a_daerr

It sounds like he's holding out hope that if he waits, he'll get something better. For picky eaters, I'd just put the bowl down for 15 minutes and pick it back up if he doesn't eat it all. That's it. Don't try to coax him or entice him by adding in mix-ins or changing to a different food. Those are surefire ways to make a picky dog pickier. Reserve the high value treats for your training sessions only.

My heart is broken for you... Hang in there.

This is what I was wondering too? A longer or more in depth surgery leaves the body open for a longer period of time (i.e. more exposure, most risk of infection). But I suppose the same can happen even with a routine neuter. I can't give any definite answers, except to say the most likely scenario is that he developed an infection as a result of the surgery. Then, from what I can surmise, they gave him IV meds, and he's starting to come around now. If it was an infection, there really shouldn't be any longterm effects. It they accidentally damaged an organ or something, then that's something different. If you're worried about it, request the medical records and take them to your vet for review.

My vets always err on the side of what could potentially be the most serious possibility. I always thought that was standard procedure- sort of like a CYA thing. Anytime I've called with a problem, even if it's a seemingly minor problem, their response is either (1) Bring your pet in ASAP, or (2) Take him to an e-vet ASAP. I'd hate to see what other kinds of mistakes these people have made with such a laissez faire "wait and see" attitude. Just my two cents.

I have a seizure dog, and I asked the neurologist about this once. She said that unless there is a pattern of flea/tick/heartworm preventative CAUSING a seizure (like within a day following application), it doesn't matter what kind you use. It most likely won't affect anything. So with that being said, I agree with Pam. Heartworm meds all have pretty similar ingredients (ivermectin), so I'd probably just go with whatever is in your pricepoint. We use Heartgard with no problems.

Okay, on goosing. Funny story. My neighbors are really trashy and crazy. I don't really trust them, especially this one dude who always sits on his porch and watches me cutting grass. As soon as I fire up the lawn mower, he immediately comes out and watches me, like it's a show or something. So one day I was cutting the grass, and the mower was of course, really loud. Crazy guy was out on his porch, but then I saw him disappear for awhile. Out of nowhere, I feel something on my butt. I PANICKED, thinking it was creepy-neighbor-porch-watcher. I let go of the mower, turned around reaaaally slowly. In those seconds I convinced myself it was creepy neighbor, and I'd have to start fighting him... and it was TRUMAN!

I like the idea of giving a signal, but teeth can be a little intimidating. You can discourage the mouthing by yelping in a high pitched way as soon as the teeth touch your skin. It sounds a little silly, but that's one of the ways dogs develop bite inhibition among each other. She'll stop the behavior if she thinks she's hurting you.

http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/206024-greyhound-sitters/ For whatever reason, I don't have luck using the "search this thread" function. The search results are wonky. I usually just CTRL+F and put my location (something simple, like "Carolina") then click through the pages until I find the matches.

This happened to Truman twice. The first time, he was at the doggie pool and drank a ton of pool water. He had an accident in the house a few hours later (as you said, odorless and colorless). The second time, he was just hanging out at home. He was laying on his bed, jumped up, then immediately started peeing. He obviously couldn't control it, because he tried running for the dog door and seemed surprised that it was happening. Again, the urine had no smell or color. While this was happening, I did some research and found that the reason for the lack of odor/color is because the water is running through the body so fast it doesn't have time to be properly concentrated in the kidneys. So that leaves one of two things- the possibility of an underlying issue like kidneys or Diabetes inspidus... or (more likely) your dog just drinks water like a maniac and the urge presents so suddenly that she can't make it to the bathroom. How do you give her water? Free access? Filling up bowls at different times in the day? Is she very active, which results in her gulping water after hard exercise? These are all things I'd look into first before you go too crazy with testing or meds. FWIW, I doubt that an otherwise healthy 4-year-old would have urinary incontinence (unless she was spayed recently, then there's a chance of spay incontinence). UTI probably unlikely if the test showed negative and this is only happening once a month.

My advice is to stop the baths- repeated baths will dry his skin out even more, no matter what kind of shampoo you're using. The best supplement I've used for skin and coat is Missing Link. Reasonably priced, amazing results, and it worked FAST.

Muzzle with a stool guard is my favorite way to keep a dog from licking a cut. Much easier and more comfortable than an e-collar.

I used a front clip harness in the interim while we worked on leash manners with Truman, my puller. Harnesses are a training tool, just like anything else. They can be beneficial if used in conjunction with training (i.e. not a substitute for training). But to answer OP's question, no, unless the dog has bad leash manners or a medical problem, a properly fitted martingale is just as efficient/comfortable.

How old is your child? I don't like to discourage you, but I don't know if I'd bring a grey in that was straight off the track in a home with very young kids. Adoption groups foster the dogs so they can gauge their temperament and response to children before they come to you. The age restrictions are usually there for a reason- many greys get bounced because of issues with kids. You take a huge risk bringing in a fresh-off-the-track dog with no idea how he'll react to your existing dogs and child in the home environment. Even the best behaved child can misinterpret a dog's signals and warnings. Also, IME, tracks don't offer as much help and support if the adoption doesn't work out. About a year ago, I decided to adopt my grey's littermate from a track with the understanding that the dog was cat safe. I won't get into details, but he was not cat safe, and as a result I lost two of my cats. It was a devastating time for me, and on top of it, the track refused to take him back because they didn't have room anymore. I practically had to beg a local group to take him. It was absolutely horrible. Adopting from a track isn't a big deal if you don't have cats or kids and you are willing to roll through ANY potential problem that can arise with that dog. But in your case, you have two big potential dealbreakers- your existing dogs and your child. I would seriously consider going through a group (even if it means waiting).

