Jump to content

mrsmcd7

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    140

  • Joined

 Content Type 

Posts posted by mrsmcd7

    Separation anxiety? Fear?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    5 hours ago, greysmom said:

    My first thought is that now that he's more comfortable in his new home he's not *really* potty trained.  The second thought is that he already seems to be an excellent "human trainer!"  ;) 

    It's difficult for us with the pandemic going on to really keep a strict schedule - off days and work days are all mixed up and we aren't really disciplined like we would be if we were doing our normal get-up-and-go work routine everyday.  But that's what he needs.  Set a schedule for him that will work when you go back to "normal."  He needs to go out every time he wakes up, after every meal, after every play session.  Basically if he starts moving around after being still he needs to go out for potties.  He looks like an adult dog, but at 3 years old he's still got a LOT of puppy left in him.  Most greyhounds don't settle into a more mature personality until 4 years old or later.

    If he's been released into adoption without any splinting or bandaging he's probably OK to do stairs.  Greyhounds have never been alone in the their whole lives and that's the hardest thing for them to get used to.  They want to be with their pack all the time, and having him sleep in your room is the easiest way to bring home to him that he's a part of the family.  It will also allow you to keep an eye on him if he needs to go during the night,  If you have room for his crate that would be swell, but that shouldn't be a deal breaker.  You can keep using the crate for when you leave the house either way.

    Thanks!!!

    Separation anxiety? Fear?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

     Our first greyhound passed away fall 2018. We finally felt we were ready to adopt and now we have Watson a 3 year old male. We got him one week ago and he turned 3 Friday. He broke his right hock the week of May 8 which ended his racing career. Slight limp otherwise it doesn’t bother him at all. Likes his crate and hangs out in it on occasion. Has been sleeping in crate downstairs and our bedrooms are upstairs. At foster he slept in a crate in fosters room on main floor.  We are waiting until his vet visit Aug 1 to do stairs bc he hates them and I want to be sure his hock is checked first as we don’t know what track did as far as care for the hock. His first few days went very well. Took him out frequently if he seemed anxious. Longer walks 1-2 times a day.  Eliminated on leash fine. About 4 days ago he started banging around and crying in his crate when we’d come downstairs. The first time I let him our right away in case he really had to “go” but he didn’t. Next couple of days I tried to wait for him to calm down by ignoring the behavior but that doesn’t work. This morning he started it even before I came down. He did go out and poop. Then about an hour later I asked him to go on a walk and he cried and acted anxious. He seemed to calm so I put harness on him then he whined and peed right where he was standing. I said “no!” And put him outside while I cleaned it up then went out and harnessed him and walked him. He enjoys the walks a lot. Any advice on this behavior?

     Thanks

     

    New hound broken right hock, dry tail

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

    21 minutes ago, KF_in_Georgia said:

    I'd leash-walk him until your vet says he's safe to run. 
    Video him from the back as he walks and save that to have a record of how he moves now if you think his gait has changed in the future.
    Ask the vet for x-rays for comparison. My broken-hock boy arrived here with a CD of xrays showing the pin in his hock. (I uploaded those xrays to a photo storage site so I can access them any time to show them to an emergency vet or something.)

    CRT QUADEER0004

    Yes only leash walking as fence not installed yet. Will get X-ray August 1st at new dog checkup appointment. Thank you!!! I don’t think he had surgery there’s no scar. It looks like a bone growth around area I think from fracture calcifying. He does limp off and on but doesn’t seem at all in pain. 

    New hound broken right hock, dry tail

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, greysmom said:

    A broken hock is a really common career-ending injury, but most recover just fine.  He may have some increased risk for arthritis in that leg as he ages, or pain at the site of the break.  I would urge you to get an xray of the leg at your appointment, just to check that everything's healing well, and to have a baseline to compare as he gets older.  He would probably benefit from some ongoing PT, if you have a canine rehab clinic available to rebuild his muscle and help him walk easily again.  He also may need to be on a light nsaid dose for a while longer for residual pain.

    The tail issue is probably healing happy tail injury.  Have your vet take a look to make sure it doesn't need to be protected for a while longer yet.  The one thing you don't want is to re-open that wound.  The scabbing should fall off eventually though the hair may or may not regrow.  Gradually adding in a food grade oil high in Omega 3s will also help a dry coat - most of us use salmon oil, but any kind will do (kelp, pollack, olive oil, flax, sunflower).

    Thank you so much! Will get an X-ray when we see our vet Aug 1. Our vet is popular that’s the earliest I could get. I am only leash walking as we haven’t put the fence in yet. Should we avoid our big flight of stairs? I did buy glucosamine-chondroitin treats also. 

    New hound broken right hock, dry tail

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

    We have a new hound that broke his right hock at the track. It is unknown what treatment was performed but I would say at most it was casted/splinted. It happened the week of May 8. He still does limp mildly and occasionally holds it up but doesn’t seem to have much pain. There is a lump where it healed. Calcification? Just wondering what others have done as far as activity restrictions etc? And for how long? He will see our vet this week. We just got him yesterday !! Also he has a dry tail with dry dead looking skin on the tip.....

    Sudden Death Of Our Baby

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    We lost our 10 year old hound suddenly in September. I'm sorry for your loss. It is so hard. The people here on greytalk really helped me. What also helped our family was putting together a memory book on Shutterfly. Now we have a nice book we can open and look at whenever we want to remember our Max.

