Feisty49

Albany, NY, area here. He is handsome and I love his name

My Annie doesn't tolerate "good" kibble either. The better the kibble supposedly is rated, the worse her poos get. She's on Iams in the green bag with a dose of FortiFlora a couple of times a week.

Annie is on Iams green bag but she occasionally gets really soft poos, albeit formed. What brings her back to better poo is FortiFlora every day for a couple of weeks.

Sounds like a nice treat but I don't see it helping the health of teeth or gums.

If it were me, and Ruby was Annie, I would just keep an eye on it. If there's no cut, there's probably nothing to wrap. A few weeks ago Annie sorta ripped her dew claw where it joins the leg. There was just a little bit of blood. I washed it. I kissed her head and said, "Be careful." Nothing ever came of it and I forgot about it until just now.

I'm one who doesn't think bitey face, nitting, etc., is a good idea to encourage no matter where or when. I suppose if there is a guarantee a dog will do it only with its mom/dad, then fine, but that's a tough guarantee to keep. My Annie used to do the bitey thing on our walks when she thought she should get a treat. It was cute and initially I liked it, but I realized that some day someone else may walk her and her actions toward me are not suitable for others. Also, though he doesn't break the skin it still hurts. Is that really acceptable behavior?

A big supporter of your rules, especially the crossing in front or behind. While I try to pay 100% attention to what Annie is doing on our walks, it's just not possible because I also have to be aware of cars, objects in the road we need to avoid, storm drains, etc., as we all do at some point in a walk. There are also other dogs. I live in a dog friendly neighborhood and people walk their dogs all the time (and always leashed -- I've never seen a dog off leash here). In the past, more than once I have almost fallen because Annie has suddenly cut in front of me while my attention was, for instance, on the person coming toward us walking their dog. For me, a wandering dog, even just 6 feet out, doesn't work.

It's frustrating when they want to sniff every pile of leaves and mailbox. I too live in the suburbs. There are no sidewalks but little traffic so walking is enjoyable. We gotta check pee mail every day, don't 'cha know, but I don't allow her to stop at every mailbox or every pile of leaves. One of the ways to keep Annie walking -- as I remind her, it's called a walk because we're supposed to be walking -- is to keep her on a relatively short leash. A lot of people let their dogs (I'm not being breed specific here) walk at the end of a 6' leash, allowing them to wander about, but it gives little leverage or holding power when the dog suddenly pulls ahead to run or jerks to a stop as you keep walking. I use a 6' leash with Annie, but when we're actually walking, she probably gets 2 feet of that length. That way she pretty much has to keep on walking with me. If she stops to pee or poo or if it's OK for her to sniff, I let out more of the leash so she has some freedom, but I never let out the full length. I learned my lesson when, within three months of adopting her, she pulled me over three times (she got excited and tried to run, dragging me with her). Because she was pretty much at the end of the leash, I had nothing extra to hold her back. I also don't let her wander from my left side, which is where I prefer to have her. That way my right hand is through the leash grip, and wrapped at least once, and my left hand holds the rest of the leash, except for the 2 feet. Once I learned that I am in charge of the walk, everything changed from her trying to set the pace and direction to me setting the pace and direction.

My girl is like yours. Once asleep for the night, there's no going out until the next morning because she has no interest in breaking up her sound sleep. Her last out is anywhere between 7 PM and 8 PM and we're up in the morning about 6. As others have said, if he's not peeing in the house, all is well.

A question: Is she on a short leash when you walk? It's nice to let out the leash, but I seldom do it because I don't feel as if I have as much control as I like. Though 90% of the time Annie walks well to very well, she is never given all 6 feet of the leash because if she does decide to check out what's in that pile of leaves and pulls hard, I have no leverage to keep her safe. She usually has 2 feet and if she starts pulling, the leash is shortened around my hand so she has no extra leash.

