Brindles

Hi guys Just popping in to say hello! I have been off the forum for a while, but I am so glad this thread it still going!

Yes! Yes x100. And it's usually the same for the other animal. Your bunnies, and in my case, my goats, will only be afraid of the dogs for so long. Once both animals accept the other as normal, training gets much easier.

I can completely understand the skepticism. For the first three years I had Dazzle, I accepted that his prey drive was just what it was. I knew that we had limitations and I accepted those, too. Robin, you may not remember now, but years ago you shared a story about Loca overcoming her prey drive and, after much hard work, eventually becoming cat safe. That story was what kick-started me to challenge Dazzle and see if we could overcome it. And we did. And I've done it with every dog I've owned since, plus helped friends with their dogs along the way. For three years I had a mental block that prevented Dazzle from proving me wrong. I didn't even give him the chance. But as soon as I saw past that, my dog was able to become a better version of himself. And that's what life is about! I'm not an obedience trainer. I don't have access to special circumstances or situations that set my dogs up to be good at this. I just want them to live life as fully and freely as possible. Behaving around other people's small animals is one of those things that needs to happen in order to get them there. Of course this is not a fast process. I do point out in the article the importance of taking time with the training. The timeline will be different for every dog, and obviously longer for the more challenging ones. I also stated in the article that good behavior around family pets doesn't necessarily translate to good behavior around every other animal. The point of this type of training is to ensure that your dog gets along with your other family pets (or any that you see frequently), and to be able to communicate to your dog which new small animals he is expected to behave around. If you want to accept the limitations of your dog's prey drive, that's perfectly fine. No one will fault you. But a lot of dog owners out there want their dogs to be able to behave around small critters (and I know because I am asked about it all the time). I wrote the article for those folks, because I want them to feel empowered to do better by their dogs.

Does your dog have a sky high prey drive? Does it feel like a handicap at times? I have good news for you. I get questions frequently about this topic, so I wanted to share my solution to the problem. I believe that any dog can be taught to behave around animals they would otherwise see as prey. You can accept that your dog has a high prey drive, or you can work to improve it. The choice is yours! And remember, if you like the article or it helps you at all, please pass it along! Calming a High Prey Drive in Dogs

You do that, too?! The account I was referring to was actually from a YouTube video I watched a few years ago. It's a good trick!

Excellent! It's completely okay not to trust your pup off leash (and even more acceptable for greyhound people, given the breed tendencies). But I definitely think that taking the first steps into the training and keeping up with it is very important for ANY dog! I'd love to hear how it goes!

Thanks, guys!

Hi again, folks! I promised to share the link to the article once it was posted. I finally launched my new blog today, and here it is! Reliable Recall, Part 1: The How and Why of Training Recall in Dogs

This is very helpful. Thank you!

Thanks, guys! I don't have a publish date for the article right now but I will be sure to post it here to follow up with everyone who responded.

Hello, greyhound friends! Long time no post! I'm writing an article on teaching off leash recall. This is something I'm pretty well-versed in, but I want to be as comprehensive as possible, so I'm coming to you guys for help. Is this something that interests you? What do you need to know about it? Have you tried it? Did you succeed? Why, or why not? Thanks in advance!

Congratulations!!

Excellent!! Very good news! Just make sure they are going to change the cast out for you at LEAST once a week. Can't stress how important that is!

Yikes. Sounds a little extravagant to me. I personally wouldn't opt for surgery if it's only the tarsal bones. I definitely wouldn't want to take bone from somewhere else. The break will calcify on its own in a splint. Vets love surgeries for broken bones. They are far more lucrative than splints.

Shame on the e-vet for not sending her home in a splint the first time, just in case. Surgery is usually not needed for a broken hock. Exceptions are shattered bones, tendon/ligament damage, broken calcaneus, things like that. Based on the picture and description, it sounds like a clean break somewhere in the tarsal bones. ETA: it's impossible for me to know that for sure without being there in person - I'm pretty familiar with this stuff but I'm not a vet! There is swelling over the quarter bones (metatarsals) which could be swelling from the injury above or could mean there's a break in there, too. She should wear the splint for 6 weeks minimum, preferably 8. The splint should be changed every 5 days or so. Pro tip: learn to wrap it yourself if your vet will teach you! She'll hop around on it for a while. A couple weeks in, she should start setting it down and putting weight on it while standing and walking slowly. One month in and up until the splint is removed she'll be using it pretty confidently when standing/walking. Once she's out of the cast, it may swell up. Don't be alarmed; it's part of the process. She'll use it gingerly for a couple weeks. You'll see her frequently make several steps forward and one step back. It's a slow process! Six months in she should be back to using it full time. My boy, Dewty, broke his hock a year ago. He came back to race - sortof. He was in several schooling races and came off the track just fine each time, but he just didn't have the speed he did before. Which was fine with me, because now he's on my couch! The only time he gets gimpy on it now is after a long, hard sprint in the backyard. Even then it's only a slight limp that most people wouldn't even notice. Hope that helped! Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions/concerns.