    Adopting A Grey In An Apartment

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

    My hound stopped using flights of stairs at age 6, but could do one or 2 stairs. Just FYI.

    I live on the fourth floor with no elevator. Thirty-nine steps. I count them every time we go up and down. My first Greyhound picked them up pretty quickly. They are easy steps, in a semi-enclosed hallway, short flights of closed-back, carpeted, with a brick wall on one side. The Greyhound I have now, who I adopted as a four-year-old return, was truly unhappy with the stairs at first. I spent almost a week patiently going up with my hip on his backside to encourage him. A hint: he does a million times better if he is next to the brick wall, I think it makes him feel more secure; maybe your potential new pup will need that assurance.

     

    I sat a foster dog who was not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He would stand and stare at his reflection in the windows in front of each building. I live in a condo development, so we'd pass what seems like a million windows on every walk. Well, he just would NOT do the stairs, so I had to lug his 75 pound butt up and down four times a day. Not fun. I watched him for 10 days over the Christmas holidays. In that time, he walked up unassisted exactly once: the first walk of Christmas morning. I started to cry, thinking it was a Christmas miracle. Yeah, no such luck. By lunchtime, he was back to balking. He ended up going to a single family home where he didn't have to do stairs. If I had adopted him, he would have had to learn, but I don't think my back would have held out.

     

    It was mentioned previously, but you will want to do everything you can do to prevent or reduce separation anxiety. Please read about alone training (the Dummies book has a nice explanation) and do exactly as directed, even though it seems kind of strange. My first Greyhound had terrible SA. It was beyond awful. And, to exacerbate the situation, my downstairs neighbor would call me literally seconds after I got home to tell me about every moment that Mandy cried. It took me a long time, a lot of work, and many tears to get her to be okay with my being gone. I had to settle for okay, because she would never be happy when I left. There is a relationship between SA and thunderphobia. Mandy was also a horrible thunderphobe. Since your group doesn't foster, maybe they will know how your potential pup is with storms. It's not foolproof, but it's one thing to consider.

     

    Welcome to the world of Greyhounds! They are wonderful dogs.

    The "not the sharpest knife in the drawer" dog is hilarious! Staring at his reflection? Too funny!

    Cat Issues

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

    Can I say this--it also depends on the cat. We had a cat when we adopted our gound. He was "cat-safe" but very interested in her and did chase her but she slapped him twice on the nose and that was that. She passed 4 years ago, then same thing when we got our recent cat, she walked right up to him and slapped him a few times and then no problem.

    Pet Loss Support

    in Remembrance

    Posted

    I liked the productive grieving link and shared it with my family. My daughter brought home 2 books from school. Even though they're children's books we all got something out of them. "A Dog Like Jack" by Dianne DiSalvo-Ryan and "Dog Heaven" by Cynthia Rylant.

    Max (Starz Lee Max)

    in Remembrance

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

    Thank you. We really miss him. I'm making a photo book of his life on Shutterfly. Going through the pictures helps me see how great of a life he had with us. He was our baby. My 14 year old son is struggling too. He's sleeping with Max's blanket.

    Max (Starz Lee Max)

    in Remembrance

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

     

    Please allow me....

     

    I became intensely interested in grief counseling after my daughter was murdered nearly 23 years ago. I now do grief counseling, at the doctoral level. I am always astounded by the number of people who take so much guilt unto themselves for behavior and results beyond their control.

     

    How foolish for us to assume responsibility for that which is beyond our ability to understand, no less to control.

     

    We can only do our best, with the best intentions, based on what we know. Beyond that... it's a crapshoot.

     

    A survivor....

    Thank you

    Foot Pain And Nails

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    I too second AmberGusDad's advice. I had a similar experience with a 10 year old (loss of mobility due to a possible brain tumour) and opted not to await an MRI because she wasn't improving and the vet was losing hope. It was not an easy decision to live with, but I couldn't watch her suffer any more.

    Thank you for sharing. This helps me.

    Max (Starz Lee Max)

    in Remembrance

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

    He developed sudden pain Friday afternoon. Went to hospital and got pain meds, tried to take him home Friday evening, pain and anxiety worsened, returned to hospital last night around 10. By this afternoon they couldn't get the pain and anxiety under control. It was awful. We decided to end his suffering. She thinks it was spinal tumor. Earliest MRI would've been Tuesday. Couldn't let him suffer on until then. He was 10, I wouldn't have put him through

    continued suffering / surgery etc. We will miss him so much. He was the best dog.

    Foot Pain And Nails

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by mrsmcd7

    Thanks time4Anap, I needed that reassurance. It may sound crazy but I was starting to picture euthanasia because I can't stand seeing my animals in pain. I hope it doesn't come to that. I hope like last time the steroids and fentanyl patch kick in. I feel like I abandoned him there. He'd rather be home but I couldn't get him comfortable enough. I can't believe the expense also! It was $530 for first exam, meds, blood work. Just put $682 deposit down for hospitalization which the total will be $950-$1200. I have pet insurance but who knows if it will cover!!

    Foot Pain And Nails

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Thanks. Back at ER. Too much pain. They're going to keep him overnight for pain management. Fentanyl patch takes 12 hrs to start working so they'll put that on now and give him other meds until it kicks in. Can't pill him because that requires lifting his head and his neck is too painful. I tried but it freaked me out when he screamed.

×
×
  • Create New...