Feisty49

Annie Bella hates the rain, and it was and is pouring here, but at 6:30 AM whe has to pee bad enough that she grudgingly did her thing and then immediately pulled to come back inside (no fenced yard so on a leash). She also always has to poo at first morning P&P, but wanted no part of it. Too bad for her. I shamed her into walking toward the back where she did her thing and then let her drag me back to the house. She's giving me stinky eye for not taking a walk this morning, but I've tried twice to get her to walk and both times she's turned tail to come back in. I also hate walking in the rain so will not shame/force her to walk in it. I knowwwww, there are many who walk rain, shine, snow or ice, and good for you. My self worth doesn't rest on a walk in the rain.

I adopted Annie Bella 15 months ago. It took quite a few months to find a combination of food that produced poos that were decent consistency, and now, her first-morning poo (about 6 AM) is good but the poos deteriorate a little bit in softness with ensuing ones. Even when going through soft serve poo in the beginning, she never went more than 3 times a day. Pretty much that's her usual schedule: 3 times a day and usually the same time every day unless I'm not at home. Yogurt, pumpkin, pro biotics, etc., never worked to help firm up Annie B's poos. She now gets a couple of tablespoons of beet pulp in her bowl with breakfast and again with supper, as well as a couple of squirts of fish oil. The beet pulp helped a lot -- that and mixing half a cup of Iams in the green bag with the 1 cup of Nutro Venison she gets with each meal.

Finn is a beautiful color, but then I'm a bit prejudiced.

I like Zeke but I prefer two-syllable names such as Darby (I'm not fond of the name Wally).

What a beautiful boy. I'm so sorry for your loss.

Beautiful Grey. Do you think your pup could be cold? My girl doesn't come to my bed or vocalize when she's cold, but she wanders around the bedroom, flops down on her bed, gets up and wanders some more, flops down again, etc., until I wake up and cover her. I know nothing about resource guarding a toy, or anything else 'cause Annie B doesn't care what I do, so I have no suggestions, but you'll read good ideas from those who have had experience.

I've had Annie Bella for 15 months. While she was never a spook and never had SA, she was very aloof for a long time. It was 3 months post adoption before she'd look me in the eye. And while she adjusted to home life pretty quickly in that from the beginning she laid on her bed and was comfy, didn't need (or even like) her crate, and ate and did her P&P thing without a problem, it was months before I felt that she understood this was her Forever Home and months before I felt as if we had bonded because she was showing total trust in me.

Antibiotics can cause UTIs in people because they don't discriminate which bacteria they kill. Human bodies have good and bad germs. Kill off the good ones and sometimes problems arise. Dogs do too. Makes sense her issue is caused by the antibiotics.

My Annie Bella, who I adopted 15 months ago, would do the 9 steps outside leading to the back door from day 1 but would not do the 14 steps going to the second floor and the bedrooms. I tried all the tricks of the trade and nothing worked and she became more and more frightened of that part of the house. I'm sure her biggest issue with the stairs was that they were sorta enclosed: wall on one side and a bannister on the other. She slept downstairs -- no crate -- for about 7 months without complaint. I was disappointed but she was fine so I didn't worry. One night she woke me up whining at the bottom of the stairs. She didn't like being alone. I spent the rest of that night on the couch while she slept in her bed next to me, and the next day I got firm and said, "You learn the stairs today because I like to sleep in my bed." I walked her up the stairs paw by paw with her shaking the entire time, then at the top walked her down paw by paw. We did this 3 or 4 times, each time being easier with more cooperation from her. After the 4th time, she was willing and able to do the stairs and does them all the time now. Your girl is very new to you and your household. I wouldn't worry about her not doing the stairs. In a few weeks or months, she may decide being alone at night isn't fun and she'll do them.

Annie Bella had her annual in April with shots. Costs were: Office visit w/annual physical exam: $47.50 Canine 4DX test: $49.00 Bordetella (annual): $25.00 DP2PP Vaccination (3 years): $28.00 Rabies Vaccination (3 years): $25.50 That totals about $176, give or take (I added it in my head).

My girl is frisky for her -- not like your Jack, though -- and I know it's the cool weather. That and the wind. She loves both.

It is exciting! A whole new live being to love and spoil and admire. I so admire Greyhounds. They are just so special. Annie B's ears are usually down but the siggie shows them in her alert state, such as when I say: walk, treat, supper, etc.

I live in New York State, just south of Albany. I'm looking at the rabies vaccination certificate issued by our vet. My girl got a 3-year rabies on April 2 of this year. The expiration date on the certificate is April 2, 2015, three years hence. Anything less than 3 years is early.

It's not cold enough, yet, IMO, for a coat, though Annie B was shivering this morning on her first morning P&P at 5:30. Nonetheless, for a quick P&P in the yard without a walk, I don't put a coat on her. Last winter was mild for us temperature wise. I suppose if we have a bad winter with below zero days, I will put a coat on her even for just a quick P&P. I too live in Upstate NY, and at least for my dog, it does get cold enough to wear something in the dead of winter. Pretty much if my girl is shivering, she's cold. Having said this, though, it can be 20 degrees outside and we'll start out with a coat, but if the sun is out and there's no wind, I remove it about halfway through our walk because the walking has worked up her internal heat and she no longer needs it. If it's 20 degrees, no sun and a wind chill bringing the temp down to zero, the coat does not come off because she is too cold without it. As someone else said above, fold the coat off her butt so she doesn't think there's something blocking her way. That's how I got Annie Bella used to the coat and now she pees and poos no matter what's on her.

