Feisty49

Yes, you will get desensitized to them. I'm originally from a city atmosphere and when I moved to a rural county in New York State (that, by the way, has the 2nd highest incidence of Lyme Disease in the state), it didn't take me long to deal with spiders, mice, snakes and ticks (aren't ya glad you asked? LOL). My place sounds somewhat like yours: a small town, few sidewalks. I have a big backyard (unfenced) and 11 acres of land. I was pulling ticks off Annie Bella all winter. It just wasn't cold enough to kill them. They're easy to see, and I just use my fingers. Unlike fleas, ticks are squishable so I use my fingers to kill 'em. (Yes, I've become very desensitized.) Annie Bella's on Advantix II for fleas and ticks all year long, I sure hope it works because no doubt I miss a tick now and then. She gets yearly Lyme disease blood work. I've found only one tick on me in the past 6 years; one month ago. It had attached itself but was easy to pull off. Info from calls I made to two different doctor offices was that it takes 48 hours of a tick sucking before Lyme is passed on and it takes 3 weeks for the Lyme antibody to show up in the blood. After 3.5 weeks, I got a blood test and it was negative. BTW, I get tested for Lyme twice a year, just in case.

Very handsome boy. He could be my Annie Bella's twin!

I discourage it. ::shrug:: Yah, it's what dogs do, but they also want to pull on the leash, cruise the counter tops and get in the garbage.

I don't know; have heard at 7 years of age. I would so not be insulted if Annie Bella at that age is considered a senior. So what? It refers to what's happening on the inside and to me is not a reflection of the way they play, sleep or live life. Of course, like people not every pup is going to age on the inside at a set time so I'll be looking to my vet for advice about additives to Annie Bella's diet when she nears 7.

I've fostered only once (my current life style does not lend itself to fostering), and it made me feel bad and sorta guilty when I sent him on his way, fostering is supposed to be temporary, so I can't imagine anybody thinking you did something wrong. The pups should be in a place that is best for them *and* the family.

Not me, but I've never sprayed and never will. Perhaps there is a smell left behind that can't be discerned by a human nose. If so, maybe rain will dissipate it, and he'll be happier. Wondering: What spray was used? Was it natural or chemical? Does it last long so that if a bug wanders in from beyond your yard it would still work?

This topic always gets lots of responses. What info we get to feed a dog for best health is much like the info we get about us humans, which means the recommendations are going to change eventually. It takes years to accumulate morbidity data and by then we've moved onto something else.

As with so many others, since I am widowed, I have often wondered, with concern, about having to lift Annie Bella. Simply put, I could not. Even if I had something, such as a stretcher, to put her on, getting her to the car would be impossible alone because there are 9 flagstone steps of different widths and heights to go down just to get to ground level. No doubt in my concern for her health, I would literally flag down a car to ask for help.

Have you tried throwing a short bully stick? Once I discovered that Tracker would go MAD with the zoomies after I tossed one (in the end, once he's spent, he goes to find the bully stick and devours it quickly), now when I forget to bring one all I need to do is pretend I'm throwing something and he'll take off. Nothing else will work with that boy. I haven't, but knowing Annie Bella, if I got her interest with a Bully Stick, she'd lay right down and eat it while I twiddled my thumbs for half an hour.

I don't have a fenced in yard, though I do have 11 acres (long story about why no fence). I walk Annie Bella a couple of times a day, sometimes 3 if good weather, at least a mile each walk, though if it's really hot or really cold, the length is reduced. Annie loves her walks but isn't that much of a runner. For instance, this morning I stopped at the local Little League field (totally enclosed) and let her free. To get her going I started to run and hop around the field (oh the foolish things we do for our pups). What did she do? Walk the perimeter of the field sniffing every single blade of grass to check out what other dog had done the same thing. In the meantime, I'm continuing to do the foolish-woman thing, and she's ignoring me. I'm jumping. I've got treats. I'm running and teasing her. I want her to run so she can stretch out her muscles and because she's so beautiful when she runs. She wanted nothing to do with it. Annie Bella will run sometimes, but only about 2 minutes worth if that, and then she's done. What I'm saying is, some Greys really like to run if given the opportunity. Some don't give a #2 about it.

Wish I had some advice but I don't, just empathy. This must be very difficult and make you anxious also. You want your baby to be happy and you want your neighbors happy also. Annie Bella sometimes exhibits a bit of SA, that lasts maybe 90 seconds, but I live in a big house with lots of space around it, so nobody but me can hear it.

Nice nice pups, and I like their names too. I'm from Upstate New York and mom to only one pretty girl.

I wonder if the full moon combined with the intense solar flares had influence on your pups? The full moon affects kids in a classroom...ask any teacher. They're a little bit more looney.

Don't know how long you've had Neville, but I wasn't comfortable about Annie Bella's bonding relationship with me or her loyalty to me for about 4 months after I got her. I knew she liked me and I knew she worried when I left the house without her, but there's a point in the canine/human relationship when you know you're best buddies with all the love and trust that goes with it. With Annie Bella, I think it took 3 months with me before she realized that this was her forever home, not that she knew the name, but she know that no matter where we went together, she always came home with me. That trust is what made me trust her to come when I called her in a dog park.

I don't have any suggestions about puppy food requirements but if Eagle Pac Holistic (puppy) worked for Bella wouldn't you want to use it now, or am I misreading your post?

