jsullysix

Yeah, he mixes it up between squirts and longer whizzes, so I make sure he has a few before he's "done", so to speak. My immediate concern is what to do when we're all at work; I can walk him in the morning and try the crate (once I fix it) in the living room so he can see his brindle companion (she hangs out in the living room during the day), but I don't think that's going to get a different result. I can try an ex-pen, too, if that might be better. I think the main issue is that I'm not around. The other option is to band him and let him have free roam while we're out. My wife doesn't have a full day tomorrow, which is good, but I feel like I'm in a lesser of two evils; he doesn't want to be crated, but he's not had appropriate alone time training.

Thanks; we've been taking him out on a regular basis. Generally every hour or so. Sometimes he'll pee, sometimes not, but I try to make sure that he's emptied himself as best as I can. We did more walks last week, but in Dallas, it's been in the hundreds lately. Down to the low 90s now, so I'm going to take him for a walk once the sun sets.

Thanks all, I appreciate the suggestions. Baby gating is difficult because our house is very open, so there aren't really areas that he can be gated in. I also think that it's possible that he would just wind up breaking through the baby gate; he is a rather big boy, after all. Will work on alone training, but I am concerned that we need to do something sooner than the training may allow for, if that makes sense. I don't want to put him in a crate if he is going to potentially hurt himself, but it is a little strange that he will sleep in one without a problem. Then again, he is sleeping in the room that we are in, too. Once I got out of bed this morning and was out of sight, he was barking and whining. We do have an ex pen, and I can give that a try, but I would be concerned that he will collapse it down on himself. Removing the bellyband could be a good idea, but I am concerned that it isn't going to help his potty training. Then again, wetting the bellyband doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent as it is. Thanks again, Sully

Hey there, Yep, familiar with alone training, but the unusable (until I get home) crate kinda forced the issue today. Will be doing a lot more of it (properly), for sure. I do have the Dummies book as well; it was the first thing I bought when I was considering adopting back in 2002. Thanks for the support, for sure, though, I appreciate it greatly! Also noted that you're from the SW Chicago suburbs; I lived in the Wheaton/Naperville area for years and got my first grey from Greyhounds Only.