Cat puke is a delicacy in our house. They hoover it up like there's no tomorrow! Unless your cat is vomiting up his meds, it's probably not a big deal. Can't be any worse than cat poop.

It's also important to add that they may never really be cuddly or overly bonded with each other. They may end up just 'co-existing' and that's 100% okay too.

Unfortunately, it didn't do much for us. I've heard it works great for others, though.

MUZZLE! Fixation and being unable to distract is a big red flag.

Removing the resource altogether isn't really a good solution for a resource guarder. If a situation ever comes up when the dog starts guarding something that's inappropriate, dangerous, or poisonous, you'll need to be able to get that item back safely. Also, the more you take away and punish the dog for growling (i.e. "Anytime I get an awesome treat, mom yells at me and takes it away"), the more they feel that it's necessary to guard. That can either make the guarding instinct worse, or it can cause the dog can begin guarding anything and everything. There are many threads here on resource guarding that offer advice on trading up. Once you get those down, you can then begin teaching "leave it" and "drop it." I would start working on those in short five minute training sessions at least once or twice a day. The key thing to remember is to ALWAYS give the item back to the dog at the end of the session. The dog will eventually realize they have no reason to guard if they always get the item back in the end. http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/300814-guarding-her-rawhide/?do=findComment&comment=5561486 http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/284927-growling-and-air-snapping-over-a-ball/ http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/278310-growling/ http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/252053-miles-bit-my-roommate-on-a-walk-resource-guarding/

Aww, he looks like a love. If he were my dog, I'd scale his food back until you could see a little more rib and hip points. I prefer my boys on the thinner side.

I agree that it may be time for meds. Nine months is a long time for a dog to be dealing with those kinds of high anxiety levels.

I agree about adding more mix-ins, less kibble. If you're going to use a canned food, I like Nutro Chicken and Oatmeal for Sensitive Stomachs or Iams 'green can.' Other stuff to consider would be eggs, cottage cheese, poached chicken, hamburger, pasta, oatmeal, rice, tuna, etc. Also, keep in mind that greys start losing muscle mass within a short time of coming off the track (and muscle is more dense than fat). So even though the scale says one thing, you really just have to go by looks. Unless she looks like she's lost a decent amount of weight, I wouldn't worry too much. I had a vet tell me once that Truman was severely underweight and wanted me to get him up to 8 cups of food a day! He was at a perfectly healthy adolescent weight at the time. So just be on the lookout, because many non- grey-savvy vets will tell you a grey is underweight, even if they're not.

I agree with that. My theory is that prolonged parasite (particularly hookworm) infestation can damage the GI tract badly enough that many greys have ultra sensitive stomachs no matter what you do. I don't know if they're routinely wormed and given preventatives at the track. Does anybody know the answer to that?

IME, twelve hours is a very short amount of time to start seeing food allergy issues. One of my guys had an allergy to one of the ingredients in TOTW. It took several weeks before he started getting itchy. Also, you would probably be seeing some kind of digestion problem along with that. The base of the tail and groin, combined with his persistence leads me to think flea allergy dermatitis (and hear me out on this one). Frontline kills the flea after it comes into contact with the dog. It doesn't prevent bites from occurring. I had a cat who had a flea allergy, and she had problems even when she was on a preventative, and even in the winter. For an animal with a flea allergy, a few flea bites can turn into huge problems. Rarely is it a full blown infestation. My cat had to be on a steroid when her itching got severe, so that's an option if the antihistimines aren't working. You may also want to consider K9 Advantix as a preventative, since it kills AND repels. Here's an article from Pet Web MD on Flea Allergy Dermatitis: This is the most common allergy in dogs. It is caused by a hypersensitivity reaction to one or more substances in the saliva of fleas. Flea allergy dermatitis is an allergic reaction of both the immediate and delayed type; itching begins immediately and tends to persist long after fleas have been eliminated. One bite is enough to trigger this reaction. Symptoms are worse in midsummer during the flea season. However, dogs who live in the house may suffer all year long if fleas are present. Flea allergy dermatitis is characterized by severe itching with inflamed skin and red papules found where fleas are heavily concentrated-over the rump and base of the tail, under the legs, and on the groin and belly. Dogs chew and rub at these areas. Hair falls out and the skin becomes dry and scaly. In some cases the skin breaks down and develops raw areas that become crusted and infected. In time, the skin becomes thick and darkly pigmented. Treatment: The majority of dogs with flea allergy dermatitis can be cured by eliminating fleas on the dog and controlling fleas in the environment. All pets in the household, even those who are not affected, must be treated simultaneously to eliminate fleas. Antihistamines and/or corticosteroids may be required for two to three days to control itching. A medicated bath may also help to make your dog more comfortable. Pyoderma requires topical and oral antibiotics. Seek veterinary attention for these problems.