greysmom

I was pointed out to me today that I have been remiss in introducing our new girl. She's been home since 9/7 so I think she's here to stay!! After Atom crossed the Bridge in June we were really missing that kind of energy in the house. And losing him the way we did - to a congenital heart issue - was really wrenching. He was so young and had a whole life ahead of him that was cut so short. We kind of felt cheated out of all the years we weren't going to have him. So we began to look for another young dog - though KNOT another puppy!!! Our group, like most adoption groups, is really hurting for dogs. The Florida situation and having so many breeders and trainers getting out of the business means there's not the supply of greyhounds out there - particularly in the opposite corner of the country from where most of the dogs are right now. Plus, there's a waiting list of people 20-30 deep, who have put in their applications and paid their money to get a dog. So I started looking at other types of rescues, other breeds, even other countries for a suitable new family member. Nothing seemed like the right fit. On a whim, I contacted Atom's breeder in Kansas to see if any of his litter were going to flunk out of training. She said no, but that there was one sister who she was keeping at the farm due to a minor injury. And we said we'd take her! It was more tyhan a month of waiting before a haul could get arranged and filled, and then the hauling truck broke down in some small town and there was another week of delay! But she finally got here, and we are totally smitten! Here she is at the kennel that day the haul came in. 20190907_184727 by Chris Harper, on Flickr 20190907_160435 by Chris Harper, on Flickr And at home later 20190907_210351 by Chris Harper, on Flickr 20190912_112856 by Chris Harper, on Flickr And a picture of Atom for comparison. 20190604_143333 by Chris Harper, on Flickr Despite them being separated very young - Atom was 12 weeks old when we got him last year - they are *very* much alike! She's got a little softer personality, and doesn't have his boldness, but their expression and mannerisms are really similar. Even her barking voice sounds a lot like his! And she is seriously one of the most gorgeous dogs I've ever seen! Pictures do NOT do her justice. Technically, I think she's listed as a red fawn, but she's so heavily sabled all over that she looks dun in some lights. We are just smitten with our new princess!!

We have been having a discussion in the WFUBCC about our super seniors, and super angels, and how old our sweet kids have been when they've passed over the Rainbow Bridge. We didn't actually realzie we had so many of our dogs who were not just 10 years old, or 11 years old, but 12 years old and beyond! Some are having issues and some are thriving, but they are all sweet and super and deserving of way more face time than we give them! So post your pictures of your old dogs!!! Let us see those white faces and shaky hind ends! Let's talk about memory foam beds and tempting them with baby food and watching them run around the yard with your heart in your throat and a smile on your face!!! LET'S HAVE A PARTY AND CELEBRATE OUR SUPER SENIORS!!!!!!!!!! Here's a couple pictures of Whiskey, who turned 12 on June 9th!! 20190916_134949 by Chris Harper, on Flickr Senior stink eye 20190725_112222 by Chris Harper, on Flickr Upside down!! 20190625_141052 by Chris Harper, on Flickr Such a sweet face! 20190620_224905 by Chris Harper, on Flickr

Sure. As long as you commit to spending time with your dog the rest of the hours of the day, getting them adequate exercise and socialization, and keeping them generally happy and healthy. Lots of single people do exactly that quite successfully. It's called living a real life with a dog - any dog, not just greyhounds. But, be aware, that a lot of adoption groups are (IMO) overly protective and will not adopt a dog into those circumstances. It's just cutting off their nose to spite their face, again, IMO. So you may need to be extra persuasive, or ask around in your area for a more realistic adoption group. When you find one that will work with you, make sure they know that you need a dog who will be OK being by himself for most of the day. Especially if you live in an apartment, you need a dog with no, or easily workable separation anxiety. A group that fosters their dogs will know this better than a kennel based one. Good luck!

Happy Gotcha Day you lucky lucky girls!!!

Question: We just adopted a 19 month old sister to our puppy we lost in June. They are full sibs and littermates. Our puppy, Atom was never registered, even though he was tattooed, since he came to us at 12 weeks old. His sister, Andi, did some preliminary training at her farm with the other siblings, but hurt herself and was held back when the rest went to finishing in Florida. The owners are getting out of the business now due to the Florida situation, and she was the last one on the farm, so they said we could adopt her. Anyway - they haven't sent in her registration paperwork to NGA (and I can't - yet - find any of the rest of her litter). Is it possible to add her to GD even though she isn't officially registered? (I may have asked a similar question about Atom last year! But I'm thinking about doing some sporting events with her - straight line racing and maybe lure coursing depending on how she does - so I need some sort of ownership papers to get her signed up with the AKC for that.) I am in touch with her former owners/breeders as well, so I'm trying to figure out what to do!

