Feisty49
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Though I brush Annie Bella's teeth regularly, her gums are still red in spots and sometimes her breath is bad
I just researched what's in ProDen Plaqueoff and it's all natural stuff, according to the web site, and includes a seaweed that has beneficial effects for oral care. There's no artificial colors, preservatives, gluten or sugar. Sounds like a pretty good product. I'm going to try it, and also keep on brushing.Wonder if it would work for humans?
I know people with bad breath.ETA: There is a Proden Plaqueoff pill for humans.
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You're all very encouraging and I'm taking heart from it. I started clicker training yesterday. Just a simple thing that when I click, she gets an M&M size liver treat. All she had to do was be there. LOL This morning I did a session of just click/treat again, and this afternoon I raised the treat to my face to get her to look at me. When Annie Bella looked, I clicked and gave the treat. She's not a dog to look people in the eyes often, and most times I had to physically raise her face up and then immediately followed through with click/treat. I know I'll be excited when she can do even this simple thing without me touching her.
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When you ask "is time a factor," I would say absolutely yes! My Luna, who I've had for eight months, isn't as interested in treats as some hounds either. In fact, she dislikes all treats except for one brand of cookie. Everyday, as I leave for work, we go to her pillow and I ask her to sit, but she usually ignored me. I tried all the tricks, trying to get her too look up and naturally sit, quickly accosting her as she laid down to catch her in the sitting position, etc. Nothing seemed to click, but I still did it every day. Then, randomly, last week she decided she'd start sitting on command, and she's been doing it beautifully ever since! What got her going, I have no idea, and I knew that little goober could understand me all this time
. Now this week she's learned to shake. On Monday, after she sat, I gently took a front paw and said "shake." On Tuesday, I said "shake" and she voluntarily gave me her paw, clever girl. I almost can't believe how quickly she is learning things now, since for the longest time she was being too stubborn. I hope for the same for you and your Annie Bella!This is a great story! I know Annie Bella's not stupid. She's got her own mind, as most Greys do. Sometimes it's finding and using the correct word. Annie won't respond to "stay" but she does to "wait." It took *me* weeks to learn that one.
I assume somewhere in her past, wait was the word of choice. I don't want Annie to do cutesie little tricks. I would like her to learn the 10 things on the list to become a certified therapy dog. -
I may be wrong, if so, someone please correct me but doesnt peroxide break down gum tissue?
It doesn't in humans, at least this human. I've been rinsing my mouth with a water-peroxide mixture for decades and have good mouth health.
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Thanks -- there are some great ideas here. Annie Bella truly is an easy dog for which I am grateful. I had a foster here for just a week, whom I feel in love with, but he drove me nuts. He pooped on the floor some times but just as often would let me know he had to go out. He cruised table and counter tops and snarfed down anything in the basket he could reach. He was a rascal - a loving, joyful, I-love-life rascal, and when he left, we both cried (I with tears, him with whimpers and roos). As much fun as he was, and as sweet in showing his immediate affection for me, he was not easy and at this stage of my life, I want easy.
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I think it takes greyhounds a bit longer to "get it" when it comes to training.
I was thinking the same thing, or at least thinking it of Annie Bella, but didn't want to think something negative about my girl.
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I've had Annie Bella since mid-July of this year. For the most part, she's never done "bad" things. There is no counter cruising, no basket sniffing, no going on furniture (which isn't bad to many people but I don't want it), no accidents in the house, no rooing at 3 AM, no barking, no being a pain with me or visitors at the door. She walks on a leash pretty good. She ignores and walks away from excited dogs at a dog park as if she recognizes they could be problems. When I ask, "Want some kisses?" (which is the word I use for petting and massaging her), she comes right to me.
What else doesn't she do? She won't sit at all. She won't lay down on command, unless I tell her, "Take a nap," and then she *usually* goes to her bed. She doesn't always heel, but doesn't pull on the leash either. She "just" prefers being out in front. I swear she does it because she knows when I say "heel," and she returns to my side, she gets a treat, and a "good girl." The moment those words are out of my mouth, she'll go back to leading me(unless I hold her on a tight leash), looking over her shoulder as if to say, "Give me a treat, and I'll come back....for 10 seconds."
