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Poor baby. I don't know if you've looked at the Ruffwear Webmaster harnesses? These are the ones that were recommended to me for tripods. They have a handle on the top. You could get one from Amazon for $60 and free shipping. If you don't like it, you can stick it in the box and send it back.

Don't be discouraged. You're doing everything right to fix the situation.

For your own safety, do not try to physically pull him off the bed. From your previous description, it sounds like he is really guarding the bed, so much so that he could resort to biting. Use high value treats- meat, cheese, something that is soft and has a savory smell. Toss the treats to him first while he's on the bed. Let him get a taste. Then toss them farther and farther away from him in the direction you want him to go. High-pitched, happy voices. Flood him with treats and praise when he lays on his own bed. For the record, I also have to question why in the world anyone told you that sharing your bed with a brand new dog was an appropriate thing to do. I hope they don't routinely tell new adopters that.

My only advice is to use very high-value treats when recall training. And unlike any other cue, I reward a good recall every single time. If your dog was race-trained, you may want to invest in a squawker to use for emergencies.

I know some people discourage dog doors, but maybe it's something to think about? You've clearly done all the textbook things, none of which have worked. At this point, you've got to be sick of cleaning up pee! My AKC greyhound was 15 weeks old when I brought him home, and up until that point, he was accustomed to a fenced-in run (i.e. pottying wherever and whenever he felt like). We had similar issues with crate anxiety. Combine that with a little puppy bladder, multiple accidents, the residual smell of pee, and the fact that it was the dead of winter... we had the perfect storm of housebreaking issues. At a certain point, we said, "Okay, we've failed at this. What do we do now?" And that was the day I spent $1500 ripping up carpet and installing the dog door. It's funny because once he had the freedom to go outside at will, the indoor accidents stopped. He basically "taught himself" to be housetrained. Now, we can go out of town and stay in others houses/hotels, and he doesn't have accidents anymore.

You have a fenced in yard, right? Is there any possibility you could try a dog door?

Belly bands are designed for marking behavior (i.e. leg lifting, peeing little amounts to mark territory). IMHO, they're not a substitute for housetraining. When a dog is all-out peeing and saturating the belly band, the pee just sits there against the dog's body. If you're out of the house or at work, it could potentially sit there for hours. At that point, they're more harm than good because then you're looking at the likely possibility of UTIs and skin issues. Don't buy into the idea that a dog pees "on purpose" or they're doing it to "get revenge." What it sounds like is that Aidan sees your mother heading to the door. He sees the other dogs getting excited and ready to go out, and he feels the urge to pee. Then, when he's shooed away from the door and left inside by himself, he's already so pumped up, he pees because he can't help it. Is there a reason he can't go outside with the others? You have to watch new dogs like a hawk. For situations where you (or your mom) can't physically watch him, confine him to a smaller area where he's unlikely to pee (crate, x-pen, baby gates, whatever). There shouldn't be opportunities where he can just sneak off and pee unseen, at least until he's reliably housetrained. "Reliable" means zero accidents in a six month period. And of course, do not punish the accidents. If you catch him "in the act," you can clap your hands or raise your voice to try and interrupt him, but try not to get angry. Praise him everytime he goes where he's supposed to. This is something I'd take very seriously and nip in the bud soon... with every subsequent accident, the behavior becomes more ingrained. A few accidents isn't a big deal, but when the dog has had 10, 15, 20+ accidents, the behavior becomes exponentially harder to reverse.

Unfortunately, this is the problem. Too much, too fast. He's not ready to share his space, and it's sounds like he's starting to exhibit resource-guarding behavior. This is very common in greyhounds because, keep in mind, these dogs have never been forced to share their resources (food, bed, toys, treats). It's all very foreign. I'm a bit surprised nobody mentioned this when you went through the adoption process. The training part involves going very slowly with a desensitization protocol. At least for awhile, you'll have to enforce a NO FURNITURE policy. I really can't stress this enough, for the safety of both you and any guests you might have in your home. He cannot be on the furniture. Allow him to have his own bed, then gradually get nearer and nearer by tossing high value treats at first. Work up to sitting next to his bed and feeding him. Over weeks and months, you may get to the point where he makes enough progress and you feel comfortable letting him back up on your bed. Or, he may always be a dog that just needs his own space. Many greyhounds owners have dogs that are perfectly behaved, affectionate, and loving as long as they're on their feet. The other part of the time, it's "let sleeping dogs lie." If that's the case, hopefully it's something you'll be able to accept. Another thing that should be mentioned... and you probably figured this out already, it's generally never a good idea to grab a dog's face. In "dog language," this is very threatening behavior. Maybe something you could get away with if you had a puppy or lab or something. But I would think that most greyhounds (including my own) would never tolerate a person they didn't know very well grabbing their muzzle.

Sending good thoughts that it's something little.

Mine won't play with anything except stuffies. Here's my boy with his favorite toy, an airline pillow.

