krissy
-
Posts
2,587 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Gallery
Store
Articles
Posts posted by krissy
-
-
She is intact. She will not be spayed until 18 months.
-
Well her full littermate sister out in Alberta is 70lbs to Kili's 50lbs. Now, having said that, even if Kili was at what I would consider to be her ideal weight there is no WAY she could be 70 lbs... in fact she might not even make 60 lbs. We're going to measure the sisters tonight and see what the height difference is. She's active as all heck and I'm not super worried but I'm going to bump up her food and see if that helps any.
-
Just curious to hear from those of you with older puppies (Truman, Joey, and Lilly's moms!) when your pups started to fill out?
I've honestly never been concerned about Kili's weight/condition. She's thin. I totally can agree with that, however I sort of felt like this is normal for a greyhound of her age. She just turned 11 months a couple of days ago and I think she's pulling up in height a little right now. She does tend to cycle through periods of looking better conditioned and looking quite thin. But she eats well, has been having good poops recently (after all our diarrhea issues), she has the softest, shiniest coat ever, and she is ACTIVE! I mean, she's the energizer bunny. If I'm off we're hiking (which means she's running for almost 2 hours straight) and she's probably playing with another dog for over an hour in the same day. She has sport/agility classes twice a week and I usually train her at least once a day. She also most days gets at least an hour of leash walking in. I also free jog with her a couple times a week (I've been slacking the last 2 weeks with the heat wave though).
Her growth has really slowed down now but she is still gaining weight. I weigh her at work every couple of weeks and she's always up.
Right now we're in the middle of changing food from TOTW Pacific Stream Puppy to Purina Veterinary Joint Mobility which is what I'm hoping will be her adult food (I will be feeding it at the recommended intake for puppies until she's about 15-18 months though). On the TOTW she's supposed to get 2.75-3.5 cups (so I split the difference and usually feed about 3 cups). On the Purina she's supposed to get 3.5 cups. So right now with the switch over I'm feeding about 3.5 cups of a blend. The Purina is a higher protein content than most foods so I'm hoping that'll be good for keeping up with her activity. I'd also been looking into some of the performance dog foods, but most of them are also really high fat which worries me. My breeder warned me about feeding her a food too high in protein/fat as a puppy because they can push growth too fast (which I totally agree with having seen problems with Danes and other long legged puppies that are fed a small breed puppy food), but I'm wondering if maybe now that she's not growing so fast it'll be ok.
I guess I wasn't really worried until a bunch of GREYHOUND people (mostly show folks) were commenting that she's too skinny. I think you just went through that though Tiffany... so maybe you can reassure me since Joey is gorgeous. I don't think it helps that her coat is white... I think it exaggerates ribbiness in pictures.
Anyway, when did your pups fill out, what did you feed, were they super skinny as pups? As an aside, Kili is still intact so early spay lankiness is not an issue.
-
It doesn't need to be greyhound only. My dogs have always attended class with a mix of other breeds. What is important is finding a positive reinforcement trainer. You cannot damage a dog's psyche with positive reinforcement training. The whole point of it is to use only positive markers to show your dog what you want. The ultimate in positive reinforcement training is not using ANY sort of negative, not "no" or even "ah ah". I personally will say "oops!" In a happy voice when my dogs get something wrong and then take them back and start again. So when Summit pops out of the weaves I say "oops!" And happily run him back to the start and try again, then huge party when he does it right. It works for sit, down, stay, and come as well. So this way the dog is never really wrong. She is only ever right or not quite right. You can't really discourage a dog this way. If she keeps not quite getting something you're too far ahead and you make things easier so she can get her rewards, boost her confidence, and then you make it harder again. There are lots of positive reinforcement trainers around these days so shouldn't be too hard to find one in Toronto.
-
Dogs that sleep startle don't get furniture privileges in my household... though it hasn't actually been a problem for us. One the rare occasion that someone does growl while on the furniture with us they lose their furniture privileges for awhile. We also don't allow new dogs up on furniture. Summit was not allowed on furniture until we'd had him about 4 months. Kili we've had since 8 weeks and she only started being allowed on furniture when she was about 7 months old. I like to have a solid obedience foundation and an established relationship with a dog before I start letting them on the furniture. I also like to have been observing and testing them on their dog beds to know whether they are likely to startle. If no signs of startling while on dog beds then I will start trying them on the furniture just asking them to hop up and right back off. I like to have a reliable "off" command so that if a dog growls or startles I just ask them to get down. No fuss, no drama.
-
Kili has had a murmur since she was quite young. It was missed at her vaccine appointment with the first vet, or wasn't loud enough to be detected at that time. Since she ended up needing surgery I did elect to have an ultrasound done and she has milt mitral regurgitation. She is still able to compete in agility and be a maniac. Not every heart murmur is a big deal but they're not something to just brush off as nothing. Greyhounds are different but they're still dogs and they still get regular dog diseases sometimes.
