kudzu

No but I am not sure it will help that much in the long run. The following is just my personal opinion, of course. I think of it being used for injury or post surgical as the more likely approaches. If it is osteoarthritis then I cannot imagine that the improvement from stem cell therapy would hold up in the long run if the osteophytes are not removed. Suppose it would think success would depend on the amount, size, location of osteophytes. Again, just my opinion. Are you doing research for a way to help you pup or did your vet suggest this?

Perhaps that was my problem. Could have been accidental damage or just plain the bad luck of getting the inevitable bad product in a mass produced age. It is still useable in some circumstances. Problem is that the bag no longer closes. I am 4'10" & my performance dog is 29-30" tall putting the bag at perfect snacking height. lol On the plus side, it gives a a wonderful opportunity to practice zen.

Try Sue Ailsby's Training Levels. Link ETA: Why did you buy that e-collar? Is your dog deaf?

We use high value treats that would get my pockets messy and zip lock bags are too slow for me. (I am not very coordinated.) My Premier treat pouch was a bit big but that made it easy to get to the treats. It was nice for about a year until it unfortunately broke a hinge. Since, I have found a nylon fanny pack works fairly well. However, there are several in our class who use an easy to wash pouch that ties on easily like a belt and has two pockets for our high & even higher value treats. At just $0.99 it is hard to beat.

My girl lost about 6 inches. No one even comments on it accept the occasional Greyhound person mentioning happy tail. The non-sighthound owning world thinks it looks like a normal length. Chances are this will be Cody's only surgery. Venus healed quite well & quickly.

So when was Bunny's last bloodwork & urinalysis? If you are confident this recent change or increase in pickiness isn't a health issue then you have a choice. You can feed Bunny Bunny's way or feed her your way. At 12 yo, Bunny may just have earned the privilege of eating her way & walking her chosen route. Seniors are worth it. That is almost always the case. I used to believe it was always the case. Then The Monkey, my staghound Stellaluna, came to live with us. Monkey is a royal pain in the patoot when it comes to eating meals & has been that way from the day she set foot here. I give her food when I feed the others. If she eats it, fine. If not, I pick it up so no one else eats it or she guards it (because she will even though she isn't interested in eating it) and she gets it again next meal. Still, she is picky, picky, picky about mealtime. But she is 2 yo & hasn't starved yet. I have switched foods a couple times though to make sure it is high enough in calories & nutrient dense enough to support her activity level. Old age with the Monkey's picky appetite should be quite the culinary adventure.

It varies with the dog & what height they seem most comfortable. Measuring the feeders here it seems the bottom of the bowl is approx. level with their elbow give or taken an inch or so. And thinking about it I guess that makes some sense since that is where food would be when laying down to eat. When looking at the heights of feeders you need to bear in mind whether the bowl will sit on the feeder or rest inside it. Right now we have two dogs, one a few inches taller than the other. One eats from a bowl placed on an old, 12" tall, wooden foot stool. The other eats from a 17" tall dog feed of similar construction except with a cut out for the bowl to rest in. The bottom of the bowl is 14" off the ground. So really there is only 2" difference in the height of these dogs eating surfaces.

I want to add one thing to consider. In the incident you described I truly believe it the immediate eviction from the couch that was the important part. It sounds like your "NO!" came afterward the actual event. In that case saying "NO!" afterwards, even just by a second or two, may not have the effect you are going for. Anything loud & abrupt can be used as a distraction or an interrupter to short cut an ongoing, escalating event. Used after the fact though, you run the risk of miscommunication. That doesn't mean I don't use "No" because I certainly do. But I am just not sure "NO!" is that effective in communicating what we want in the situation you describe. If I say "NO!" after the fact, even just a second or two, I run the risk of using it when the dog at fault is actually behaving closer to the way I want. Also, with two or more dogs involved & still close by the other dogs may feel corrected as well even if it wasn't their fault. I have actually seen this effect & later regretted yelling even just that one word. An even worse possibility is that if you yell "NO!" & dog two backs off, snarky dog could, for that brief second before eviction, think the guarding worked. It is similar to leash pulling. Dog advances even just a few inches before the leash pop so the pulling still earned some reward despite the correction of the leash pop afterwards. I believe that reward/correction combo can make it take longer to extinguish the behavior. At least it certainly has been that way in my experience. Does that mean I am always able to overcome my instincts & put that info to good use. Nah, but I sure do try & have seen better results when I am able to follow through that way. So I just thought it worth sharing this.

