Feisty49

The video is so cute and funny! His poor little nose gets squished every time he shoves water into his food bowl. Is there something you can put in the area so that his splatters go on it instead of the floor?

Annie Bella pants when she's hot, of course (and there has been a lot of panting on our walks this summer which is why they've been short ones), but she also pants when she gets excited and when she's anxious. Storms and fireworks, as well as other loud noises, don't bother her so there is no panting. She pants when she realizes I'm going out in the car and she doesn't know if she's going with me. She pants when she knows she's going with me ("Want to go in the car?"). She pants when she's in the car riding, even if the trip is hours long. She stops when there is resolution to what's causing the anxiety/question in her life. I consider it part of her personality and except for long car rides, when I give her either a Xanax or a Calm K-9 cookie, I don't worry or do anything about it.

You've got so much love for Homer and it will grow and include another hound some day. The group that you prefer sounds much like my group regarding pre-adoption care and support with lots of follow up if needed. How exciting to think that some day in the future a Greyhound looking for someone to love her/him completely will be adopted by your family. How lucky that dog will be to have such a wonderful forever home.

Timo's was like that for over a year as well. Finally, after searching this forum, I decided to add shredded dried beet pulp and l-glutamine to his meals. Now, more often than not (for the last 8 months), his poops actually roll down a hill because the silly boy likes to poop on a hill and/or bush. Lol. Annie Bella's been on shredded beet pulp for 4 meals now and her poo is much much better -- I'd label it normal. I've been through normal before, though, so nothing is written in stone until she's normal for 2 weeks. She's not real crazy about the stuff. Though she'll eat with it mixed in with her kibble, she no longer licks the bowl or goes after the last half dozen kibbles because it means getting the leftover beet pulp with it.

The shelters, dog and cat, in my area are happy to get whatever they can to feed hungry animals, but just FYI: I have a friend with 4 Greyhounds and she's fed them Pedigree for years. She has the lowest vet bills of most of us. They're never sick or have issues.

Following this topic because while I don't have this problem now, who knows what the future will bring and like you, I'd be doing it alone. I hope you get some great ideas!

Timo's was like that for over a year as well. Finally, after searching this forum, I decided to add shredded dried beet pulp and l-glutamine to his meals. Now, more often than not (for the last 8 months), his poops actually roll down a hill because the silly boy likes to poop on a hill and/or bush. Lol. How much beet pulp do you add to his meals? ETA: No need to answer the question. I found on another topic your answer of adding two heaping tablespoons of dry shredded beet pulp to Timo's meals.

Annie Bella also knows wait rather than stay. Stay has never worked with her, and I have spent many an afternoon, when she's most hungry, trying to teach her. Again, at some point on a walk, just as I used the words "walk walk walk," I used the word "wait" and she stopped immediately. I'm still working on stay, using it in association with wait, because stay is a common command and it's good for her to know the terms most other people would use with her, but right now, wait works when I need her to hold still while I pick up poop, am at a corner to cross the street (I also hold her close to me with no loose leash) or if she tries to go down the 9 stairs off the terrace faster than I can go. Kennel up also worked with Annie Bella to get her to go in her crate the first few days I had her. She hated the crate, though, and it was put away 5 days after her adoption.

When I adopted Annie Bella about a year ago, it was a hassle to get her into the back of my SUV. So much so that I was helping her climb into the vehicle via a back passenger door. About a week after her adoption I heard or read somewhere that the term "kennel up" is used at many (most/all?) tracks as a directive to the girls to jump up to their crates. Next time Annie Bella went with me in the car, I used "kennel up" with the cargo door opened to the back of the Escape and she jumped right up! ! I also discovered a few months ago that, when she starts to slow down on the part of our walks that she knows is bringing us back home, if I use the words "walk walk walk" she'll start trotting. I have no idea if this was ever used at the track, but she responds to the words as she does to "kennel up." I'm wondering if there are other track terms, commands, directives, etc., that could be helpful to newbies and others of us who have no knowledge of track life. Thanks for any info you've got.

Handsome guy! My parents had Boston Terriers after I flew the nest and they are little firecrackers! It sounds like so much fun having both dogs.

I would add to this that my girl -- Annie Bella -- shares the same attributes as above AND she is an only dog but never had any SA, which, if one reads this board a lot, seems to be common with single Greyhounds (but as said above, this forum is used more for problems & issues than other things). Annie Bella is so good that she's almost boring. The only thing she's ever chewed on was a pair of slides I left by the door, and even then, she just chewed on the top and left only teeth marks. She's never gone in the garbage. She's never cruised counters. She doesn't beg for food when I'm eating. She has no space issues. She occasionally plants on our walks, but it's easy to get her going again. She's not afraid of fireworks or thunder storms. She had an issue with smallish spaces, including going through doorways where she couldn't clearly see what was on the other side, but we worked on it and she's fine now. She had an issue with going up the stairs to the second floor (never had an issue with the 9 steps leading to the back door), but we worked on that and there is no problem now. Annie Bella had been fostered about 2-1/2 months with my group after leaving the track. She was on her 3rd foster home in my group (they switch foster homes every few weeks so nobody gets too attached) when I met her. Each of her foster parents, with whom I spoke separately, told me the same thing about her: calm, quiet, easy going, sweet, affectionate, loves people, gets along great with other dogs and small animals, doesn't like small spaces and uses her crate with no problem. The only thing that wasn't true was crate use. She would go in it, but hated it. As others above have said, get to know the dogs in your groups that are currently fostered and talk with the foster parents. You'll find a dog that will fit your needs when you're ready. I'm so sorry for your loss. Empty spaces in the house and heart are difficult to fill but broken hearts do mend. When the time is right, you'll make a decision that works for you.

