Sundrop

Hi all, We have a seizure dog and she is on phenobarbital. Despite that, she had a pretty horrible seizure on October 30. She was in bed with me, which almost never happens, but my husband zonked out on the couch so I thought, "What the heck? She can sleep with me!" Fast-forward to 3:00 AM and I wake up to what I am convinced is an earthquake, only to find her shaking uncontrollably next to me. At first, I thought it was a running-dream, but alas, it was a major seizure. Our previous vet gave us liquid valium as something that might help calm her and prevent clusters. We administered this (rectally). So, we wanted to get another dose... We go to a different vet now and had to talk to a pharmacist, a vet tech and 2 vets before finally getting another syringe with liquid valium. Our previous vet gave us a little "kit" - complete with the syringe, valium and catheter attached - we just had to open and use. The new vet only gave us the syringe w/ valium. Question 1: What kind of catheter should we get and where can we get this? Question 2: The dose we got from the new vet is 3 ML, and though we are not exactly sure, we remember the "old" dose was 5 ML (or some variation of 5, maybe 5.1 or something). For a 65 lb greyhound, what is the appropriate dose? Since we had to (basically) beg our new vet to get this, we are feeling like this isn't correct. Was she given too high a dose from our initial vet, or not enough from the new vet? Thanks!

Hi all, thanks for the replies! In response to JJNg - we've always practiced "Down" before walks with all of our dogs as a way of keeping things calm and happy. They want a walk, and they have to be calm and "down" before we'll go - we have a "free dog!" command that we give to set them free when they are okay to come out and walk with us. He learned down really quickly, and though he doesn't Sphinx when he goes down, he never appears to have any issues or be in pain at all. He'll go down immediately when treats are around, but we're trying to get away from that, as it was just his reward when initially learning the command. We're going back to using it intermittently and he seems to be improving. No other changes at all - environmental or otherwise. It's just my husband and me (no kids) and our other greyhound - and nothing has changed, no new furniture or arrangements in the house. As far as taking away his food bowl, we only did this when we first got him to test to see if he was okay with it. I had to do it one other time because he eats like a wild maniac and one night he was choking on his food, so I had to take the bowl away. We've done the same with treats & toys - again, to test him. This isn't something we do on a regular basis, but yes, we wanted to see if he showed signs of aggression. We have a correction sound we make, almost like a buzzer. It's never hostile or angry, just the sound. When he followed me the other night, the bathroom door was closed and he was standing outside growling. I tried speaking to him at first, just saying, "Hey buddy, it's me" so he'd hear my voice - then I opened the door so he could see me and he continued growling. I gave the correction sound, not very loud since my husband was asleep and said "hey Finn, it's me buddy" again a couple times, and when he continued growling, that's when I went to the other door to turn the light on so he could see me (and he followed to the other side to continue growling). My husband was half asleep and just said his name to "snap him out of it" - not really correcting. I didn't want anything harsh since I assumed he had no clue it was me, but since I do this pretty much every night, I didn't touch him on the way to the bathroom (the bed is in the corner, I didn't directly pass by it) - I only wanted him to know it was me. We did have a new dog check-up at the vet which showed nothing out of the ordinary. It hasn't happened again - do dogs sleep walk? Could he have been half asleep and just protecting his house and people, not realizing it was me? We have a nightlight in the hallway where he was initially growling, and there is one by his bed - not a lot of light, but we have them all over so the dogs can see at night if they need to, since we do not have a lot of street light in the house. Since I was speaking to him, and then turned a light on, I'm just amazed it didn't snap him out of it until my husband spoke - though I'm sure he was louder than me.

