krissy
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Posts posted by krissy
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Well it's good to know from others who have gone before me down the puppy road! It's so frustrating, and I know that part of it is my fault because she is not just a pet... I have expectations of her doing agility. So of course when she won't train, has no motivation or drive for anything... of course I worry. If she doesn't pan out as an agility dog then I will have to wait until after Summit passes before getting another dog to try again. And Summit is going to live to be 16 (which is still 8 years away).
I'm trying to look at the bad just matter of fact (okay, she's pulling a bit because she's distracted by crows... and cars... and she's a little nervous in the low light now that the days are getting shorter again) without too much judgment or concern and simply come up with a plan (need to walk her this same route tomorrow morning as well so she gets used to these distractions). Then I make myself look at things that were good or an improvement (We actually managed to go for a proper walk even though it was not completely smooth and there were frustrations; she did really well with impulse control and sitting at my side when we saw people and other dogs today).
It has definitely occurred to me that her hormones... not helpful. Hopefully she will come back to me from this in the next month or so (been going on for close to a month already). My plan is to spay her in February when she turns 18 months to allow full growth but not allow a first heat. I may have to opt to do it a little sooner if she continues to have problems with focus and training.
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She totally is going through weird adolescence. And on the one hand I know that and I know we need to just keep on trucking through it... keep training otherwise it'll be 10 times worse. But honestly, some days are just so frustrating. I actually miss her as a puppy. Walked nicely on lead (with help and reinforcement of course), trained well, good focus, good impulse control (again, with lots of work). Now she freaks out about her nails being trimmed, she doesn't give a rat's behind about me, food motivation has gone out the window completely, impulse control is non-existent. And this is all with constant, on going work on these things. She's had her nails trimmed weekly since she was 8 weeks old. I mean... seriously.
It's one of those things where you KNOW it's the age and things will get better... but unless you have a crystal ball you don't REALLY know. The longer it goes on the more you think she's just going to get stuck with this personality. I can definitely say I'm never having children because there's no way I could deal with this kind of behaviour from a human teen!
We still haven't gone the route of the head collar. I keep waffling. She's been doing a little better recently so we've just kept trucking along. [sigh]
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Hmmm that sucks. I'd just ignore her then and I wouldn't get up until she was silent for a minute or two and I'd work her up in time from there.
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Crate her in your bedroom? Our dogs sleep with us. Kili in a crate and Summit just on his bed. The bedroom door is usually open so Summit is free to sleep in the living room but it is rare for him to choose to be elsewhere. Point is he likes to sleep with us.
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Wow. That's freaky! It's like someone photoshopped a pit bull head onto a greyhound body!
Nice colours.
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I will not adopt from the group we got Summit from ever again. This was partly why we ended up getting a show bred puppy, because in Ontario there is only one group with a kennel where you can choose your own dog, the rest all foster dogs out and choose for you. I think that's great, however, since I wanted an agility dog and most folks in the greyhound adoption world don't know what to look for in an agility dog it would be better for me to choose.
There were a few issues with the group I got him from. I won't get into it. It was resolved in the spring (a few months after we got him). The first summer we had him we were at a local event that this group also attended. I stayed far away, however, I had invited Summit's former owners to come and see him (they hadn't seen him in over 6 months since they returned him) and they told me that the adoption group said it was a shame I'd let Summit get so underweight. He was the same weight as when I adopted him.
Anyway, point is, if you don't have to deal with this woman and you can just deal with the founder and other volunteers then don't shy away from adopting from them again. If you have to deal with this woman or she has enough clout in the group that you can't politely put in a word with the founder then honestly... there a lots of other places to get a greyhound and lots of other groups with events to attend. I can't be bothered to deal with that group. So I don't.
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Yay! And Chet is a cute name! Love it.
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You're right. My dog.
And I'm not paying for it anyway. Insurance is.
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The link reviews, in cartoon form and lay language, the scientific basis for chiropractic (none) and the proven benefits (none). You'd do as well to take your dog for a short, gentle walk and pet her a bit.
I would argue that that isn't true. While I don't think it has the kind of science behind it that I would prefer, I would argue that given just the responses in this forum that suggesting it has NO benefit is untrue. I would agree that depending on the situation it doesn't necessarily have LASTING benefits, which was why I stopped going for my neck. It did absolutely correct my hips. I'd had ongoing issues for several years and my sports therapist had first identified my hips being the problem when I went in for ongoing ankle issues and starting of knee issues (the weakness in my hips caused my other joints to have to compensate). Later after lots of strengthening exercises they noted that my hips were out of line. Had my hips adjusted and nary a problem since. There is definitely a correlation. I suppose I can't strictly say that there is causation.
