krissy

My puppies probably spent about 15 hours in a crate per day on work days. They'd be in their crates for the majority of the day, being let out every hour or so to potty and get a quick training session (so 3-10 minutes out depending on how busy I am at work). At lunch we would go out for 30-60 minutes to walk, play, and train at the park down the street from the clinic. In the evening we would do longer play/training sessions (more like 20-30 minutes) after potty and maybe take a walk around the block. Non-work days they would be out a bit more since they'd get longer play sessions in between crate times. I look at it this way - spending more time in the crate early increases the chances of a well trained dog that doesn't need to be crated later on. Now, this does still depend on personality too as neither of my girls are trustworthy to be left loose in the house because they'd get into trouble... but they are totally trustworthy in the housetraining department so there's that.

To me the key words here are "sort of". There is no such thing as "sort of" supervising a puppy. If you take your eyes off the puppy, they can (and therefore, at some point, will) have an accident that you won't catch until after it has happened. My puppies are in crates unless I am directly 1. training 2. playing with 3. cuddling. If I am not touching, holding, or have eyes on the puppy at all times then they are contained in some way (usually a crate, or when a bit older and have SOME concept of housetraining then in an ex-pen).

Puppy potty training is a very long, kind of tedius process, but it can also be simple fortunately. The puppy needs to be confined at any time that you are not directly supervising her. If you're not sure if you're "supervising" in a given situation then think about it this way... if there's a chance you could end up finding an accident (as opposed to seeing it as it is happening) then you aren't supervising. So the easiest way to potty train is thus: 1. Puppy is crated overnight. First thing in the morning you let puppy out, scoop her up in your arms (so she can't have an accident on the way to the door) and take her outside. She should be pretty desperate to pee, so she should go fairly quickly. When you put her on the ground and you see her start to squat, give her your potty word (Mine is "hurry up"). Then reward lavishly when she's done. She will likely need to poop at this time as well, so walk her around a little bit in the area you want her to go. If she goes then reward her and play with her (either inside or outside). If she doesn't poop then take her inside and put her in her crate for 5-10 minutes and try again. Repeat until she poops. During this time you don't take her out to play with her. You can play with her when she's empty! 2) After you're done playing with her or training her, or cuddling her and you want to go about doing your own stuff, put her back in her crate, perhaps with a Kong to work on. Take her out at an appropriate interval (depends on age and size of puppy, but in general for a brand new pup probably about 1 hour). Again, carry her to the door when you let her out of the crate. If she doesn't go when you take her outside, bring her back in and put her back in her crate for 5-10 minutes, then try again. Once she goes you can play/cuddle/train for a bit, then put her back in the crate. 3) If you need to leave for a longer period of time than she is able to hold for (say you need to go out for 3-4 hours and right now she can only go about an hour) then put her in the exercise pen. Give her a bed on one side, and a potty pad at the other. As soon as you come home, regardless of what you find in the pen, take her outside. If she doesn't go, put her in her crate and take her out every 5-10 minutes until she goes. ETA: 4) If at any point while you are playing with/training puppy she squats and starts to have an accident, quickly scoop her up (this will generally stop the urine or poop) and rush her outside. Let her finish outside and reward her. If you crate whenever you are not supervising, and take her out regularly then you should have no problem getting her housetrained.

I'm not sure if it makes a difference on what the initial premium gets set at, but if I recall correctly, Trupanion does not actually increase premiums based on age of the pet. They change a bit each year based on inflation and changes in the cost of medical care in your area, but supposedly not because of the age of the dog (Kili's premiums have actually been decreased a couple of times with PetSecure). PetSecure also does not change premiums based on age, however they do increase your deductible at the age of 7.