She is not food motivated, other than heeling, which isn't working anyway. LOL She has favorite foodies that she doesn't get except when I'm trying to train her. She loves cheese, she loves peanut butter, she loves tiny liver treats, etc. But rather than try to do what I'm trying to teach her, she walks away from me, leaving the treat behind. I've moved a treat slowly from her mouth higher and higher so she'd move her head up and maybe sit. She doesn't follow it with her eyes or nose. The moment I move it up, she looks down at the floor.
I've had a trainer from Bark Busters here who trained me what to do. I've followed her plan and it does not work with Annie Bella.
Has anybody else experienced this complete lack of interest? Does anybody have ideas? She's so good, I tell myself she doesn't need to be trained, but deep in my heart I'd love for her to be a therapy dog. She has a calm, passive, sweet personality and loves to meet new people. Everybody who meets her, even people who don't like dogs, ask if she's always this calm and sweet. Yes, she is, but then all Greyhounds are sweet and wonderful.
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Beautiful writing of a wonderful story. You brought tears to my eyes. Etta did have love and acceptance in her life with you and her final Forever Home. BTW, Paula from Forever Home Greyhound Adoptions is great. I adopted my Annie Bella from her organization and and recently did a temporary foster for her of a silly brindle-ticked boy who almost stole my heart. Paula runs a great group and loves the Greys.
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I am not an expert on Greyhounds, or any dog for that matter, and I tend not to overreact when there might be a medical emergency, but if it were my dog who couldn't stand up -- if all 4 legs are not working -- I would run to the vet.
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Understood re not rocking boat! Been there, and no rocking sure does trump $$$. When you're ready, half Purina ProPlan or ONE might do it. Or Kirkland, Taste of the Wild, Chicken Soup .... All decent foods that I don't *think* are too pricey.
Thanks for the recommendations. TOTW gave her diarrhea when I tried it. Purina ProPlan wasn't too bad so maybe mixed with Iams, it would be a good choice. I've never tried Kirkland or Chicken Soup. Gosh, the foods for our kids sound good, hmm?
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Positive thoughts going your way and to Pinky.
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In my opinion, it's one of those judgement calls that only each "mom" (or dad) can decide for each of their Greys. I would not take kindly to someone on the street giving me advice about how to dress (??) Annie Bella.
Annie Bella has a terrific fleece coat from Chilly Dogs. The cut off temp for deciding to put it on her is about 35: above that, she usually doesn't wear it; below that she does. But it also depends on whether there's wind; whether it's sunny; and generally how the air feels. Humid air, even at 35 degrees, feel warmer than dry air.
I too am in Upstate New York, and it was 22 degrees at 7:30 this morning when we went out for our walk. For the first eighth of a mile, Annie Bella was shivering just a little, even with her coat. We both warmed up, though, as the sun got stronger and we walked more distance. When we took our 1 PM walk, it had warmed up to 40, the sun was bright and she was panting after half a mile of walking.
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Oh my word! That's an unanticipated reaction, for sure. Glad you are finding something that works, tho. Wonder if you could feed half something besides the prescription food ($$$) and get the same results.
I'm thinking along the same lines but the high-end food is as much as the prescription food if not more. I'll work on it but really hate to rock the poop boat.
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I fed Annie Bella Iams mini chunks exclusively for two days and it became difficult for her to poop (too hard/constipated?).
I'm back to feeding her half and half at each meal: 'script foodies and the Iams. That makes it just perfect. -
Proactive Health is what I feed. I have bought both regular bites and mini chunks -- it's the same food just different size.. My guys have like the little bites best (even the big dogs).
This is what I bought, including the mini chunks. Experimentation with dog biscuits and food sizes showed me that Annie Bella prefers smaller-sized things to chew.
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Any long time GTer knows that my epitath should read "...then I tossed a green bag of Iams in the cart..."
I went to hell and back with Rex and his stomach. Standing script for Flagyl, limited ingredient foods, novel protein foods, etc. Nothing worked. I had fed Iams years ago before those "in the know" lectured me about cheap foods and the demon corn. I finally got so frustrated that I tossed that bag in the cart and called it a day. It was life changing for Rex and I still feed it to everyone but Poodle. Not because its cheap but because it works.
