Feisty49
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Lots of good info on this thread. To find more, be at the home page of GT and do a search for "healthy paws" (using the quotes) or Trupanion. You'll get more hits because these two companies are mentioned in most threads relating to pet insurance.
I have Healthy Paws for Annie. The policy is in its second year and, thankfully, I didn't have enough expenses in the first year to meet the $250 deductible for covered services. They don't cover well care, pre-existing conditions nor teeth cleaning, which is typical.
Options you want to consider: Choices in annual deductible. Choices in percentage of coverage once deductible is met. Having the deductible cover everything, not per incidence. Using a company that covers charges for services no matter the cost. Some companies have maximums they will pay based on what *they* think a vet should charge.
The annual deductible on Healthy Paws I chose is $250 with a 90% reimbursement. The monthly premium is $37.23. I can lower the premium by upping the deductible and/or lowering the reimbursement percentage, but can't go back to the previous coverage.
Hint: If you're going to get pet insurance, don't put it off because you never know when something will crop up. Also, the younger the dog, the cheaper the premium.
I can afford the premium and expect to be able to even as it increases so having the insurance is well worth it for me because I figure some time in Annie's life, something serious will happen and I won't have a couple of thousand dollars to spend.
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Annie has never been in either of the two bathrooms in the house, let alone follow me in. One bathroom is what I call a a regular size: two people can fit in it for showering, etc., and standing at the sink to brush teeth but there's not much room to spare. I think it's too small for Annie to feel comfy (she doesn't like what she deems a tight space). The other bathroom is huge -- very spacious (formerly a bedroom redone to bathroom and laundry room) -- but she won't go into that one either.
She does go upstairs and back down with me unless, when she's at the bottom of the stairs looking up, I tell her, "Stay, I'll be right down." She'll then go lay back down on her bed.
So on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being totally velcro, I rate Annie a 1.
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I'm not up on puppies per se, but don't puppies go from puppy food to adult food about 12 months of age? Two and a half sounds pretty old to be on puppy food.
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Has he been eating the Acana all along without a problem until 3 days ago? Maybe he doesn't like it and finally went on strike. Annie Bella won't eat it and my cat won't eat the Acana for felines.
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Hung around the house. Showed her food and water location. Showed her where my preference for her potty place (on leash). Introduced her to the cat, of whom she as afraid. Took a walk to see a bit of town. Talked to her a lot. Touched her a lot and when I realized she loved it, petted her a lot. Introduced her to her crate, which she hated. Introduced her to her bed, which she was suspicious of but liked more than the crate. Let her nap to her heart's content.
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First, welcome, and if nobody else mentioned it above, we need pictures!
Then, what everybody else said above. Sounds like a typical Greyhound in a new home/environment. When I adopted Annie 20 months ago I was told it could take 6 months or more for her true personality to show. It's a good thing they said, "Or more," because it was that and even more. She's still changing and all for the better. It took her a few months post-adoption to show enthusiasm when I came in the door, and even now, her enthusiasm is controlled. She's not a jumpy, gosh-you're-home-I'm-so-HAPPY type dog. She will trot to the door when I return and gently wiggle her bottom, give a small smile and gently shove her head into my hands, but it's only about 30 seconds of greeting and she's back to her bed.
Many Greys love to cuddle on a couch or bed. Annie has never been on anything and has no interest, so we never cuddle. What she does do is come to me when I call or on her own and push her head between my knees so I can give her a good neck scratch/rub as well as pet and rub her up and down her sides. She'll stand there for as long as I let her.
She didn't play with her toys for almost a year and even now, her interest is sporadic and is usually associated with her impatience when I ask, "Wanna got for a walk?" but don't move quickly enough to suit her.
I don't often do dog parks because this quiet, calm, nursing home therapy dog can become too assertive. Annie likes to challenge other dogs to run and then cut them off, often causing them to trip and fall down I'm afraid somebody will get hurt. She doesn't do this with other Greyhounds, though.
My advice is: relax and have patience. It will all fall into place. The more time you spend together, the more she will rely on you to be the center of her life. If you read your above post a few months from now, you'll see how far you all have come.
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Our morning walk is our exercise walk so I don't allow much sniffing. When I do the short leash, use firm words and have a no-nonsense attitude, Annie knows I mean business. Does she still try to stop every five feet? Yepper but oh well.... I keep on moving.
