a_daerr
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How long has he been off the track?
He's an AKC. He never raced.
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Took Truman to the vet yesterday for his before-neuter checkup. I'm having him neutered at the vet we use for the adoption group because our regular vet quoted me a price upwards of $500. I thought that was kind of steep, since most of our adoptable dogs get spay/neuters, dentals, and vaccinations for around $250. Anyway, when I took him to this other place, the vet commented that he was really underweight! This was pretty shocking to me because, although skinny, he is still a puppy. He's a very lanky, tall boy who just keeps getting taller and longer. My regular vet said he was fine, and that he should fill out eventually. They weighed him at 73-pounds, but this vet said he should be closer to 85. She also said that it wasn't good that the bones in his spine, ribs, and hip plates are visible.
Now, keep in mind, he eats like a horse. I give him two cups of dry food in the morning, two cups at night, and a can of wet food everyday. Should I bump up his food intake? Feed him something different? I'm worried now!
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From 1-4PM. The park is VERY strict on shot records, and you have to have a current Bordatella. We made that mistake once, because a lot of people don't get Bordatella unless they are boarding their dogs. We're bringing lots of homemade doggie and human treats. Bring a muzzle if you have one!
About the doggie party: we have a vet appointment tomorrow (Django hurt his foot!), so I'll ask about bordatella. And yes, he has a muzzle I will bring. Thanks!!!
Unfortunately, we won't be able to make it now. Django broke his toe! I guess he broke it running at the dog park, but we didn't notice him limping until a few hours later. He's on house-rest (no walks or exercise) for a month. He's very sad, and I'm sad for him. After he's healed, no more dog parks for us. :-(
Oh, too bad. Good thoughts your way for a speedy recovery!
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If either of you want to make the trek to Cranberry, we are having a doggie party for Truman on Saturday, 9/1/12 at Lucky Paws Pet Resort!
Also, RMarie, if you want a nice dog, my foster is amazing. Just saying...
Thanks for the invite! I've been wanting to go there so Django can play in the pool, so we'll definitely come. What time?
From 1-4PM. The park is VERY strict on shot records, and you have to have a current Bordatella. We made that mistake once, because a lot of people don't get Bordatella unless they are boarding their dogs. We're bringing lots of homemade doggie and human treats. Bring a muzzle if you have one!
@ a_daerr
My husband and I are using Going Home Greyhound. We're currently trying to adopt Windy Chet. He's such a darling!!! Our home visit is this weekend. Nothing is set in stone, yet, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.
OMG, he's gorgeous. I love dark brindles with grey faces!
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@ a_daerr (I haven't figured out the quote function, yet):
If the foster you're referring to is Rico's Payne, I saw the photos you posted the other day...and he is beautiful! My husband and I were looking for a black grey, and that guy's pics made my heart flutter. Unfortunately, we visited another dog this past weekend and are completely smitten with him. He's not black, but a dark brindle, and an absolute sweetheart. We're moving forward with adopting him. If all goes well, we should have him my Labor Day weekend, so I'll see if we have time to make it up to Truman's party. At minimum, I'll post his intro to this forum. I'm so excited!
Yay! Can I ask, what group did you go with, and what is the name of the dog you're getting?
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I wouldnt be suprised at his reaction. The first few weeks he is acclimating to his new environment, as you say, his interest has been growing with the cats. So, as he gets more comforatble with his surroundings, then he starts to want to explore everything in his environment. Question, did you adopt from a group, and if so, did they cat test your hound? Addititionally, did he get fostered in a home with cats? I see that you are correcting behavior, but I dont see where you are doing any positive reinforcement. What I would add to your training is to have treats available and when he sees a cat, call his name, if he looks at you, then he gets a treat. Really the only time you should be using the bottle to spray him is when he is actively going towards the cats, otherwise there is no need for correction. What I did with many many fosters was to have two people and the hound in a room. The hound should be on a leash, with a muzzle on. The hound and handler are on one side of the room, and the second person brings in a cat. The hound is allowed to look at the cat, then the handler should call the hound's name, if he responds, treat. Use very good treats (not something you give every day). It sounds like you have already moved beyond this staget and have the cats walking around in the same room as the hound, you can still do this, but just have to be aware when you see a cat in the room to get your hounds attention and give him treats if he looks away from the cat. The barking at cats when they are on the other side of a barrier is not something you want to allow. It is getting the hound worked up and you dont want them to work themselfs up, it is a self-rewarding behavior that will lead to chase of the cat. Do not allow your hound to chase the cat. If you have to keep a leash on your hound all the time, then thats what you do. If you need to tether the hound to your side, then that is what you need to do. This introduction and positive reward system usually takes about 2-4 weeks of daily work to become a true behavior. I used this technique with a few dozen fosters and my own hounds.
