kudzu

Seizures come in all shapes, sizes & appearances. A partial seizure seems a possible explanation. Strange as it sounds I would wonder about hypothyroid as well. If she was human I would ask her if she had a headache, like maybe a migraine. When was she last checked for Lyme?

Strong, healing wishes from our home. These things happen so quickly. No one can protect against every possible situation. So sorry this happened.

TOTW here. High Prairie right now. Pacific Stream works well also but HP is their preferred flavor. The duck version seemed the one their palates liked theist but not tmy nose. Apparently it wasn't just my crew as the K9 PT had same prob w/ her Dobes. "The fowl formula produced foul air," is how I remember her describing it. TOTW line has formulas with a range of Pro & Fat levels to suit different dogs. It is the most economical grain free I have fed. Produces better stool quality. Is quite readily available in our area which is a big bonus. My Grey has a gorgeous coat even without supplementation. Just realize that it may not have grain but still has lots & lots of potato. My staghound prefers the Earthborn grain free formula. It is the second most affordable grain free in our area. She holds her weight very well on it which is a big deal. Not sure I'd go so far as to recommend it just because I know of no one else feeding it so cannot compare experiences. Wellness Core did work well for my girl but had 3 big drawbacks: 1-price, 2-few points of sale, 3-availability even at POS. EVO... OMG so many people love this stuff but mine had horrid soft stool regadless of how slowly switched. Someone suggested a fast switch instead. EEEK! Plus two of mine didn't like it so much unless the red meat formula. Natural Balance was the least liked & is a potato & meat food as opposed to a meat & potato food. TOTW already has more than enough potato. No need for us to use something with even more. Plus it is more expensive.

I now have a picky eater who has been that way from the time she arrived at 9 wks old. She had been started on Canidae & this was a couple years ago when they suddenly changed the formula. So I blamed the formula change & tried switching foods. She liked new food for about a week. We tried various things over time & made sure there was no medical reason to be found. I just had to suck it up, quit worrying about her weight being as her vet called it, "Runway model thin," & apply some tough love. Food bowl went down at the same time the Grey's did. She had until the Grey finished eating to tuck in. If not, the food bowl came up, was emptied & she got food again, those exact same pieces of kibble, at the next meal. And it worked... NOT! The little stinker remains a picky eater. Sometimes she eats. Sometimes she sniffs, lays down in front of her bowl & may or may not eat some. Sometimes she walks away & lays down on a bed in another room. I am over it. Food goes down, Grey finishes eating, unless staghound is then actively eating the food is removed. She is now 2 yo, a healthy though quite lean weight & still usually overflowing with energy. I do dread having to feed her during illness or when she gets old. It'll be a major PITA. Also, she will not eat raw food. Turkey necks & chicken backs are play things & nothing including chopping or grinding will get her to eat them. Raw ground beef gets a baffled look & hunks of raw beef require removal from the bowl, taken to a bed & licked, licked, licked, until eventually chewed. GADS Oh, and all through this she would always take training treats enthusiastically, unless raw, sometimes including the exact same kibble she rejected at her last meal. Little wench!

They do have a very good selection. The expiration dates on items I have received are well into 2011. Though the Canidae biscuit box is always somewhat squished the biscuits inside are in respectable shape & frankly the girls could care less. It is easy to rearrange your shipment plan. Two things I would change is adjust the program so I could choose once or twice a month shipping on a particular date of the month. 'Cause I like to budget out & plan shipments to coincide with my paychecks. Gotta feed the animals first & buy for the humans with any leftover money. But instead I just went in & adjusted all the dates to suit me. Would like ability to change online the items in my program order. When I tried there was a message that the program is being changed & to sent a message to their help department to change an order. I have just done that. Would not anticipate any problem there but will check my account in a few days to make sure that was done. Though the prices are a bit more than I would pay in the stores, the convenience makes it worth that little extra. As the brands & products I like are not the most common & I live in the boonies I'd be running from store to store & rushing after work to get places before they close. Hmmm... Petflow saves me from speeding so probably safer for me, others & the planet as well.