Absolutely. Your overall approach is spot on. You are your own resource not hers & thus she is not entitled to guard you. I feel the same way about the human furniture as I do about a dog resource guarding me. It is MY couch & I get to say who sleeps on it. Period. Now, some snarking is normal & may well be fair. Ex. "Go away cause I'm sleeping & don't want a bed buddy" is just fine if it is a DOG bed the snarker is currently occupying & the snarkee was being pushy or clueless. "This toy I am not currently playing with but is on the bed I am occupying is off limits, Bozo," is totally fair as well. However, if it was MY bed or MY couch, regardless of whether I was on it or not, dogs need to learn to share politely. Standing over, stepping on, etc. are not polite & may warrant a snark. Dog one warning dog two away completely from the couch or a human bed is not fair. Really, it sounds like your two are still working out their place in the household not that there are two of them. Just keep an eye out for further inappropriate resource guarding so it cannot escalate. And have fun!

Oh, I missed this before. My answer is, YES! Actually when I first adopted Venus, if anyone asked what the new dog was like I would say, "She's a great dog if you like cats." I love the face rubbing especially when she does it excitedly sort of rubbing & tapping my hip in excitement, making snuffling noises. Sort of a canine/feline/porcine thing. That plus her timidity combined with a desire to be friends earned her the nickname Piglet. Still, the cat wins out quite often. Actually, when I needed help remembering to pack up & leave for work on time in the mornings, I trained her to come "pester" me by coming over & nuzzling me at the appointed time. See, the face rubbing has practical uses. Enjoy your cat!

OMG, that is soooo very right! Had a similar experience which helps drive home the point that so many dog owners are clueless. (As I am clueless in areas I can speak from personal experience. ) It was very early on a Sunday AM. There were no dogs in any area at the park when we arrived. This park has separate large & small dog areas plus a run that adjoins both areas for any size dog. My Grey & a friend's Great Dane were in the big dog area. Some guy shows up with his Min Pin who he takes into the small dog area. Next thing we know the Min Pin is running up from behind us. The guy had gone through both the small dog & any size dog areas, & brought his little squeaker into the big dog area, "Because he will have more fun running with the Greyhound." Are ya kiddin' me? The whole event lasted less than 2 minutes during which time Venus was not playing nicely in my opinion. My friend tried to say it looked fine. I said I was not comfortable with the situation & worked to leash Venus without escalating the excitement. The little dog was not enjoying the experience at all though his owner claimed otherwise. Venus repeatedly chased & pinned the squeaker, though she used only her nose & not teeth. Poor pup was clearly scared, rolling over, curling up & trying to protect himself. I leashed my Grey & refused to let her off leash until the Min Pin was out of the big dog area. To this the owner explained, "Ah, it's OK. He is very fast. She can't catch him." I was speechless at this. He actually thought his Min Pin could outrun my not so recently retired Greyhound.

