kolarik1

Agnes was adorable, so sorry for your loss. Sending hugs.

Such a handsome boy! Love Dobes.... So very sorry for your loss.

Yeah, everyone always loved her name.... I shortened it to Z, or Miss Lyn or Lyn-Lyn when talking to her. She knew her full name meant trouble and she tended not to get into trouble much. The last couple of months I had to say her whole name just to get her attention, she was that senile. And she always made sure to know where I was at the last 2 - 3 months.

Thanks everyone. She was one of a kind, bat ears and all. The vets office, which it was my first time there, even sent a rainbow bridge card and signed the office staff name. I don't picture her as much everywhere lately, but I still have to stop myself from calling her for potty with the others...after 11.5 years her name just rolls off my tongue.

I'm still in disbelief that my heart dog is gone...I can still picture her everywhere in the house, and expect her to wake me up in the night to go potty as she wasn't able to hold it very long the last few months. Memorial weekend she started having diarrhea and just when I thought we might have turned the corner, it got worse. I was hoping she would make it to her 14th birthday, but God had other plans...she even tried to fight the sedative and euthanasia meds to stay here. My ceiling fan wary, paw stomping, demanding diva red brindle girl is gone. The other 3 are each grieving her in their own way, yet seem to be doing fairly well since they have each other. Right now I am so thankful I took the opportunity to get her top 10 races so that I can see her over and over again, in addition to all the pictures I have of her throughout the years.

My 2 youngest were flunkees....they retired at age 14 and 14.5 months......I now only want adult dogs, as in age 2.5 years or older! I had fostered some pups who were around age 13 - 15 months before my boys, but they were from different bloodlines! The bloodlines of my boys go back to a sire who was known to have pups that were hard to train at the track (coming from a former greyhound trainer/now vet). I kid you not, if things weren't tied down, my boys would take them out through the dog door WITH THEIR GREYHOUND MUZZLES ON! Same person also told me greyhounds don't really "grow a brain" until age 4 and if they flunked, at least in this bloodline, that definitely seems true! Thankfully my one boy is now 6.5 years and the other will be 4 in July....and I finally seem to be coming out of the puppy antic terror zone. I probably could write a book on what the boys put me through...I probably even earned some gray hairs over it! My other 3 greyhounds were adopted between 2.5 - 3.5 years of age....PERFECT age! All 5 of mine have loved kids, and it helped that I would give kids dog treats to give to the pups. However, I also expected the kids to respect the dogs as others have mentioned. Also, greyhounds don't have the body fat of other breeds, so they can't really have the rough/tumble that other breeds can, and don't particularly care for kids falling/tripping on them FWIW, I had a german shepherd puppy show up across from my driveway yesterday....probably 3 months in age. My heart broke as I felt it was my recently passed pup's way of telling me she was ok (that's a different story), but I in no way have the time for that young of a pup right now. I am grieving her, as are my 3 pups that I currently have...so spending time with them is my top priority.

Zelda aka Zelda Uhl 6/24/05 - 5/28/19

Darn! LOL...kidding. I wanted to make sure that was something working as expected/built as you wanted it, rather than the system just choosing not to behave. I have to figure out which pup my profile pic is before I even think about wanting to change it.

I didn't see it in the thread so far: Profile Photo --> is anyone else able to upload a different one? My old profile photo transferred and when I click the little image button to upload a new one I receive the below pop-up. Clicking continue only allows me to edit the current photo that I have. I do not see anything such as a "choose/select new file" button on the screen.

Pups need time to settle and always pick up on your moods. My current oldest will be 14 in June (I adopted her at age 2.5) and even to this day she is the one who feeds the most off of my mood...if I stress, then she stresses...then I worry about her not doing well, then she worries about me. So you just need to relax, let your pup settle in, and keep showing him love/play with toys. Gradually introduce new experiences as others have said. I currently have 4 of my own, each with their own personality and I've had several fosters. Each pup settles in their own time, and needs time to adjust to new experiences.

Another thing, if you want to keep your pup close to you, to allow the cats to acclimate, I used to keep a leash on the new dog and attach the leash to me. This helps twofold...dog can't chase the cats AND you can learn your dog's potty signals. Agree with others that he is in the crate too long at night. And I get where you are coming from with the cat sleeping on your bed. My cat sleeps on my bed and when I fostered, newbies got muzzles at night until I knew they'd leave cat alone. I also put a gate across my bedroom door so the cat could hide under the bed or escape the room and the hound couldn't. New hounds, especially only hounds, don't like to be alone/separated from their new pack. Squirt bottles work greyt too. Sounds like your pup wants to play, and as others have stated, that young of a pup will need to exercise. I do put water in the dog crates for my pups, as I had a vet told me once not to withhold liquids or it could potentially cause UTIs. However, if a dog is having issues with peeing, I just put a little bit of water in the crate. Also, you could put a belly band on your pup when he's in the crate. My oldest wears diapers, and she will still go in her crate if I am not home...she seems to only really hold it for 5 hours or so at a time now. So I am guaranteed to wake up during the night to let her out...but at age 13.5 years I don't mind.