All of the above suggestions are excellent. We had an incident of foot licking. It was my senior & cropped up one Winter. Turned out to be arthritis/back related. Leg/hip rads were clear. We kept him warmer & gave NSAIDs as needed. Went away with Spring & returned the next Winter to the point of causing bald feet & a little bleeding. That year we had to add gabapentin. He appeared to have LS & we suspect strongly that in his case it was nerve pain. Later we added tramadol to the mix & were often able to drop the NSAIDS.

Danielle, sorry to read she is having more trouble. Poor baby, she's really gotten a bad deal with this. From info on the UGA site it appears that dosage is within range for RMSF of 10-20 mg /kg body weight given twice a day. For a Grey Bina's size that would mean approx 300-600 mg every 12 hours. She is getting 400 mg twice a day so that is smack in the middle. Note that is also says, "Anti-inflammatory doses of prednisolone have been shown to have no negative effects on the treatment of RMSF, although antibody titers may be decreased." Hoping Bina is better soon. Laura with Venus & missing Sir Luke

Or perhaps they do not realize that it is a socialization issue that could be handled with work. Or if they do, but they do not know how to go about it &/or have someone appropriate to help them. It is not a small job. I strongly encourage people to do this but am also realistic. Even if they are working on it, it is helpful to have a safe outlet for their dog's energy, desire to run, plus it is physically healthy for the dog. I am not making excuses for people who will not bother to train or socialize their dogs but it can be a big task that is poorly understood & frequently mishandled. Socialization and counter conditioning can have big payoffs but it can be very hard work that is rather easy for the average Joe, like me, to mess up. (And I am one who has been working on this with a staghound.) There can also be a bit more to the picture than just socialization. My Greyhound is very well socialized but instinct can kick in so I remain cautious with her. Socialization does not teach a dog how to corner or dodge well enough to avoid all collisions. Just this Saturday one of my dogs ran into another one. It was staghound & doodle playing together. The doodle was completely caught off guard by the staghound's speed. There were only 3 dogs around, not a big group. The two who collided were approx. the same weight. Still one dog ended up briefly limping & sore simply because he had no idea his new friend was so fast. (Um... That's the long way of saying, "Sure you are right but there's more to the story.") That is beside the point in this situation, even though I wrote the book that spurred your response. It does not take away from the simple fact that tiny Iggies & big Greyhounds have no business running together. It is dangerous. The OP was wise to leave her dogs on the sidelines. I do sincerely hope the Iggie will recover without lasting damage.