You have gotten many good responses. For those of us with dogs that love to run, it can be a challenge finding the appropriate outlet. Dog parks can be good for certain dogs in certain situations if you are aware of the risks, try to minimize them and are willing to accept that odds are this t-shirt saying is going to eventually prove true: [image credit goes to SCG & a talented artist volunteer.] Though I am willing to accept some risks to my dog, I am not ready to risk other people's dogs over & above, of course, the usual dog park risks. I am careful which park, at what time & with which dogs I will allow my dog to run. Even then, I know there are risks aplenty. Whether or not you continue to take your Grey to the dog park is your choice. If small dogs being in the large dog area is the norm at your dog park then my suggestion would be to not bring your Grey there. This is one risk that is simply not worth it. Remember that it is usually the larger dog who pays, sometimes with their life, if a smaller dog is injured. As you found out through unfortunate experience, little dogs being carried often triggers Greys and many other large dogs to jump up at them. The actual act of picking the little dog up can be even worse. Will add that a human infant crying in it's mother's arms can trigger the same thing for a dog who is not used to infants. And I've had a few incidents where my dogs ignored toddlers until their parents picked them up. Suddenly the dogs became very interested. They only looked & watched but their sudden interest was certainly notable. Remember also that the rush of excitement does not leave for quite a while, even if your dog looks calm. If your dog gets overstimulated & needs to be leashed you really cannot expect to safely let them off leash for quite a while, hours to days to never again depending on the dog & the situation. Better to simply leave immediately in those circumstances. Outside of the unfortunate small dog incident, your dog may be playing or may not be when acting rough with other larger dogs. What you describe sounds bad but dog play often sounds and looks bad to humans. Without any of us actually seeing the behavior we cannot say what is really happening. PrairieProf's statement in particular describes my experience, "I find that a lot of normally confident dogs get scared when a giant greyhound with its "crocodile jaws" as I call them zooms down upon them faster than they've even seen a dog go -- and then they roll over to submit, and that gets the greyhound more stimulated." Though this behavior is not specific to Greyhounds as it is seen in many dogs, it may be more common with Greys. It certainly matches my experience with my Grey. It is not something I tolerated either. Which leads me to my next point. In my experience, from my reading & from information provided by various trainers I have worked with you may make things worse by correcting your dog for these behaviors. (This doesn't mean I never use corrections. I do but the type & the way you described.) Our dogs do not necessarily associate the correction with the specific act we are correcting them for. These corrections you describe are usually strongly aversive and can cause your dog to form an unpleasant conditioned emotional response to the presence of small dogs not necessarily the act of jumping up at one. He could even form a reaction to something else in the environment. The emotional fallout is often not seen for quite a while. If you find your dog behaving in a manner you feel inappropriate, you would do better to train in advance for your dog to come to you for something like a voluntary time out rather than using a correction. Do not use your usual command for a recall, like "Come", but instead choose a different command like "Time out". Do not make it aversive. When the dog comes to that new command make it a wonderful thing. Then do something like make the dog do a down. Reward for that then release to go back to whatever he is doing. Practice this in easy circumstances well before trying at the dog park. If you do this very consistently in those dog park situations you describe the dog learns that anytime he plays roughly he will be called out. If this is all just rough play & you are very consistent in how you deal with it you will likely find the dog does it less & less. Or he may start coming to you when he feels like playing roughly, sort of putting himself in a time out. Sounds strange but really works. It is important though to reward for him coming to you & reward for him doing whatever other activity you choose. And you should usually always release him to do something fun not just call him out, leash him & leave. Though of course there may be a time when you have to do just that. None of the above though takes away from the fact that you may have a dog who is simply not safe at a dog park. If that is the case, he shouldn't be there. At the very least, he is clearly not safe with little dogs running.

You definitely need to get with your vet on this. First, though the incident of heartworm is low in your area there are reported cases. In addition, you should know that the incident of heartworms in the coyotes of your area is significant and they can act as a reservoir for infection. And the # of reported cases of HW in dogs in your are that were presumed to be locally acquired increased dramatically in 2009. All that info leads to... Second, others suggestions for a HW test are correct. Since HW is a possibility in your area & you have not been using a preventative, you are well advised to get your dog tested. Giving HW meds to a HW+ dog can be dangerous. Though the level of danger varies considerably depending on which medication used. Third, when to give the medication depends on which you are giving. Most of the popular, once a month, HW meds work by preventing the larvae from maturing to adult worms. So just treating before you leave would not protect your dog. You would need to give the medication after returning to kill any larvae possibly acquired on your trip. Number of doses needed depends on the length of your trip. Fourth, you may want to keep an eye on the stats for HW in your area. I was surprised when I read "I'm not in a heartworm area". That's why I did the search for stats. Was quite surprised by both how low the incidence is in your area & by the info on coyotes & the big jumps in dogs acquiring HW. It's nothing for you to panic over, just something to keep in mind for the future. Have fun on your trip. NW Arkansas is one of my absolute favorite places in USA.

Perfect. Yeah, I should have left it at that. Oh well, it was late, I was tired, & I watched someone being stupid at agility that made me want to tell the owner to "kennel up" for a time out. That's my excuse & I'm sticking with it.