Don't worry about stirring the pot. As many people as there are on this forum is just about as many opinions you'll read. You'll learn to pick and choose what you think is going to work for you. There are people who think that feeding raw is the very best way to go. Maybe it is but I'm not willing to put the work into it so I use kibble. There are many people who think that lower-grade kibble is bad. Well, higher-grade kibble can be too rich for some hounds, mine is one of them, so I do a mixture of Iams (which some consider mid- to low-grade) and a better kibble, but if Iams alone worked best for Annie -- and I mean no loose stools or other adverse reactions -- she'd be on Iams by itself. I'm not familiar enough with other breeds to comment on them, but I have to assume that each dog, whether Greyhound or not, comes with its own personality and it can take a while to have that personality come out. After 15 months, Annie B's personality is still emerging, though there are not as many changes as during the first 10 months, and it makes me love her all the more.

What a scare for you and your family. My heart was beating fast just reading about the account of the 30 minutes. You're a good person to post a reminder about being so very careful. None of us can ever be complacent when it comes to safety for our hounds.

I've used Forti Flora and it's never made a difference in Annie Bella's output. What works best for her is feeding at meals 1 cup of Nutro Venison and 1/2 cup of Iams in green bag plus a couple of tablespoons of beet pulp (she gets picky if there is less Nutro in the dish which is why I don't feed more of the Iams). The Iams helps a lot, with the beet pulp giving a bit more firmness.

I feed morning and late afternoon meals (1.5 cups each) with dog treats in between. Annie B gets very little people food mostly because I don't want her begging from me or anybody else.

I agree that it's not necessary to hand feed, unless there is a true, specific reason such as encouragement because of illness. Regarding treats: JJNG reminded me that Annie Bella would not take treats from my hand. They had to be tossed on the floor. I had forgotten that. She learned, though, in about 5 minutes to trust my hand by my putting a small treat on my knee, which she took. I did it again two more times. I then put another treat on my knee, and left my hand next to it, and she took it. I did that a couple of more times. I then put the treat on my hand and laid my hand, palm up, on my knee. She took that. The next step was directly from my hand not on my knee. It worked like a charm.

Yeah for Jack. The picture doesn't do him justice. I saw him in person a couple of weeks ago and he is even more beautiful in person.

Sometimes I think that if I joined and read this board before I adopted Annie Bella, I might have been scared away. LOL I did read books, on-line material and information given out by my adoption group before I actually adopted so I had a lot of information, but it's like child raising: reading about it is different than the live child and/or dog. There are a lot of posts on GT that deal with issues and problems but the nature of any message board is to give advice and help and share "what happened in my situation." There isn't a forum titled "My Dog Has no Corns" or "My Dog Has No Space Issues," but yet there are a lot of us who have dogs who have no problems or issues (knock on wood). I adopted Annie B 15 months ago. She had been in 2 foster homes in my adoption group. She came to me with almost no issues or problems. She's never had SA. She's never had space issues. She's never growled at me, even when I took a bully stick away from her without offering a substitute. She doesn't jump on furniture or my bed. She doesn't cruise counters or get in the garbage. She's never peed in the house. She poo'd twice the first week because I was unaware of her schedule and her "I gotta go" look. She ignores the cat and her prey drive outside (I live in the country with lots of animals) is nil (she actually tries to get the deer to play by getting in the bow position) . She likes people, kids, and most other dogs (she does not like little yappy dogs and responds to the noise by walking away from them). One issue she had was a fear of small or narrow spaces. She didn't like the hallway between the kitchen and TV room and would rush-through-cause-I'm-afraid. She used to rush through the back doorway to outside because, I assume, it was more narrow than she preferred. It took her 6 months to work up her nerve to walk upstairs to the second floor (she never had problems with the 9 "open" stairs leading to the back door). As time went by, she finally went upstairs because she didn't like sleeping alone. Also, she lost her fear of hallways, doorways and other spaces that felt confining to her. The only medical issue she had was relatively minor diarrhea, and it took a few months to get it squared away. When you adopt, find out from the foster parents what food your houndie has been eating and if it produced firm poo. I did get that information and was told Annie was fine pooing, but when she came to live with me, her "fine" poo became very soft serve. Another piece of advice: Relax. It's a dog. Yah, it's the best breed to own, IMO , but it is a dog, and you've had experience.

I have no experience with SA, and I feel very fortunate. Annie Bella sorta whines when she sees me get the car from the (detached) garage (in the summer I can hear her through open windows), and she'll sorta whine if I leave her with someone, but she stops within 30 seconds after I'm out of sight. I do know, though, that our Greys can continue to change and grow for months and months after adoption, so perhaps as time goes on, and you practice leaving him with your parents, he'll become more calm with your absence. I adopted Annie B 15 months ago and she still is changing and gives me a positive surprise every one in a while, though the major changes occurred in the first 12 months.

Great advice from this site on how to teach down. Learning down is the one thing Annie B has left to learn on the list before testing to become a therapy dog (she doesn't sit but Greyhounds are exempt from sitting, so states the brochure I have). I honestly had no idea how to go about it. She's not crazy about tight spaces so just teaching her to go down and under with her head will take a while. Unfortunately, she's not very food motivated, but persistence will pay off!

In addition, did the dogs need egg product (and what is that -- the shells??), kelp and rice flour?