We adopted Finn on May 30, so we've had him less than 2 months. He turned 3 a couple weeks prior to the adoption, and the adoption group only had him there a couple of weeks (he'd just retired) and didn't have time to do any cat/small dog/children testing on him. We liked his demeanor when we met him, he seemed relaxed and wanted to hang out with us rather than run around the yard. Unfortunately, we live 1.5-2 hours away from the group's kennel - so we couldn't really come back repeatedly to truly learn personalities. He is a really sweet boy and initially we were concerned he would develop SA, as he didn't want to be apart from us for even 10 seconds. We bought a couple wireless cameras so we could watch him when we left the house and after leaving him alone (with our other greyhound) every day for varying amounts of time, he eventually learned we always come home. We never make a big deal about coming & going and now, he settles down quickly and we are able to leave when we need to. He also learned to walk on leash pretty quickly, and he learned down & wait pretty quickly. Recently, just in the past 1-2 weeks, he is refusing to go "down" before walks - something he'd mastered previously. It now takes a good 5 minutes to get him down - though when we use treats, it is immediate. I am reverting back to using treats for a week or so and slowly taking them away to see if this helps, though I find it odd that he has become so stubborn all of a sudden. This is probably totally unrelated to what happened last night... Last night, he displayed some very odd behavior that actually has me a bit worried. He is a bit of a growler - he has growled at our other greyhound, my husband and me a couple of times when we get too close to his bed. This hasn't happened a lot and it's not a regular occurrence, maybe 3-4 times with our girl, and 1-2 times with both my husband and me. He's never snapped or anything, just a growl - though the vast majority of the time, he snuggles up to us and wants us as close as possible. I try to pay attention to see if he is relaxed or giving us "crazy eyes" (as we call them) - as we've had a truly space aggressive greyhound once and we do not want to push him. It doesn't appear to be true space aggression, I think he is just adjusting to life in a home (he had just retired a few weeks prior to the adoption, so this is all very new to him). He has growled a few times with treats, too - his dog bowl, we have taken away while eating and he never growls, but 2-3 times he has growled about his treats. Otherwise, he is a total love bug - very affectionate, very nice and very friendly towards people. Last night, he and our girl were on their beds (on the floor) in our bedroom. I always "tuck them in" by coming over and giving an ear scritch, sometimes I sit on the floor with them for a minute or two for affection. When I leaned over him to pet him, he growled a little. I gave a gentle correction and it was over, but I assumed he wanted to be alone, so I didn't linger. About 45 minutes after "lights out" - I had to use the restroom, not atypical for me, so I got up and went to the bathroom. As I was going, I heard a low, extended growl coming from the hallway - I thought maybe our girl had wandered to his bed and he was warning her, but as I pushed open the bathroom door to go back to bed, Finn was standing there growling at me. I gave a correction, he didn't stop or move. I said his name and still nothing. I walked to the other door that leads directly to our bedroom as I was going to turn the light on so he could see me, and he went to that door and continued to growl at me. By this point, my husband was also awake and correcting him. After turning on the light, and when my husband physically stood up - he stopped and went back to bed - but the entire encounter actually scared me a bit. In 11 years of owning 5 different greyhounds (and having a husky as a kid for 15 years) - I've never had a dog do this to me. Our space-aggressive boy growled, snapped, barked plenty - but only when he was lying down and we got too close, too quickly. We understand that even the most gentle dog can startle and growl/snap/bark and we are always cognizant and respectful of that - but me going to the bathroom didn't even involve walking directly past his bed, which is in the corner of the room opposite the door, and it's something I do on a regular basis. My husband thought he didn't recognize me, which is odd. My concern now is that my mom is coming here for 2 weeks to watch them and the house while we are on vacation in September and this cannot happen. This was not a normal "warning" growl that is quickly over, it was extended, and he followed me into two different rooms - while I was correcting/speaking/saying his name and my husband was, as well. Any thoughts/ideas? Sorry if this is too much info!

So glad he is improving, that is great news! Hopefully he will continue to improve as time goes on!

I am so very sorry for your loss, and thank you for sharing. We occasionally get those big mushrooms in our yard, and I'll definitely make sure we get rid of them as soon as we see them.

Hope all is okay.

I've never used a "senior food" - just paid close attention to weight gain/loss and adjusted, when needed - and added supplements, when necessary. I decided recently to start joint supplements early, rather than later, so even our new 3-year-old gets them (along with our 8-year-old).

Congrats on your new addition! We've had 2 girls (including one brood) and 3 boys, and never had to watch for anything special. I remember a vet telling me a long time ago that we had to "be careful of UTIs" in our girl - but (*knock on wood*) - after 5 dogs, we've never had a UTI with any of them!

YAY!!! So happy for you!