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Here is what I do:
I weigh myself.
Get off the scale.
Pickup Taylor.
Back onto the scale.
Do the math.
He never wakes up.
:hehe Too funny! -
I was feeding Annie Nutro mixed with Iams in Green Bag but had been wanting to switch to something better. I decided last week (week before?) when the rumors first came out about Nutro that it was as good a time as any to try the switch. She is now 100% on TOTW High Prairies (with great poos) and she loves it. She didn't always love Nutro/Iams mixture.
However, while I have read many of the concerns and complaints on the ConsumerAffairs.com web site, and it had a slight influence on me to switch, I would like to know if anybody knows the credentials of this site. It's a profit-making company, as evidenced by all the advertisements intermingled with letters, and I question how objective it can be. Also, there is a disclaimer at the bottom of their page that states:
"ConsumerAffairs.com makes no representation as to the accuracy of the information herein provided and assumes no liability for any damages or loss arising from the use thereof."
This is a standard disclaimer but again who or what is this company and why should we believe what they say? Just wonderin'.
ETA: I am a person who questions because I tend to want proof. Anybody can put anything on the Internet and some people believe it's all true. Sorta like believing Wikipedia info and using it as a reference.
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YEA!!!! Thinking outside the box, do you think if you reward him with treats for every pee he's going to pee less each time to get more treats until he finally has to let lose a flood? I know that sounds crazy but I have two dogs that firmly ration their pee on walks.
It's not crazy. Annie always gets a (small) treat when we come back in the house after she's pee'd (always on leash because my yard is not fenced). It got so she was asking to go out every 2 hours and ya know, they can always squeeze out something. I put my foot down, so to speak, and take her out no more than every 4 hours.
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Minus the beet pulp, we feed the same mix. James is such a chow-hound that I think it would take a lot for him to turn his nose up at food (Note: food does not include leafy greens..hehe). Seeing as he's finishing his most recent course of antibiotics for a staph infection, I'm going to play his food situation by ear. If he starts not finishing his bowl, I'll know something's up.
Question: With feeding TOTW now, do you still mix in green bag?
No, I'm not giving her any Iams Green Bag. If I think it's needed, I would not hesitate to go back to using it for part of her meals, but right now she's good. I'm going to eliminate the beet pulp too to see what happens.
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Annie too was on Nutro Venison with Brown Rice mixed with a bit of Iams in Green and a tablespoon of beet pulp to get good poos. About 2 weeks ago she turned her nose up by only eating what was obviously just enough to take away hunger pangs. This went on for 4 days. She wasn't sick and is not a picky eater so I thought it's either the Iams or Nutro, maybe it's time to try something new. She was transitioned to TOTW High Prairie in 3 days (I don't fool around) and loves it. With a tablespoon of beet pulp, her poos are great as well as much less in volume.
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Teaching touch or something else simple: Some Greyhounds need to learn how to learn. They know about the track and what's expected, but we have different goals. Starting with a treat in your hand, which your dog has seen before hiding it in your fist, and then saying touch, with, hopefully the dog coming to your hand looking for the treat, teaches her that good things happen when I listen to my human. It can evolve from there --- or not --- but it usually does.
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I think by nature, most dogs want to potty as far from their home as possible. I don't have a fenced yard so walk Annie for her P&Ps. When we're on our property she has always peed on the grass on the left side of the driveway, about 100 feet behind the house, and has always poo'd way in the back (about 400 feet from the house) along the edge of the woods (I have almost 12 acres). I never had to show her or teach her. She just did it.
I think if you bring them out on a leash (individually to start) and walk back to the designated potty area, and don't leave until each has done their thing, they'll catch on almost immediately, if the area is big enough. While Annie poos way back near the woods, she doesn't go in the exact spot each time. She likes to separate poos by a few feet so in the course of a week, neat little piles can be spread out over a long way, unless I've picked them in the meantime.
ETA: The word potty covers both pee & poo. If after she pees she continues to want to walk toward the back, I know she's also got to poo.
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The only trick for us is that I taught Capri how to catch a treat. It was an accidental thing, though. I lobbed a treat at her head and she snapped at it, which then turned into a fun game. She's pretty good and has caught stuff that I threw at her when she wasn't expecting it.
