schultzlc

The same thing happened to our bridge boy, Phantom. He snapped down on a bee while lounging in the grass one day, and his poor face swelled so much his eyes were just slits. The Benedryl helped, but it took a couple of days before his face stopped swelling once it wore off. We ended up taking him to the vet to get a cortisone shot, which seemed to end the issue. I hope your boy is soon on the mend!

When I first met Luna at her foster parents' house, she wasn't interested in coming near me. She was such a shy girl, who preferred to hang back in her crate and watch the world go by from a distance. It didn't matter to me, I knew that I would love her, and I wanted nothing more than to help her come out of her shell. Over the past seven and a half months, I have continued to introduce her to new situations and people. I knew I was putting her out of her comfort zone (but if she had her way, it would be just me and her at home, forever and ever!). Sometimes my efforts were successful, and other times she had a little meltdown, and we left the situation. Fast forward to the present, and sometimes I am amazed at where we are now! Though she is still shy, and has major issues entering unfamiliar houses and buildings, she is leaps and bounds from where she was. My family and friends have been wonderful, as everyone has been so patient and gentle with her. Last night, we went to a small gathering at my friend's house. Since all of my friends are dog owners, our hounds are always invited, and I decided to bring Luna along. Worst case scenario, we could always go home. But, we didn't have to! She was so great, and I am so proud of her!! She was social with the other dogs (all of different breeds) and made a point to go and say hi to all of the people! She even eventually stole someone's pillow and settled in for a nap. My friends and I couldn't believe how well the evening went, and this morning, I am still glowing with pride at my shy girl who's coming into her own!!

I agree with this. My boy Phantom only had a couple of teeth left by the time he went to the bridge. We didn't change much with his food as he had more and more teeth removed, and he adapted just fine (although we were tempted to build a plexi-glass tent for him to eat in, because the kibbles would shoot out all over the place). I have no idea how, but he still managed to enjoy a bone every now and then!

From my experience with both of my greys, I would say that this is affection (although sometimes with my girl, she is also wiping off the remnants from her most recent meal!). Neither of my greys have been real cuddlers, but both of them love to lean and rub against their favorite people.

For the first month that I had Luna, she was up every night between 3 and 4 whining at me, and I feel your pain! Like you, I assumed tha she had to go out, which wasn't the most fun task as we used to live on the top floor of an apartment complex (yes, over the summer I actually moved to a house to better accomodate the dog!). I also realized that it didn't make sense, because she could hold it during the day for several hours while I was at work. I tried a few different things, like taking an extra long walk before bedtime to wear her out, but nothing seemed to work. For Luna, it turned out to be impatience for her next meal time. She was always so hungry when I fed her at 6 am, so to remedy the situation, I switched from two meals to three to help spread it out over the day. After a while, she got used to her new schedule, and I was able to get her on a more regular daily plan. Try to be patient, which I know isn't easy when your sleep gets interrupted night after night. I truly believe that your Howie will get used to the way you run your house, and things will begin to even out. Good luck to you!!

Congratulations on your new grey!! She sure is a beauty

No worries about that, she only wears her tag collar when we are outside, so there's no chance for her to get caught!

I've been noticing that recently my girl has been licking a lot of metal objects. Some of her favorites are the floor vents, any jewelry I might be wearing and the tags on her collar. Does anyone else have a hound that does this? I am hoping that it isn't representative of some sort of deficiency in her diet. She seems to be doing very well on her grain-free lamb and rice food, so I hate to switch just based on experimentation. The other thing is that she can be a bit OCD (toys in a certain order, pillow has to be facing the right direction, no wrinkles in the blanket, etc), so perhaps it's just another idiosyncrasy to add to her list. Sometimes it's so hard to tell with this girl...

You're lucky that you can get into her mouth! My girl really hates having her teeth brushed, or any contact with her teeth, really, regardless of how much I build up the excitement. I am worried about build-up as well (even though she came off of the track with excellent teeth), so I've been using Petzlife products. I've used both the gel and the spray, and am currently spraying her teeth every other day. I cannot believe how much of the plaque has disappeared and how white her teeth have gotten. It's definitely worth the $25 pricetag! by the way: I also really like that petzlife is all natural...

Luna was the same way. If she had the mere idea that I might be looking at her, she would stand back up and give me the stink-eye. I also had to stand with my back to her and listen for the trickle. This only lasted a few days, and now she is right as rain.

I live in central Virginia (Prince Edward County) and have one female GH. She's a bit of a breed-snob, so I can only take other greyhounds. Please contact me at schultz.lc@gmail.com to check for availability! Is there anyone in Central VA or the Charlottesville area who would be able to take my girl Sept. 9-12? I have reservations at a kennel, but know she'd be happier with other hounds.