Your "epitaph" is what I did remember when it came to buying Iams in Green Bag. I will probably continue with half 'script foodies and half Iams. It's what's working and honestly it makes it easier for Annie Bella. Previously it was like she didn't know if she was done doing P#2 and would spend a lot of time squatting...walking a little bit... squatting again.. walk .. squat. Now she does it and is done!
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I've had Annie Bella since mid-July of this year. She came to me with soft stools that got progressively softer as time went on until they were no longer formed stools and what came out was softer than soft ice cream. I was feeding her Eagle Pack. She was worm positive but meds did the trick and being clean was determined by three follow-up tests, over a few weeks, all of which came back negative.
In the meantime, I put her on a bland diet of rice and chicken, which helped a little bit for a short while. She did a couple of rounds of Metronidazole. Her stools got a bit better but they weren't even as good as when I first got her. The vet put her on Purina Gastroenteric EN prescription food and that helped quite a bit but her stools were still soft and often soft ice cream soft.
So I bought Iams in the green bag and have been feeding her half 'script food and half Iams at each meal. Within 3 days, Annie's stools were perfect and have continued this way for more than a week. They are formed. They don't merge together when they hit the ground because they are not soft. She has an easier time doing her business because it comes out easier and when she's done, she's done, instead of having to keep the position waiting for more soft stuff.
I am an Iams convert and intend to continue with it as well as, at least for a while, using the prescription food.
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Pretty much what everyone else has said is excellent advice. And I agree that the shy ones are like a wonderful gift once they come out of their shell. Two of my five greyhounds I have owned have been spooks. One boy absolutely HAD been abused, but this was by his first home, not on the tracks or at the kennel. The poor boy was terrified of his own shadow and many of the traits your Chesney displays were the same, only multiply our boys by 10!
A wonderful gift is so true. A slowly-opened gift where every week or two more is revealed. Annie is not particularly demonstrative about her feelings, other than that cold nose being pushed into my hand or elbow, and I remember the first time she actually wagged her tail and sorta wiggled with a slight smile when she saw me after I had been out of the house for half an hour. I actually got tears in my eyes because to me it was another piece of our bonding experience -- and showed that she missed me! She still demonstrates "Glad your back," by a wagging tail, a slight wiggle in her hind end, and a smile, as well as standing in my way until I give her love. It's all very understated and gentle.
Each Grey is different. The temp foster Greyhound boy I had for a week last month went nuts with excitement from the very first day. He was GLAD to see me walking out of the bathroom!
He wiggled, he jumped, his tail helicoptered and he sniveled my hands and did a little bit of nipping (which I did not tolerate). Even though there will be personality changes with Annie over the upcoming months, I doubt she'll ever be that demonstrative. It's just not a part of who she is. -
Chesney sounds very similar to Annie Bella, who I adopted mid-July of this year, except Annie was affectionate from the first time I met her at a M&G.
If approached too fast, i.e. just a regular walk through the house, Annie would turn tail and race back to her bed. If anybody, including the cat, came near her when she was eating, she immediately returned to her bed, until it was "all clear." It is only the past 4 weeks that she doesn't run to her bed when I walk by her as she's eating, though she still walks away from the food until I'm at least 6 feet away from her. That will get better as time goes on.
She too scuttled past me when she walked to the kitchen to get a drink. She doesn't do that any more, but it took a few weeks. Now when she walks by me, she often stops and pushes her cold nose into my hand for some love.
She has always avoided eye contact and it's not much better than it was from the first day home. It's just the way she is, as weird as it is. LOL
She still gets extremely startled and runs to her bed if she sees me with a wooden spoon or if I open a certain plastic container that makes a very sharp noise, but it doesn't interfere with her life and if she never gets over it, no big deal.
It took weeks of me approaching her slowly and ignoring her, until I was right next to her, before she stopped running back to her bed. Even now, I don't walk quite as fast in the house around her as I do when she's not around.