Kili was moping on the couch every night and acting very sore for several days, including the day of her appointment, in spite of me taking her for walks and petting her. She was adjusted and the same night she was back to normal. Again, I suppose we could argue a coincidence but that's a pretty convenient coincidence considering I can once again work her over jumps and I'm currently watching her tear around the house like a goof. But maybe my walks and petting fixed her. I think that's unlikely though.
I like good solid proof as much as the next person but I like good results too and it would be naive to think we know it all. Science is constantly changing its mind as new discoveries are made. There are lots of medications that we use for diseases other than the ones they were developed for... not because they have been scientifically proven to work, but because someone tried it off label and saw improvement.
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Way too long to read. I'll have to try again when I'm not at work and have a longer attention span.
While I do not think a chiropractor can fix everything and anything, and I am not totally on board with routine visits just for no reason, I do think that it sometimes it may be the only fix. Kili basically has the same problem that I did with my pelvis. One side was higher than the other for some reason and had gotten a little stuck. It was a problem. I'd be running on the ultimate field and would be off balance really easily (no kidding when one leg is 3/4" shorter than the other) and I would also pinch a nerve every so often which would be severe enough that the pain actually caused me to pass out a couple of times. I don't see any other way that could have been fixed except by adjusting the hip back to where it should be. It was adjusted and the problems stopped and it's never been a problem again (I obviously took a tumble or something at one point and have not taken that tumble again since). I did also have my neck done a couple of times and it did help but that makes me really nervous so I do massage therapy for the next instead now. I'm not a fan of messing around with the neck. Also my neck I can manage by using ergonomic chairs, remembering to have good posture, etc. My hip wasn't something I could do anything about. So since Kili has the same problem and was probably caused by trauma while she was playing with other dogs, I'm more inclined to have her see the chiro. I would be less comfortable with it if it was her neck. Also having seen how gentle this chiro's adjustments are I'm quite happy to have her see Kili for this particular problem.
I do my own adjustments on myself sometimes.
I cross my arms over my chest and then have my BF pick me up, and that causes anything that's tight to pop. He doesn't do anything other than pick me up, so I figure if that's what my body wants to do then that's cool. Doesn't help my neck though. 
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I think it depends on a lot of factors... the individual dog is only one of those factors. Individual dog factors to consider right off the bat would be age and background. No way I (personally) would leave a very young dog (under 2 years) uncrated while I was gone until it had proven itself to not be a troublemaker. My 12 month old puppy has been crated since I got her at 8 weeks and I can't see letting her have any sort of freedom until she's about 2. Even when we're home she's grabbing and relocating things, never mind when we're NOT home.
Non-dog factors would be your housing situation and lifestyle primarily. We rent and we both work 9 hour days. Again, no way I'm leaving a dog uncrated until it proves it can be trusted. Even Summit was crated for about 3 months after he arrived home as a 5.5 year old bounce. I'm gone for far too long to just let a dog hang out in my house after stepping off a hauler. It's also hard enough to rent with large dogs that don't cause damage. Landlord references are often important for getting the next place.
So, if you're home a lot, own your own home, and the dog isn't a puppy then sure... borrow a crate and see how things go.
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Not my business, but is she skeletally a bit young to be in agility maybe?
No, because she's not jumping or weaving until 15 months. At this point "agility" is just learning handling, learning focus, building relationship, working on learning to tug properly, tunnels, learning 2-on-2-off without actually going onto contact equipment, learning to lay down immediately on the table, and doing jumps at 8 inches (which for a dog of her size is a step not a jump) in order to learn handling.
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Bet that your pet is healthy, and save the money, or bet that your pet will need the insurance, and waste the money if they don't? It's up to you.
The only thing I would say is that it is a lot easier to look at it this way.
If your pet doesn't get sick and need a bunch of payouts, you're not wasting or losing money. The money you pay in premiums buys you something: peace of mind. I think that's worth the money, personally
When someone is unsure about going for pet insurance I like to say something like, "Your dog just broke it's leg. It will cost about $2000 to fix it with surgery which will give your dog the best possible outcome. Would that stress you out? Yes? Not me. Full coverage insurance, I just say 'Ok, do it'. If hearing about an upcoming bill makes you say "How much?", get insurance"
I'm a huge fan of insurance. I lose less patients the more of them that are insured. I don't like seeing my patients not get the best care, or not get care at all.
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Just worked both dogs over a couple of jumps on my lunch break and she took them all with enthusiasm.
