LBass

Mine are good about letting me know when they want to go and I'm good at watching for their cues. Piper stands at the door, gazing at the back yard, when he wants out. If I don't immediately leap up to let him out, he walks away from the and then carefully walks past me to again stand at the door. Of course, sometimes he is just standing at the door to look out without wanting out. If I open the door for him then, he looks at me as if I am the densest, silliest human he's ever seen. MoMo seldom asks but she has also never had any kind of accident in the house. She will sometimes stand by the door asking to go out but usually just goes out when one of the boys is going anyway or at one of the times that I actively put them all out to potty. Spirit is an odd duck. After about a year with me he was still not asking to go out. He is my problem "child" in that he sometimes marks in the house (new items) and very occasionally urinates in the house for no discernible reason--presumably because he needed to go out and I didn't get the message. I had such an odd and interesting experience with him. One day a few months ago I was talking to him at the door to the backyard. I told him yet again that "pee belongs outside". Then I said, "I'll let you out any time you need to go. Just let me know. Go stand by the door and I'll let you out.". I did NOT expect anything to come of that request. Low and behold, from that day forth, Spirit began to go to the door and look over his shoulder at me, asking to go out. I remain amazed and very pleased with my odd smart boy. So, I guess in terms of advice, pay attention and you may see some cues that are being given but knot yet recognized. --Lucy

Great news!

Oh my goodness, that looks painful! Poor girl. Sending healing thoughts for a safe surgery. --Lucy

Carol Ann, I love that picture of Riley Roo!

What a good sweet girl!

I've not had a "roo-er" until Spirit. He roos whenever he hears sirens and sometimes when Miles, who has a Siamese cat kind of squalling voice, is yowling about something. Spirit starts up and MoMo joins in. Head up, mouths forming "O". Each Christmas the local fire department comes through the neighborhood with the sirens going and Santa waving and throwing candy from the fire truck. Spirit and MoMo had a wonderful howl that day. I can't shed any light on why other than perhaps the sound speaks to that primal part of our hounds and they think they're joining in a pack howl? --Lucy

In a pinch I've put a towel under Piper's tuck and held onto the ends above his back and used that as a make shift sling. It permits me to support his rear and help his balance on stairs. The longer beach towel style is a bit easier to use. I think he finds this all very undignified so I earn some serious stink eye from him but it does the job. --Lucy

Hurray for Cash! There really is no place like home.

I've heard that it's because they get better traction on the carpet - I've got slate flooring throughout the house except for the bedrooms, and they always head for the bedrooms Sending good thoughts your way for Beth I think that in addition to getting traction on carpet, vomiting and peeing on carpet assures the discerning hound that nothing nasty will get onto their feet. Gotta love them. Hoping that poor sweet Beth will be feeling better soon. --Lucy

Every bit of good news for Cash is a treasure. Sending prayers for strength, and healing and for being home soon. --Lucy

Ack! I'm just seeing this. What a frightening situation, Chris. Hoping and praying that Cash will be home today, herself and well. --Lucy

Janet, I'm so relieved to read that Jake is handling this injury so well and is clearly feeling better.

My Piper also has enduring hind end weakness from the medication she takes for his seizures. He gets both Phenobarbital and Potassium Bromide. Taking both meds he has pretty decent seizure control but his rear is definitely weak and wobbly. He falls easily and sometimes has to fight to keep his balance if one of the younger dogs barges into him. From what I've read, that hind end weakness (ataxia) is quite a common side effect of Phenobarbital. For Piper, it did improve a bit, but it has never gone away entirely. Having said that, he leads and active happy life and the weakness doesn't seem to worry him at all. --Lucy

My first boy just seemed to "get it" right away and he did spoil me a bit. Boy #2 has been more of a challenge. MoMo, my girl, has been easy about house training too. Best of luck with your new boy. --Lucy

You know, since he is still so new to your home and, I am assuming, to home life in general, it is quite possible that he doesn't quite have the fundamentals of house training lodged firmly in his mind. It's one concept for him to know that he can use the dog door to go out in the yard to potty. It's a completely different concept to know that he should not potty in the house--for him to regard your house as his "kennel", which he knows not to soil. In your situation, I would embark on housetraining101 with him. In that, you are proactive--taking him out when he is likely to need to potty (when he wakes up, a bit after eating, etc.), taking him out when he gets up and wanders around the house. Praise to the skies when he goes outside. Keep an eagle eye on him indoors for any signs ob needing to go so you can whisk him out. If you catch him in the act, give a correction and whisk him outside to complete his mission and praise him for that. I think house training involves several lessons: --don't potty in the house --do potty outdoors --learn eventually to ask to go out or to use a dog door. Maybe back to the very fundamental steps for your boy.