I highly recommend pet insurance for everyone. As you say, it is for major, expensive, emergency events. As a vet, my experience is that pets with insurance tend to get better, quicker care than pets without. Now, that's not universal of course...there are lots of devoted pet parents that do everything I recommend, when I recommend it and just pay out of pocket. However, many of us don't have a couple thousand dollars burning a hole in our pocket, and we may have other financial responsibilities to consider as well (a house, a car, a family, etc). I have pretty well run the gauntlet on pet insurance. Summit is my oldest (and first dog), a retired racer, and a bounce that we adopted when he was 5.5 yrs old. I elected not to get insurance for him because he did already have some pre-existing conditions. I was pretty lucky with him. He really didn't have any medical concerns. He was diagnosed with pannus, which requires lifelong eye meds which are not super expensive. Other than that I basically had nothing beyond routine costs for him, until last year when he herniated a disc in his neck and needed spinal surgery. That cost $6000 and I paid it out of pocket. That wiped out all of my savings from 4 years of working. Kili is 4.5 now and I got her as an 8 week old puppy. She has insurance with PetSecure and I have the highest level plan. It covers 80% of all costs and has an unlimited budget (some of their lesser plans only cover each condition up to a certain amount, $1000, $5000, etc). It also covers 80% of some routine costs such as dewormer, vaccination, routine bloodwork, etc. which is kind of a nice bonus. I believe my deductible is $250 and it is a yearly, not a per condition. So basically once I meet my deductible for the year, no matter how many different problems she has, I don't pay more for deductibles, I only cover my 20% of the co-pay. Kili had a lot of urinary tract issues right from the get go. She actually started using her insurance while she was still on her 6 week puppy trial. Over the next 6 months she racked up about $8000 in bills. I had just graduated from school so I had fairly minimal savings and the insurance really saved me from being super worried about money. She has been pretty healthy since... we used her insurance once or twice a year for the next couple of years for minor stuff, and I don't think I've put in a claim now in over 18 months (knock on wood). Still worth every penny though. Kenna has insurance with Trupanion. They cover 90% of expenses, but they do not cover exam fees (which for me isn't a big deal because the only time I pay an exam fee is typically if I have to see a specialist) or routine health care (this typically includes dentals too). I can't remember what my deductible is, but the nice thing is you can choose your deductible and your monthly fees are then set accordingly. Since I mostly have insurance for major emergencies, I set my deductible reasonably high to help keep the monthly premiums low. If you choose to do that though, realize that you won't be able to claim much for less serious issues because they have a "per condition" deductible. So if you set your deductible to $500, if you take your dog in for diarrhea, or an ear infection, you won't be able to claim it because the bill will be less than your deductible anyway. So you just need to decide what fits best with your lifestyle. I'm pretty sure you can adjust your deductible later on too if it turns out it doesn't work for your financial needs. I have not needed to use my insurance for Kenna yet (thank god), but Trupanion is one of the most popular insurance choices so I deal with them a lot at work for my patients, and generally people seem pleased with them. To me, this is a terrible way of looking at insurance. If you are looking to "make money" off the insurance company, you're always going to be disappointed. The point isn't to get as much money back as you put in, and it'll never work like that on the average. The insurance company has costs. They have staff who need to be paid, they have large claims to pay out to owners with very sick pets. If you have a very sick pet that requires $10000 in treatments, where does that money come from? It comes from the premiums that you and other pet owners have contributed. If everyone got back the same or more than they paid the company, the company would not be able to pay out large sums of money to sick pets that need it. Insurance isn't a personal bank account, it is exactly what the name implies... insurance. Insurance against catastrophic events. I pay the insurance company so that I can have peace of mind, so that I don't have to worry. I pay the insurance companies, so that if/when my dogs need expensive treatments I don't have to think about it, I don't have to check my account balance, I don't have to phone family to borrow money... I just say "yes, do it... do it now". THAT is what I'm paying for. I will never get back as much as I pay the company... and that's okay. I hope I never need them to cover tens of thousands of dollars of treatment... because that means my dog is VERY, VERY sick. Insurance isn't always for everyone. There are other options such as saving money. But, I will say that I know how quickly you can go through $3000, $5000, $10000 in a pet emergency. After Summit's surgery I had basically nothing left in savings, so if one of the girls had had an emergency I would have been in a really tough spot for money. As it was, I was worried about other things (what if something happens to the car in the next 6 months, etc), but at least I didn't have to worry about medical costs for the girls because they have insurance. It's important to ask yourself what your medical goals are for your pets, what risks/gambles are you willing to take, and then figure out what is the best option for you financially... and that may or may not include insurance. For me, my medical goals are to provide the best medical care always and as quickly as possible, and I am not a gambler (literally, I can't even play with "fun money" it's so stressful for me) so I want to take pretty much zero risks. So for me, insurance is by far the best choice. Summit's surgery was extremely stressful for me even though I had the money to cover it, and I will never have another dog without insurance.

I've never had a blood pressure issue that couldn't be resolved by 1) turning down the anesthetic gas 2) increasing the iv fluids 3) giving dopamine or dobutamine. I've never had to give a colloid like hetastarch for a blood pressure issue during surgery.

So sorry for your loss. What a full life she lived though! Run free sweet girl....

I'd look at a Help 'em Up harness, as it is designed specifically for this purpose. I borrowed one for Summit last year when we were going through his IVDD and surgery.