Contrast that with Ajax.... I've beaned him in the face with about 1000 treats by now and he never, ever even tries to snap at them. Now he just gets a slightly annoyed look on his face, so I don't do it anymore. ...much...
much This made me seriously laugh loudly. Sometimes we just gotta do a little extra something for our enjoyment. -
My Annie has no interest in tricks and honestly I have no interest in teaching her tricks. She knows wait, stay, come, lay down (but will only do it on her bed), get it and leave it, but still has no recall if she's loose in an enclosed area and sniffing or running around. I don't know if she'll ever have good recall. She'll come to me in the house or when she's on a leash and plants herself, but that's different than being loose somewhere.
Thankfully tricks aren't needed to be a good Greyhound, and without being certified, Annie and I visit a nursing home every Wednesday afternoon and she does her therapy for the folks there just by being her calm, quiet, loving self.
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Congrats to you both.
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Quick update.
We have made it Sophie's decision if she wants to go out for a pee before bed, which she has about half of the time and started using some cheese as a reward for going in her crate and there have been no peeing in the house or growling/snapping. So hopefully this will continue and she will settle in even better.
Eric
That's greyt! She'll like the routine, even the one where she gets to decide if she needs to pee before bed, and will settle down even more.
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Haha My name is Tanner, his is Kota
Oh duhhh. Well, your name is nice too! LOL Sorry for reading so quickly I screwed up the name.
My son had a dog named Kota that he adopted when living in the Air Force in Minot, ND. I should have caught that. -
Thanks! Im in the process of reading that book, about halfway through it. and yeah the trading approach is what has been suggested to me. I just need to find something he likes better than plush toys, which so far is nothing haha.
If he loves his stuffies, keep one aside and use it only to trade up to when he has something you don't want him to have. Of course, I've always wondered if that wouldn't push a dog to be "naughty" in order to get the treat. Some will say l'm nuts to think that, but I know my girl will ask to go potty, when she doesn't have to go, only because she knows when we get back to the kitchen, she'll get a treat (a very small treat). In order to stop that, I have a rule that I won't take her out for potty more often than every 4 hours, assuming she is not sick. BTW, I like Tanner's name. It fits him.
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He is gorgeous! You'll get lots of advice and opinions from here. My suggestion to get an overall feel for Greyhounds is to read "Greyhound for Dummies." Yes, seriously, there is a 'dummy' book for Greyhound ownership, and it's recommended by my group to every adopter.
Re barking, lunging: First, don't try to take anything from him without offering something better: a really really good treat that he doesn't get any other time. Somewhere along the way, you'll be teaching "drop it" or "leave it." I can't give you info on that 'cause my girl came to me with no issues in that respect. Also, IMO, it's a good idea to put out of his reach things that are very important/special to you until he learns leave it or drop it. It's the same as not leaving something breakable on a table that a toddler could get until the toddler learns not to touch.
Have fun!
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OMG. More problems. Damn. I feed Annie Nutro Venison. Will check it out before jumping to conclusions, though. Web sites are usually not taken down so if somebody Googled, for instance, Problems with Nutro Dog Food, they could easily get a hit from years ago, when there might have been a problem, and then the rumor starts though it's no longer true.
ETA: I just did a quick, 3-minute Google search and read, and found lots of hits for Nutro being recalled, all dating back to 2007 and 2009. I will do more research when I return from our Saturday M&G, but I'm leaning toward this is old news.
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Have you had her checked for a UTI or other medical issues?
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My suggestion is to not take her outside for a late-evening pee. I know most people take their dogs out pretty late in the evening, but my girl doesn't want to go out late. The latest Annie has her last potty of the day is 7:00ish. Very often it's only 6:30. The other night our schedule was screwy and she happened to be outside at 5:30 and peed while there. She never asked to go out again and wouldn't come to me when I called at 8 o'clock, "Potty, Annie. Let's go." Once she's upstairs in her bed, which she usually goes to after the 7 o'clock pee, I would have to physically force her downstairs. She goes all night without a problem. I'm up in the morning between 6 and 6:30, and that's when she gets her first P&P opportunity of the day.
It wouldn't hurt to experiment by letting Sophie go all night without a before-bed chance to potty. If she can't make it, then you'll have to try something else. If she can go all night, as my girl does, then it's a win-win situation.
Leah Was Attacked, I've Seen Worse But This Is Not Good.
in Health and Medical discussion
Posted
Terrible.... it's just horrible. You must want to take the pain, stitches and the confusion onto yourself and let her be healed. Hugs to her.