Payne came to me straight from Wheeling... He did have a preliminary cat test at the track, and they said he had a good reaction. Payne is the littermate to my first greyhound, Henry. We went to great lengths to have Payne brought from Florida and West Virginia, so I was set on fostering him even if I had to work with him. I usually do work with positive reinforcement training. I haven't started yet because he's still in the middle of a food switch, so I wanted his stomach to get settled before introducing more food. But this is all wonderful advice. He's doing MUCH better than he had been. Today, I saw my three-month-old kitten sticking her paws out from under the bed and swatting at his tail. He didn't so much as glance in her direction. Here's another question for you. It seems like he is fine when I'm standing there directly supervising the contact, but he gets more interested when I'm not right there paying attention. Any tips for that?
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OH NO! Sending good thoughts your way for Bullitt.
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@ a_daerr and jenniferk...
I'm new to this forum but have been following it for the past few weeks. My husband and I live in Pittsburgh and are in the process of adopting a greyhound with the help of GHG. He or she will be an only dog (at least for the foreseeable future), so we'd love to socialize with local greys, and their owners, once the adoption occurs.
Yay! I also really want to have him meet other greys. We've only just started seeing greys out in the past week, and he gets super excited and happy whenever he sees them. We frequently take him to the dog park in Riverview Park. It's behind the observatory, completely fenced, shaded, and really big. Do you know if your grey will be good with small dogs? There are actually 2 dog parks--1 just for small dogs--but many dog owners let their small dogs into the main dog park. Luckily my boy likes small dogs best! Just last night we took him and met another local grey & his owner who lives in Millvale. He just adopted and said he'd be taking his grey to the dog park a lot too. If you want to schedule a meetup just email me at jenniferkentpgh at gmail. Good luck with your adoption!
@jenniferk
I was not aware of the fenced dog park at Riverview Park. We'll definitely check it out once we have our dog. We don't have one picked out, yet, though, so we have no idea about its compatibility with small dogs. Hopefully, this weekend our organization will be picking one up that will be right for us. Time will tell...but I've been "nesting" for weeks now...I really want a dog!!! But, I want to make sure we get the right dog for us, so I'm trying to be patient.
If either of you want to make the trek to Cranberry, we are having a doggie party for Truman on Saturday, 9/1/12 at Lucky Paws Pet Resort!
Also, RMarie, if you want a nice dog, my foster is amazing. Just saying...
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When I got Truman, I bought a coupler. It made things so much easier.
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Ahhh, great news. I'm so happy and relieved to hear this.
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According to the VetGuard Plus website, the active ingredients are:
Permethrin 45.0%
Pyriproxyfen (Nylar®*) 5.0%
Other Ingredients 50.0%
So it's similar to most of the other OTC flea and tick products like BioSpot and Hartz which are pyrethroids. And IMO, they are nowhere near as effective as Frontline or Advantage/Advantix.
Thanks for your help! I didn't know if it was just a generic form of Frontline or what. I heard that their patent recently ran out, so other companies can make the same type of product for less money.
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We've had Payne for almost two weeks now. He initially tested cat safe at the Wheeling Adoption Kennel. But, since he's been home, he has become a little unpredictable around our cats. We have two rooms in our house that are gated off (they're the type of gates with walk-through cat doors). So the cats do have a lot of space and areas where the dogs can't go. Here is the timeline and how things have been progressing:
- The first few days, Payne had no interest in the cats at all. In fact, he seemed a little scared of them. I introduced him on-leash and muzzled. He could care less.
- Then he began noticing them more and watching them on the other side of their gate. This started in the middle of the night when the cats are most active. He also began trying to sniff them through the cat-door on the gate. He's a barker, so he would start barking when he couldn't get to them. I used "no kitty," redirected him, and used a squirt bottle. This happened a few more times, and he eventually lost interest each time.
