Time4ANap

Run-free, Lou.

Sounds like you need to do some alone-training so she can have the run of the house. Search the site for "alone training" and there should be lots of good info, Most greyhounds hate being behind closed doors in one room, and have been known to destroy mattresses and other furniture when locked behind closed doors. In most cases, doing alone-training and giving the run of the house, or most of the house where they can see what's going on takes care of a large number of these issues. You can still muzzle with giving run of the house, but eventually you may find that you have adopted the Houdini of muzzles. Are you leaving a tv or radio on when you leave? Blocking outside noises with tv or music also helps them when left alone so they don;t hear every little noise and think that someone is home.

The only solution is what was said above. Walk until she goes. You can't expect a hound to hold it all day. Make sure that the morning walks are "all business" - no stopping to sniff etc. Set the expectation by teaching the word "Potty" or whatever word you want to use for that, but refer to the morning walk as "Let's go Potty" instead of "Let's Go For A Walk." Afternoon /evening walks can be fun time, but morning walks can be potty walks.

What the rep told you doesn't really make sense, but it doesn't surprise me that you found a tick either. I think any tick repellent can only be so effective, and it wouldn't surprise me if ticks are becoming resistant to the chemicals we use to deter or kill them. It seems to happen with all insects over time. If your boy is running around your yard, I would use the Adams tick spray that you hook to the garden hose and spray the yard and shrubs. If you are picking them up on walks, then the only course of action is diligent searching when you get back. If you don't have one, pick up a Tick Key. They make tick removal really easy. Hope your boy is better soon!

Rocket send lots of good thoughts for Violet from da dezzert.

Fixed that for ya.

Oh sure - throw kg into the equation with Americans.... Seriously though - Rocket gets a total of 3 1/2 cups per day. He is a big boy at 87 lbs. I usually say that one, 28 lb bag averages out to 3 weeks. It may be 2 1/2, it might be 3 weeks and a day or two. It's somewhere in there because I haven't tracked it to an exact number of days. I order his food from Amazon, Wag, or Chewy depending on who has the best price, but lately that's been Amazon since we don't have a minimum order for free shipping using Amazon Prime. Right now I have 2 bags on the shelf and the open bag in the kibble container. So looking at the shelf, I tell myself that I have 6 weeks of food on hand. I keep at least one bag on the shelf at all times just in case we would run into production issues or shipping issues when ordering, so that we never truly run out of food.

EDIT - I had posted info about a member that you might want to contact who had a Retired Racer who is a Disability Service Dog. From other online posts that I found it appears that she has passed away. I have deleted her contact info, but there is a great deal of info online about her journey with her service dog. She wrote lots of articles in order to pass on information to others who were interested in Greyhounds as service dogs. Here are links to Twitter and some of the articles where she posted. https://twitter.com/aroundwthehound http://www.ottumwacourier.com/news/local_news/good-dog-bad-dog-loose-dogs-raise-concerns/article_0983dfb3-9a7e-56fe-bdfc-e18bacf4de12.html https://documentingme.net/

"Her vulva looks SO much better. " - words you never want to see in your internet history. Good to hear that Skye is doing better.

If you mean a true service dog where he performs tasks that you can't, or alerts to a medical issue, there have been a few members here over the years who have trained retired racers to be service dogs,, but most that we know of are no longer active on GreyTalk. We do get several visitors each year inquiring about using a greyhound for this type of task. Some will do well, and some are truly "already retired." If you are referring to a Therapy Dog that requires a Canine Good Citizen Test or other similar training to be allowed to do hospital, nursing home or school visits, we have lots of those here on the site and those folks will introduce themselves. It seems that lots of retired racers have a second career making lots of people smile, and they do it well. There may be a few here that are also Emotional Support Dogs. We mostly have retired racers as pets here, with the majority of any "service dogs" being those that do therapy visits to medical patients of many types and to schools as reading companions or other types of visits with children,

Thanks. He does get paws wiped when we come in, and just had a bath in the last couple weeks. He puts his whole body into the bushes, and squats into the low bushes, so it's hard to wipe down everything when we come in. He'll get another bath with the oatmeal shampoo this weekend.

I second the Oratene water additive. We've used it for several years because Rocket does not cooperate with having his teeth brushed. He had his first dental in 7 years last December because he was having some other surgery, and all they had to do was remove a little bit of calculus, and clean and polish. No extractions, no other issues noted. I buy it on Amazon. If you look at other brands of water additives, use caution. Some of them have Xylitol in them, which is poisonous for dogs.