OK, now I'm going to vent a bit. My big problem with the type of training you describe is that, like much of pet dog training used to be, it concentrates too much on making behaviors stop. Stop jumping, stop pulling on the leash, stop mouthing. What are we teaching them to do instead? And why are we waiting for them to do the wrong thing so we can correct it? Too often when rewards are included in these classes it is done to reward the dog for stopping a behavior. Dog is pulling so we must correct them for pulling by popping on the leash & using training collars. After the dog stops pulling you can reward. And of course in the process most folks have allowed the dog to advance a bit so that is the ultimate reward & why dogs keep pulling. Then that dratted dominance thing gets added in. Is the dog pulling to get out ahead of you so he can be dominant. Mine doesn't. She pulls for various reasons all boiling down to about the same thing. She wants to go that way, NOW. I either don't want to go that way or not as fast. Instead of just taking away the reward these classes add various tools to make doing the wrong thing more unpleasant. so thinking in terms of a dog in one of these types of classes, does she know that I want her to walk on a loose leash or have I only taught her that frequently she will get leash pops but sometimes she still gets to advance a bit? If she can't figure it out is she being dominant? Stubborn? Stupid? According to some of these trainers yes. That's how hounds have ended up with reputations for being harder to train. And in the OP's case she is getting corrections from the trainer. In that situation would I then feeling rewarded & motivated to continue training? Heck no, not me. Too much negativity, too much correction, too much looking for the wrong thing, too much of a big ol' bummer. The best piece of dog training advice I ever got was a question, "What do you want your dog to do?" The idea is not to wait for something to correct but to reward before then. It's simple but apparently not really so simple since so many of us need a lot of help learning how to look for the right thing & reward it. Just like effective, safe dog behaviorists don't make for exciting TV the way a guy like Millan does, dogs behaving nicely do not catch our attention the way a dog behaving badly does. We tend to ignore that good behavior especially when it is at a point when it only lasts for seconds. In my case, when it finally clicked, what this "But what do you want the dog TO DO?" question meant, I had an overgrown staghound puppy intermittently barking, mouthing or jumping me from behind & grabbing me. She would seemingly suddenly erupt into this in different places at different time either to get my attention, to release excess energy or to release tension in uncomfortable situations. "What do you want your dog to do?" What I wanted was for her to stop jumping, barking & mouthing. "But what do you want the dog TO DO?" My dog needed to know what to do instead of what I didn't want her to do. I had to train her what to do & it did not involve any corrections. I just needed to reward her before she jumped, with all four feet on the ground, while she was quiet & not mouthing me. She needed consistent reinforcement when doing the right thing, non reinforcement when doing the wrong thing & safe, humane management when neither of the first two options were available. What she was doing was startling & at times painful. However, she was seeking attention, not dominance. She was seeking release from stress, not trying to bully me. Yet even if it had been an aggressive, dangerous dog the method would have worked. And if the dog had been dangerous the training could have been started at a safe distance with a fence or xpen between us. Ah, but you are not likely to ever seen that on a show like the Dog Whisperer. Too boring & the behaviorist would look like a whimp, too scared to go one on one with that dangerous dog.

Most of it is. I cannot tell you how tired I am of people using dominance in place of leadership & training. I can't say whether she will think you are a loon or not, but I can tell you what my dog would feel is the "dominant" thing to do. If I got down so we are basically eye to eye every time I was trying to give her a treat, instead of taking the treat she would look away. If I leaned over her every time I gave her a treat, she would look &/or back away. If I just reached down & gave her a treat without leaning over her or staring at her she would take it & work to get another. Your trainer sounds like she is not knowledgeable on some things, confused on others & just plain wrong on some. Let me tell you the number one reason for not using dominance & correction based training. It isn't necessary & all too often is applied in an inconsistent, confusing &/or harsh manner. As for Cesar Millan, while he isn't all wrong he is wrong too often, frequently misleading and downright dangerous at times. That is why his show needs the disclaimer at the beginning. It makes good TV because it is dramatic but that doesn't make it good dog behavior modification or good dog training. More effective & safer behavior modification techniques exist but are not going to get the same viewer ratings. If parrots, whose feather weight selves can do serious damage, killer whales, elephants, wolves, bears, etc. can all be trained to do unnecessary behaviors on cue & things like voluntarily present various portions of their anatomy for uncomfortable vet procedures without anyone ever touching, yelling or otherwise dominating them, why can't we also train domestic dogs, who exist because humans created them, without that stuff? Someone has already posted a link which includes some info from AVSAB. Here is a link directly their page where you can download in PDF format some of their position statements including those on Dominance, Punishment and How to Choose a Trainer. Here are a few other references: Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors Dominance in domestic dogs—useful construct or bad habit? Dominance Versus Leadership in Dog Training - PDF version of an article by Dr Sophia Yin with references cited on last page Dominance Myths and Dog Training Realities - ok, ok, this one isn't scientific, just common sense, logical & true Why Won't Dominance Die? - another good article with references at the end