- Gradually, the cats became a little more comfortable and began coming out of their rooms. Payne would follow them, and they would run back in. The action of them running definitely interested him, because he would get excited and start barking again. We went back to "no kitty" and the squirt bottle with the same good results.
- I did a few more re-introductions leashed, but not muzzled. In my presence, he didn't try to sniff or interact with the cats at all. He laid down and seemed disinterested. My three-month-old kitten even rolled a ball next to him, and tried to initiate a game, but didn't even try to move toward her.
- Then, out of nowhere, my big tabby cat came out of the room last night (not running), and Payne cornered him and grabbed him with his mouth! I am lucky, the cat is fine. No bites or injuries. I grabbed Payne by the color and forcefully told him "NO!" and he laid down on his bed looking ashamed. Muzzle went back on.
It's clear that Payne can be redirected. I don't doubt that he can be trained to be cat safe. But it's confusing to me that he's so hot and cold about the cats. One minute, he has absolutely zero interest. The next, he is chasing and trying to grab. I'm wondering where I should go with my training.
- The first few days, Payne had no interest in the cats at all. In fact, he seemed a little scared of them. I introduced him on-leash and muzzled. He could care less.
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There's a product at Sam's Club called Vet Guard which is a flea and tick preventative claiming to work better than Frontline. It's also quite a bit cheaper than Frontline. Does anyone know about this product, and is it safe to use on greyhounds?
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Ours have pretty odorless breath. I use Dental Fresh (it's a water additive) and CET chews. Every now and then, they get chicken feet and knuckle bones. I feed Iams green bag (large breed, with the bigger kibble pieces). I think it's mostly a combination of everything that keeps their teeth and breath looking and smelling good. However, I did notice that when we went on vacation and they weren't getting Dental Fresh, their breath got a little smelly.
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just wondering...what does it take for it to be "for sure"
Sounds like you're toast"For sure" means I can talk DBF into it!!
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Payne is finally here! I can't say "for sure" that we're keeping him, but things are going very well. He seems to be happy with us.
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Henry had an accident a few months ago, same as you. I still have no clue what happened, but he had to have part of his tail amputated. One thing that really helped me was that our vet insisted on doing bloodwork before the surgery. Henry has a history of idiopathic seizures, so I was definitely concerned that anesthesia could be a problem. Although everything came back normal, it was nice to know they could switch the type of anesthesia or dose to accommodate him.
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Awww, poor Piper
Sending good thoughts your way.
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Wow! I am fostering a grey directly off the track from Wheeling. After three days on green bag, his coat has made a drastic improvement. I LOVE green bag!
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@ a_daerr and jenniferk...
I'm new to this forum but have been following it for the past few weeks. My husband and I live in Pittsburgh and are in the process of adopting a greyhound with the help of GHG. He or she will be an only dog (at least for the foreseeable future), so we'd love to socialize with local greys, and their owners, once the adoption occurs.
Yay! What part of Pittsburgh?
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Our boy's name is Rico's Dexter. We adopted him in 2010.
If you find out who ended up with her, let me know. We love finding greyhound people in the area. What adoption group was it?
You are right close to the WPA Humane Society, who does a very cool greyhound basics class. We actually did it twice
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Welcome! We're near Pittsburgh (Greensburg, PA). Were those pics taken at the park on the North Shore?
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Any advice on how to deal with happy tail? Truman's tail is so long and it swings in a full 360 degree circle when he's excited. Recently, he's gotten a cut on it from hitting it into something. Now, it keeps breaking open when he wags his tail. When this happens, I'm cleaning blood spatter from the walls, floor, pretty much everywhere. Any help is appreciated.
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Sending good thoughts and positive energy for your pack.
Sounds like you're toast
Too Skinny? Conflicting Vet Opinions
in Food and dietary discussion
Posted
He turns one-year-old on 8/31/12.
That's what I was thinking... but this vet deals with a lot of greyhounds. Apparently, one of the techs also raised a greyhound puppy that has been seen there for awhile. So I would think they know what they're talking about? I don't know. I have a couple pictures of him posted under my Grapehounds Pics thread. You can see that he's pretty tall.
I call Truman "the dinosaur" for the same reason!