Pippin

Because they tunnel in there, and it's not just one hole, it's a ribbon of holes from all their tunneling, just like they tunnel under the covers. Hugs to you.

No experience with hounds, but I'm a firm believer in Manuka honey. Last year I lost my voice, and the lady at the health food store recommended it for my throat. I paid about USD25, IIRC, for a 12oz jar labelled Raw Manuka Honey, and ate 1 tsp/day for several days. Felt like it helped. Now I take some any time my throat starts feeling scratchy. Mine says it's Hi-active, with a circle saying "Active 15+". It says Product of New Zealand on the label, as well, and came from Y.S. Organic Bee Farms in Sheridan, IL. Last summer, I burned the back of my hand on the oven rack - put some Manuka Honey on it immediately, and it was better within minutes. No pain, no blister, no redness, no soreness after the first maybe 10 min. Was just thinking yesterday of taking some for a tummy upset I was experiencing... looks like it might not be a bad idea. But I've never tried giving it to the dogs.

howdy neighbor!

(snipped) I do the best with dogs that I possibly can. For a while I had a lot of money. For a while I had no money. Now I have some money. In both Rex and Axel's case I had the money but did not choose to throw it away to make myself feel better that I had provided the "best treatment" -- which is totally subjective. Best treatment does not always mean most expensive although on forums like this owners are made to feel that is the case. I've never felt like GT thought less of me if I didn't spend lots of money on my dogs, although I have seen some posts over the years that could be taken that way. Bottom line is, it's YOUR life, YOUR heart, YOUR dog. Only you and your vet know what's best. My vet does not push me to spend money with her - it's one of the reasons she's my vet. I have had occasions in the past where specialist consults were needed... that helped me define what MY limits are for my dogs. Given that I am not independently wealthy, I've learned that I'm comfortable spending a certain amount of $$ per dog, per incident. So far, none of my dogs have needed to exceed my comfort limit, dollar-wise. You have to take the age of the dog into account - I would make different decisions for my 15yr old IG than my 6yr old grey, for example. You can only do what you can do...you can only afford what you can afford. A trustworthy vet who has the best interests of you and your pup is the best ally you could ever find. Someone like Pam's vet, or mine. When my Angie-girl was on her final decline, Doc said "we could take her for an MRI or ultrasound, but she's almost 15, and she would NOT enjoy the experience. If they put her under, she might not come out. Do you really want to spend the money to find out which untreatable thing it is, when we can pretty much figure it out by watching her for another day or so?" I opted to not spend the money, and we realized with another day of observation that whatever it was, (stroke, brain tumor, who knows?), it was time to let her go.

Listen to the wisdom already posted in this thread... Our dogs live as long as they're supposed to live. There have been greyhounds who made it to 19/20. My first grey was 6 weeks shy of 15 when she left for the bridge. My current two greys are 10 and 6. I remember thinking the same thing before I adopted my first grey, because there are so many threads in H&M about cancer and other health problems. But I lost my first grey to old age, not cancer.

This. Some hounds should never die. Pimpmaster G is one of them. Gentle hugs to you

Dec 4, 2010 -- Scout, re-named Sally. I don't know her racing name, as she wasn't my dog. But she was a dead-ringer for my Angie-girl, who came into our group just after my Angie left for the bridge. Her foster family fell in love with her, and she lived with them for the last 3.25 years of her life, leaving them peacefully in her sleep today. (If I hadn't been on the verge of adopting Pippin, I'd have adopted Scout, but it would have been hard to get her away from her foster family) Run free to good health, pretty girl. My Angie-girl will show you the way and keep you company until your people arrive.

Intent is irrelevant. Actions matter. People violated the TOS, after being warned not to, and were suspended. Actions have consequences, regardless of the reason for the actions.

Oy! Thanks for the policing that y'all do...

The fleas here laugh at Frontline, so we switched to Advantage (advantix for the ticks version). My hounds don't have any problems with it, but I don't use it all that often, because we haven't had much of a flea problem this year.

Sounds like he had a perfect last day.... hugs to you

Whether we have them 2 years or 20 years, it's never enough time. Good on you for making the best decision for Spike, even though it's a heart-breaker for y'all, and how wonderful that the boys were there to say goodbye, too. Godspeed, Spike. Run free to good health, and send your family some slurpy kisses from the bridge.

This is one of my favorites, and I had misplaced it. Thanks for sharing

I like the double click, too. If you are going to scroll all the way to the bottom, past all the reply stuff and everything else there, you may as well just scroll to the top ! The button at the bottom is kinda useless!!! On the other hand, the "edit" function is working much better for me than it has since the last upgrade! While I enjoyed the double click (unless I was trying to highlight a word in my reply), I'm not seeing that there's a huge amount of scrolling to hit the bottom of the screen and find the "top" button. By the time you've read the entire thread, you're almost at the bottom anyway, aren't you? I use a wheel mouse, and it was two strokes with my finger to reach the bottom and hit the "top" button. It takes 13 strokes on the wheel to scroll all the way to the top. Also, the "End" button on your PC keyboard will jump you all the way to the bottom with a single press of your finger, and then you can hit the "top" button. (granted, more work than just hitting the "home" button, but just pointing it out) Does anyone else remember how people commented because the "top" button disappeared in the last major update? Now we're commenting because it's back? Jeff, I'm glad you got the skin fixed - this is so much better than right after the update was done.