My girl also has some issues with peanut butter, so I use a plain probiotic yogurt frozen in her Kong. If you're looking for a quick fix to add to his food, try canned pureed pumpkin (just be careful not to buy the pie filling). Anytime Luna's tummy is upset I add some to her food, so to keep it on hand, I freeze it in icecube trays and pop a frozen glob into her regular dry food. She loves it and it works like a miracle!

This afternoon I met up with Lola's original foster parents to transfer her back. Although we had a rocky relationship, it was really tough on me to let her go. I wanted it to work out so bad, but had to do what was the best for the three of us. I was worried that Luna would be upset when I arrived back home without her sister, but she seems completely unscathed. She's actually back to playing more, and just gobbled down her dinner without blinking. All in all, this was a placement gone terribly awry, but I gained a lot from the experience. Thank you all for your support and advice while I worked my way through my options!! It's great, especially for a newbie, to have a system in place to allow communication with strangers linked through a common obsession

Well, it's been several days since I contacted the group about taking her back, but she's still with me. It's been taking a long time to get the ball rolling and make arrangements to tranfer her back. I'm hoping that tomorrow's the day, because things have gotten progressively worse at home. Unless I am in the process of feeding or walking her, I cannot get within 5 feet without her growling and snapping. All three of us are a bit miserable

Thank you all for your responses, I appreciate your feedback. I have talked to several people and thought things over last night (didn't sleep much...). I think we've all come to the conclusion that I simply am not equipped with the experience needed to deal with a situation like this. It will break my heart to let her go because I know she has the potential to be a wonderful dog, but I can't help but feel like she will be happier in a home where she doesn't feel the need to compete and protect. I have notified my rescue group, we'll see what they have to say...

Thanks Jennifer! I sent you an email through my gmail account. Laura

Oh, and about NILF...what do you do with a girl who already prefers the floor over her pillow (it's really hot outside), is uninterested in toys and has not yet discovered the glorious comfort of furniture? I don't really want to mess with her food, because she came off the track in need of gaining a couple of pounds, plus she shows no aggression around feeding time. I have been witholding affection, partly because I don't want her thinking that she can come back and everything will be normal, and partly, quite frankly, because she is making me nervous. Any tips?

I contacted the adoption group earlier today, and am waiting to hear what they have to say. I have heard about dogs guarding over food, toys, pillows, etc, but never over each other. Has anyone else ever had experiences with this? I am also confused by why she has faith in me on a one-on-one basis, but does not seem to trust me with her sister. I can't help but wonder why she displays this behavior here, but in her foster home, where there were multiple greys, she had no problem. Perhaps she has a special bond because they are littermates. I just don't know. The rest of the time she is an absolute joy, and I do believe that she has the potential to be a wonderful pet. It breaks my heart to say it, but the thought has crossed my mind that she might do better in a home where she is the only dog. Lastly, I have looked into trainers in my area (which is in the middle of nowhere in central VA), but unfortunately have come up empty-handed. The only trainers available work at the local groomers, and they only have a background in basic obedience training.

This is definitely not playful. It's a scary, snarling, exposed teeth, ears pinned back, hair up on the back of the neck, aggressive bite. Even now as I write this and they are sprawled out on pillows napping, I walked over to my shy grey and I immediatly hear her sister start growling.

I have littermates. One is a shy girl who is a bit of velcro-dog, and though she isn't apt to approach other people, she is attached to me. The other is a very happy girl whose tail never stops wagging and who is always moments away from nuzzling her head into your lap...but she has a dark side. She has become very possessive of her sister. If I get too close to my shy grey (which is impossible to avoid, since she loves to follow me) she will lunge at me snarling. In the past three days, she has bitten me twice. The first time she came at me while I was brushing her sister's teeth. I think from now on I will have to muzzle her while I am taking care of grooming activities. The second time was this morning. I was sitting on the living room floor with my laptop and my shy girl moved in for a belly rub. Out of nowhere she came out of a dead sleep and rushed over and bit me again, this time breaking the skin and drawing blood. This is concerning to me, because it shows me that these are not just warning nips. When this unacceptable behavior occurs, I sternly tell her "no no" and tell her to go lay down on her pillow, like a doggy time-out. She listens without an issue and becomes very submissive when scolded. She will stay there for about a half hour looking sad, but then she is back at my side begging for forgiveness. The other adverse effect of this situation is that my shy grey becomes very nervous when her sister acts aggressively. She will go hide in her crate and refuse to come out, and has had loose stools since the first bite, which I am guessing is coming from stress. I have had my shy girl since early March, and just brought her sister in a week ago. They are my first greys as an adult, and I am worried that I may have bit off more than I can chew. Any advice you have on this issue would be greatly appreciated!!