Eh, it's going to be veeeeery hard, if not impossible, to make him understand "this is your one toy, the others are not." The best thing you can do is just restrict his access to your son's toys. Make sure they're put away or in a room that's baby-gated and off limits to him. Easier said than done, of course.

Henry has a heart murmur that varies between 1/6 and 2/6. No one even noticed it until FOUR YEARS after I adopted him and we had to make a trip to the e-vet. His regular vet didn't think much of it, given the fact that he's a retired racer. Of course, if it makes you feel better, go ahead and follow through with the cardiologist. But I wouldn't stress out too much at this point. I'm sure there are some greyhounds out there with legit heart conditions, but murmurs (like thyroid values) seem to be another one of those weird, common greyhound medical idiocyncrasies.

One of my boys rubs his face on everything after he eats. No rhyme or reason- it's just one of those weird, quirky things he does. He also loves having his snoot scratched.

Where was the lump? And are those numbers the tumor's mitotic index? The problem with soft tissue sarcomas is that it's difficult to get wide enough margins. But if the mitosis is fairly low, many dogs live fairly normal, healthy lives. My boy had a spindle cell tumor in the soft tissue around one of his femurs. The bone was already compromised, so we ended up having to amp the whole leg. I think his is an example of a more extreme FSA, just because it affected the bone. As I understand it, that's very atypical.

Agreed. He's going to have to do stairs at some point in his life. The longer you wait, the more avoidant he'll get. You can put a muzzle on him to help with the destructive behaviors.

The only issue that I ever had concerning Rimadyl is that it seems to cause my boys an upset stomach. It makes them both inappetant. Batmom suggested giving Pepcid 30 minutes beforehand and also making sure you give the Rimadyl with a meal. That helps.

Just a thought... could both dogs possibly wear basket muzzles during the day? If you removed the chewing issue from the conversation, the crate might not be as necessary. If your new dog isn't 100% housebroken, though, then I'd say stick to the crate for awhile. Just make sure they get a long, tiring walk in the morning.

If you're concerned about catastrophic expenses, I would definitely suggest a pet insurance plan. In my copious amounts of research, I've found Healthy Paws, Embrace, and Trupanion to be about the best. They have the most inclusive reimbursements and very reasonable rates. We have Healthy Paws, and it's around $45 a month for my 6-year-old grey. My younger dog is around $40, and the cat is $20. In the last year, one of my dogs racked up close to $13,000 in medical expenses due to cancer treatment and amputation. I'd never go without pet insurance, because I'd never want to make a decision to give my dogs lesser treatment for a financial reason. It's been a godsend for us. If you're like me and bad at saving for things, the other thing that you might consider is a wellness plan. I've heard that the ones through Banfield (PetSmart) and Embrace are very reasonable and include routine things like vaccines and yearly exams. Some even have additional riders that cover dental health and flea, tick, and heartworm preventative. Any dog can be expensive, but it really is the luck of the draw. Best to be as prepared as possible up front.

If she's not using the leg at all, she is definitely in a tremendous amount of pain. Realistically speaking, you're heading towards the advanced stages. I can't stress enough that now is not the time to be conservative with pain meds, even though they may affect her behavior, energy level, or her ability to act like herself. As the others have said, restricting activity is almost equally important. OSA causes lesions that make the bone weak, almost like a piece of swiss cheese. The bone cannot handle the force and energy involved in running and heavy exercise. One misstep, and the bone will break. Not "may" break or "could possibly" break... WILL break. And a catastrophic break is not the way you want to let her go, because the pain is unfathomable.

Oh geez!! Good thing they did x-rays. I see that little fracture. Hopefully the surgery goes smoothly.

Just a thought, but did they check his feet for corns? In a 4-year-old with no documented racing injuries, I'd probably start looking into a simpler explanation.

Sounds like you're doing everything right, and it's not working. One of my boys is on Prozac. His thresholds are very low, in addition to anxiety-related aggression and compulsive licking. The meds aren't a cure all, obviously, but they do help him be a happier and more stable dog. Don't let ANYONE make you feel bad about resorting to behavioral mod meds. Your dog is what I'd consider an extreme case, especially because he is not giving typical cues prior to biting. You've tried all the right types of training. Now, I think it's time to head down the medical route. I give you all the credit for giving him a chance and trying to work past these issues. That's not an easy thing to do given his bite history. Best of luck to you.

That is an insane price!!!!!! I'd definitely be shopping elsewhere. I get my Heartgard from 1-800-Pet-Meds. It works out to be around $8.50 a pill when you buy a year's supply. Heartgard has a generic now, called Iverhart Plus, that's even cheaper ($7 a pill).

Definitely looks like an infected bite/sting.

Is it still swollen? I'm with Tracy. I'd be concerned about a potential bite/sting. Exactly where is the swelling? Can you post photos? I've dealt with a lot of sprains, and they're usually not very swollen or hot to the touch.