Wait, where are the PB outlets? Northern TX? Darn just checked and the one here is almost a 5 hour drive north of me

I had a Dodge Caliber that I could haul 3 hounds in til a teen hit me 3 years ago. Then I leased a Ford Flex....awesome as it can easily fit 6 - 7 hounds, but massive gas hog...and it had a ton of sensor issues. I just purchased a Subaru Forester yesterday! The hounds haven't been in it *yet* but it is my everyday car and the houndmobile...I have no doubt all 4 of my hounds will be able to fit in there plus my cat in her carrier in the front seat. I have a 74 lbs male, a ~70 lbs male, a ~70 lb female and Zelda was about 58 lbs at last weigh in (She's 13.5 years of age now). I'm hoping this new Forester lasts me at least 10 years, which will get me through all 4 hounds. The Forester I got, when I fold the 2nd row flat, has something to cover the space between the 2nd row and the cargo area. Plus one thing I love about Subarus is they have the plastic tray that goes on the back of the 2nd row. And one thing the salesman made sure to point out to me to prove Subaru had made the updated Forester more "dog friendly" is that the back doors open fully to 90 degrees. I just couldn't bring myself to get a minivan, especially if I want to drive out on the beach here in STX. I'd rather have AWD and decent gas mileage. I didn't go for the Ascent as I had 3rd row seating in the Flex that I literally never used in 3 years and the dogs had tons of extra space. So rather than drive around a huge vehicle every day, I went for the Forester.

Good to know about the alternatives as my youngest ate his seresto collar when it got off...luckily no reaction to that. Eden is quite a stinker at times. I'm still using the seresto collars, but in case it doesn't work anymore here in RGV, then it's good to know of other methods.

Has anyone had laser therapy done on their pups? There are literally no chiropractic vets here in the RGV...when talking to the vet today, she said I may have to go as far as San Antonio to find one (4 hour drive one way). However, they were recommending laser therapy to reduce inflammation/pain and indicated they have seen good results. I've done some research on it and wanted to know what y'all thought? This would be for Zelda, who at 13 is going strong except for pee/poop accidents that seem to subside when on pain meds. She had a full workup recently and her spine looked better than mine, and her CBC panel came back darn near perfect...and no indicators of cancer. She does have arthritis in her front paws. This may also be for Marble, who is showing some arthritis signs in one of her back paws. TIA

Hi Everyone, I posted on FB as well and received some responses (thank you everyone). I will be traveling Nov 27 thru Dec 15 for work. Is there anyone who could watch all/part of my pack? I have 2 males (2 & 5 years old) and 2 females (7 & 12 years). I'm going to check with kennels and pet sitters in my area, but it's much harder to find sitters in the Rio Grande Valley. I'm in Harlingen TX and am willing to drive a few hours, I'm thinking up towards San Antonio/Austin, or East/West from where I'm at. TIA Stacey

Eden, well...he's progressing. He finally made it out of the crate about a month ago and he respects *most* gates now. I had to upgrade to a ProSelect Empire crate with 3/4" steel bars to contain him...aka Alcatraz. Now when he's in trouble or wants his food, he goes in to his crate as he knows he has time outs. He was getting in to a lot of things while I remodeled my house, so he would go in to the crate so I wouldn't have to chase him, literally. He is fed in his crate so he doesn't steal the others food, although Zelda doesn't take any crap from the others stealing her food. Carmel tolerates him, although he's learned when the cat is bothering me and will chase her down the hallway to shush her...they get along, but they also understand each other! I made the mistake while remodeling, before Eden was loose out of the crate, of putting his crate next to my leather chair...he ripped a nice hole at the top and tossed the green fluff everywhere by dinnertime. He also seems to be fear reactive in some situations, and when injured he won't hesitate to snarl/snap. He almost got me the other night as I looked at his sore paw, he yelped...so I went to put on his muzzle and that's when he tried. So I now know to muzzle first before attempting to look at his injured paw. And he's turned in to quite the bruiser puppy! He's muscled up a lot, is up to 70 lbs at last weigh in, and is nearly as tall/long as Noah...and Eden just turned 2! Noah kept growing til almost age 3, so we'll see where Eden ends up.