Short answer, because it is a GREYHOUND playgroup. Expanding on that, it is a Greyhound playgroup and the organizers want it Greyhounds only. There is a cause to be made for Greyhounds only. [stop reading now, because I just wrote a book again] Though your idea of involving Tooth Fairy & Santa Claus would be ideal, am thinking the Easter Bunny should stay outside the fence. Seriously though some Greys, for whatever reason, are great with Greys but do not like other breeds. Some Greys are aggressive to them, others are cautious or at the least uncomfortable. There are far, far more opportunities for dogs to run in mixed groups of breeds than to run with just Greyhounds. I like the idea of Greyhound only groups. It gives those Greys with OB socialization probs a place to play. Groups of Greys running together can be hazardous to other breeds, unless Tooth Fairy & Santa Claus can make it. (Am enjoying conjuring up the image of them out with the Greys.) As the owner of a Greyhound mix & knowing a couple others I can tell you that unless they look like & act just like a Greyhound they stand a good chance of being treated differently amongst a group of Greyhounds. That can disturb even a confident, well socialized dog. Also, other breeds can be clueless in the ways of Greyhound running play. The more Greys, the greater risk to the OB. They seem to get run over with greater frequency by the Greyhounds. Perhaps OBs overestimate their own speed or misjudge Greys speed. And there is simply the greater danger of coursing, packing up or predatory drift. True, predatory drift & packing up is possible with any dog or group of dogs regardless of breeds. (Am using 'predatory drift' with some hesitation as I've seen several definitions/descriptions so fear I could be misusing it.) I know these happen Grey on Grey, though in my brief 4 years in Greys I've only personally seen it once. It started as a squabble between two that led to a dog scream & then others jumped in. It was a pack, not coursing or predatory drift. However, I have seen Greys come together & course other breeds several times at parks when a group of Greys was running together & another breed of dog joins them or runs nearby. The speed and intensity with which it happened was very different than I'd seen of Greys out running together. No one was injured but each time it was close. Until one has seen the dynamic suddenly shift from fun run to a pack of Greys coursing the Lab or Dalmation or Lab/Grey or whatever. it is hard to understand how dangerous it could become in a millisecond. Just coursing isn't the biggest danger. Predatory drift is & I do not want my Staghound to be the recipient nor do I want my Grey to be part of the pack. This extends to other sighthounds breeds, IME the shaggy coated ones have the worse time. Have seen it happen to my Staghound, an Afghan & a large Silken Windhound. And I cannot for the life of me understand why any Greyhound person would let their dog loose when IG's were on the field. Pure insanity if you have ever in your life seen Greys running, even one at a time. Heck my parents 35 lb mutt was accidentally bruised & banged up by my Grey when it was just the two of them in my yard. One zigged. Other zagged. Next thing you know Blossom was about to be t-boned when Venus jumped but still managed to clip her. Poor Blossom barrel rolled, 4-5 times over. She was sore for days after. Now when Venus runs, Blossom immediately sits & won't move. The saddest, most frightening non-injury related event was when I foolishly turned my Staghound out with the Greys, all muzzled, at a Greyhound event. She was young, needed to run & I was just not thinking straight. Worse, I watched her for a second as she trotted & sniffed around but then turned to answer someone's question. My head was turned when she started to run. Someone called out to me & I turned around. The resulting convergence of Greys that started heading her way as she ran would have been very disturbing to watch even if it weren't my baby on the receiving end. I and someone else started running that way just as my staghound recognized what was happening. She curled in on herself as much as possible while running, trying to find a way out. I was still at least 25 yards away when 5+ Greys encircled her. More were ringing the scene by the time we got there to pull the dogs away. Don't bother berating me or asking what the heck I was thinking. I hate myself enough for having done that to her. Until that point I had not seen that sort of behavior when the OB was a large sighthound. When I adopted my Grey & started taking her to the dog park I was thrilled if another Grey showed up. And still if there are only a 3 or so Greys things are fine. However, these days if a large group of Greys were there I would not let my Grey run if other breeds were around. My girl has proven safe with other breeds in all other situations but when running with Greys the whole picture changes. Unless there is a lure to zone in on & chase, when in running mode with other Greys my girl will find something else to use as the lure. I would still like to think she would not harm another dog but I don't want to find out. My worry is not just for the poorly chosen "lure" but for my girl should the "lure" understandably fight back.

I find harnesses, the well made, well fitted sort, work well with one dog in the car. Be careful when choosing a harness. You do not want one that will ride up above the chest & onto their neck in an accident. In my Prius I use a strap that hooks to the child seat restraints. There is enough give for the dog to lay down but if I stop short they can not travel forward more than a few inches. It isn't ideal but a very good compromise that I have been thankful for on several occasions. However, two in my little Prius sedan get tangled when wearing the harness & strap arrangement. They are uncomfortable if you try to strap them in tight enough to prevent tangles. I rarely travel with two in the Prius since we got the van but when we do, they ride unharnessed which worries me. There is the rear seat hammock to keep them from tumbling into the front if I have to stop short but I doubt it would help much in a serious accident. We can, thankfully, fit multiple travel sized crates in the van but more often have just one in there. If we take both dogs then one dog rides in the crate & the other harnessed. That works fairly well also but I would still prefer they both be crated. When we trade my Prius & the van becomes mine, that is how they will ride. The crates are plastic with tie down points on each corner. They are tied down to floor of the van. After considering all the pluses & minuses of the various restraints available, I decided this was my best option. BTW, I already had one plastic crate of the correct size. However, it is older & I worry about old plastic getting brittle. Also, it did not have the tie down spots. So we bought two new ones. The plastic crates do get warmer than wire ones or riding harnessed. We have an auxiliary fan to pull the cold air to the back. It works well as long I do not mind freezing my tuckus off up front. On trips the dogs ride crated in the van. For the record, the girls vote for riding with harnesses instead of crates. My vote overrides them. The jury is still out on which is really the safest, crates or harnesses. I think it would all depend on the accident.