Seniors are fantastic! Any healthy Grey, even a 10 yo should be able to handle a 1 mile walk. However, as others have mentioned, 90+ is very hot to be walking Greys unless they are accustomed & quite heat tolerant. Also, he may not have gotten much in the line of walks or other adequate exercise in his former home. That could add up to a significant amount of muscle loss & take some time to build back up. Others have given lots of good advice. If he checks out fine with the vet just walk him at the cooler parts of the day & slowly build him up. The exercise will do him good & unless there is something major like LS. Even with mild LS he will benefit from as much exercise as he can tolerate. When I was adopting my 10 yo his foster mom had started him on walks & he loved to run in the yard for a little while each day. However, he also showed up with pain & lameness in his front right. Xrays were done fearing osteo. It was only some arthritis coupled with muscle strain. A little rest, short course of NSAIDs & long term supplements put him right though occasionally it would flare up is he did too much running. His walks were built up to 1 mile at a good pace or 2 miles at a leisurely, stop & sniff the flowers pace. Don't think he could ever have handled a mile in heat & humidity though. My Luke was never built up to the condition I would have liked to see him, he managed to have a blast in an intro agility class at 11-12 yo. Seriously! The girls & I kept heading out the door to go to obedience & agility classes. The ol' guy actually started standing in front of the door like, "Hey, aren't you forgetting someone important?!" So after some consultation, I signed him up. Figured it would likely be just trotting around doling out cookies because he looked cute. Nope! He loved playing & earning his treats, though admittedly the pause table was his best piece of equipment. Everybody loved him & he practically dragged me across the parking lot each week to get in the building. He only did the baby sized equipment & we soon decided the dog walk was neither necessary nor extremely safe but he did everything else. We just never told him how silly he looked lined up behind the tiny dogs for the 8" jumps. He was the most enthusiastic dog in class. His arthritis finally made me pull him. Even at 12-13 yo he would go out for last potty call & go to the far end of the yard. When he was done he would blast across the yard. OK, he wasn't really running that fast but HE seemed to think so. He would charge up the ramp, through the front door, grab a toy off the living room floor, do a "victory lap" around the dining room table & then plop down on his bed. He went on long trips with us & several Greyhound gatherings including GIG & Mtn Hounds. Thank you, thank you, thank you for being there when this boy needed you. Hope & strongly suspect this is just muscle strain based on your description.

Something like this just came up at an M&G today. Visitor & I both had similar experiences. Dogs that get out tend to either climb or dig under fences. My climbers didn't care how high the fence was or for the most part what type. One would go out of 6' privacy with hot wire around the top. However, she wouldn't go back in, just hang around the gate waiting for someone to notice & let her back in. So it's 4' wire fencing for us. It is less climbable than chain link & very affordable compared to other options. We've yet to have a dog go over it however we had one go under. Not a single Grey has ever tried to get out. For a long run, approx 250 ft x 30 ft, I turn the power off to the 42 inch electric mesh fencing used for strip grazing. I stay out there with them & it works very well. They only run for a little while & then back into the dog yard. It is working very well for us & was easy on the budget. The dream is to ultimately finish the 48" livestock wire perimeter fencing with at least a top board railing. Beautiful dream! Should be attained before the mortgage is paid off. lol THAT is the type of fencing we plan for our perimeter. However, I did ultimately decide that for the dog yard I was going to leave the rail off. It makes the wire more climbable. As it is right now. The top of the wire fencing has a lot of give & actually seems to discourage climbing. Doubt that matter for my Greys & Staghound but it certainly did for my prior dogs.

Can you let us know why? I have not researched the new vaccine. Am pretty minimalist on vaccines but with the seemingly greater prevelance of ticks in our area & growing numbers of dogs I know personally who have contracted Lyme, I am starting to wonder if I should investigate it more. Thanks in advance.

Yeah!! Great news. So glad he is recovering well. I remember how shocked I was at the rapid recovery of my dog when he had GDV with the necessary surgery & splenectomy. He was trying to run & jump at a point I know I would still have been huddling in bed, remote in hand. lol Go Bandit!

Many do not & truth be told it won't happen to many. But it isn't just the martingales that are the problem. I've had two dogs get trapped on the floor & found them flailing when their tag hooks, both s-hook & circular sort, got stuck on in a loop of berber carpet. Switched to different tag hooks but still worried so went to jingle-free variety. Feel better but still worry. Hard to find a breakaway that doesn't have anything hanging from them like d-rings or such. I know, I know. They are "break-away". Yet I do not trust them to break when supposed to & not when they shouldn't. So was already on the hunt for the right safety collar when this subject came up. That looks pretty good except I think would do it with the flap on the outside so I could pull it open myself, a al PlaySafe collar. How easily do those break away?