Well, Annie Bella has lousy poop according to above, and in the 12 months since her adoption, it has been lousy more than not. It comes out nicely formed, but it's a mess to pick up. In the past 12 months, I've tried high-end food, middlin' food and low-end food. I've added yogurt, probiotic powder and real pumpkin (not all at once.. LOL). Nothing has worked; not even the 'script food the vet prescribes. Not even chicken/rice. Well, chicken/rice works but only for a couple of days and then it's back to formed but mushy stuff. I've given up. She's healthy. She poos twice a day with an occasional day of three poos. Her coat is shiny. She has energy, loves her walks and the occasional play time. I can't worry about it any more because I don't have an answer to make them bounce, roll down hill or whatever is good.

Lots of good thoughts for your beautiful boy!

Wonderful news!! I can feel your relief.

I bought a jar of these to help Annie Bella with her anxiety on car rides. One "cookie" worked great for her. Her anxiety was decreased by 80 to 90 percent and it didn't matter if she was already a bit anxious, which she gets when she senses I'm planning a car ride. The thing about Xanax (and maybe other drugs but I've only used Xanax) is that it has to be given in advance of the anxiety-producing event or else the nervousness the dog feels overwhelms the calming effects of the drug.

I've used Xanax for long car rides. The first time it helped for a couple of hours. After that, not so much. The thing with Xanax is it's got to be in their system before they get anxious. Posts on another thread about anxiety give a thumb's up for Calm K-9, a biscuit that has a calming effect. I bought it and it works. I've used it twice and each time Annie Bella's anxiety was only about 10% of what it usually is, and it worked even if she was already anxious.

Hehehe.. My girl can hold it forever, it seems, but when we're on our walks, she squats here, there and everywhere, sometimes leaving just a few drops so the rest of the dogs know she's been there too.

I'm thinking that since (1) your vet says she's healthy and will fill out (and honestly, if you don't trust or believe your vet, why do you go to her/him?) and (2) she gets upset if she eats more food that you don't need to fill her out more and certainly not feed her more food.

I second, or third, the opinion that 12 hours is too long to hold it. Not that it can't be done. My Annie Bella goes 12 hours overnight but that's her choice because she likes to sleep in, and certainly if she needed to go, we'd be outside in a flash. Annie Bella gets P&P opportunities at least 4 times a day and in cooler weather, 5 times a day. Two of these opportunities include our twice daily walks, which become three daily walks when the weather is cooler. I agree that Edge needs to be given the chance to pee more often and held accountable by keeping him outside until something is produced. Because of the history you think he has (crated for 12 hours at the track), he probably won't pee every 3 hours, but certainly every 5 hours he should be able to produce something if he's drinking enough water.

Up until Annie Bella's appetite faded, I fixed her kibble with a couple of squirts of fish oil and some water. That gets pretty unappetizing quickly if not eaten within a half hour, so now I just toss the 1.5 cups of kibble in her bowl dry and leave it. By 10 AM, about half of it is gone, though I never see her eat it, which is normal for her -- eating unobserved is one of her quirks. She's eating her supper and actually giving me the "I'm Hungry" look about an hour before supper time. Again, though, I'm just tossing dry kibble in the bowl and leaving it. She eats all of it right away.

Carry me home.... :lol

Annie Bella is not on any regular meds, other than heart worm, but if she were, I'd switch out the "bait" to get a pill into her. PB for a day or two then marshmallows for a day or two. I'd use pill pockets and cream cheese. Switching around keeps up interest and also if one doesn't work one day, there are the others to fall back on.

Just wondering if other hounds' appetites are down as Annie Bella's appetite is, due, I assume, to this hot weather. She was eating fine up until about 3-1/2 weeks ago when the first big heat wave hit the Northeast. Since then, she hasn't wanted to eat or walk much. Regarding walking, she gets all excited at the word, but the minute we hit the outside, her head drops and her tail droops. It's as if somebody pricked a balloon and all the air went out. Regarding food, she might eat some kibble mid-morning, when previously she was ready for breakfast at 6:30 AM. She's still liking her treats, but she never got a lot of them and I'm still giving the same amount. I have occasionally scrambled a couple of eggs for her, which she's liked a lot. Come supper time, about 4:30, she usually eats right away, but is leaving about a third of it in the bowl. The good thing is she's lost only a pound or two, but I wouldn't expect her to lose much weight because we're also not walking more than a third of a mile twice a day, and sometimes less because she gets heated so quickly.

When her appetite is normal, which it isn't in this hot weather, Annie Bella, who weighs about 68 pounds, gets 1.5 cups twice a day: about 6:30 AM and 4:30 PM. She's on sorta a buffet of food right now in an attempt to tempt her into eating and to get rid of mushy poos. She's on Nutro-Venison, a bit of Iams in the red bag and a bit of regular ole' Purina dog food. Alone, she won't eat any of them. Mixed together, she will eat, eventually, and her output is better than it's been in a while. She also gets treats during the day but I generally stick to small-dog size treats that have only 8 calories. She gets one large Milk Bone a day.

Just have to write that I ordered the Calm K-9 biscuits and received them yesterday. To try out its effects I gave one to Annie Bella today for a short car ride -- an hour round trip with a 10-minute stopover while Annie Bella and I stayed in the car -- and she was much less anxious. She was never crazy anxious in the car. She usually laid down, but she would pant 90% of the time and just look horrible. I gave her the biscuit 30 minutes before leaving, and she mostly slept or laid on her bed looking around, with just a bit of panting. This is a complete reversal, and as we all know, if they are feeling better, we are feeling better.