Very happy right now with how much this has helped her. -
I bought a puppy from a good breeder AND I am a veterinarian. I got the top level of insurance on her and I am so glad I did. In the first 6 months of having her she ran up close to $10,000 in vet bills between my own clinic (which I don't own so still have to pay cost for everything except my own time) and the referral practice.
What I always say to my clients is this "If *I* need pet insurance, you probably do too". I don't know many people who have an extra 10 grand laying around in a 6 month time frame. Your animals may be young but accidents happen and young animals can get sick too. No animal is too young or too old to get hit by a car, attacked by another dog, swallow a tennis ball, crack a tooth on a stick, get a questionable lump that needs to come off, or scratch a cornea. Our puppy has been WAY more expensive than the racer we got at 5.5.
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Also, I've been wondering if owners who have dogs that are super possessive of balls like that should even be playing fetch. Idk, I mean, it's not a private back yard you know? There's other dogs around and if your dog reacts to any dog in its vicinity when a ball is in sight maybe it's not an appropriate activity. I've been thinking about this haha.
No, they should not. Some people do it though and we try to avoid that unless we know the dog well and know that it generally doesn't mind sharing. We've also run into some really good owners that take the ball away on their own if other dogs come in or if their dog seems to be getting possessive.
Oh, we did have one idiot owner who came in and then gave both her dogs a chew treat (not a long lasting one... they were softer dental chews but they still had to lay down and eat them in several bites). And then she was trying to ward off all the other dogs. Fight waiting to happen. Not sure why anyone would think that was a good idea.
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Does anyone use a Gentle Leader brand head collar on their grey? What size does your hound wear? I'm trying to order one in through work so I don't have one to try on my dog. Kili doesn't really pull forward, but right now her distraction is intense and she'll often pull sideways... and she's big enough now that this is NOT cool. I was really trying to avoid having to go the head collar route but maybe it'll help keep her sniffer off the ground so she can focus a little better on giving me her attention. We shall see. Anyway, according to the sizing chart it looks like a Medium might be the way to go.
Edit: Or if you use a Halti, do you use a size 3?
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Just got back wi Kili and am very happy. The Chiro was very nice, made polite talk about my dog which is generally appreciated, explained exactly what was happening as we went, and was very gentle with her adjustments. In fact she chose to stop even though Kili had a tough spot that wasn't totally corrected because she felt Kili had had enough for her first time and didn't want to overwhelm her.
Got home and Kili is acting MUCH more herself. We are not to do anything too strenuous and no tugging for a couple of days, but she's up and around the house poking her nose into stuff instead of just laying around moping. We are going back on Monday for her next adjustment.
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Not sure why the guy is mad that your dog "tried to bite" his when he was grabbing it by the scruff AND screaming at it. Seems like he was doing worse things to it than your dog was. Besides that, what was he expecting by picking his dog up? Hold something over a dog's head and chances are they're going to get excited and jump up towards it. He probably air snapped in excitement and thought it was a game, or at worst maybe it triggered a bit of prey drive.
My puppy jumps up and air snaps if someone holds a small dog over her head. She wants to play with it so she tries to play bite just like she would normally do when playing with another dog on the ground. Some owners get freaked out by that. I tell them to just put the dog back down on the ground. Of course she's going to jump up if they hold it over her head!
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She might not react to you examining it, but you aren't necessarily trained in the bone alignment with muscles, etc. We had our first chiro go over Ryder and he found the problem within minutes. He was admittedly stiff all over, but there are a few locations on his spine that are more troublesome than others.
Yes, this is exactly why she is going. If she was reacting to me I would just x-ray her or put her on pain meds and rest. The fact that she doesn't react to an orthopedic examination suggests to me that she is probably pinching a nerve somewhere, because she acts exactly like I used to when I was pinching a nerve.
You might also ask your vet about cold laser treatments. They aren't cheap tho - you could call around and get best price and info. Good luck.
I am her vet and she does get laser treatments, though not for this. Remember, she's a 12 month old puppy so it's not like she has a lot of skeletal problems yet.
And yes, the chiropractor is a certified animal chiro. She's recommended by our agility club and routinely comes out to their trials to do adjustments. My trainer assured me that she is very gentle with her adjustments and very good with the dogs. They have had experiences with other chiros that they did NOT like due to too rough adjustments. So that at least reassures me about that. I'm just not sure how Kili will feel about it. I also don't want to get into a situation where she HAS to go routinely. But since she's so young hopefully that won't be the case.