Once he was officially a pack member, I tried to get him to cuddle on my lap and instead he tried to dominate me...so I promptly pushed him onto the floor. Well all week he has put one paw on the couch when I'm there as if to ask "may I please cuddle mom?" I finally let him try again last night for a cuddle, and he quickly laid down (I guess he's been taking notes from Marble and Noah)....then he couldn't figure out how to get his hind end up on the couch, so he flopped over and ended up sliding out of my lap while giving me lovey dovey eyes.....he is definitely a ham.

Zelda ignores his puppy antics unless he tries to steal her food, then she snarls. Otherwise, he can push her out of the way and she takes it...which is a first for her as she's alpha, but is now 11 1/2. Marble tends to be more food motivated like Eden, so she has a partner in crime for telling ME when they will eat, not the other way around. And they both have to have slow feed bowls or they inhale. Noah makes sure he gets his fair share of attention, but is doing really well with another boy in the house. He's been really pretty good with him and would love if Eden would run with him...so far, Eden has managed circles like a reining horse before sitting Carmel is a little wary as he'll trot after her. He REALLY wanted to see her in the dining room the other day (he is getting better about gates, so he didn't knock it down to go see her). I moved the gate, he went in to see her and a loud HISS...he came running back to me. He literally wouldn't go back in the dining room until I did, and then he stuck by my side just in case kitty hissed again...he's a big baby about cats, but he has been bullied by them previously. They've touched noses with me petting Carmel, and it's almost like he really wants to hang out with her on his terms, but doesn't appreciate cats walking up to him when he's laying down.

He knows it too! Too bad he stresses himself out in the crate which causes his face to itch. He's in the phase of gates don't apply to him, hopefully he works through it soon.

I made the FB pic public so you should be able to see him now.

While I've been a member of GT for years, starting with my first greyhound Pop (bridge angel) and then my 2nd greyhound Zelda, who is 11 1/2 and I fear will be going to the bridge in the next year - although I'm hoping I have a few more years with her...I have since added to my pack. I need to update my signature to include the newest member of the pack. I helped bring Eden and a few other dogs back from Kansas a couple of months ago and he pulled at my heart strings then, but I said "no" and wouldn't foster him. Due to circumstances, I ended up fostering him beginning Thanksgiving weekend and he has in turn blossomed. He fell in love with my pack, cat and I...he even tried to protect me from my dad during the night over Christmas (if the house is dark and my dad attempts to go to the bathroom, Eden barks/growls). My pack and I love him, even the cat is ok with him (she has paddled his butt when he trotted after her). I haven't flunked fostering since Noah, and only fostered a few times after Noah. After Noah's puppyhood, I swore NO MORE puppies...well Eden is 17 months and has similar bloodlines on one side to Noah. I still question my sanity at times, but at least I know what to expect. Other pups around age 14 - 16 months I've fostered haven't had similar antics to these two. He hates the crate, but can't be trusted loose with a muzzle yet (currently gates don't apply to him - his thought process and a phase Noah went through). The next year will be long and full of figuring out Eden's next attempts at outsmarting me LOL. I am looking forward to him being 2 1/2 to 3 years old and turning in to a nice young houndie like Noah did... Welcome home handsome... Picture of Eden with his new collar (from Crazy Collars)

I'm not really a fan of meds, human or pet, unless absolutely necessary - with that said, my oldest does take meds for arthritis and seizures. He may be lonely and want a friend, any chance you could have a 2nd dog? Even just to test the theory out? Have you tried giving him a kong filled with frozen peanut butter to keep him busy for a little bit while you're gone? Otherwise, it all takes time to work through SA.

Out of my current 3, my "middle" child aka Marble is completely healthy (knock on wood). My youngest, Noah is essentially healthy, as long as I keep him on his salmon/pea recipe from Sam's Club, with limited treats. Every couple of months, his belly will gurgle and I give him a Zantac twice a day for a couple of days. You have to remember, as everyone ages, they will end up with issues. My oldest, Zelda, has had Arthritis for about 5 years now, along with seizures...I get her meds from Sam's Club as it's much cheaper. She gets pills twice a day, but other than that, easy peasy...she and Marble are on Eukanuba Senior and are loving it.

Dogs pick up on your nonverbal cues, so it's possible that he was picking up on your nervousness. Don't look at it as an "OMG there's kids coming!" but rather a relaxed "hey, cute kids" and instruct the kids to hold their hands out and let him sniff before they even pet him. Also, generally greyhounds will growl, air snap, then bite (progression) but that's not to say they won't go straight for a bite if they feel threatened enough. I try to introduce my dogs to kids (since I don't have kids) who are well behaved and let the kids have dog treats. That way, the dog associates the child with positive items.