No, I respectfully disagree. The question is, are these methods appropriate for any breed when there are less aversive, more effective & more importantly safer methods? The answer is no. However, they are even more inappropriate for softer dogs into which most Greyhounds would fall. As for the rigorous & methodical professional training... Well, nothing has given me the impression they have gotten that. Perhaps I am misunderstanding what you are saying? They have had very different handling, housing and in large measure a lack of training from what I have heard & seen. Their chase instinct has been heavily reinforced. They have learned to be boxed, crated & walk on a leash. They have learned to adapt to track & kennel life. However, Greys who never made it even to a training farm or track would still be poor candidates for his methods.

Yes, Paul Owens was the first. You can find his main website at raisewithpraise.com and another for his dvds & books here His book was out years before the Millan series started.

Chad is right. You already had the answer or at least a good start on it. Even better, you took his idea and ran with it in exactly the right direction. Now you're talkin'! Greyt idea!! Oh, please do try this. It really does work for the overwhelming majority of people. The best part is the dog learns that by choosing to remain calm and grounded, as in all for on the ground, she can actually get what she wants. You make doing the correct thing very, very rewarding. Be consistent, be patient & start in situations she is least likely to jump. As she succeeds there take it up a notch but not too much. Success builds success. May I make a couple of other suggestions? I think I would try to limit saying "wait". It isn't that saying "wait' is wrong. Just depends on what your goal is. It is up to you, of course, but with my dogs in the long run I want them to choose to wait on their own rather than being cued to do so. Mind you, I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut but when I consistently remember not to cue and the dog succeeds and gets rewarded for doing the correct behavior without a verbal cue, the situation itself becomes the cue. So Molly sees a friend approaching and she really, really, really wants to greet her. If you remain silent and the friend only approaches when Molly maintains her decorum then the approach of a friend actually becomes the cue for Molly to remain on the ground & exercise some self control. Also, you may make faster success if you could also set up some controlled situations where you would be able to stand in one place holding Molly's leash and have the people she wants to meet be the ones to turn & walk away rather than you having to walk away with Molly in tow. I have had very limited success lining up humans to help me with these things and almost never are they folks who can consistently, absolutely follow instructions to just immediately turn & walk away when I've got Miss Personality hamming it up, practically doing cartwheels while sending out her "Pet Me Pet Me Pet Me" vibes. On the rare occasions I had a cooperative assistant though, even for a few tries, we did make faster progress. Somewhere on Youtube is a multi-video series where a dog learns not to jump simply by having people walk toward her while she has all feet on the ground, but they immediately turn and walk away when she starts to bounce. In the video I think they worked toward having her in a down for greetings. The criteria is your choice. In the videos they start with just one person walking calmly at a distance and then leaving if the dog jumped. With repeated attempts the person could get closer before the dog jumped. In follow up sessions they were able to slowly add more people and more excitement. The result of this approach is a dog who learns to control the humans' actions by controlling her own actions. It becomes something akin to a canine video game. She learns that by staying down she can make the humans approach but getting up makes them leave. The dog has control and has to choose what to do. There are no verbal cues, no corrections, just the lost opportunity to greet the humans. This is the type of set up that can rapidly teach a dog to choose to do the right thing. If I can find the links later I will post them.