Yes, my thinking was to monitor & only treat if symptomatic. That doesn't make me right, of course. Imizol treatment worries & though it may clear b. canis it also may not. Though a positive PCR is certainly more reason to choose it than positive antibody, I think I would need some more convincing. That's just me though. Then again, as my vet pointed out, a negative PCR doesn't guaranty anything either. So we each have to choose what we feel is right for our dogs based on our own situation. OMG, I always watch this show. It's fascinating, disgusting & enthralling for some awful reason.

If money, stress, etc. are not an obstacle I think I would do it the next time we were drawing blood for annual blood work. We did TBD panels on both my hounds & intentionally left out babesia because we were not going to treat anyway. If my girl was tested as a "just in case" & showed up with babesia I would not choose to treat right now. Still, I think if I needed to run a TBD panel on her at this point I *would* throw in babesia as FYI for possible future use. After initial TBD panel & treating for Lyme, we later tested my then 10 yo for babesia when he was asymptomatic. His bloodwork however was a little quirky & we were trying to narrow down any possibility. Eventually we treated with imizol but after a lot of discussion & research. He was, I beleive, 11 yo at the time. Vet was super careful but he still gave a GSOD for the first shot. However, the cheater did that when he had blood drawn the visit before & he didn't do it at the next imizol shot so we do not think it really hurt him that much. Again, he was asymptomatic for babesia at the time we choose to treat but there were other issues re: disease & immune system that caused us to choose this for him. It was not an easy choice. Thankfully he never missed a beat. Absolutely not! It's called being proactive. I am a huge propotent of wellness tests. Not sure I'd make an extra trip. The thing is, would you feel compelled to treat just because of a positive? Would you worry more if you had a positive? If not, then do it. Your new boy is gorgeous!!

Excellent news! Give her a couple days & she will really surprise you in how well she can bounce back. Do not be surprised if at least some weakness persists for a couple weeks. As long as she is headed in the right direction she will be fine. Quite a scare you all have had. Good on you for recognizing this before leaving the first vet's office & monitoring her so well. You saved her, at a minimum, a lot of discomfort & worst case you just plain saved her.

X-strength Phazyme is good to have on hand. 5-6 caps is not too much to give at once. If keeping her calm & withholding food seems to keep her from bloating for now then perhaps by tomorrow she will be OK. Consider that anesthesia has anticholinergic effects on motor neurons, including those in the GI system. This can greatly effect motility. If things are not moving through the GI tract at the usual pace or in a coordinated way, bloat could be the result. By 12 yo a dog's GI tract can be slowing down anyway & anesthesia would only compound that. My guy suffered GDV a couple years before a neurological condition started, our battle with chronic bloating. He had real problems with anesthesia. It seriously contributed to his already existing problems with bloat, difficulty urinating & hind end weakness. We just had to be extra careful & extra watchful until it was completely out of his system. Stress only makes it harder. If it continues you could ask the vet if this is a possibility. Reglan or even Axid may be enough to help. Could even do something kind of 'creative' by trying some neostigmine. Personally I would be seriously inclined to give Axid(nizatidine) a try right now since it is OTC & has both acid reducing & promotility qualities. Well, for that matter so does Zantac(ranitidine) though it did not help my guy as much as Axid did. They have anticholinesterase (sp?) properties which might counteract the anesthesia may have on the GI tract. From WSAVA, "Gastrointestinal Prokinetic Agents—Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitors (e.g., Nizatidine and Ranitidine)"..."Nizatidine is a newer H2-receptor antagonist with a potency similar to that of ranitidine. The current recommended oral dosage of nizatidine (2.5-5.0 mg/kg/day)" ... "Nizatidine stimulates gastric emptying and colonic contractions at gastric antisecretory dosages mainly through its anti-cholinesterase (AChE) activity." ... "Treatment with ranitidine would be beneficial not only by inhibiting gastric acid secretion but also by accelerating gastric emptying. Therefore, ranitidine-like nizatidine, has efficacy not found with some of the other H2-receptor antagonists in the stimulation of gastrointestinal motility." Hope things are much better by now.