Feisty49

Annie and I say, "Hi and welcome." It's exciting to read about and prepare for your Greyhound.

Excessive scratching. Biting on the body. Black flecks in the hair which can be either a flea or flea poo. Annie hasn't had fleas in three years, but I still check her regularly even if she shows no symptoms.

I'm so sorry you lost your Annie. Our worst fear is to see a limp. She's running around now with no pain and no limping. My Annie sends her hugs.

I'm also one who thinks if a crate is hated, don't use it. My Annie hated her crate, though I was told differently by her foster family. Within a day or two after adopting her, I no longer insisted on her going into the crate and a week later folded it up and put it away. I was very lucky, though, because she had no issues with my cat (ignored it) nor any potty accidents in the house. She just hated the crate. I never used a gate or pen either. She just didn't need them.

Beautiful words for a truly beautiful Greyhound. Your heart must be hurting deeply. My condolences.

Want a kiss? (which means she gets lots of petting and loving) Give me a kiss, and she'll come to me and lean while I give her some loving. Want to go for a ride? (or just ride) Want to go for a walk? (or just walk) Got to go potty? Let's go potty, said in a firm voice with my finger pointing at the door, because she often doesn't want to bother to go potty and will go 6+ hours without poking her nose outside. Wait Noooooo (with a tone of shock in my voice that says, "What are you doing???) Want your breakfast/supper? Are you hungry? Want a treat? Time to brush your teeth, and she comes walking to me. Time to do your nails, said while she's on her bed, and she'll lay on her side so I can dremel. Time for your meds (eye drops), and she comes walking to me. Go lay down. Time for bed, and she usually goes upstairs to her bed in my bedroom. If I say to her, "I'm gonna get that tail (or skinny butt)," she sorta smiles at me and jumps around so she's facing me. And she knows that the letters w-a-l-k mean something good. They always get her up out of bed with an inquisitive look on her face.

My take on this is that he's resource guarding and haven't there been a lot of posts about this in which it's said to respect the dog's need to guard and leave him alone? Some Greyhounds just come through like that. At the track, they are fed in their kennels, alone, with nobody to bother them or "threaten" them. Honestly, I don't see the need to do anything but respect the desire to have no one around when he eats. It's similar to a Greyhound not wanting to be bothered when sleeping. Many do not like it and will respond with a warning growl. If that growl is not respected, the next thing may be a snap. How many have a rule in the house: Do not bother the Greyhound when he's sleeping or eating?

Annie gets 1.5 cups of food morning and night, the contents of which are 1 cup of Iams Green Bag and 1/2 cup Natural Balance LI Sweet Potato and Venison. On just the Iams, her poos were OK. Not always great but I could live with the output. Because she lost interest in the Iams Green Bag, I substituted a half cup of the Natural Balance for the Iams and the output was terrific! I could pick it up without leaving evidence she had been there. She also likes the combo a lot. So for Annie, the Natural Balance did something positive for her. I considered switching her over to all Natural Balance but have learned not to mess with success so she's still on Iams Green Bag and the Natural Balance. Good luck. We all know how frustrating it is to find the one thing that works. Oh, another suggestion: Have you tried a probiotic such as Fortiflora? That may also help.

Rose is a beautiful name for a dog. Isn't it a shame that people think 5 years is too old to adopt. Good for you in not passing up her up. If I were in your shoes, each day I'd decrease the amount of food that is hand fed and leave the rest in her bowl, and, of course, show her where it is. She may skip a meal or two, but she'll eventually eat.

Love her name and think she is indeed beautiful. In my heart a senior dog is always beautiful, but Polly has something extra.

So sad. May he be in a place where there is no fear.

He looks wonderful. Wishing him the very best!

Lots of good advice above. Pay attention to the type of leash provided. It won't be a retractable one. Retractable leashes are not recommended -- and with my group its use is prohibited by the adoption contract -- for use with a Greyhound. Actually, most if not all of us think they're bad for any dog for many reasons, but they are definitely dangerous to use with a Grey. The recommendation you saw on the news about a crate probably relates to safety. It is definitely safer to have dogs, as well as people of course, secure in a car. If there's an accident, an unsecured dog can easily get hurt and/or become a projectile. Unfortunately, it's often not practical to use doggie seat belts on a dog. Honestly, I can't imagine how I'd use one with Annie.

Hi from Upstate New York. Can't wait to see a picture.

Something I forgot to mention above: I had wooden floors in my former home. I put a small rug at the top and bottom of the staircase. This gives confidence when moving down the stairs from the top and also when getting to the bottom, and vice versa.