At this point you've reinforced your way into an unbeatable situation - she wants/needs to have a person to sleep with, but your partner's sensitivity makes sleeping in the bedroom impossible. I'm just curious how he deals with the normal sounds of a house at night? Is he constantly waking up when the furnace or air comes on, or when the refrigerater cycles? Is every sound one he needs to hear? Sorry, I don't mean to be snarky, but if you wanted her to get used to sleeping on her own, you needed to bite the bullet right at the beginning. You would have had a few night's of interrupted sleep as she settled into a new routine. Now you are looking at probably a couple weeks to break her old habits and get her used to a new sleeping arrangement. But it's doable if you can stick through it. It's more common in the UK to not have your dogs sleep in the same room with you, so it's something that happens regularly over there. I would definitely try the baby gate or other see through barrier at your bedroom door first. She may be just fine if she can walk down the hall and check on you rather than seeing a closed door. Completely ignore her during this trial - no talking to her or anything. It will be hard on all parties. If that's not going to be the solution, I would suggest your partner move his sleeping area for a week or so. Give her time to settle into a new routine in a new place with you in the regular bedroom. Use the baby gate to keep her in that space and have your partner close the door to wherever he is sleeping so he's not a part of this transition. Then, when she is calmly sleeping through the night, you can try reintegrating the sleeping arrangements. Good luck!

Bea!!!!

Sweep!

Too high a protein level can also cause gas and tummy pains, which could contribute to her restlessness and anxiety. Most pet dogs don't need a high protAgility - unless you're going to be training for performance sports like lure coursing or agility, the extra, unused protein is just excreted. You end up paying a premium for high protein pee! In addition, many higher protein foods are also grain free, and until the FDA sorts out why dogs are developing heart issues after eating grain free food, I would stick with a good mid level, @20% protein, grain inclusive food.

First off, you need to change your mindset. A growl is just a vocalization - one of the few dogs can make - to express themselves and communicate with those around them. It isn't aggressive or angry in and of itself, and like most sounds from dogs is very dependent on the situation. I would say this behavior is beginning now because she is settling into her new home and feeling more comfortable, so she's starting to express herself more. Many dogs, of all breeds, sometimes have difficulty with men (especially if they have beards, for whatever reason, but not always). They are larger, often move more strongly, have deeper more threatening voicess, and they often aren't as involved in the day to day care of the dogs in their homes. So they first thing your bf can do is to do more for the dog - walking, feeding, brushing, turnouts, play and training. He also needs to move a little slower and make sure your dog is awake and aware of him (specifically) before he moves into her space. The last thing is to NOT take her growling personally - it's just communication - but of the behavior continues or escaltes beyond where you are comfortable, contact your group for a recommendation for a certified canine behaviorist, who uses *only* positive reinforcement, in your area to come and observe your interactions and give you some better advice in person.

What is your DH doing when he's home with them and you come home?? He could be doing a lot to counter condition them in the moment. The easiest is to distract them from excitement zoomies by offering a longer lasting, really yummy treat. This will work best if you can call/text and give him a heads up. He can also try and take them outside, or into another - safer - space for their fun time. But really, this is a good - great! - sign! I would try to just be happy with and for them!

Neurological issues are a possibility no matter what treatment you choose, so my opinion is just to try one - maybe one she has had in the past - and see what happens. FWIW we have used Trifexis without any trouble and it takes care of everything. The potential damage from fleas/ticks/heartworm almost completely outweighs any risk taken on in getting rid of them for me. Use what's most effective for your dog in your area for your particular problem. Hookworms have been particularly resistant to treatment lately so look over the various threads here to get an idea of what you're in for.

Happy Everything Day!!!!!!

Our boy Copper once took a whole bag of Thanksgiving dinner rolls out of a grocery bag. By the time I got to that bag and realized the dinner rolls weren't in it, he had the living room covered in crumbs and plastic wrap, and all 12 dinner rolls were gone!! Needless to say, yard cleanup was interesting for a few days!

She's just trying to make sure you do the recycling correctly!!!!

It sounds like you don't have a regular vet of your own?? A specialist is almost always going to recommend a test or scan. A regular vet may have a better - simpler - take on what's going on, by virtue of having dealt with something similar before. Did the vet - either one - do a needle aspiration to see what's in the lump? They can even look at it in their office under the microscope to identify the type of cells they pulled out. FNAs aren't foolproof because you need to hit the right spot, but it's an easy and cheaper way to begin than even an xray (definitely than a ct scan). A regular xray may not tell you much due to the dense bones in the head, but I might go that route as well. This could be something simple like an abcessed tooth or lipoma, or something bad like a fast growing tumor, so you really do need to get it sorted sooner rather than later.

