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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!

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! OMG, he's gorgeous. I love dark brindles with grey faces!

Yay! Can I ask, what group did you go with, and what is the name of the dog you're getting?

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?

OH NO! Sending good thoughts your way for Bullitt.

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! 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...

When I got Truman, I bought a coupler. It made things so much easier.

Ahhh, great news. I'm so happy and relieved to hear this.

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.

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.

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?

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.

"For sure" means I can talk DBF into it!!

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.

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.

Awww, poor Piper Sending good thoughts your way.

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!

Yay! What part of Pittsburgh?

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

Welcome! We're near Pittsburgh (Greensburg, PA). Were those pics taken at the park on the North Shore?

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.

Sending good thoughts and positive energy for your pack.

Both of mine hate supervised separation. They didn't quite freak out, but the evaluator said they were not happy.

Henry did his fair share of statuing for the first few months too. For quite awhile, he was so afraid of the car that he would statue and shake, and we had no choice but to lift him in. He would also stop dead in his tracks if something made him nervous or fearful (passing vehicles, people, bicycles, etc). I'm a big fan of positive reinforcement. In a calm voice, we would tell him "it's okay" and give a treat. Not in a coddling fashion (because that can make a dog more fearful), but calm and confident. Wait a moment, and then move forward. Also, it really helped that we took Henry everywhere. The more places he went, the more comfortable he became. And he LOVES the car now.

You've gotten pretty good advice so far. My first racer, Henry, was always very shy around kids. We did some formal obedience training and (after two years) he's to the point where he'll tolerate kids. He still doesn't really feel 100% comfortable around them. It's a really good sign that PJ generally enjoys the company of your kids. With a little more training (for everyone involved), things will get better. A good trainer will help you work on desensitivization techniques to make PJ feel less guarded. I can pretty much approach, move, or manipulate my dogs in any way without incident. But it's taken a long time to build that trust. Guests and visitors know not to bother the dogs when they're laying down.