You'll get lots of good advice. My advice is: Don't give up and don't be intimidated. If having Baxter doing the stairs to the second floor is important to you, you need to teach him. If it's not, then don't sweat it. My girl Annie never had issues with outside stairs. In my previous house, though, where I lived when she was adopted, she would not do the stairs to the second floor. They had a wall on one side and spindles on the other. They had carpet treads covering most of each step. Since she was fine downstairs at night by herself -- not in a crate -- her doing the stairs wasn't an issue for me, until 6 months post adoption when one night she cried and whined. It was obvious she was lonely. That night I slept on the couch in the living room so she wasn't alone but for me, a couch is for sitting not sleeping and the next morning Annie learned how to do the stairs going to the second floor. With a collar and leash on her, I made her go to the bottom of the stairs -- yes I had to push her the last five feet -- and standing behind her, I did the leg,leg,leg,leg and then a gentle push on her bottom, each step to the top. She shook a little. She wasn't happy, but it had to be done. Going down the stairs, I was one step ahead of her, leash short, with her head at my waist and did the leg,leg thing again. At the bottom I immediately did the routine again. At the 5th time, she ran up the stairs and back down by herself and has been fine every since. She is not food motivated. Putting treats on stairs was not an incentive. I did hand feed her treats every few steps and at the top and bottom. I know, though, that the treats had nothing to do with her success. It helped that by that time I had confidence in owning a Greyhound. I was no longer nervous she might break. I had realized that she is after all a dog and I'm a human and for me, spoiling her did not include sleeping every night on the couch.

As long as you know he's not being hurt by moving his legs, make him go up the stairs by moving one leg after the other. Remember: You're the human and he's the dog. It might not be easy on you but he needs to know that you have certain requirements and going up the stairs and through the door is one of them. Annie had issues with doing certain things. The first time I visited my son and DIL, who live in a high-rise apartment building with an elevator, Annie was **terrified** of the elevator, but we weren't going to walk up/down flights of stairs so I literally pushed her into the elevator every...single...time she had to go out and then, of course, come back in. By the beginning of day 3, she was walking into the elevator as if she had been doing it her whole life. She also had a major issue with the entrance to my sister's house. We went up 3 stairs to the porch. The front door opened into a small, and rather dark, hallway, at the end of which was the piano room. It took Annie a couple of visits before she'd willingly walk into the hall from the front porch. Again, she had to do it because it was the only entrance she could use. When there is no other choice, you'll find a way. I forget how long you've had your boy, but it can take a while before a Greyhound is comfortable enough to explore.... or he may never explore. Again using Annie as an example: In the house I moved from a year ago, she never went into the dining room and only went into the kitchen to get to the back door. She also wouldn't go into either bathroom, though both were big enough. In my new house, she won't go into the kitchen, and barely walks into the dining room and then only to with great encouragement from someone sitting at the table. It took her a couple of months to get brave (?) enough to walk into the office where I sit at the computer. Re the crate: If he's not using it, my advice is to take it down.

As others have read many times about my Annie: She was out of her crate by the end of day 2 post adoption, and after the first muzzled introduction to my cat to see how she would react, she was never muzzled again, and they were never separated. Annie had no interest in the cat 3 years ago and still has no interest. She also has no interest in small, yappy dogs (other than to want to get away from their yappiness); no interest in squirrels, chipmunks or the rabbits in the backyard. She is one of the few that has zero prey drive. Having said that, though, I am still careful around small live things, such as others' dogs, especially if there are 3 or 4 big dogs around. One Greyhound may be totally passive with no interest in something small, but a group of larger dogs can easily turn into a pack intent on bodily harm. Do I think Annie would join in? No, I don't, but better safe than sorry.

It's so sad and I'm sorry for your loss. You wrote beautifully about your girl. She was wonderful.

He was such a wonderful and oh-so-loved Greyhound I'm sad for your loss.

I think that if Nico were going to have watery diarrhea from his diet additions it would happen much sooner than 3 weeks into it. A negative reaction to food happens in a matter of a couple of days. You got good advice about handling but I wonder if there's something else that he got into?

Welcome! Many if not most will say they should always be separated. I've never separated my Greyhound and cat except for the first day when they were introduced. Annie, my Greyhound, has no prey drive. She has no interest in cats, the bunnies outside or the squirrels in the trees. My cat was 11 when Annie came into the house and she wasn't interested in a play mate so the cat also ignored Annie except for an occasional sharing of Annie's bed. The neighbor's two cats that wander the neighborhood come up to Annie on our walks and rub against her legs. She ignores them. I tell her she's a disgrace to sight hounds! LOL I think that after a while (days?? weeks?? -- up to you) you'll be able to judge if they are safe not being separated.

If it were me, I'd wait another 24 hours but then I'm not one who panics and/or thinks the worse quickly so I may not me the best one to give advice.

It's so very exciting to be waiting for your first Greyhound. You'll read a lot of difference of opinions here but I think we all agree that when it comes to food, whatever works -- that is whatever produces good poos -- is the best food to use. It is not uncommon for a Greyhound to have poo issues, whether from worms or transitioning to a new food. I do introduce food carefully but have never taken weeks to do it. A week at the most and if it's going to work, it will work. Be aware there are many of us on this board who do not think that high-end food is the end all to feed a dog. As a matter of fact, many Greyhounds (and other dogs for all I know) don't do well on a high protein kibble. If you run into trouble, try Iams Proactive Health in the green bag. If you do a search on here for Iams in the green bag, you'll see there are a lot of us who swear by it. Good luck!

I've had no experience but I'm thinking good thoughts for you and your girl.