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I should add that I haven't actually found a source of pain on her during my orthopedic exams on her. It seems to come and go. She CAN do crazy things with seemingly no problem (i.e. playing with her friends) but other times seems really off. So it does seem more like something that can come and go, and can be ignored if she really wants to. But she just seems really cautious at times, so hopefully an adjustment will help. I suspect it's her lower back even though she doesn't react to me examining it, just based on some odd things she has done recently.
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And I guess my other question is this. He's about to turn 2 at the end of this month. Is it possible that this behavior is still part of adolesence, or is this ultimately the dog he's grown up to be? I know he went through some very exaggerated puppy stages, but he managed to come out of those mostly on his own. I can't help but feeling I've failed in some ways because he's been socialized and in some type of formal obedience class since he was 15-weeks-old. How do these negative behaviors crop up, when seemingly, I've really tried to do everything right? Like, leash reactivity is the last thing I thought I'd be dealing with since he's had hundreds of positive experiences on leash with other dogs. Why is he always losing focus when we have worked on "look" and eye contact since the day he came home. It's all so frustrating.
Boy oh boy do I know that feeling! When Kili went through that really bad fear phase I wondered if I should have socialized her more and how could she suddenly be so afraid when I had socialized the heck out of her. I worried that was the dog she was. I just wanted her back to her normal self. Well, be careful what you wish for. She is back to herself, which is a total social butterfly. Ultimately that is the base personality I want, however it is incredibly difficult to work with in group agility classes during any off leash work because she immediately wants to run off and ignore me.
Kili is also right now going through another phase. I call it her distraction or concern phases. She's not overtly afraid of things but she notices EVERYTHING from smells to sounds to sights. Everything is a distraction to her. Walking her is a nightmare. Some days I just sit outside with her and click and treat for attention.
Dogs do have their second fear phase around 2 years. Maybe that's what he's going through right now. It may be that this too will pass. Did this all come on rather suddenly? How long has he been acting this way?
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Kili is going to an animal chiropractor tonight. Just curious if anyone else has used one for their hounds. Adjusting backs just kind of makes me nervous. I've been to a chiropractor for myself out of desperation but I never really got to be 100% comfortable about the whole thing. It did seem to help, I will say that. Also, I found I wasn't so nervous about my back being adjusted as my neck. Of course, further adding to the whole thing is that chiropractic is still not totally accepted. I know some doctors recommend it and others definitely do not (mine adamantly does not).
Anyway, we're going. Kili has been very not herself for the past week or so. I thought it was another growth spurt because she sometimes gets really quiet and eats less for a little bit. But I've noticed some stuff that kind of stuck in the back of my head, and then last night at agility I became convinced that something is bugging her. Refusing jumps until we lowered them to 8 inches, very slow through the tunnels. Just not right. Our trainer uses this chiropractor and really like her so we will be seeing her tonight and hopefully she can adjust Kili and make her feel better.
So, anyone taken their hounds to a chiro? What was it like? Did you go back regularly or only when you felt your hound was off? Do you use a chiro yourself and did that influence your decision or make you more inclined to try it for the hounds?
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Kili will refuse food or spit it out when she is interested in something else. She'll do it when she's severely stressed as well, but when mildly stressed her focus and food motivation actually improve. When she's distracted (wants to meet another dog or person, sees a furry creature, etc) she will refuse to take even the best treats... or more frustrating still she'll spit them back out. New and stinky Eli's but is not a guarantee.
When she gets like this I simply stop. We stand still. I don't ask her to do anything. I just wait her out. When she gives me even the slightest attention I click and treat. We might go minutes between treats. Eventually she becomes less interested in the other stuff and starts giing me attention quicker and quicker. It helps to work on giving you attention in less distracting places too so that the idea transfers better when distracted.
Head Collar Size
in Training and Behavior discussion
Posted · Edited by krissy
If I can find somewhere to do it laparoscopically then yes. Otherwise I might not because doing it open means a full abdominal incision instead of just a caudal incision. Her last surgery was quite tough on her so I don't want to have an even bigger incision to contend with. If I can find a referral practice to do it and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg I will have both procedures done by laparoscopy.
ETA: Actually, my other option that I am also considering is doing a gastropexy and an ovariectomy (instead of an ovariohysterectomy).... If I just remove the ovaries and not the uterus I can get away with a cranial incision only. They do this a lot in Europe and because the hormones are removed with the ovaries there doesn't seem to be any difference statistically in the risks of mammary cancer or pyometra (infected uterus) which are the primary reasons why we spay dogs. So that's an option I am also toying with.