greysmom

There's always anxiety anytime one of our kids has to have surgery. It's perfectly natural and everyone of us understands it!!! We'll be sending all our good thoughts all the way across the country tomorrow!

Sending good thoughts for a better result than your vet thinks. Please give that pretty nose a kiss from us!

My Dude broke his toe - bad, so no option of plating, it had to come off. Healing time was two weeks and he's had no problems since. I don't think I would ever opt for surgery on a greyhound toe. High risk surgery vs low return of healing. Many geys break toes and heal fine with only taping or buddy bandaging, and no activity. But again, with amputation your hound will be able to at least leash walk an play a little after 3-4 weeks, whereas with taping you need to keep them quiet 6-8 weeks. I know which option my greys would want! Though they don't have to go under for surgery with the taping option. Good luck and keep us informed!

How's Bijou doing today and looking for a vet update?????????

I definitely agree with Chad and Judy. Monroe just needs some more time to settle into the house routine. If he's timid, he may not have reacted much at all when you met him, so his true feelings about the matter weren't evident. My spook can be absolutely stoic when she's really afraid. Also, I would imagine your boys were on their best behavior then, and now, well, they are boys! In addition to treats and training and quiet time as suggested, you might try a variation of "reading to the dog." Your kids aren't reading yet obviously, but if they like you to read to them, it can become a nice quiet time for the four of you. If he's OK with everyone being in the bathroom with him, go in there and all sit, not too close if possible, and read a story together. Use very short stories or time periods at first - not more than 5 minutes, or whatever Monroe can tolerate calmly. Increase as his tolerance does. Nap time can also be a good bonding time, as can short walks. The kids just need to understand they are helping Monroe, and what they need to do. Adjusted, of course, for your boys' age level.

I am in the minority here, and I know most won't agree with how we do it. I have four and I never muzzle them when we leave the house. I've never had a problem doing that. All four are loose in the house with the cats as well. It's completely dog-proofed and we baby-gate/close doors to rooms I don't want them in. I have had issues out in the yard with playing that has gotten out of hand, so I do muzzle outside.

Another person praying for nothing! Keeping the light on for Bijou!

Dude broke his toe - the right rear, second toe in - and it was not repairable, so it had to come off. The amp was easy and the site healed fine in two weeks. He doesn't even know it's gone and it makes no difference in his playing, running, bouncing, walking, digging or anything else. His foot did change shape to accomodate the lost toe. Our problem was that he developed a bad skin infection and several to-the-bone sores from the hard splint that was put on after the surgery. If I'd done what I wanted and taken it off after 8 days instead of 14 he would have been fine. As it was he had six more week of weekly bandage changes and antibiotics. ETA - make sure the vet takes off all the toe back to the foot so there's no toe bone left sticking sticking out. Many dogs experience complications with that tag end of bone, and they really don't need it.

Oh YAH! Da Power Rangers will be sooted up wiff da hi beemz fur owr fren - da wunna-be moobee star! - POWER!!!! 00-Dude

No real help here but lots and lots of good thoughts and support! You should ask your vet if they have that drug on hand to give after surgery if there are complications - and of course I can't remember off the top of my head. Hopefully someone else with more brain cells right now will pipe up! Hugs to Merlin!

The Brake Fast bowls do work, but your grey will still eat as fast as she can. If she's new from the track I would say just give it some time and a very firm schedule for eating and she should slow down eventually. None of mine really chew their food and tend to swallow it whole - even my slow eater rarely crunches a kibble. This is probably how she ate at the track so I think it's OK for them. If you are extremely concerned then the only way to slow her down is to feed her in installments as you're doing. You can also feed in several smaller meals throughout the day instead of two morning and night. To put your mind a little at ease, though any large breed, deep-chested dog can bloat, the current thinking is that bloat is more related to genetics than eating habits.

When he whines to go out, keep him out there until he does pee. Might take a while of walking. Make sure you praise and treat when he actually "goes." Sort of modified potty re-training. You might also not let him stop and mark the first couple of places - just pull and keep walking, "Come on!" And keep going!