Another thing she didn't like was confining spaces. She *hated* her crate. Hated it hated it (and it was a big crate). I stopped using it 3 days after adoption. She also would not approach a door to the outside until it and the screen/storm door were both open. She had to see that there was a place to go that was open. She didn't like narrow hallways, unless they were very bright and she could see that there was an end to it.
All these "issues" are much better but it took weeks and weeks of treating her as if there were no issues but at the same time, working on her very slowly and allowing her to become accustomed to the rhythms of her new home. She will now go to the back door when it's closed and I have to push her back to open it. She'll walk down hallways (even those she's never been in before) with no problem.
It takes lots of time for some things, lots of praise, lots of treats, and lots of affection, when he will tolerate it.
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No advice here. Just relating about Annie Bella and stairs.
I adopted Annie Bella in July of this year. She will do the 9, uneven blue stone slab steps to the back door with no issue but won't do the stairs to the bedrooms on the second floor. She has done them with great fear and shaking, while I do the paw-paw-push-push, many times, but no amount of tempting foodies has changed her mind that they are unfriendly (they are carpeted). Since she can do stairs, I know she'll go up to the second floor if she wants so I don't push it, and until then, she sleeps downstairs by herself. She came to me housebroken, and I didn't crate her after the first night (for which she was glad 'cause she HATES the crate). I felt bad at first, for me and her, leaving her alone down here (on her very comfy bed with warm blankets and stuffies), but then stopped transferring my people emotions onto a dog. It is her choice.
It may be that once your boy is housebroken, you'll be able to do the same: leave him alone downstairs without issues.
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A rep from my adoption organization (Forever Home Greyhound Adoptions) recommended not using Advantage or Advantix but to use Advantix II. It could be that someone else from this organization would have said something different.
There is so much discussion and opinion over what manufacturers should make simple for us dog owners. It is what it is, though, so we have to live with what's offered. It also proves that in the end each of us -- no matter how new we are to owning a Grey -- has to make our own decision based upon advice, opinions, research and knowledge of our individual animal.
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I use Advantix II (don't know the difference between the two). My girl did not scratch at all from it. Actually, she wasn't scratching when I put it on, but I saw a few fleas on her. I too dislike the greasy spots it leaves on the hair but they do eventually go away.
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I think overall Greys are good for beginners. But it really does depend on the person. Greyhounds come with their own set of specific needs that are often different than other breeds. For me they are typically an "easy" breed because they usually don't have the habits I find annoying and a pain to train out of many breeds. I don't care for breeds that are barkers, jumpers, super high energy or lickers. Greyhounds typically are none of those so as far as behaviors go I find them easier than many breeds and good for many beginners.
You described me with your post. I'm not fond of droolers, lickers, barkers, etc., etc. I also prefer dogs with short hair. I just like the look of a Greyhound. They're beautiful and interesting. Also, how many breeds stand patiently and oh-so-easily for a tooth brushing, ear cleaning, nail clipping, etc., at least right at the start?
Walking Annie Bella is always a treat. She gets attention wherever we go and people find out what a wonderful pet Greyhounds make.
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I don't know if it causes poo problems. I just want to say he sure is a handsome boy!
I just researched what's in ProDen Plaqueoff and it's all natural stuff, according to the web site, and includes a seaweed that has beneficial effects for oral care. There's no artificial colors, preservatives, gluten or sugar. Sounds like a pretty good product. I'm going to try it, and also keep on brushing.
I know people with bad breath.
. Now this week she's learned to shake. On Monday, after she sat, I gently took a front paw and said "shake." On Tuesday, I said "shake" and she voluntarily gave me her paw, clever girl. I almost can't believe how quickly she is learning things now, since for the longest time she was being too stubborn. I hope for the same for you and your Annie Bella!
I assume somewhere in her past, wait was the word of choice. I don't want Annie to do cutesie little tricks. I would like her to learn the 10 things on the list to become a certified therapy dog.
I'm back to feeding her half and half at each meal: 'script foodies and the Iams. That makes it just perfect.
Is Time A Factor?
in Training and Behavior discussion
Posted
My Annie also likes to go between my legs. She'll stand there while I pet and massage her hindquarters. No matter the outcome, I'm enjoying the additional one-on-one time we're spending together, and we already spend a lot of time together.