Susan, you know as I do that those Wigwam Wag kids have a knack for wrapping your hearts around them. I'm confident Alan and Angie met at the bridge, and I'm confident that his love for you is as unending as yours is for him.

Welcome home, sweet girl!

Your Polli coming home gave me something to smile about.

That vacation was the only time in our 4 1/2 years together that Angie snuggled with me on a bed. Our last night at the beach house, she lay beside me and put her head on my shoulder. I hollered for one of the housemates to bring a camera and record the moment (it's on the video in the first post). She spent 15-20 minutes with her head on my shoulder, then rearranged herself. The next morning, she rolled over and fell off the bed, as Janet shared. I don't even know if anyone was awake yet, but I was freaking out. She fell off the bed on the first night of that vacation, too, but that was in a hotel room, so there was more room and she didn't get stuck. She was accustomed to king-size beds. The vacation beds were smaller, with the same amount of people/dogs trying to sleep on them (except that Zoe would sleep with the others, so they could experience iggy-love).

Owie.... I am so very sorry for your loss. Someone shared with me recently what they were told when they lost their rescued Boston girl after just five months... It's as true for your Duke as it is for my Angie-girl. And Sir Walter Scott once said: "The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me?" No matter how long we have them with us, it's not enough.

my tribute to my heart dog A New Star in the Heavens... 8/29/07 the one-year remembrance the two-year remembrance It's time for my annual post about how wonderful my Angie-girl was - my first-ever greyhound, the one who started it all, for me. She's the one who taught me that a hound's color is irrelevant, it's the heart that counts. You see, I wanted a black dog, preferably a senior, and a retired brood sounded perfect. Greyt Friends had 2 retired broods, one of whom was black. The black girl (Andi) was being fostered, along with several other dogs, by the group prez. There were so many right then because a greyhound farm in FL had recently closed due to the owner's ill health. I looked at all of their pictures on the group's website, and kept coming back to the black senior female. I was certain Andi was my dog. So one day I headed to Marietta to meet the dogs. Dee insisted I meet all of them, not just the one I thought I wanted. She introduced them one at a time, and each of them came up to me, sniffed, let me pet them, hung around until she moved them away for the next dog's turn. White dogs, black dogs, fawns, brindles, even the younger dogs - I met them all. Andi, the black female, was a sweet girl, petite and friendly, who stayed by my side most of the afternoon, letting me pet her, introducing me to the "greyhound lean," just all around being a perfect greyhound. But there was another dog, that I met right before I met Andi. A senior female, retired brood named Wigwam Angela. Technically, her color was called "red fawn," but to me she looked like a "yeller dawg," pretty much the color of Old Yeller in the movie. When I came in to the dogs' room, Angela was lying on a raised bed, just watching everything going on. When Dee called her name, Angela left her bed and walked over to me. I knelt down so she could see me better, and after looking me in the eyes, she licked my chin. Then she went back to her raised bed and laid down again, and watched me for the rest of my visit. As I said, Andi was a sweet girl, petite and friendly, who stayed by my side most of the afternoon, and she was the dog I thought I was going there to get. But Angie stole my heart when she licked my chin, and I wound up adopting the "yeller dawg," mother of 5 litters (22 pups total), who was finally retired at 10 1/2 years old. She came home to me right before Mother's Day in 2003, which I thought was appropriate, since she was a retired mama-dog. She was the perfect first greyhound for me - calmly accepting whatever happened, never phased by anything. She would look at me with those great brown eyes of her, and I would do whatever she wanted, including choosing a yeller dawg when I was on my way to adopt a black one. Except I didn't really choose her, she chose me. And I'm forever grateful that she did. Because she chose me, I have experienced the adaptability of an "old" dog as she learned new tricks. Because she chose me, I have learned how much love I can feel for another being. Because she chose me, I have experienced the joy of her behavior changing over the years from aloof to affectionate. Because she loved me, she adapted to unstructured routines and routine absences. Because she loved me, she accepted the other dogs I brought into our home, and let them share the space in my heart. Because I loved her, there were new beds at Christmas, and no walks longer than her aging legs could handle. Because I loved her, there were nights spent on the couch with interruptions every few hours. Because I loved her, there were home-cooked meals and special treats, and fewer nights away from home. Because she loved me, she stood up for me, balancing on tired legs to show me she was ok and I could leave on my business trip with a clear conscience. Because I loved her, I let her go. My heart is breaking because I couldn't be there at the end, but it was time to let go, and I had promised her I would, because I loved her. And because I loved her and she loved me, she will run forever in my heart, Because she chose me. -mvy 9/1/07-

Has it been 2 years already? I love that picture of her too -- perfectly illustrates her zest for life.

He wasn't unadoptable, he was just holding out for the right family.... I'm so sorry for your loss. Run free to good health, Dapper Don.

Oh, Trudy... I saw the banner and started to weep... I'm SO sorry. Run free to good health, Ryan, and send your mama a rainbow or two, when you get a chance.

I'm so sorry, Bev... but as the others have said, he looks like he thoroughly enjoyed life. And ten years with no health issues - how wonderful that was... **weeping for a dog I've never met** Run free to good health, Tetters.

Glad you were able to close. Enjoy the new home!