When people ask a question, which might appear negative to us, I take it as an opportunity to pass on some knowledge, and since I love talking about Greyhounds, I have to remind myself to talk *less* when I get going. So I don't take comments such as you've experienced as insults. People just don't know, and why should they? I don't know a thing, for instance, about the personality of Dalmations. And if your 'friends' continue to ask the same questions over and over, a good response is, "What don't you understand about what I told you last week? THIS is how a Greyhound acts. Get over it." It's too bad about the cats and the barking, etc., but IMO, this is something that can be worked on via training. It can be tiresome and seemingly never ending, but when I read your post, my mind immediately started thinking what I would do if my Annie did this. Lots of short leash. The use of critical words (not "Don't do that. Stop barking. Wait. Stop!" -- that's way too much info for a dog) relating to a specific reaction he has. Treats and praise when he even shows a modicum of giving you the behavior you want. If you feel overwhelmed, get the help of a behaviorist who will come to you and teach you how to teach him. I'm not a fan of dog parks mainly because my sweet, docile, calm Annie goes away and her evil twin emerges in dog parks. She becomes too assertive for my taste. She loves to run with other dogs, shoulder to shoulder, and then cut them off. It's probably a normal trait from racing, but it doesn't go over well with other dog owners when their baby goes flying head over heels. Annie also snarks a lot. It's playing but it's asking for the play to be returned, which is asking for trouble on the part of a Greyhound. Up until a month ago, I did not have a fenced yard and walked Annie 2-3 times a day. For most Greyhounds that's enough exercise. I now have a fenced yard and I still walk Annie 2 times a day with the backyard being used by Annie mostly for a big potty place. She runs in it maybe once a week. Good luck! Don't let others' negativism get to ya. You know what you need to know and that's what matters.

I hope we can rely on this regulation as much as we rely on the regulation of human food, which, IMO, is not much. I just don't trust government agencies to do their job properly.

Same here about the trainer. I did teach Annie to wait, though, until I exited because I lived in the country and wanted to check out what animal might be around before she came out. Though I'm no longer in that living situation, I occasionally still make her wait until I exit just to keep her listening to me. It's like any other "training" exercise where I want her to respond to a certain tone of voice ("Annie, Come Here!" is one that comes to mind).

Each dog is different but most can learn a schedule that suits you. Having said this, Annie has always been easy peasy about everything, and I mean everything, so she may not be a good example. Nonetheless, I pretty much expect a healthy dog to learn my schedule, within reason, just like I expect her to not lead on our walks. I'm not talking about who's the boss or alpha, etc. I'm saying that as much as I love/adore my Annie girl, and since she is healthy, I set the rules because I'm the human in the household. Annie and I are up any time between 6 and 7 AM. The later it gets light in the morning, the later she likes tosleep in. I'm usually awake at 6 but will often snooze on and off for a while. Even when I do get up, if Annie senses it's too dark, she stays in bed upstairs while I start my day downstairs. When she does get up, she is immediately let out for her first P&P. She comes right back in and gets breakfast. She eats supper about 4 PM, though she starts giving me "that look" about 3. Her last out for the day is never later than 8:00 PM, and this time of year, with it getting darker earlier, it's often 7:15 PM. Why? Because she goes up to bed when it gets dark, and if she doesn't have to pee, no amount of calling gets her off her bed. I've had her over two years and there have only been three times in those two years where she asked to go out in the middle of the night, to which I responded immediately because it is so rare, so this schedule works. So Annie goes from 4 PM until 6:30, give or take, the next morning without eating and is fine. Some mornings she won't even eat her b'fast right away. She also goes at least 10 hours between last out at night and first out in the morning. Is she unhappy about it? Nope. She's often in bed before I am, and I go to bed early. She can actually get a bit pushy, in her way, if she thinks it's time for both of us to go upstairs. She'll walk over to me, give me that look with those eyes, softly whine and then walk to the stairs.

I buy the large breed size also, though I started out with the mini-chunks. Annie eats either one, but as a-daerr said above, I like to think the large-sized kibble gives her teeth a better workout.

I don't have this problem, yet, but I'm thinking my Annie Bella would either not learn to dig only in the sand box or would dig there and wherever else she wanted. If my girl were digging in the same spot, I think I'd put a barrier of some sort around the hole so she couldn't dig any more and would run around it. Of course, that would probably mean she'd just dig somewhere else, but as the first step in prevention, that's what I'd try.

So much of life is common sense, but in a new situation, whether dog or child, our emotions tend to take charge over our brains. No question is too small or dumb, IMO, if only because so many of us like to respond and give opinions. LOL You'll find that as many people on this forum is just about as many opinions that you'll get. When you read all the advice and opinions, that's when your common sense will kick in because you'll understand most often, there is not one *correct* answer.