Greyhounds have good memories, much to our dismay. You can try giving her some Rescue Remedy, but just being calm and matter-of-fact yourself when you go outside will also help. It will pass though it may take some time for her to get over it. Tell her she's a silly girl and do your routine as usual. If you're really concerned she might be in pain from something then a vet visit is definitely in order. You vet may also be able to prescribe a short course of anti-anxiety meds, but I really think time and patience will be as effective.

The theory behind it is that dogs communicate via growls, barks, snaps, and bites. When a dog growls, he's telling you that he doesn't like what you're doing (for whatever reason, it scares him, it hurts, it's uncomfortable, or he just doesn't like it). If you don't listen, his only options are to let it go or to "raise his voice", which means instead of growling he resorts to mouthing you, snapping, or worst case, biting you. Just think of the growl as your dog saying "I don't like what you're doing, please stop." If he says that repeatedly and you don't listen, well... At the same time, we as humans don't like anything that we see as aggression, including growling and I agree that it's not a good idea to reinforce it repeatedly. But, my feeling is that it's our responsibility to then avoid doing the thing the dog doesn't like so he doesn't feel he has to growl, while working on desensitizing him to it using positive training methods. This doesn't mean that you have a household where your dogs rule the roost. Instead, you ensure you have a calm, respectful pack of dogs by teaching basic manners like wait, leave it, etc. There's a little booklet by Patricia McConnell about managing a multi-dog household that I think contains a lot of great general info (that would apply even to a single dog home) about how to achieve that dynamic. It's called Feeling Outnumbered. I hope that helps explain where I'm coming from. Thanks for asking. I don't think either approach is really "wrong." It depends on the dog and the situation. I definitely think there are times you need to make sure you make your point, and there are times when the dog does. With my spook Cash, she did not like any sort of contact in the beginning. She was just too scared. So we went slow and steady, at a pace she was comfortable with, in introducing and desensitizing her to petting and handling. At the same time, we were also working on building her confidence by teaching her "watch me" and other games and commands that she could "win" at. When she growled and/or moved away, it was because she had had enough and needed some space and time. Her sessions became gradually longer and she began to enjoy pets and rubs more. The first time she came up and *asked* for attention I was ecstatic! Cash gets rewarded for anything resembling calm, not anxious behavior, and recently, getting attention became an acceptable reward. Toni has the opposite problem. She is insanely confident, very pushy, very talkative and noisy, and she likes to use her mouth to express herself in all ways. With Toni we know we *must* have the last word or she thinks *she* has won and her bad behavior escalates. We teach her to "wait" and "ask" and "quiet" an she does get reprimanded when she barks/growls because its mostly her complaining and not real aggression or discomfort. If she ever is really afraid or hurt she doesn't. You need to know your dog and how she reacts. Toni needs reinforcement that she's not the queen of the entire planet, that she does't get the last word, and she doesn't get her way. I do take her places by herself, so that she feels she doesn't have to compete with the others all the time, which is a big part of her problem. Toni gets rewarded for calm, quiet, good-mannered dog behavior.

What they said. X-pens aren't like crates. Dogs need to be supervised when they're in there. If it's for camping and outdoor use, some have anchors that can be pounded into the ground to stabilize them some. If you buy a used one, you can probably improvise something similar. You might consider getting two if you can afford it. A single one is fine but a bit tight room-wise.

Copper has destroyed more of our dog beds than the other three put together. He's a major nester and the reason I stopped buying expensive dog beds. The last one was an $80 bolster bed that I thought he would like and not want to dig at. He also has destroyed more of my bed comforters! I stopped buying expensive ones of those too!

When mine have an "issue" like that, I just keep after them, slow and steady. A little bit of exposure to whatever it is every day. FWIW, I would not have gone after him and started petting him again either - it was enough for one day. It takes lots of time and patience. The only thing I might do is to add some yummo treats to the mix. I keep some in my pocket all the time for Cash, rewarding her wen she's not scared of something. If she's calm and accepting, she gets a treat. And I know she's in that state because she does accept a treat (when she's freaking she won't eat anything no matter how yummo!). We don't get super hot here very often but mine all don't want pets when they're really hot. Very cranky houndies!