Hi all, Been a very long time since I've posted, but I'm starting to feel like bringing home our most recent pup may not have been the best thing to do. I'm writing this as I'm upset, so I'm trying to give myself a grain of salt, but here goes.... My 13yo male passed last month (arthritis eventually got the best of him), and my 9yo brindle girl isn't really good at being the only dog. So we got her a friend; a 5yo male, who, like his predecessor, is outgoing, and a silly boy. Everyone in the home (me, the missus, and my 22yo son) love him. He's a bit of a marker indoors, so it's been belly bands, watching him like a hawk, praising when he pees outside, and crating while we're out (which isn't super long periods of time - a 3-4 hours at most). The first week went pretty well; he's a good eater, he gets along with everyone in the house (and the cat); we're just working on getting him completely house trained. Things were moving along until day 7, when he soaked his belly band. Not a huge deal, we got him outside, praised when he peed, all the stuff you're supposed to do. He soaked his belly band again on day 8 (this past Sunday), while he was just laying on the tile in the kitchen (which he loves to do). Same thing this past Monday morning. Setbacks, yes, but not the end of the world; train, train, train, be vigilant. I got it. We got this. My son got home at 4pm Monday, went to let him out of his crate to see that he bent the front of it trying to break out. Strange, since was crated whenever no one was home all last week with no issue. Lots of dried spittle on the bars of the crate. I feel terrible that he's clearly not okay with being in his crate when no one is home (crate is in our bedroom, and he sleeps in his crate with the door closed at night with no issue). He's also a rather big boy and I don't think that an ex-pen is going to be much better (but I'm game). No issues Monday evening while I'm home. Awesome. He's got free roam of the house while I'm home, he's Mister Dry Pants, things are lookin' up. I followed up with the group that I adopted him from (my 3rd from this group), and in discussing the potty training issue, they suggested he go to the vet to rule out a UTI, did that yesterday (Tuesday), no issues. Awesome! While I was home with him last night, he was again, Mister Dry Pants. Cool! He's peeing outside, getting treats when he does, and a lot of praise. I'm hopeful. Today, my wife was home in the morning, he had free roam of the house (with the belly band on), no attempts to mark, and he's peeing outside. She had to work for a little bit in the late morning, so he was crated. Went in his crate, got praise and some cheese. All seemed well. She got home 2 hours later with the front of the crate caved inward, and his bed shredded. Oh no. When my wife got home, he's laying on what's left of his bed. She let him out of his crate, went outside to pee, praise, and all of that good stuff. She had to leave for work at 4 (and my son gets home around 4:15), so we thought that 15 minutes would be good "alone testing" for him; my brindle girl has free roam of the house and can be trusted, and that's our desired state for our new guy, I told her that 15 minutes of alone time would be a good test. Before she left for work, she did a quick pre-test; House is dog proofed, he's got dry pants on, and she hopped in the car and drove around the block. Came home to soaked belly band; so much so that it leaked onto the floor. The crate is trashed, so he can't go back in there, so he's got roam of the house again. Not optimal, I agree, but there aren't really any places in the house where he can be contained (our house is pretty open). My son should just got home and called me; thankfully, the second test went better; his belly band is dry and it doesn't seem like he was destructive in the house. I don't know that he was alone for a full 15 minutes, as my wife stuck around a little longer before leaving, but it's a good sign, nonetheless. Our boy who passed away wasn't great in a crate either, but he never peed in the house, so once he had free roam of the house, he was happy. I was hoping that this would be the same thing, but I'm afraid that signs seem to be pointing to SA. The last thing that I want to do is return him, but I don't know if we'll be able to handle that well. I'm at a real loss for answers right now.

Thanks!

Hey all, It's been a very long while since I've been here. I've noticed recently that my almost 11 year old boy Aslan seems to be having difficulty getting up or getting his back end down (mainly when he's wanting to lay down). It seems to me like an age thing (duh), but I wanted to reach out and see if you guys had any suggestions. I know it could be arthritis, osteo, old age, etc, but it's not all the time, which is good. I did notice this morning that his back legs were a little wobbly when he was walking around a bit. That said, he was smiley, ears up, and bouncy. I've had him since he was 7, and I swear he still thinks he's a puppy. Anything I can try to give him (dietary, etc) before xrays and whatnot? Thanks, Sully

This is kinda what I figured, really. We check the yard, make some noises before letting the kids out, etc. They don't eat them, but they're thoughtful enough to either 1) leave it where it died (for dad to find and dispose of) 2) bring the baby bunny carnage to the door, or 3) bring the baby bunny carnage in the house. Poor Mrs. Sully had quite the wakeup call that morning! Sully

Hey all, My two kids go outside in muzzles to keep them from playing too rough, but it seems that this spring/summer, they've turned into quite the bunny killers. I think it's my younger of the two, as the older one isn't as fast as she is. I don't know if they're getting the bunnies through their muzzles or if they're trampling them to death, but I'd like to reduce the corpses if I can (side note; now that our neighbor installed 3 bird feeders, we also now get birds that leave this mortal coil as a result of flying into our windows!). I can't imagine there's much I can do beyond getting muzzles with stool guards and maybe spraying some kind of rabbit repellant in the yard, but I'm open to suggestions. Poor Mrs. Sully isn't a fan of baby bunny carnage, although I don't know anyone who is! Thanks all! Sully

Things are getting much better; we've been muzzle free for a few days, and the cat is still alive. Whee! That said, I'll never leave them alone together, and they're separated at bedtime. thanks for the encouragement! Sully

Thanks all, Nico seems like she's calming down a bit; she's still muzzled when the cat is available, but seems to be coming to the point where she may not need it as much. Thankfully, she reacts really well to the coke can full of pennies Sully