-
Travis was one of the first 21 dogs that started our odyssey of running a greyhound adoption program @ JCKC. I did an article about it for Celebrating Greyhounds back then and the photo they used was me with Jigmo/Travis. I BEGGED Jen to take him because I just couldn't handle him and the other umpty-scrunch fosters I had at that time (I can't remember how many "extra" dogs we had then). She eventually said she might adopt him (because she was afraid to place him with anybody else), but couldn't fit another crate in her van and he'd have to be crated when she went to trials. (This was before she and Stephen were married, or had even met.) I made a deal with her... if she'd adopt him, I'd give her one of my 3 "special" 23-inch wide crates (they were only made for a short time), which would fit in her van. She could put one of her girls in it and Travis in one of her larger crates. She said, "Done deal!"
After Jen had him for about 6 months, I took him for a vet visit to U Auburn (he had a toe issue we wanted Dr. Gillette to look at and I was taking one of my dogs there). I held him in the waiting room, while people kept coming in/out with various little fluffy dogs, cats, etc. It was challenging, but he was SO MUCH better than when I had him!
I absolutely adored Jigmo/Travis, but knew I was not able to give him what he needed at that time. He was one of the most gorgeous dogs I ever saw. When I look at Jen's pages about him and watch his videos, I cry every time. Right dog/right home!
That is an awesome story. Thanks for sharing! It's so cool how small a world greyhounds are once you've been in it for a little while. We've only had Summit coming up to 3 years now and already all the little nerves and synapses in this tiny world are starting to become very obvious. Very cool. And definitely a case of right dog/right home. I don't think there are many homes out there that could have handled a dog like Travis, never mind allowed him to emerge as the dog that he did. Most examples aren't that extreme, but so true that just because you WANT something to work doesn't mean it will. If I discovered I had adopted a dog with that level of prey drive I would have to return it, no matter how much it ripped my heart out. I cannot have a dog with that kind of prey drive. Important for everyone to realize what their limitations are and that it's okay to have limitations. (And I'm not suggesting to the OP that they should be returning their dog... this got a little side tracked... I apologize for the hijack, I just couldn't resist knowing more. I will stop now, I swear.)
-
EO's Jogmo was the MOST high prey dog I've ever known. I fostered him. He nearly killed my Cocker spaniel (he was muzzled, got her down and bashed her) and almost dislocated my arm when I tried to leash walk him after he was neutered. I begged a good friend and talented young dog trainer to foster him, to see if we could make him adoptable. She renamed him Travis (a/k/a Never Expected).
Take a look at his story:
http://www.neversaynevergreyhounds.net/travis.html
The Jigmo/Travis story is the all-time BEST example of right dog/right home and also what can be done to overcome challenging behavior issues.
Holy craponastick! You fostered Travis? I feel like you are the luckiest and unluckiest person all at the same time! Lucky because he sounds like an incredible dog and it would be amazing to get to even meet a dog like him. Unlucky because you had him before Jen. Lol! That's seriously a really neat tidbit of info though! End hijack.
-
I hear you. Summit is the same way. I hesitate to refer to it as "dominant" since I feel like that requires some sort of resource to manage, however I do know what you mean. It's sort of a less laid back personality type. Summit is fine with almost all females, but large males with the same sort of personality can be an issue... you know the ones... tail up, ears up and forward... so called "dominant". Summit also does not tolerate behaviours like mounting him. If a dog goes to sniff him and then starts putting his head on Summit's tail head or anything funny like that and he will growl and possibly turn around and snap. I don't correct this behaviour so long as it is appropriate to the situation. A situation where another dog is being rude I do not correct Summit. And I classify a dog STARING at us completely motionless from 5 feet away to be rude, when most owners would say "my dog wasn't doing anything to your dog". Yes, yes it was.
Summit is also aggressive towards huskies for some unknown reason. I don't correct him for this either but it is a situation that I manage much more closely. If I see a husky approaching I warn the owners to keep them back. Sometimes I get dirty looks. I'm sorry my dog doesn't like yours. I'm telling you to keep it away for everyone's safety because I'm a responsible owner.
What we have done is worked on a very solid "watch me" command. So I don't correct the growling, but I ask for a more acceptable behaviour and reward it. I will also reward an interaction with a dog that I thought was going to be a problem that Summit interacts well with or ignores (dogs running up to us uninvited etc. obviously I avoid meetings with dogs that I think might be problematic).
-
I'm at work, so can't write much, but did want to offer this little bit of personal experience that may make you feel a little less hurt.