I honestly just read this entire thread and I am now in tears. I am so very, truly sorry for this heart-breaking decision you've had to make. We lost our boy to fibrosarcoma on Easter Sunday - he had surgery only a few weeks before to remove what turned out to be a 5-lb tumor. He never rebounded - he wouldn't/couldn't eat - but he was still up and about, wanted to be with us, as sweet as ever and wanting his walks. It was a heart-wrenching decision when we finally called for in-home euthanasia. We spent that whole day just lying on the floor with him, on his bed, in the sunlight. The procedure was so very, very difficult...but we felt so much more at peace than we did with our 13.5 year old girl who had to be euthanized at the e-vet, after spending a pain-filled, terrifying night there, waking up paralyzed (due to their error) - she was in distress and we had no other choice. That is not a choice we ever want to make again - so we, too, made the decision to let Deacon go at home, peacefully, surrounding by his people, his toys, his sister, his beds, his life... his last moments were filled with love. I'm still crying for you and Spinner. My heart breaks for you.

Such a difficult topic to think about, but very necessary to ensure your pups are well taken care of, I know. Our first girl (in my avatar) was a brood and we adopted her just a few weeks after she turned 8. She loved her twice daily walks - short or long, she loved them! She was our longest-lived hound and made it to 13.5. I noticed that she started walking slower in the last year & half of her life - had to have my husband walk our boys because they walked faster & longer. The last 6 months she was pretty slow, but still very happy to go for her walks - so we just strolled - I let her set the pace completely. She would still play once in a while, too. Our first boy died just shy of his 9th birthday of a heart attack in his sleep. He had multiple heart conditions, so we had to watch him closely - but he had gone for a walk the evening he died and showed no signs of distress or slowing down at all. It was quite a shock when he died. Our second boy we just lost this past Easter - he turned 10 on March 10 and died on April 5. Unknown to us, he'd been suffering from fibrosarcoma and had a 5-lb tumor removed a week & a half after his birthday, and we lost him only a couple weeks later. Honestly, he wasn't really slowing down much at all - which is why we had no idea anything was wrong. We'd taken him to the vet a couple of times in the year prior because he would stop eating - he'd get a full work-up, they'd find nothing wrong and then he'd start eating again. It wasn't until his birthday when he totally stopped eating - no meals, no treats, nothing - that I insisted on an ultrasound and they found the tumor. Like most greys, he was a stoic guy. Our girl now will be 8 on August 1 - she's always been super mellow and never loved long walks much. She got a new little brother on May 30 (he just turned 3) and she's actually been a little more energetic. She loves to play chase with our neighbor's dog (who is also 8) and had a great play session last night at a cookout. All the neighbors were just amazed at how fast she was, but our neighbors are still convinced that their dog could've kept up with our girl "when she was younger" - I'll just let them think that.

I am so very sorry.

Good news for Finn - the more he sees stuff on our walks, the better he is becoming. We've also worked a lot on his leash manners, so I think that has helped. We are also being very consistent with his walks - twice a day, around the same time each day and for about the same length each time - we encountered the same little puppy the other day, and he was very interested and wanted to watch, but no screaming/jumping/crying like the first time. We still aren't sure whether it is high prey drive, or just high curiosity due to never seeing other dogs/animals before - but he's seen a few other dogs while out walking and again, a lot of interest - but each time, the intensity seems a little less. We have two neighbors with small dogs and we've asked both not to approach if they see us out walking, as I think he is still far too interested to be considered safe. Also, he hasn't "met" another dog yet, other than our neighbor's dog. We will see her again this weekend. I have another friend with 6 dogs, so I was going to see if perhaps we could meet one of her (very calm) golden retrievers out for a walk some night. Just taking it slow & easy, and continuing our training as we do it. He's responding very well. Also going to start doing some "look at that" training this weekend. He's picking things up really quickly - very smart, eager to please and highly food motivated. On a side note, he absolutely adores humans - the tail goes a mile a minute anytime we meet another person. Last night, some neighbors with kids were out (8-10 year old range) and he loved them as much as the adults. He wasn't phased a tiny bit by another kid riding his bike on the sidewalk, and when he saw a stroller earlier in the week, he didn't even flinch!