Post the area you live in. You may be surprised to find someone here, or a member who knows another greyhound near you. The greyhound world is actually much smaller than many people realize. A play date or having another hound over for a weekend would be the best way to gauge how she will react. Many of these dogs are actually "greyhound snobs," and won't give other breads so much as a second look. Rocket is one of those, but when he sees another grey, he is all about meeting them.

Thanks for the replies. I gave it to him last night and he had a more restful night. Much less licking during the night. He is on Tylan for the tummy, so we are always watching for stomach issues and tummy gurgles. The allergy med only lasts about 4 hours, so I will be talking to the vet about using something with a little longer duration. This hasn't been much of an issue for several years since the big ragweed outbreak when we were in the Midwest, so we need to revisit it with the new vet anyway. Thanks again. The replies were a huge help!

Run free, Lucky.

Thanks, Jan. I did some searching but didn't find the "Ask A Vet" result that you found. He seems to be licking a lot at night, so I'm assuming that the itching is keeping him from sleeping. He's had no reaction to either medicaiton in the past. His allergy to ragweed is horrible. When we lived in IL there was a ragweed bloom all over the area, and every dog that we encountered on our walks was on allergy meds at the time. Rocket had his lifetime allowance of Prednisolone in one allergy season.

Rocket has been licking more than usual, primarily along the points where his "tuck" meets his torso on both sides and toward his manly area. I'm suspecting that pollen is the culprit since he lifts his legs on every bush and leans into the bushes when we walk, and in the back yard. Right now Ragweed Pollen is very high here, and in the past his ragweed allergy kicked into high gear when we lived in the Midwest. He is currently on Tylan twice a day for his stomach, and Rimadyl twice a day since he started having a great deal of stiffness when getting up and walking. His normal med for the ragweed issue is Chlorpheneramine (Chlor-Trimeton). In searching online I haven't been able to determine any interaction since Rimadyl is not a human med, it is not in the drug interaction databases. I will put a call in to the Vet tomorrow to see if he can be given the allergy med, but was wondering if anyone had a source where I can check for interactions online between these 2 since one is exclusively a Veterinary medication. I would like to give him some relief from the itching tonight if I can, but won't until I know for sure about the safety of doing so. Thanks.

I'm so sorry for your sudden loss. Run-free, sweet Corinna.

I wouldn't rule out a piece of rawhide. They have been known to cause problems, as can bones or other hard objects. I prefer to give Bully Sticks for chewing, as they are more digestible, although there can still be an issue if the dog bites off a large chunk. The ones from Best Bully Sticks are used by many owners here. If you can get her in before Sunday, I would, simply because it's already been an issue for a few days. . She may need some stomach meds. Diarrhea can also lead to dehydration so be sure to be alert for that as well. We've had our share of $200 tummy aches at the vet, so understand the concern about cost, Typically if 72 hours has passed and things aren't better, I usually head to the vet. Good luck.

A vet exam is going to be the only way to know for sure what's going on. Make sure that your vet has greyhound experience, and if they don't find one who does. There are things with these dogs where the word "normal" doesn't apply to greyhounds like it does to other breeds. Some of these hounds have worms when coming off the track that takes multiple treatments to deal with. A negative fecal only means there was no sign of worms in that one stool. We've all been through something similar, and it can take some time to identify and treat a parasite if there is one. One test just doesn't cut it. I'd also be worried that she ate something she shouldn't and has a blockage of some sort based on your description. Hopefully, it is something minor, but a hands-on exam and some bloodwork, or maybe x-rays etc is needed depending on what the vet suspects the problem to be. Better to go now than have it turn into an emergency later. Hope your girl is feeling better soon.

What a sweet, handsome boy. I'm so sorry he had to leave. Run free, Pulsar.

Yup. Rocket has gotten somewhat talkative and whiny at times. He'll be 11 next month. He's figured out that we respond to heavy panting, assuming that he needs to go out or that something is wrong. He likes to start that at about sunrise now when he doesn;t want to stay in the bedroom but also doesn't want to be in the living room alone, so he pants until one of us gets up and goes to the living room so we can watch him sleep. That's my boy. Attn:Lexie, come get your husband!

Honestly, I'd find a new vet. There's too much bad advice coming out of yours. Others have responded with good info, so I won't repeat that.

I am so sorry that Mama Grandy had to leave. She charmed all of us when we watched her puppies arrive and followed her journey as well as theirs to their forever home. Run free, sweet Grandy.

We keep this bloat symptom chart on our refrigerator so that we have quick access. http://www.bmd.org/bmdcr/bloat_chart.pdf