I have only one Greyhound so have never faced this problem, but if I were in your shoes, I'd keep them apart until Henry is done eating. Either keep Truman in his crate or behind a closed door in another room until all is safe.

Behind closed doors and off the floor. Annie Bella loves the feet and hands on plastic toy dolls, from dollhouse size to Barbie doll size. I've got quite a few quad amputees.

Ohhh, Annie Bella does that, but I don't have a fenced backyard. She'll do her "gotta go" whine so on goes the leash and out we go. She'll stand there, nose in the air sniffing and then turn back to the door. When she does this, there is no treat given.

Just laughing because this is such a normal topic for us but those on the "outside" would just shake their heads. My Annie Bella is somewhat the same. First-morning poo, on a leash on my property (I've got 11 acres but none is fenced), is perfect. On our first morning walk out in the world, a couple of hours later, she always manages to drop more poo, with it being less perfect and sorta dripping at the end (she's a walker when she poos so I have to pick up a trail). Her last poo of the day in late afternoon (she's so regular I could set a clock by her), usually on my property while leashed, starts off decent but ends up puddly. It's nothing I've ever worried about because, well, Greyhounds like to shake up our minds and hearts and I don't worry over every little thing. (I've become convinced that once retired their job it to make *us* race caring for them and worrying about them.)

So sorry and thinking very positive thoughts. We love our pups but I know $1,000 hurts a lot.

If you decide he is done with his walk, that is he has P&Pd but is just not wanting to go home but you want to go home, here are some suggestions to get him moving that I wrote somewhere else on the forum (the link appears below). When I first got Annie Bella (July last year), she planted herself more than walking, I swear. She still plants occasionally, but I have many ways to get her moving. The first thing I recommend, which sometimes stops the planting, is to not slow down just 'cause your boy does, if indeed you ever do that. Walk along with the expectation he'll come along and don't slow or stop, even if he falls back a few feet. Without realizing it, we often pace ourselves to our dog's pace, and it should be the other way around. Try walking him in a circle. Hold him close to your thigh, walk around pressing on his shoulder with that thigh and as you come out, keep on walking. I don't use this any more because my Annie Bella is beyond that but it always worked for me, if not the first circle on the second. Give him a gentle push on a shoulder with your knee or a hand. I don't know about other Greyhounds, but Annie Bella does not like that at all. Talk about giving me stinky eye. The push should be firm enough to make her feet move and that movement starts them walking again. Using two hands, give a gentle, but firm, push on his side. If the push on the shoulder doesn't work with Annie Bella, I do the side push, firm enough so that all four feet have to move, and again, that movement gets her going. What also works for me, and I tried it out of frustration one time when I was really really really irritated with her, is to stand in front of her, bend down (I bend down so close that often her nose is touching mine), look her straight in the eyes and say with great firmness and aggravation, "Move!" or "Annie come." That always gets her going, because if I've reached that point, she knows I am pissed! Often, especially when we're in the driveway heading to the door, she'll plant, or go slowwwwwwly, and I use my shame-on-you voice, and say something like, "Shame on you Annie Bella. Shame on you," my voice just dripping with disappointment and I tug. It took a few months of bonding before that worked. You can always use treats. I never walk Annie Bella without treats in my pocket. They're good for training, if the opportunity comes up, and they're good to get her going. Gotta toss them, though, so your dog has to move. Once he's moving, you start out at a good pace with expectation in every step that he will follow. The final way to get Annie moving - which I've had to use only twice because she refused to walk through a doorway -- is to hold her collar by the loop on the Martingale, which has her touching my thigh, and walk, tugging on the loop at the same time. Good luck. I used to feel so foolish on a public street practically begging Annie Bella to move but those days are long gone, thankfully. http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/282198-planting-her-feet-on-walks/page__p__5145374__hl__planting__fromsearch__1#entry5145374

One other thing about ticks: I had a tick on me last month after walking in the woods but didn't discover it until in bed that night when I felt something on my side .. something irritating my skin. In the dark I got to "it" and "it" was a tick! The info I got from two doctors the following morning (one a doc-in-the box place which is closer than my primary care physician who is 35 miles away) and the other my primary care physician was the same: A tick has to be attached and feeding on a host body 48 hours before Lyme is passed into the host system, and it takes 3 weeks for the Lyme antibody to appear in the blood. I was told to wait at least 3 weeks for a Lyme titer unless I showed other symptoms. I don't know if this info applies to animals other than humans.

I'm retired and am with Annie Bella almost 24/7 (she goes with me when I visit friends, etc.). I can attest that, at least during the winter months, Annie Bella visits the water bowl twice a day for big (messy ) drinks. She also gets water mixed into her two meals a day. She sleeps upstairs with me and I have a water bowl up there but she never drinks during the night. I can tell because the level doesn't go down and there's no water on the floor. I can't imagine not leaving water for an animal whether it be a parakeet or an elephant!

I live in deer country and the county of the second highest incidence of Lyme disease in New York State. I am always finding ticks on Annie Bella and me. Our deer ticks, even before swelling up (which they do here), can easily be seen on something light, such as human skin and AB's fawn-colored hair. They're small but they're not teeny tiny. If I found a tick on Annie Bella that I could not remove, I'd take her to the vet even though I do use a treatment for fleas and ticks. I figure in the long run it's better to make sure she's OK than face Lyme disease.

I love it when the cats and dogs get along. Though you wouldn't think so, Annie Bella pretty much ignores Henny Penny the cat.