I'd take her to the vet and rule out a UTI so you can be sure you're dealing with a behavioural issue... otherwise you're beating a dead horse, so to speak. Once that's done, I'd do as GeorgeofNE suggests and go for a walk. I have a fenced yard too, and it's great and convenient, but I still walk my 12 yr old male every morning before work (or any time before we have to leave him for an extended period of time), especially in the colder weather. Going outside in the yard is not enough for him because he's a marker. Both of my females go out and empty their bladders in one spot, but Summit walks around and marks. In the yard he might go 3-4 times, but that is usually not enough if we're leaving him for 5+ hours. I let him out in the yard with the girls, and then I take him for a short walk at which time he'll easily pee another 3-4 times. Sadly, markers always leave a bit in reserve, so you really need to get them to go many times before they're pretty close to empty. And beyond that, do not let her have freedom unless you are actively supervising. It's exhausting, so if you're not going to be watching her like a hawk, put her in her crate for a few minutes while you do whatever it is you need to do. Coming directly off the race track is like adopting a puppy. A puppy with a much larger bladder and full bladder control, but a puppy nonetheless. Until you've gone 2-4 weeks without an accident, any new dog is under direct supervision at all times outside of the crate.

This. I let Kili play with other dogs a lot when she was a puppy. I did a lot of individual work with her too, but she was my first puppy and I was really worried about her not being good with other dogs. So I let her play with other puppies and other dogs a whole bunch. And I'm not saying it was necessarily a huge mistake, but she's very dog oriented. Part of that I think is just her personality. She's not hugely handler focused. But, I think I could have helped that by not letting her play quite as much as I did with other dogs. Luckily Summit is quite a bit older, so although he did play with her, it wasn't non-stop all the time. With Kenna and Kili being closer in age, they want to play with each other ALL THE TIME. However, I have strictly limited their access to each other to prevent this. In the house Kenna is in an x-pen if I'm not working with her, and I either turn the girls out separately, or I am out with them. I do give them time to run and play together, and sometimes more than others. This week they've gotten lots of play time together as I've been taking them over to the hockey rink down the street and letting them rip around a bit to get some exercise, or if we go for a trail walk they can run together... but usually I limit them to a couple of minutes in the yard per day. Kenna is a lot more focused on me than she is on the environment or other dogs. She still loves to meet new dogs, but she doesn't have playing with them on her mind 24/7 which is nice. I walked them separately for a full year in order to work on leash skills, which I think is really important. You can't teach proper leash manners walking two dogs. The older dog will get frustrated with all of the stopping, and to try to be fair you will end up being inconsistent with the younger dog and creating confusion. Kenna is 16 months old and most of the time I still walk her by herself. I have started to sometimes walk her with Kili, but it's pretty occasional still. Temperament is not stable until about 2 years old. It's important to socialize lots all through those first 2 years, and reinforce the kind of reactions and behaviours you want... but also important to realize that genetics are very strong and you can't completely overcome them with training and socialization. And things can change up until 2. Kili loved all other dogs up until 18 months, and then she started to change. She's still very dog friendly, but in certain circumstances she can be nervous of other dogs, and she can be quite bitchy towards intact females. That's just who she is, and all the socializing and playing that she did with other dogs didn't ultimately make her best friends with every dog at the end of the day. There are lots of pups that are well socialized to people and the environment and still turn out fearful of people, or busy places, or loud noises.

Welcome! You sound like a greyhound could be a good fit for your family. One thing I will mention, is if cuddly is important to you, to work with a group that fosters the dogs first... and make sure they know how important that quality is to you. Not all greyhounds enjoy cuddling (but show their affection in other ways), and some even have a bit of space "aggression". I have 3 hounds and none are big cuddlers, including 2 that I raised from 8 weeks old. Summit, my eldest, is tolerant but won't choose to cuddle. Kili loves to sit right next to, or on top of, us but doesn't want to be cuddled or she'll grumble. Kenna is the most snuggly, but she's only 16 months so she doesn't really stay still enough to cuddle at this stage. She might turn out to like cuddling later on when she calms down a bit.

If they've done bloodwork and x-rays they probably should already have a pretty good idea if it is or isn't a pyo. Most pyos are visible on x-rays, and the white blood cell count should be quite elevated on the bloodwork.

It depends on the trainer and the dog. I don't recommend it for most owners/dogs, but there are plenty of people who are able to off-leash their greyhounds with relative safety. All 3 of mine go off leash, however they have lots of recall training and I pick my locations carefully. When we lived in Ontario we really didn't have a lot of rabbits, so most places without traffic were safe. Here in Alberta, however, we have jackrabbits everywhere which limits our locations since 2 of the hounds will chase. I also take them out to lure coursing practices and practice calling them back from the lure as it is the closest thing to moving prey. I would never count on being able to call a greyhound off a rabbit. I can call mine off of pretty much everything else though... birds, squirrels, other dogs. I don't let them off leash in places where I know there is a high possibility of coming across a rabbit, and the other locations are such that if we did happen to come across a rabbit they would be highly unlikely to go far enough to reach a road. We have several nature trails in/around the city that I use regularly where rabbits don't really frequent much. My oldest hound has zero prey drive. I don't mean low... I mean zero, so he's safe to off leash pretty much anywhere. There are a lot of factors that go into a decision like that, and most owners don't do enough training to do so properly. My dogs do agility and disc competitively, and very rarely are those rings fully fenced, so it's important for me to have a solid recall with my dogs.