Hi all - I don't actually mind the clinginess at all. Our girl is pretty independent, so having at least one dog with me all the time is kinda nice - I was really just worried about it developing (or being related to) separation anxiety. We have our wireless camera set up so we can watch him while we're out, and we've tried to vary things by leaving him alone while we are just outside (doing yard work) and also leaving by car. He paces nonstop, but still no destruction or accidents, and no problems with our girl. She just lays there and watches, lol. We were outside the other night doing yard work for about an hour & a half, I was able to pull him up on camera after about 30 minutes and he was still pacing; however, when we finally came inside, he was laying down in the corner (not sure at what point between 30 and 90 minutes that he got tired). We're still coming and going without paying any attention or making a big deal of it. We were gone to the grocery store a couple days ago for about 30 minutes, and he paced nonstop. Going to Costco after work today and will likely be gone for 45'ish minutes, so that'll be a good test for him. We're turning the radio on, too. Also getting our crate back this weekend to see how he is with it. He's also getting a tiny bit better about his independence during the day. Couple days ago, my husband was mowing the yard and I was downstairs reading, and he came upstairs to the bedroom to lay by himself for about 30 minutes! He's going out the yard without me standing on the deck watching, which is great - and a couple of times he has opted to lay in the hallway upstairs instead of my husband, or my, office during the day. So far, at week 2, I've totally fallen in love with him. He's picking up training really quickly - already walking like a gentleman on leash, staying out of the kitchen, knows his name and is learning "down" pretty easily. We'll be working more on "down" and "wait" this weekend. He seems to enjoy training sessions and is very food motivated. He's also a VERY sweet guy, though he's much more alpha than our girl and we've had to let them work out the pecking order. It's tough when the new dog is more dominant - as a human, we feel bad for her, but we understand that they have to both feel comfortable with their place in our pack. He is definitely accepting us as top dogs, we are very pleased with how far he's come! Just crossing our fingers that he learns we always come back, whether it is 30 minutes away or 5 hours.

Hi all, thanks for the replies! We walk our dogs twice per day (morning/evening) so they have a lot of opportunities to meet & mingle and for a little exercise. We have a great walking neighborhood - sidewalks and not a ton of traffic on the street. We have a variety of dogs in the neighborhood - big & small. Some very socialized - others, not so much. We've learned which ones to steer clear of. We don't meet dogs on every walk, but definitely a few times per week, at least. The great news is that the introduction with our neighbor's dog (she's about 60 lbs) went really well. He was muzzled, and we met them on the sidewalk - he was very interested in her, but within a minute or so he fell in line and they walked together side by side. After 5-6 minutes, we stopped and let them sniff. She even got a bit excited and was jumping and howling, and Finn was totally indifferent. We let them loose together in her backyard (left him muzzled, of course) and they were great together. We are going to get them together a few more times this week, our yard/house and her yard/house before removing the muzzle. We are going to try to make sure we walk him during busier walking times in the evening in hopes that we encounter other dogs more often, just so he has more exposure. We'll also try the "look at that" training. He has already picked up on "out!" to stay out of the kitchen, he knows him name and he's been pretty successful at "down" and "wait" - he's is eager to please and very food/affection motivated. He was not cat/small dog tested at the rescue group, as he was too recent a rescue and they hadn't done anything with him yet. We weren't really concerned, as we will never have a cat or a dog other than an adult greyhound - but we'd like him to at least not be that crazy!

Thanks, KickReturn - we have noticed some very small advances with him. He will let me walk into the kitchen alone now while he is in the living room. It's all one big room, basically, but he can't see me. Also, he has let me go downstairs alone once or twice. Yesterday, my husband was working in the yard and I had to run to the grocery store. So he saw me leave, he was watching from the window as I drove off - we just got our wireless camera, so as soon as I was stopped at a light, I turned it on to watch him. Our girl was on the rug in front of the door, just relaxing. He was pacing. I checked again while at the grocery store and he was still pacing. But, I checked again before leaving (about 15 minutes after leaving the house) and he wasn't pacing anymore. Not sure where he was, but still no accidents, destruction or issues with our girl. We are going to do more short sessions this week, and then we are getting our crate back next weekend. We will use it when we are gone for longer periods of time and put the camera on him to observe.