Summit is my boy, my buddy, my special little man. He has been home for 2.5 years now. I routinely take things out of his mouth, lay on the bed with him, sometimes sleep with him when my BF is on night shift, etc. Once when he had been home for probably just about a year (give or take) I went to get him for his last out of the night. He was laying in our bed as usual. I called him and he didn't respond. I called him again and still no response. So I went right over to the bed and he still wouldn't come. I reached under him to push him up and he half jumped up and growled at me. Scared the heck out of me and hurt my feelings a bit. I asked him to immediately get off the bed, which he did, and he lost his bed privileges for a couple of weeks. It has never happened since and I do not worry about climbing in bed with him to cuddle, leaning over him in bed, taking high value treats out of his mouth (bones, bully sticks, kongs... but I do trade for these items as opposed to just taking them away!). I don't know if he was half asleep. If he just had no intention of getting up. If he wasn't feeling 100%. No clue. It happened once. It can happen with any dog. And it doesn't necessarily mean it will happen again. It hurts our feelings, and once you kind of get over that read through the advice you'll get here and I'm sure you'll be able to find an appropriate plan of action.
Just wanted you to know it happens with the best of dogs (because Summit IS the BEST dog
).Edited because I can't speeel.
-
The one thing I don't like about harnesses is that often the leash attachment is on the dog's back, which means it would be behind you with the dog in heel... which I find usually means the dog will walk slightly in front. My dogs are supposed to be at a heel and they don't pull (okay, the puppy does if she sees something she wants to investigate off to the side, but generally no pulling) so I prefer collars. I did use the harness when I used to hike Summit on leash since then he wasn't in a heel. Now it's irrelevant because he hikes off leash.
-
I use Cosequin on and off. I bought it initially for Kili after her bladder surgery, but she was only getting a half tablet once weekly for 6 weeks and the bottle was 132 tabs. So I started Summit on it since he's an older boy... not that he has any mobility issues so I didn't see any difference really. Of course, he's also on J/D as his regular diet so that probably helps too.
-
Please don't give any medications without consulting your vet first. You can cause some serious medical problems or if he ends up needing other medications you may be seriously limiting what the vet can give due to drug interactions. There is nothing that makes me cringe more when I am taking my history than the owner telling me they have been giving aspirin... especially when I was going to want to give Metacam or some other NSAID... and then I can't.
When in doubt about an animal's health a call to the vet is in order.
-
I also think that the more we learn about dog behaviour the more we realize that most dogs don't display true dominance aggression or behaviours. We can usually find some other good reason for a behaviour. For example, I doubt that Fletcher was balking at going in his crate because he was trying to dominate you by not doing as you asked. He probably disliked going in the crate for some reason. Not every dog has an innate love of the crate. My own dog, Summit, was crated for the first 3 months that we had him (after being in a previous home for over two years where he was no longer being crated). We had no problems with the crate and then one day he just started balking at going in. He'd still go, but he was reluctant. He wasn't trying to show me who was boss... he was trying to tell me he didn't like his crate much anymore. We ended up deciding it was time to start gating him in our bedroom.
A dog is also going to have an instinct to protect what it perceives as his. A dog who growls if you go to take away a toy or a bone isn't necessarily being dominant. Most times they just want to keep what they have. I would too, to be honest.
Summit absolutely growls at Kili when she gets too in his face, if she steps on him while he's trying to sleep, if she gets too close to his food. He has learned that I am allowed to do all of those things, but not necessarily because I am "the alpha". He trusts that if I take something away I will give it back, because most of the time I do. If I take away something dangerous (like a bone he has found at the park) I generally try to give him something in return (usually a treat).
I think it's just early and there's going to be some adjustment with the dogs. That's my take, but I'm sure you'll get a lot of more detailed replies.
-
If someone isn't trained they should be walkers alone. You can't train a dog to walk properly when you're dealing with other dogs, no matter how well trained the others are. It's recommended that a new dog is walked individually for about the first year they are home if leash manners are a problem. And yes, it's a pain. I'm still walking my puppy separately 8 months after arrival. But it's worth it to have well trained dogs that you can finally walk together without hassle. And honestly, I think they enjoy their one-on-one time with me!
-
None of those are off by enough that I would personally raise concern with a client if the dog was clinically doing well. What is the low 5.2 value for though? That's the only one I'm not sure what it is supposed to be lined up with?
-
Basal energy requirement (kcal/day) = (30 x BW in kg) + 70
Gives you a rough idea of kcal. A very active animal will need more and there are factors you can multiply by to figure that out.
-
Was the injured leg fixed surgically? Most dogs with proper surgical fixation return to normal activity and use of the leg (not racing, but certainly activities like agility and just general walking/zoomies). Were there complications during his healing? The trainer knows his personality well but what does the dog's vet say?