When we got our first greyhound and were taking him home from the adoption kennel, we were warned to bath him in cool water because if the water was too warm it could cause fainting. That said, I have bathed all 3 of my hounds over the years and always used warmish water (not really warm, but certainly not cool) and never had an issue.

So sorry for your loss. What a gift to have been able to spend 15 months with her post amputation though! I'm sure she was thoroughly spoiled during that time and that you treasured every extra moment with her. Run free sweet girl.

I jog and bike with my two younger hounds, but they don't love the monotony of roadwork. I usually don't do more than 5 km (because honestly that's about my own limit on the boredom of jogging), and usually within 1 km or so Kili starts to run at the very end of her leash behind me. She's got plenty of stamina, she just hates having to go one speed the whole way. I will sometimes take them out on the trails and then they can run off leash which they prefer. Off leash they can easily run with my bike for an hour... not even sure how many km that is, but it's at least 10. However, that either requires that you have somewhere fenced that is big enough, or have enough training that they are safe to be off leash, so it's not necessarily a feasible option for everyone.

I have three greyhounds. Our landlord was showing our house and wanted to come in early on a Saturday. It was our only day to sleep in, so we told them it was fine, but they wouldn't be able to see the master bedroom because we'd probably still be asleep. The dogs all sleep with us in the bedroom. When people came in Summit never batted an eye, Kili got up and stared at the bedroom door, and Kenna was the only one that started barking. Kili does sometimes bark at people coming up to the front door, but not always. Kenna's mother is a serious barker so there's some genetics involved.

I'm sorry for your loss. That was a beautiful tribute. I'm sure he and Dawn are zooming around right now.

Actually, Advantage Multi does not have a tick preventative. For external parasites it covers ear mites, fleas, and certain skin mites. If you want tick coverage you need to add another product such as Advantix, Nexgard, Bravecto, Simparica, etc. Most of those also cover fleas. Advantix is also supposed to have some mosquito repellent activity.

They're perfectly safe. K9 Advantix is toxic to cats though, so keep the dog separated from any cats for about 12 hours after applying to be safe. Pretty much all veterinary heart worm and flea/tick meds are safe for all breeds of dog. I can't really think of any meds with breed contraindications. Even Heartgard is safe for ivermectin sensitive collies.

Congrats on your new addition. Adjusting and settling in can definitely be more of a process for some. Definitely no. With separation anxiety the barking is a symptom, not the problem. A citronella collar will only address the symptom but not the underlying anxiety. Your neighbours will be happier, but your dog will not. That said, if this is true separation anxiety, it sounds relatively mild with no destructive behaviour when crated, and only a short period of time with vocalizing, and a happy dog a few hours later. I think this could probably be worked through with consistency in training, doing frequent but short absences starting with just a few seconds so she doesn't have a chance to get upset. I have also personally found it helpful with fosters and new dogs to crate them for periods of time while I am home as well... sort of enforcing some separation despite the fact that I am home. That is mostly just anecdotal, and I'm not sure if there's any real science there or if it's just been coincidence, but I continue to do it since it's certainly not harmful and has seemed to help. I'm sure others will have some more suggestions.

Just use human brushes. All 3 of my dogs have their own brush in "their" colour. Summit's colour is blue, Kili's are pink and purple, and Kenna's is green. Dogs should definitely have their own brush because every individual has their own unique microflora in their mouth. You can also train them to use electric toothbrushes, but I've just never bothered as I find the traditional brush works just fine for me.

If there is a repair option and you can financially afford two surgeries... I'd do the repair no matter how small the chance of successful healing. You can always amputate the leg later if it doesn't work. I don't think I've ever seen a dog shatter their patella. Saw one split in two one time and we sent that to the ortho to be repaired. But never seen one shattered. Poor girl.

Virbac CET. My favourite is the Vanilla Mint because it actually smells good. lol. I wish they made human toothpaste in this flavour!

Dasuquin is a joint supplement. It can be very helpful for arthritis, but it is not a pain killer and can't be expected to single handed lay deal with extreme pain because it won't. It may help to lower the dose of drugs needed, but mostly in the earlier stages of joint disease. Tramadol has questionable efficacy in dogs. Opinions are mixed on how well it actually works in this species. We tend to use it a lot simply because our options for oral pain killers are limited.