Well, I agree with her "two important things" to remember but the title of the article seems in strong conflict with the methods she describes which involve using fear, startlement & other methods to emotional intimidate plus physically accosting your dog which has the very real possibility of hurting them even if only quite briefly. Though the methods may have no lasting physical harm they do not appear to show respect for his intelligence. In fact, I would this is quite the opposite of respect. These are dogs being dogs, doing dog things. We are asking them to live in our human society and follow our human rules. If you truly believe him able to learn it would make more sense to teach him the correct thing to do rather than using such force & intimidation. I am appalled. I have no doubt that Ms. Gilley loves her dogs, believes she is doing the right thing for them and is able to teach them many different behaviors. Likely she feels that the price paid after roughing them up physically and psychologically is worth the end result of removing those behavior so she can then begin anew the process of trying to build back up again the type of relationship she really wants. My fervent hope is that this is a very old article and not the methods she still subscribes to. Sadly, I must admit that there was a time when I would have read this article and nodded my head in agreement. I was certain you must always keep the upper hand to keep the dogs in line. After all it seemed to work for all my middle of the road dogs. Now it pains me to think of how I used to treat my dogs all in the name of training and discipline. Though meant to ultimately build a loving relationship, I look back now and wonder how in the world I thought those methods could have been construed as loving. Hindsight is 20/20. So what changed? Well, I adopted one of *those* dogs and the tried and true methods only served to both frighten and pain her. Rather than improve, she got worse. That is when I started searching for a better way. Thankfully we found it. For my dogs and our relationship, I have happily found that training is so much easier, more reliable and more fun now that the confrontation, intimidation and strong arm tactics have been removed. Now if I mess up in training I haven't messed up my dogs emotional self or harmed our relationship. There is not going back. We're having too much fun!

I totally agree. Have gone this route a couple times. Am about to again so you know it must have been worthwhile the previous times. A good vet orthopod gives a much more thorough exam than almost any GP vet. An ortho could help narrow down whether this is orthopedic, neurologic, or some combo of both as is often the case with spine related issues. And she/he could also help ID a problem as none of those but instead more likely to fall in the internal med spectrum. We have come out cheaper for giving the GP vets a few tries and then going the specialist route. Saved us a lot of wasted time, worry, stress & money. FWIW, it looks neurological to me but hard to tell from the vid. My best bet would be spine related causing nerve pain & possible weakness. Could be any of a great variety of things though. Hope you find an answer & some help soon. In the meantime, I hope the walks can continue even if more limited in nature. ETA: Though I have used acupuncture, chiro & massage therapy with my dogs, I would definitely agree with the suggestion to find the root problem before choosing a therapy involving manipulation.

Wow, I'd not even heard of stump pyometra before. Sorry to learn of it this way. Sending strong wishes that the surgery goes smoothly and clears the infection before peritonitis sets in. Good thoughts on full & swift recovery for your girl.

Dogs do need to learn how to use their teeth carefully. I have wondered before if all the muzzling effects Greyhounds bite inhibition. Not saying it does, just wondering if it's possible. The recommendation for a sharp OWW is how I would handle it also & then ignore quite briefly. That bit of expressed startlement immediately follow by negative punishment seems. My girl did start doing some knitting, tiny littly nips with front teeth, on me after she settled in. I know some don't mind but I didn't like it. Since she wasn't hurting me I didn't do the OWW. (Though I did later with the puppy when she got rough or careless with her teeth.) In your case I would wonder if trying to tone down the excitement a bit at those points where he is most likely to try it will... um... well, nip this in the bud, I guess so he'll quit nipping you in the butt. - I'm sorry but it just had to be said.

Try searching on stomatitis. My senior Greyhound, Luke, had lymphoplasmacytic stomatitis. His body seemed to not be able to put up any defenses to fend off plaque and all my dental care was not enough to prevent recurrence. Yet his body reacted with the terrible inflammation & often ulcers. It is hard to do a good brushing or much other mouth care if a dog is hurting from this. He also had chronic lymphocytic leukemia and this possibly caused or contributed to the LPS but that was just speculation. A veterinary dentist gave the best cleanings and that was the most helpful item when followed up by a rigorous at home dental regimen including daily brushings, chlorhexidine gel, dental chews, etc. If I slacked up on any part and later even if I didn't, plaque would form & any amount set the process in motion again. He only lost one tooth & that was from an epulide. However, by the age of 13 yo the problem was getting so much worse that I was at the point of thinking he would be much better off without any teeth then dealing with that. Though immunosuppressive drugs may have helped his gums, I was not prepared to try them since he his CLL which already weakened his immune system. Hope the dentist is able to greatly improve things for your pup.

