sarabz

I think others have offered some great suggestions, starting with the vet. On a side note, I keep catching sight of this thread and reading it as the college student needs to be housebroken Sorry

Bella does this too - if you walk near her and she wants a belly rub, she'll wave her paw around

Bella does this to us, and will also put her nose under your hand and flip up for neck scritches. It's a "more, Mom!" gesture I'm sure people more experienced will weigh in but I don't see it as a dominance thing, just a "I'm enjoying this, don't stop" thing.

Oh, I am so, so sorry. I loved seeing your stories and photos of Hot Rod and will miss him - as others have said, there are some hounds that draw you in, and your talent with showing his life is incredible. My deepest condolences to you and your family. Run free, sweet boy, and hope you have lots of Milky Bones forever.

Oh, no, not Hot Rod Keeping him and family in my thoughts and prayers.

I've never had a male dog, but one of the horses that I ride - well, while he'll let other people clean his sheath, he'll, um, let it all hang out for me I get lots of jokes about him liking me.

After all of these responses, now I feel like I'm being mean to Bella for still having her crate! No, not really - if I wasn't coming home and regularly finding her in her crate when she has the choice of another dog bed, two sofas and our bed, I might rethink it. And, the jumping on the bed at 4 am is the best reason to have her crate.

Bella is our first grey, and almost 3 years later we still have her crate. I often come home from work to find her in it (I'm sure it has nothing to do with the super-comfy bed of memory-foam pillows and flannel ) and it's also a great option for us to have when we're traveling with her. We just left her for a week at my dad's house with their 3 goldens, and because she had her crate (door open) it meant that she had her own dedicated space where no one would bother her. We'll also use it if we're traveling and have to leave for a few hours, e.g. a hotel, my mom's house, and want to know that she's safe, secure and is not going to be accidentally slipping out a door if someone isn't paying enough attention. Additionally, we do close the door at night, otherwise she has a tendancy to jump on our bed at 4 am and either wake us up by landing on us or by loudly sleep-startling shortly thereafter complete with growls, snaps and occasional teeth-to-skin contact. Not the best way to wake up

I'm so very sorry - what a lovely tribute

oh, no Judy, I'm so sorry - I was dreading seeing a thread with this title

Well, Bella's back to normal! Met me at the door earlier with bounces, whines of excitement and just general silliness. Couldn't wait to go on her walk. We wipe her feet with baby wipes after every walk because we don't want to think about what she could pick up, track in & then lick off *shudder* so hoping that this is working and she didn't pick up a strange bug. I guess I need to go as she just came over, put her head in my lap and shoved my arm up with her nose, meaning "PAT ME, Mom!!"

This morning's update - she is almost back to normal, much more energetic, moving around with energy, shaking almost normally (you know, the front legs flying), jumping on/off furniture. I have to run home at lunchtime so will check on her then, and probably swing by the vet this afternoon. thanks all!

It seems as though her left shoulder/neck may be bothering her, so I'm thinking she pulled a few muscles doing crazy zoomies. I gave her an aspirin - maybe I'll put a heating pad on low for her later and give her a gentle massage I'll keep an eye on her but I think this is all it is. Hope so, anyway!

Bella's been a little subdued for the past couple of days and has let out a couple of small yelps. She normally does hallway zoomies every time we take her out to go potty and hasn't been doing them except for once. Appetite, poo, eyes, gums, temp all normal. Nothing specific seems to hurt - I've checked her out thoroughly multiple times and she's not seeming to yelp (not close to a GSOD) when using the same limb, for example. She's not as enthusiastic about jumping on/off the bed or sofa although she's still doing it most of the time. I'm wondering if she just maybe pulled a muscle from over-enthusiastic zoomies or something similar. She's done that before, but has shown some tenderness and sensitivity in specific areas in the past - nothing like that now. Other info - we do live in Manhattan but she has not eaten anything off the sidewalk nor even had much interaction with other dogs. She was at the vet about a month ago for a bordatella booster and was perfectly normal afterward. She did spend 3 days in a kennel shortly after that, but again, that was almost a month ago. Any thoughts on other things to check? I'm hesitant to run to the vet since she showing absolutely no other symptoms except for this listlessness.

Beans! (Beans, beans, they're good for the heart / the more you eat, the more you fart / the more you fart, the better you feel / so let's have beans for every meal!) Sorry - couldn't resist....... I think a little more info would be helpful to help you get the answer you're looking for

Yep, Acana is lower in protein which Bella does better on and is grain-free. I was able to order my normal 28 lb bag of Wild Prairie again so I think they're back on track.

This is what we feed - the Wild Prairie blend. This was the 3rd or 4th kibble we tried Bella on and her gas is almost non-existent on it, great poops, great overall health, etc. Tried the Pacifica (fish-based) - disastrous poops, horrible gas. Blended in some of the Ranchlands when we almost ran out of Wild Prairie and that works well for us, too. Bella gets about 2.5 cups/day so one 28.5lb bag lasts about 6 weeks. I order it from PetFlow so it comes on a schedule - it's been the easiest way for us to do it since it's not all that widely carried by stores.

I took Bella to the vet the other day because she needed her 6-month bordatella booster and while I was there I had the vet check a couple of other things. She's shaking her head a lot (turned out to be a hair way down in the ear canal) and licking her "parts" a lot. Nothing wrong - she just likes licking herself At least I now know she doesn't have the tiniest bit of an anal gland problem or UTI.

This is going to sound weird, I know that and am saying it up front! One of my dad's dogs,a German shorthair pointer, would not only growl, snap, tremble and growl while we were clipping her nails, she'd growl and lunge at the other dogs as we were doing theirs (had to put her behind a gate eventually). When hers were being clipped, it took one person to hold her in a full body grip while the other quickly trimmed. Long story turned into a short one - I ended up housesitting with the shorthair for 9 months. Well, her nails needed trimming in that time and there was no way that I could hold her and trim at the same time. I learned early on with horses that if there is ever a barn fire, you had to cover their eyes with something (a shirt, towel, etc) to get them to be led out of the burning barn - somehow being suddenly blind made them more docile. So, the first time I tried clipping the pointer's nails, I had her lie down on her bed and i covered her eyes with a towel. She didn't move, didn't growl, nothing. I didn't have to hold her down. I clipped all of her nails, gave her lots of treats and praise. My dad used that trick going forward and never had a problem.

We've been feeding Acana Wild Prairie for about a year now and Bella's doing greyt on it - firm poops, very little gas, shiny coat, healthy, energetic, greyt weight. I like their processes and approach and how they source their ingredients, and really couldn't be happier with this food. I accidentally ordered the fish-based food once and never again - bad poops, horrible gas, dandruff - guess the fish just didn't work for Bella