Brief update: It's been slow going; sometimes Nico's pretty interested, and she's not sphinxing as much in front of the cat anymore. Often times, she'll show interest and eventually walk away. The cat isn't helping much, because she'll swat at Nico when she's walking by. We're still muzzled all the time, except meals and sleeping (they're separated when we go to bed). The strangest/grossest thing is that Nico will now try to get at the cat litter; I've noticed the..."litter" mashed into the muzzle, so it seems like she's eating it. Great. This has happened twice (we have to come up with a better way to close it off), and today, Nico had some sort of waste smeared into the muzzle again this afternoon after I let her back from going outside. She's never done this before, and I wonder what's driving it. Any ideas? I keep telling myself that she's workable, but ugh, I wish they just got along. Sully

Thanks all for reassuring some of my thoughts and sharing your insight. I got in touch with a friend from the group I got Nico from, and it turns out that she was most likely never cat tested. I'm a little upset about that, but I don't know why I wouldn't have remembered this. I think that her foster had small dogs, and Nico was small dog safe, and presumed "likely" cat safe. We're going to stick to what we've been doing; separating them when we go to bed, and keeping Nico muzzled when the cat is out in the open. All the while, remaining vigilant. Gonna be interesting, but I have a feeling that it'll work out. BTW, longdogs, your tabby in the pic with your grey is the adult version of the cat. Kinda funny. Thanks all, Sully

Hey there, We have two greys (Aslan, age 9 and Nico, age 4)and have had them for a little over two years now. I tend to go for cat safe dogs, as we have had cats in the past. Aslan is certainly cat safe, but we weren't sure (nor was her foster) about Nico. It wasn't really an issue until recently, when we got a cat. Of course, we've introduced them to each other slowly (it's been about 3 weeks). Aslan has been fine, but Nico certainly shows interest about half (or a little more) of the time. She's kept muzzled for safety when the cat is out in the open, but she will seek the cat out some times,(and at times get swatted by the cat) and other times, she'll not be as interested. Nico usually shows interest when the cat is moving. Sometimes she'll be very curious about the cat and not back down as the cat hisses, but other times, Nico will lie down (pharaoh dog style) in front of the cat. When she's a bit more curious, Aslan will bark at her as if to say "knock it off", but she's never listened to him in the past, so she's probably not going to start now. Nico is given praise when she walks away from (or lies down in front of) the cat, and is told "NO!" when she gets a little too close. Since the cat has claws and Nico has a muzzle, I tend to let them try to adjust without stepping in (not sure if that's the way to go, but I figured that they would acclimate better, and I originally thought she was cat safe)I tend to think that she's "cat correctable" because of the times when she avoids the cat, but beyond that, I'm not sure of the difference. I've always figured that a not cat safe dog would be obvious, but I don't know for sure. I should mention that Nico's ears are up when she's showing interest, and HAS growled earlier on, along with having what I call the front "shoulder mohawk" (her hair sticks up between her front shoulders) but I don't notice her panting, etc, and I can move her away easily. Sorry if this is rambling, and I'd like to point out that if any pet has to be removed from the situation, it's the cat (as she's the newest), but I'd like to avoid any of that, as the cat is very sweet, and my wife loves her to death already. Anyone have suggestions, etc? Thanks, Sully

thanks all! yes, losing charlie was soul crushing - she was diagnosed on 9/28/07, and left us on 9/29/07, which also happened to be my 36th birthday. nice to be back! sully

Hey there, I've was a much more active member a few years back, and when I tried to log in today, all of my info was gone. So I re-registered under my old screen name. Anyway, I'm Sully, I live in Dallas (originally Chicago suburbs), play and build electric guitars, and have two greys Nico and Aslan. I adopted my first grey in 2002, and sadly I lost her to bone cancer in 2007. Here's a few pics: Charlie (my bridge girl) Aslan (blue brindle male, age 9) and Nico (dark brindle femal, age 4) Sully