Just wondering if it is possible to train a VERY NOT small-dog-safe greyhound to better tolerate small dogs? We have encountered 2 small dogs on our walks, and our boy reacted very poorly. The first was a cocker spaniel who was sitting with his owner in the front yard - we tried to let them meet, but our boy was crying and lunging to get to him, which made the cocker spaniel growl. Just now, we encountered a small yellow lab puppy on our walk and our boy went insane. Jumping, crying, lunging and screaming to get at him. We had to stop walking and pull him to the side, trying to correct him the whole time but just could not redirect him at all. He was trying to jump backwards out of his collar (thank goodness for martingales). We will never have a cat or small dog, but we really want to be able to at least encounter a small dog on a walk without him going nuts. Other than repeated exposure and correction on walks, what else can we do? If he is like this with small dogs, will he be okay with other big dogs? We were going to introduce him to our neighbor's dog today by taking them on a walk together, but now I am concerned. Our plan is to meet on neutral ground, and walk them together so they'd have a positive experience together. We dog sit this dog all the time, and they dog sit for us in return - so if this doesn't go well, we are in trouble. 😒

Hi there, Quarrystepper - yep, we have another houndie - she's super sweet, very tolerant and almost 8 years old. We actually chose this guy because when we met him, he was really calm and we thought that would be good for her. Today, he actually let me go to the laundry room (downstairs) and didn't follow me! He was sitting up in his bed, but he stayed there 2-3 minutes while I got laundry out, I was really happy. He also let me go into the kitchen alone - it's all one big room, but he stayed on his bed and couldn't see me, so I was pretty happy about that. Probably going to pick up our crate tomorrow, too, and set it up to see if that would make him less anxious.

Thanks, greymom! We actually have a crate and we dutifully set it up for all 4 of our hounds and were met with resounding resistance from all of them! We had it set up in the family room where we watch tv and hang out at night, lots of pillows and super comfortable - we would try and feed in there and none of them ever went in. None of them ever entered, even when they seemed stressed out or we tried to cajole with treats. Our bedroom and offices upstairs aren't big enough for the crate. The only time we ever really used it was with our 2nd grey, as he would get bored during the day and find things to chew and destroy. Even then, it was only temporary. With this big guy, we are sectioning off the house. For the first couple of nights, he slept downstairs with my husband in the guest room (door closed) and he settled down right away. Then he slept upstairs with me in our bedroom (door closed) and he was fine. We just wanted him be without our girl, not have free range and to learn the various rooms of the house were his new "crate" and this seems to help. We are now all sleeping upstairs together, but we have the stairs baby-gated, so both dogs only have access to our bedroom and our offices (lots of beds). He settles down quickly, but no way he'd ever venture to another room! In fact, I had to get up to use the restroom around 3:30 and he jumped up to follow me, just a couple feet away. He is a super sweet guy - I just want to make sure we set him up for success and I have no experience dealing with this level of attachment! We just purchased a wireless camera that'll be here tomorrow that we can control and watch from our phones, so we will observe him when we leave! He isn't destructive and doesn't pee/poop when we leave - just endless pacing and crying. I actually let a girlfriend borrow our crate, as she has a very destructive dog that has to be crated anytime she isn't home. I will get it back this weekend and see if likes/tolerates it!

Hi all. We just adopted big, gorgeous guy this past Saturday - our 5th greyhound in 11 years. So, we aren't new to this, but we've never experienced this level of neediness in one of our new adoptees. He cannot be apart from me at all and I'm starting to worry that he's going to develop SA. It's not just following me from room to room, he cries when I close the door on him - I've been trying to gently show him that I'll come back by closing bathroom doors, laundry room door, etc. - but he gets super agitated and cries - I have just ignored it and when I open the door, I do nothing because I do not want to reinforce the agitation. A few minutes ago, my husband was in the front yard so I went to sit on the front porch and left the door open (with the storm door closed) so he could see us. He was pacing, crying and pawing at the door and I was sitting about 3 feet away. We've done a little "alone" training - just leaving the house for a few minutes. We set up Facetime sessions so we could watch him and all 3 times, he paced non-stop, pawed at the door and cried. The longest we have done this is maybe 4 minutes and he just never calms down. I absolutely understand this is only day 5 - we are being super gentle with the "rules" - just trying to teach him his name, to stay "out" of the kitchen (which he is learning really well!) and the basics of walking properly (just keeping him on a short leash so he learns to stay beside us and not pull). We are using treats and positive reinforcement - and today is day 2 of no marking in the house (YAY!) - but I'm concerned about this level of attachment. We're keeping him to a schedule, as we always have, and he's learning the routine. None of the other 4 greys we've had have ever been this attached - we've had lots of shadows, but he seems to mildly panic just at being on the other side of the door. Should I just relax? Are there other things we can do for him? We are making sure to make our departures and arrivals no big thing - we don't even acknowledge comings and goings. We are trying to show him that we'll come back for him. We'd like him to not be crated when we leave, and even if he has to be crated, we don't want him to panic. Our first alone session was maybe 1 minute. Is it too soon for all of this, or should we do it more? Many thanks.