Personally, for me, having a dog that can't physically handle anything more than a short walk wouldn't work in my home. Certainly if something comes up with one of the current dogs we would make adjustments and we would make it work... but I would never start there. Not for our active household anyway.
-
I treat my dogs like dogs and not fine pieces of china. I have always ran my dogs off leash before I got Greyhounds and when I got my first Greyhound he ran off leash too. I didn't know it was any taboo or anything. I mean they are a hunting breed and how the heck do they hunt if they are not let off leash????? And when I came here and people went nuts about letting them off leash, I had no idea why. Still don't honestly. I can understand in busy areas, near roads, etc. I wouldn't let any dog off leash in those situations. But Greyhounds are dogs and no dog IMO was meant to live at the end of a leash. And every Greyhound I've owned has hunted more on scent rather than sight and they do not have the endurance other dogs do. A good chase and they are done and come back. A Dogo in their prime can run 5-6 hours w/o stopping and are hardheaded enough to keep to going. Casper has run until he literally dropped from exhaustion hunting something when he was younger.
And if they do run off, I just yell out the code and keep on walking. We keep to the pirates code (from Pirates of the Caribbean)- those that fall behind, get left behind. And yes I have left dogs out there before. My friends Rat Terrier wouldn't come when called cause she was hunting and I had an emergency and had to go. She got left and we went back for her later. She was still busy running around and hunting and couldn't have cared less we were gone.Couldn't have said it better myself. And I literally LOL about the Pirates Code.
-
Everything does well in the wild here. There is so much to eat. Everything just grows like crazy. The joke here is if you stick a pencil in the ground it will sprout.
I was thinking more of The Thousand (Watership Down reference for any readers in the audience). All the world is an enemy to a rabbit. Domestic bunnies are easy pickings for predators. They don't have the same natural instincts or fear. Some have handicaps such as being lop eared. They're not endowed with the same quickness and agility of their wild counterparts. They were just never meant to be placed in the sights of a predator.
As a rabbit owner who has a rescue that was found loose in the "wild" it always makes me sad to see obviously domestic bunnies living in the wild. I take my buns outside for playtime. But that's very different.
-
Different breed but maybe it'll help you. Around 8 months old Kili suddenly blew her whole coat. One day it was soft and silky with no shed and the next day it was coming out in clumps. I could pluck hair out by the handful. It was awful. And not just that the hair was coming out, but she had dry, dead skin coming out with it. I seriously thought something was wrong. Took her about 2 weeks to totally blow her coat out and now it's soft and shiny and no dandruff.
-
Jesus, those are pet rabbits. Someone obviously let some intact domestic pet rabbits loose. I'm surprised they did so well in the "wild". I certainly hope they were "removed" to good homes and not simply killed.
-
If you're really worried then best bet is to have a cardiac ultrasound done, especially if she's had one before and you have a comparison.
-
Sounds like Fletcher, who was also a dropout, they said he "lacked focus"
What worked for me was, in the beginning, if he ignored the "calm down", I would go back out and close the door. Wait a minute, then come in again. In the beginning, I came in and out a lot! Once he calmed a bit, if he still got excited after I was inside, I would turn my back on him. He got a lot better, but even at 11, he still twirls 
For the leash thing, if they start getting out of control (and all the dogs are guilty), I put the leashes back and go sit down until they calm down. They learned this one real quick! Now, all I have to do is stop, cross my arms and wait. They calm down right away.
Absolutely. My puppy has learned that she only gets out of her crate if she is calm and laying down. When I come home and she's excited spinning in her crate and crying I just leave the room again until she's quiet. Come back and if she's laying down I start unlatching the door. If she jumps up while I'm doing that I latch it and walk away. Only when she waits for the door to open and I say her release word is she allowed to get up. In your case you would just step back outside. The second he settles even a little you go back in.
).
What worked for me was, in the beginning, if he ignored the "calm down", I would go back out and close the door. Wait a minute, then come in again. In the beginning, I came in and out a lot! Once he calmed a bit, if he still got excited after I was inside, I would turn my back on him. He got a lot better, but even at 11, he still twirls 
Teaching Recall
in Training and Behavior discussion
Posted
Will she not leave your side if you took her to a larger enclosed space like a baseball diamond or greyhound fun run? I used to practice my recalls at fun runs. If not then what you'll likely need to do is teach a stay command first. When her stay is solid you would take her to a baseball diamond and ask her to stay at one end, walk away and call her from a distance. This will work to start teaching a recall, but in my experience most dogs that learn a recall will perform this type of recall 100% but that doesn't mean they will recall from a run, from sniffing something, or from going to greet another dog/person.