Great. Then calling him from a distance, like when he is unable or unlikely to hear you is a very logical reason to use this collar. Is there a way to disable the shock portion to eliminate any possible mishaps? If you can ensure that the collar never shocks or vibrates at a level high enough to be aversive and are using it in a positive reinforcement based approach rather than the manufacturers recommended negative reinforcement instructions then I think you actually have a very good tool. Though of course, just like a clicker and treats/toys which are used to teach a behavior but later phased out, you will want to make sure he learns to do everything without the collar. And that, of course, is where the negative reinforcement approach breaks down & positive reinforcement starts to shine. All the best with the training. A trained dog is so much safer & better able to join us, as you already know. Oh, in addition to squawker training it may be good to add whistle training. That's on my short list of things to work on as a just in case.

So if I am understanding you correctly you are using a level of vibration that your dog does not find aversive, you are pairing that vibration with something he finds rewarding and then using the vibration as a signal, one he will associate with something good. And it sounds like you are not using the shock settings or a vibration level high enough to be aversive. Is that correct? If so, then I do not have a big problem with. However, I will add that if you are following their instructions you may in fact be teaching through an aversive. If it was would it inhumane? I haven't felt it nor seen your dog's reaction to it so I cannot say. Please observe your dogs reaction carefully. Watch the body language to be sure the vibrations are not at too high a level. Also, if you want to use this collar to train in a reward based method, which I would like to encourage you to do, please do not follow their instructions. It is all based on negative reinforcement not positive reinforcement. From reading the info on the product education page in the link provided they are very misleading. There are quite a few dogs who would find even mild "electronic pressure" via vibrations quite aversive. The entire thing relies on negative reinforcement to get compliance. In Phase 3 they are actually telling people to make sure it is aversive enough to get compliance. "Depending on the dog’s performance, you may need to raise or lower the vibration stimulation level." So they are saying if a low, non-aversive level of stimulation is not effective you need to increase the stimulation level to a point where the dog really wants the pressure to be removed. In otherwords, it has become aversive and the dog wants it to go away. And to be honest, I really cannot think of any way to set up negative reinforcement that is not aversive. The whole point of continuing the pressure until the dog complies is that the dog learns that when he complies it makes the pressure go away. However, if you are using this as you indicate by pairing the vibration with treats and rewards rather than using it as an aversive then you are setting it up so you could use the collar in place of a clicker or marker word. Is that what you are trying to do? In that case, rather than applying the stimulation to get the dog to respond you would use it as a signal the dog has done the correct thing. If at any point the dog stops responding or the response is unreliable you need to back up a step or two until you are at a level where the dog is responding correctly and then train up from there. Vibrations collars are not necessarily aversive and at a lower settings very rarely inhumane. Pressures, rewards and aversives come in many forms. We should bear in mind that it is the dog who decides what is a reward and what is aversive. The first dog I took to clicker class was afraid of the clicker sound. My Greyhound does not necessarily consider petting a reward and she had to learn that praise was good. I personally would find some vibrations aversive and even a mild static shock very, very aversive. We are all different. Sometimes what was once aversive becomes a rewarding in itself when paired with a reward. If you are following the instructions provided by the collar company then you really do run the risk of it being less reliable and losing it's effectiveness. And their comments on it being non-aversive are really a bunch of hog wash. However, it can be used in a positive manner if you want to. Best of luck and have fun.

Woo-hoo! I love, love, love lucky 13!! Cheers to you, Bailey. Ditto! Perfectly said.