Correction when you see her do it, obviously is the most effective way. We train all of our dogs that they are not allowed in the kitchen at all. But, we've had a few that have counter-surfed a little here and there. We just never have anything tempting left out on the counters - ever. They'll wander into the kitchen to check for anything on the floor and I'll let them do that as long as no humans are in the kitchen, too - but I learned to never leave anything out after our Tilly stole a piece of fish I was thawing for lunch.

I differentiate between "sleep startle" and "sleep barking" as this: sleep startle are those dogs who have snapped/bitten/barked/growled when you wake them unexpectedly from a deep sleep either by jostling them, touching them, etc. Sleep barking is when they bark in their sleep - or growl, roo, etc. - but all done while sleeping/dreaming. Big difference. And of course, both are very different than flat-out space aggressive dogs - they do not want you in their space awake or asleep. Our first boy snapped while awake and asleep if you invaded his space and rarely relaxed if anyone or any dog was too close. As he learned to trust us more, he got better and he had his moments when he'd even let my husband lie down with him, and even sometimes he'd relax for 20-30 minutes if we put him in bed with us (at our feet) - but he'd always jump down from the bed. He just wanted to be alone when lying down. Plain & simple.

Our boy did something similar to a neighbor's dog he'd met probably a dozen times previously. It was a cocker spaniel (not even white & fluffy) - but he was a puppy, maybe a year & a half old. He was getting a little too in our boy's face - after trying to ignore the little guy for a few seconds, he snapped and clamped down on his mouth. He completely ignored us telling him to stop and the owner of the spaniel tried to pull him away, only to find that his lower lip was clamped in our boy's mouth. Super scary! In the end, he didn't cause any damage - no blood even. He could've torn that dog up, but instead, he was giving him the biggest warning he could. We felt horrible about it and, of course, offered to pay for anything he needed if he was hurt. That dog never came near him again.

We've had one space aggressive boy and after having him for 4.5 years, he got a little better but was never really "cured" from it. We knew from the beginning, he did not want us, or the other grey we already had, in his space. He didn't want to be on the couch with us, or in bed with us, he didn't want us lying on his bed or even to sit next to him while he slept. He snapped at all of us, a few times. Because of this, his most dangerous time was when he was sleeping - as that would always bring out a snap from him. We gave him a wide berth and always woke him before touching him. He got better with time, but he was never a snuggly dog (unless he was standing up). He almost always slept in another room (his choice) at night. This is really different than our sleep startle dog. The boy we just lost would, occasionally, get touchy when woken from a deep sleep. Not every time - but once in a while. He loved to cuddle, wanted to sleep with us, get on the couch with us, be in the same room, etc. We thought this meant he was super snuggly like our girl - but my husband fell asleep with him on the floor one night and he rolled over and must've jostled him - it woke our boy from a deep sleep and we got a big bark and a snap (no bite). That could very well be what you experienced. That said, it could also be that she was simply dreaming. All of our greys have had vocal dreams at one time or another, and that includes loud barks (which normally wakes them, and us, up). Definitely look out for danger signs - we called our boy's warning his "crazy eyes" - wide open or looking at us sideways, always alert, signs of stress, wouldn't relax, etc. - that's when we knew he didn't want people around. After years with him, he would allow us to sit next to him and pet him and he'd fall asleep, but we'd typically quit petting him & leave at that point because he was so prone to snapping when sleeping deeply. We always wanted to end the experience on a positive note. To me, this doesn't sound like space aggression because, in my experience, it would happen all the time - or at least - your dog would be on full alert all the time.

I'm so very very sorry for your loss. Nothing else one can say, I'm just so glad Declan had a loving family.