-relaxants didn't cure the problem, although they did temporarily improve the symptoms, but chiropractic adjustments have made a huge difference. Edited to correct spelling.

If the bitter apple doesn't work, try a dab of tea tree oil. Sunny went through a phase of chewing wood and the bitter apple didn't deter him at all, but the tea tree worked a treat - he HATES it!

I consider "big" to be around 30 inches or more the shoulder - this is the height Sunny is and he weighs around 90 pounds. I know when I was looking for a big boy, people kept pointing me towards dogs that were about 28 inches tall and 75 pounds, but this is just on the large size of average as far as I'm concerned. The tallest racing greyhound I've seen was 32 inches at the shoulder and the biggest show greyhound I saw was 34 inches. Sophie is 28 inches tall and weighs 66 pounds - she is tall and slender.

My Odd Cat had several of those things on various parts of his body. A few different vets all told me they were nothing to worry about. Odd Cat developed mast cell cancer, too (very aggressive - ultimately caused his death despite surgery & chemo). He had cutaneous mast cell tumors which eventually spread internally. I can't help but think that there was a connection between these bloody little growths and the mast cell cancer. Could well be - I remember that Sunny's pathology report said that because he'd had one of these cutaneous hemangiomas, he is more likely to develop other skin cancers in the future, which is why I prefer to get lumps and bumps removed if there is any doubt about what they are. I don't always believe vets who say that things are "nothing to worry about": although they know a lot, they are only human and make mistakes just like the rest of us.

Was it as small as the the link that I provided on Jett's belly? I'm surprised....I only wanted my vet to do a biopsy, cause it keep bleeding, scabing and coming back. Jett did get a few more, but most of them went away on there own. I think Sunny's and Sophie's were about that size at their largest, although in the early stages they were probably smaller than that. Initially they looked just like tiny blood blisters, which would grow and then turn into a scab which would eventually fall off, only for a blood blister to form again in the same spot. Our vet said they were just blood blisters and were nothing to worry about but the fact that they kept reappearing in the same spot over several months bothered me so I eventually asked for them to be removed and biopsied. The pathology report said they were cutaneous hemangiomas and, although they were benign, they could turn into the malignant form of cutaneous hemangiosarcoma, if they were not removed. Our vet said he had never seen one before in 20 years of practice. Personally, if I see another one of these on either of mine, I'll most likely have it removed. This is a picture of Sophie's in its very early stage; as it progressed, the redness around it would disappear and the blood blister would get bigger before it turned into a scab and fell off but I don't have any pictures of it in those stages. Can I ask over what period of time Jett's disappeared? Sunny and Sophie both had theirs for several months before I had them removed.

Both mine had one of these. I had them removed and biopsied and both were cutaneous hemangioma: benign, but could turn into the malignant version - cutaneous hemangiosarcoma - if left. It's a good idea to take some pictures to show your vet.

They usually get used to them eventually; I put one on Sophie for the first time this week and she was doing the high-stepping I-can't-possibly-walk-in-this thing until she saw a rabbit then she completely forgot about it . You could just make sure the boot isn't pressing or rubbing on something which might be uncomfortable, such as a dew clew. I also usually put a nice thick padded child's sock over the foot inside the boot, which I believe makes them more comfortable for the dog and less likely to rub their sensitive skin.

The journey through grief is sometimes very long I'm struggling too at the moment with memories of my Teddy. We lost him on 14 December 3 years ago to bone cancer at the age of 6. I find it so difficult to think about him and keep thinking that he should still be here enjoying life. There must be a lot of people missing their special hounds this Christmas so to everyone.

Rembering Ollie .

I did wonder if it might be another histiocytoma, but the other ones that Sunny had were either very red and angry or flesh-coloured and not angry. This one is whitish .

My poor Sunny is very prone to skin lesions: he is only 4 but has already had 6 skin lesions, 5 of which have been histiocytomas and 1 was a cutaneous hemangioma. Most of these were in the first year I owned him; since then I have kept him out of the sun as much as possible and use sun cream on him, but today I noticed this lesion on his ear which it doesn't look like any of the others he's had. It's quite white (whiter than it looks in the photo) and round in the centre, and quite firm to the touch (not squeezable), and the surrounding skin is red and inflamed; it's quite shiny and it almost looks like the white bit is in a capsule, if that makes any sense. I will of course be showing it to the vet at some point, and in the meantime am putting some antibacterial/steroid cream on it, but I just wondered if anyone has any idea what it might be? A google search hasn't provided any useful information and I'm the sort of person who likes to do some research before I go to the vet, so all ideas are welcome.

When Sunny had a problem with limping on his front right leg 9 months ago, it turned out to be a neck problem (just between the shoulder blades), which was eventually diagnosed by a greyhound vet rather than our regular vet. We tried rest, muscle-relaxants (valium) and painkillers but although the limping would stop on this regime, every time Sunny returned to normal exercise, the limp would recur. I eventually decided, with some trepidation, to take him to see a chiropractor and I'm pleased to say that this does seem to have cured the problem. At first we had to go every couple of weeks but the appointments have got further and further apart and when we saw the chiropractor again this week he said that Sunny's neck is very good and we don't have to go again for another 4 months now unless we have any problems. So it hasn't been a quick fix, but I am very pleased with the results and although I did initially have some reservations about chiropractic for dogs I am definitely now a convert. Hope Radar is better soon, whatever course of action you decide on, as I know what a worry it is when they're limping!

I'm so sorry you had to say goodbye to Kees at such a young age - what a gorgeous face he has.

I am very sorry for your loss ~ rest in peace, Kasey.

I give mine: Vitamin C Vitamn E I get the capsules from my local health store. I also sometimes give them Pcynogenol (pine bark extract), but not all the time as it's quite expensive.

I'm so sorry ... rest in peace, Ripple.

I'm so sorry for your loss - RIP Otis.

I'm so sorry for your loss - rest in peace, Sahra.

I'm so sorry for your loss - RIP Dakota.

I am so sorry for your loss ... RIP Tigger .

What a beautiful picture ... I'm so sorry he had to leave ... RIP Lou.

I'm so sorry - rest in peace, Twinkle.

I'm so sorry ... I enjoyed seeing her pictures too and she obviously had a wonderful life - RIP Gunda.

I'm so sorry - what a sweet face she has in that first picture - RIP Cosmo.