I'm in the "if he is already using dog door at all, he understands, and will use the dog door when needed." I leave the dog door open when I'm away (the cat is confined then and can't get out the open dog door) but I close and latch the dog door when I'm home and the cat is free. My dogs are all quite adaptable. They all learned quite rapidly that I'm the "doorman" when I'm home and then they've got the dog door when I'm not home. --Lucy

I give the cat 2-3 pieces of a kitty treat and each hound gets one small Milkbone biscuit just before bed. Thinking about it, I'm clearly not giving enough food to stave off hunger in the night, so how did I ever get into that habit? I think it must have gotten started because right before bed I'm in the kitchen to start the dishwasher and, of course, all four legged family members are also in the kitchen acting hopeful. At any rate, it is such an ingrained habit now, there's no going back. --Lucy

Over the years, I have found that Piper seems to relax and settle down more rapidly after a seizure if I give him something to eat. I found that a small meal of his regular kibble seemed to satisfy his hunger and he never had any trouble keeping it down. I went the ice cream route but the kibble was a lot less troublesome and worked as well if not better for Piper. Honestly, if I was trying to head off a cluster and Piper threw up after taking his Pb, I'd just give him another dose. Congratulations on passing the "magic" 5 hour mark for EZ's clusters.

Thinking "no cluster" thoughts for you and EZ. Being awakened by a seizure is so unpleasant. --Lucy

Another voice for the muzzle issue being NOT about greyhounds not getting along but about that thin skin, thin coat, and lack of subcutaneous lat layer. I've been muzzling in the yard and in the car since Spirit racked up an e-vet bill (probably an overreaction on my part) for stitches and a second round of stitches at my regular vet's when the e-vets stitches didn't hold. MoMo snagged him with a tooth or nail while they were horsing around in the house. I was home, they weren't fighting, they didn't even scuffle. Yet with no particular fanfare, there was a 3/4 inch gash in Spirits side. No growls, no yelps and fussing and squabbling and yet there was an injury (relatively minor though it was). So pichick712, don't let this thread discourage you form thinking of multiple greyhounds. Greyhounds are special and this susceptibility to cuts is just one of the few less than positive aspects of that specialness. --Lucy

How very interesting. Not, unfortunately, that I have anything useful to offer, but my Spirit has been doing the same thing for the last couple of months. He has access to fresh water all day and the bowl is usually not nearly empty when I get in from work, even with 3 dogs drinking from it. After I get home from work, however, Spirit usually has 3-4 spells of standing at the water bowl and drinking on and on and on. Then, predictably, he needs to go out to pee about every 20 minutes. He's fine at night and fine in the daytime (dog door access in the daytime). I've had him to the vet for a thorough set of labs and urinalysis and everything at that point looked good except that he was getting far too high a dose of his thyroid meds. The vets thought that might be contributing to the drinking binges. Of course we cut the thyroid meds drastically and I have noticed some decrease in the number of times he drinks the bowl dry but some nights it continues to occur. He's about ready for a f/u appointment to check on his thyroid medication level, so I'm planning on taking another look at this issue as a potential sign of health problems brewing. Hope you find a solution for Spud. ---Lucy

Poor Robin and poor you. Sending prayers that the IV antibiotics will work their magic on you sweet boy and that he'll be home and well very soon. --Lucy

Beautiful Jilly. I'm so so sorry, Susan. I'm crying, and I know there are many others shedding tears for your loss and for the hole that Jilly's absence will leave in so many hearts. --Lucy

Checking on Jake and sending all my best wishes and prayers.

Sending warm thoughts for both you and Ember. FWIW, I will mention what is working well for Piper since he too has cluster seizures. Piper is on the daily combo of phenobarbital and potassium bromide. That combination of meds has a reputation for helping with cluster seizures. Even on meds, he still has seizures, just not as often--sometimes single seizures and sometimes clusters. When he does cluster, his seizures generally occur 3 or more hours apart. For several years I gave him rectal valium after each seizure, because that is what is recommended for managing cluster seizures at home. Still, at least once a year he'd have a horrid cluster episode with seizures every 3 hours for 24-36 hours. Nightmare. The more I read, the more I began to suspect that I was wasting my time giving him rectal valium. Valium is given rectally because it gets into their system so rapidly that way. Its great benefit is for helping with seizures that are coming close together in time--probably within about 30 minutes of each other. That is because it gets on-board quickly. However, it also dissipates quickly--generally within about 45 minutes or so. So, rectal valium was not really impacting Piper's clusters since they were coming 3 or more hours apart. My terrific vet and I talked about that" revelation" and he consulted with a neurologist and came up with a different protocol for me to follow when Piper has a seizure. Now. after a seizure I give him 2 grains of phenobarbital and 10 mg of valium in pill form and I give those meds again every 6 hours until he has been 18-24 hours seizure free. This protocol has held him to single seizures at each episode for nearly 2 years. He's not had any clustering at all in 2 years--just single seizures. That is a huge success for him and a huge relief for me. It is hard to express how difficult those long grueling cluster episodes were for him and for me. --Lucy