Some thoughts...... Yes, they are dogs and many dogs lead very fine and happy lives running freely over large distances. There are some people here who let their greys off-leash wherever with no problems, but these are the exceptions and not the rule. Further, greys are sighthounds that have been bred for thousands of years to be independent hunters. They can and will run after anything that moves until they catch it or they get tired. At 45 MPH that can be very far. They have almost no knowledge of boundaries like fences, or of cars, roads, other dogs, and other predators. You can't expect a greyhound to stick around home unsupervised without intensive training. Even a hound that is very bonded to his owner can take off when the urge stirkes him to. I think you may have trouble convincing an adoption group that your situation is right for their dogs. Many *require* you to never let your dog off-leash in uncontained areas, which yours sounds like. Their skin is very fragile and can get torn easily, resulting in horrific injuries and large vet bills. They are not dogs that can run through the brush with no problems. And a fight with another dog or animal can be life-threatening. They are not suited for living outdoors in extremes of temperatures - hot or cold. It's admirable that you would like to adopt a retired racing greyhound, but I don't think this is the right breed for you given the info you provided.

Please make sure your vet does blood work for thyroid imbalance. I'm not sure how being a lurcher affects the values, but many fear- and anxiety-based reactions can be due to low thyroid. What's the generic name of the drug the vet prescribed??? Depending on what it is and how it works, it may take a week or more to have an effect. Hopefully you got something more fast-acting. A second for the aove advce to use only positive training techniques. Any behaviorist you talk to should understand that, and as some still use more correction than positive reinforcement, make sure you get one that doesn't. Good luck and please keep us posted!

Oh yeah. All of mine stretch a lot during the day. Toni likes to put her front paws on (ME!) my chair where I'm sitting and stretch both ways. It's like levitating!

Chris, thanks so much. This was all really great advice. I think I might talk to my vet about a prescription for him. Is it something you can use intermittently (like when we know we'll be gone outside of our normal schedule)? We're going out of town and leaving him with friends, and I would hate for this to happen to them. He knows them really well and loves their dog, but I can imagine him getting pretty worked up. And I never considered a belly band for SA--that's a great idea! You can talk with your vet, but you need a fast acting drug if you want to give it intermittently. Most anti-anxiety drugs need several weeks of dosing to become effective. You can do a search of threads here for thunderstorm phobia for discussion of many of those options as they are many times the same. Alprazolam (generic xanax) and valium can be useful given like this. He *may* not be as upset at your friend's house if they have a companion dog he likes. Though as seeH2o said, companions don't always work. (You should prepare your friends for the worst possibility and offer in advance to reimburse them for any damages or cleaning costs.) I would suggest crating, but sometimes that only concentrates the destruction. Good luck!

Dude has them - two of them, one on each side of his nose on top. They go away sometimes and then come back. No rhyme or reason and it doesn't seem to bother him.

It might be time to explore some different medication options. Melatonin works for many dogs, but for some it's just not enough. I do second the idea that leavingat a different time can also trigger an SA attack. Mine don't have any problems - unless we both leave late at night. This is something we don't normally do and we usually come home to something destroyed from their anxiousness at being left alone at a different time of day. Plus, if you left while he was still eating, he hadn't really settled down. We always go outside after we eat and that might have triggered his potty accidents. If you can't isolate the garbage, then babygate him out of the room it's in. Muzzle him if he has a problem with destructive chewing. Not sure what you can do about the poop, but there are belly bands for boys to wear so they don't pee all over.

I agree that she might change with time. Give her some patience, and just keep being there for her. She may turn into a cuddler, or she may not. Some are more reserved than others - not necessarily having anything to do with their former lives. I have four greys - Dude is a crazy cuddler and likes nother better, Toni likes to cuddle but only on her terms, Cash loves pets and belly rubs but not cuddling so much, Copper is much like your girl. So they really do come in all types. If you decide you'd like to adopt another, be very clear with your group that you'd really like a hands-on dog this time. Maybe they can make a little better match the second time around.

If he is distractable from watching the small dog, and will come away/come to you then he is really "cat workable." If he stares, gets overly excited, drools, chatters his teeth, and won't stop staring unless you drag him from the room - then you have a problem. For a cat workable dog, all you need to do is KEPP CONSISTENLY CORRECTING him. It doesn't take a huge correction - just enough to stop the behavior. And then treat like mad! Takes patience and time, but he will get better. Use the squirt bottle if necessary, redirection to a toy or to do a command, and treat and praise when he does it and when he's acting good around the IG.