Once you get his feet moving -- which is fairly easy by gently and firmly pushing on his shoulder with your thigh -- don't hesitate to start a brisk walk. Also, it helps to avoid a Greyhound from planting himself by making sure you control the walk. It took me a few weeks after I adopted Annie to realize that if she slowed down, I slowed down. I was letting her decide everything about the walk. Once I changed that around, she stopped planting herself as often because she couldn't stop while we were quickly walking.

One of our girls, Felicia, who's up for adoption, charms us all because at M&Gs she usually sits instead of standing or laying down. She does this with no training or even encouragement. She gets tired, down she goes.

Hmmm.... I'm the first to say I'm no expert BUT your vet saying "they" have a lot of acid in their gut is wrong, IMO. That's like saying all Greyhounds are allergic to chicken, or whatever. My first thought when I read this was to wonder if your vet is Greyhound savvy. Like you, I don't give meds unless necessary, and being on something like Pepcid every day doesn't sound necessary. It sounds like overkill or there is something else wrong with your girl. If your girl is at a good weight and you don't want her to gain any more, I'd cut back on her food. My Annie Bella weighs 65-66 pounds. She gets 3 cups of kibble a day, split between breakfast and supper. She gets no wet food. She gets a few treats. She seldom gets people food, other than a few veggies once in a while. She easily gains weight, though we walk a couple of miles a day and she has a yard to play in, so I'm very careful about what she eats and what I allow others to give her.

My advice is not to baby him. As was said above, doing stairs is not an option. It has to be done. I taught Annie stairs, up and down, in about 15 minutes. Going down was no more difficult than going up for her mentally but it was for me. GHs are big and they are strong, and I had to consider exactly how I was going to help/teach her down without both of us falling head over heels. The way I did it was to be on her right side, second step down and gently, but firmly, pull a bit on her collar and then put her front legs on the top step, which made her move her back legs closer to the edge. I then put her front legs on step #2, and reached up to back legs on step #2. All the while I tried to keep my right arm across her chest, mostly using my left hand to manipulate her legs. I did not have a leash on her because of my concern that if she did get away from me and barreled down the stairs, she'd get tangled in the leash and break a leg. Part of the problem with a Greyhound not doing stairs, and other necessary things, is that we humans try to make it easy so they aren't very scared. Often that just doesn't work. Often we just have to make them do what we want them to do and get on with life. I believe that animals, like children, pick up our emotional state. If we're unsure, tentative and have some fear, they will pick it up and also be unsure and fearful.

Annie stomps when she's happy, excited and generally glad to be alive, which often includes being around another dog. It's her way of saying, "Wanna play?"

Annie sheds 365 but right now, she's shedding more than usual. She has no bald spots though.

On our walks, Annie will slowwww down, hang her head and sometimes try to turn around when she realizes we're headed home. It can be 90 degrees with 90% humidity and she can be panting like crazy, but she still wants to continue. She tries to extend the walk even after we walk a couple of miles, as we do on days like today where it's crisp and sunny. It's not boredom. She just wants to be outside.

I usually buy from Chillydogs but have purchased from others. Annie definitely needs a coat when it's real cold, below 20, though when it's 30, I put a coat on her to start our walks but always have to remove it because she starts panting. Boots: I live near Albany, NY. We get cold and snow. I've never put boots or any foot covering on Annie. She loves the snow and we avoid walking where there is ice and rock salt. Rock salt can be a problem for dog feeties. My opinion is that using boots depends on your dog and how he reacts to the cold and snow. Sweater: Again, it depends on your hound. If he's cold, he'll probably wrap himself up in a tight ball, rather than being spread out, and shove his nose into his bed, blanket or under his legs. At least that's what my Annie does. My girl is usually pretty warm and will not tolerate sweaters, PJs, etc. In the dead of winter, when it's cold at night (I turn heat down to 58 at night), she likes a blanket tossed over her. As others have said, don't spend a lot of money on anything until you see how your boy is. I went overboard the first year I had Annie, from trying out the *best* food to buying her expensive coats. It's just not necessary, especially if money is a concern. Remember, what we put on our hounds is often for our own enjoyment. They don't care if they wear a paper bag, as long as they're warm when they need to be. BTW, when buying a coat, think hard about what type to buy. Personally, I don't like coats that I have to slip on over Annie's legs. I find it a pain to manipulate her and the coat. Also, I prefer coats that have a strap going under the belly that snaps into a buckle rather than closes with velcro. I've had better luck with adjusting the tightness with an adjustable buckle as opposed to velcro, but that's just me.