I think they learn it from each other!!! I'm on grey number 11 and all of them except the first one have barked like labs at everything!!!

So cute!!!!

LILA!!!!!!!! You're a super star!!!!!!

I knew it was magic!!!

SID!!!!

It will be difficult to impossible to actually change her prey drive behavior, which is something that is hard wired into their physical and mental make up. One thing that will help is to limit her outdoor time. Give her something fun to do inside that will take up some time - long lasting (safe) chews, playing with a toy or ball inside, bursts of short training sessions. You can also take her for car rides to different places to try and use up some of her energy, or try obedience classes. A dog with her prey drive will probably enjoy something like lure coursing or straight line racing - non competitive akc events that will give her an outlet other than hunting. And as much as she loves it, I would probably limit her outdoor time. If she doesn't have access to the squirrels the behavior may extinguish itself over (a long) time. My 12+ year old still stalks and chases squirrels/birds/outdoor cats, though he has no chance of catching them anymore. You should also think about what you might do if she actually does catch one and start teaching her the command to "drop it!" or "leave it!"

As stated above, one of the very first things that should have been tried was a medically supervised food trial, as a lot of IBD in dogs is the result of an allergy or intolerance to a particular ingredient. If you speak with the specialist again this should be your first question. This is how we discovered our dog had a severe chicken intolerance at the root of all her symptoms, exacerbated by a bad infestation of hookworm as a puppy that devastated her intestinal tract. Our diet-related ibd dog can not have *any* chicken, at all. Not even hydrolyzed chicken protein. Not even that one food made from feathers. Absolutely none. Which is extremely difficult to find in a commercial food, especially kibble. It becomes even more complicated if you add in the restrictions from the on-going diet related DCM issues, as most limited ingredient foods substitute legumes and sweet potatoes, which are the main culprits in this diagnosis, to date anyway. But since we eliminated it from her diet completely her symptoms gradually improved. Gradually as in a couple years, not months or weeks or days. It's a very long haul. During that time we did do acupuncture and holistic Chinese medicine with her. We had a practitioner who was licensed as both a regular veterinarian and an acupuncture provider. IBD and intestinal issues is one of the only diagnosis that the FDA says acupuncture is approved for treatment. We tried it on the off chance it would help - I was skeptical! - before going down the steroid route. Within three weeks of beginning her needle treatments, her vomiting and nausea went away, along with her car sickness. We did 6 weeks of weekly needle sessions, then another 3 months (I think) of every other week sessions, and tapered down from there over the rest if the first year. After those first four months she was dramatically better and continued to improve. At 4-5 months into treatment, our practitioner added in holistic Chinese herbal medicine to help calm her gut and ease her anxiety. These continued for another 6-8 months and then we began to taper those too. I did a home cooked diet during the first 6 months of treatment consisting of Turkey, whole oatmeal for carbs and fiber, various veggies and greens, and adzuki beans. I just popped everything in the crock pot and made a weeks worth of food every Sunday. After six months I had found several commercial LIDs (limited ingredient diets), and finally found one she liked well enough. I've had to switch her a couple times due to manufacturing changes, but I can tell right away if there's an issue from the quality of her stool. It's not normal poop, by any means - funny color, weird consistency - but it's normal for her! And it's not diarrhea! It's formed and pick-up-able. As long as I dont mess with anything in her diet and keep her on a strict eating schedule. My husband also has IBD, so we are pretty used to dealing with it in our house. I too am wondering about the chlorambucil, as there are simpler (and probably cheaper) options out there. Azathioprine and sulfasalazine are immunosuppressants that are usually tried first. It's important to remember that IBD, even if it's diet related, is an immune system disease that can be extremely difficult to find answers for, and each individual is going to react to treatment as their bodies dictate. Sorry this is so long! Good luck!

A lot of your behavior training with special ed children will help you figure out how to help Potter. It's my opinion, having had a "spook" for many years, that they are very much like autistic children - in their own world, repetitive behaviors, don't respond to personal names, don't bond with siblings/friends, need a strict daily schedule to be comfortable. Then layer some real life trauma on top of that and you have a huge challenge on your hands. Search here for T&B threads on spooks for more ideas. I've forgotten if you said you've tried anti anxiety meds. Sometimes they help and sometimes they don't and sometimes it can take a lo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ng time to find the right one at the right dose. I would explore this a bit more with your vet. If your vet isn't comfortable with this much in depth discussion, you might see if a canine neurologist will do a records review for you and perhaps suggest some avenues to try to you and your vet.