So glad all is going well. As for the extra length taken off, I do not know your vet's particular reason but when my girls tail was damaged it was at a spot about 4 inches up. However, she lost a total 6 inches of her tail because they had to move up to another... um... what do you call it in a tail? a vertebra? ... anyway, the surgeon felt that going up just that one was not as likely to get a swift, easy recovery as taking one more than that. And it sure worked for my girl. She never missed a beat from about the third day after surgery. It seems with happy tail at least that if a vet takes off the minimum necessary some percentage of dogs will end up needing another surgery to remove more. Those dogs certainly would have been better off just having a more taken off the first time. And in this particular case we aren't talking about just damaged skin like happy tail. There was no skin. So if a vet thinks taking 5 inches is more of a sure bet than 3 inches, I'd let them take the extra length & then rejoice over a good recovery. It would seem to be in the best interests of that dog & that is, after all, what matters most. My girl's tail had already had a couple minor injuries near the tip a couple times before. Since the amputation it has not been injured at all. Though I hate that we had the awful incident that caused the painful injury & required surgery, to be quite honest I think she may be better off with her shorter 16" tail rather than retaining all of her original 22" one. She certainly doesn't seem to care.

What an excellent explanation, KF!

Just wrote this & it was so long I'll try to condense it more. Searched H&M for pics of corns but only found ones of very obvious corns. Am not sure what a less obvious, just appearing corn looks like. Also wondering if some dogs have corns & discomfort on some surfaces but do not react to finger or fingernail pressure on the pad. Here's history: 1. Girly Grey has been examined by two vets recently for other issues & toes/pads on all feet were examined without finding corns. One is not only GH savvy vet but also a GH owner. 2. Pads had been dry, smooth to the point of being slick. Moisturizers helped. When diagnosed hypo-t & started on meds pads improved & became more supple. Now the pads are getting a bit slick again. 3. Girl had been sliding on some smooth floors. See #2. Sliding had stopped but slipped again this week. Note: Nails are trimmed & not the cause, though working on getting even shorter to prevent another Bambi on Ice incident if she slips again. 4. She's started walking very carefully on rougher surfaces like asphalt. Figured that may be from Summer heat. Have worked to limit need & keep us moving. Is also going even slower on gravel. Has never liked gravel anyway but it is now worse. Has had vet exams since started & I really thought it related to front toe probs, joints not pads. 5. During Summer I noticed a couple of pad with spots that were lighter color, pale & almost pinkish. Pinkish didn't jive with corns & spots were not, still are not reactive to pressure. Now those spots are not pink but still paler than the rest of the black pads. Girls is dark brindle, btw. All pads have always been solid black to the best of my memory. Spots are same texture as the rest of the pads & pressure on those areas doesn't seem to bother her. So this Saturday we had quite a scare. Went to event, parked on gravel & had some distance to walk to reach better footing. Was fine when she hopped out of van but as we walked she went slow, really lagging. Got to sidewalk, went a short distance with her continuing to lag. I stopped to check & give her a minitue. Then watched as her back end started sinking! She was standing like a show line GSD. Tried walking again but it got worse. Told BF to go get van & bring it around. Honestly thought it was some back or spine thing. Looked like a DM dog trying to stand still & slowly loosing rear. BF hadn't gotten far when she improved. Walked a bit & she recovered. Remained fine. We couldn't decide if she did something hopping out of van like muscle thing or it was remaining pain from gravel or... and this I fear... some indication of back problem. So I am trying to decide if those lighter colored, though same texture spots on her pads are the beginning of corns. In the mean time I am watching for any signs of discomfort on smoothish but hard surfaces or anything that could indicate of back problem. She has another vet appt coming up. Will move it up if And no I wonder, perhaps if I made her a makeshift padded booties for back feet to see how she walked on pavement wearing it if that may give a clue as to whether it was her pads or something else. Saturday scared me but she's been fine since including running in yard Sat. & Sun. ETA: I hate Greyhound feet! Why such long legs & running speed with itty bitty feet?!

Sounds like my girl. Though I no longer take toys with me. Which is as it should be & the same reason I no longer bring toys. Too much chance of causing a squabble. Now if I want to get the dogs moving I just take off running, as best a stumbling fool such as myself can, and encourage the dogs to follow. Do the same thing if the dogs are bunching up & looking like things are getting tense.