Mike516

I'd really be curious to know if Ajax actually bit your wife or just snapped at her. You said he bit her on the face? Biting and snapping are worlds apart. My wife got snapped at for trying to move our dog while she was sleeping. My friends dog bit him and he needed stitches. I think there's a big difference and after all day watching this thread unfold I'd be really curious to know how far this went.

Wow that's horrible. I hope your baby makes a full and speedy recovery. My best thoughts go out to you both.

Is there any special reason you are crating her since she obviously doesn't like it? There's no law that says you have to. If she's housebroken, maybe she's just done with the crate? The reason she is crated is because we've only had her for about a month and we have 3 cats. A little early to trust her with the cats. She doesn't mind the crate so much as she doesn't want to be left alone. We tried leaving her in a bedroom but she knocked the gate over and put a big scratch on the hardwood floors. No, she needs to stay in the crate for now.

Same exact thing happened to my wife. She was reading in bed, dog next to her, and when she tried to move her over, we think she was sleeping, the dog turned and snapped in her face. She was made to get off the bed (the dog, not the wife) and she's slept on her dog bed on the floor ever since. She hasn't even tried to get back in the people bed. My wife would like her to get back in the bed but I think she's better off on the floor where she's just as happy and safer for everyone. We'll see where she's sleeping a few months from now

She didn't snap at me, just gave me the sad doe-eyes which may actually be worse lol. But yea I'm with you, she has to realize who's boss and it ain't going to be her. One thing I may do is leave her harness on after her walk while I'm getting ready for work so I have something to grab if she decides to be stubborn (my wife's idea).

Not to go off subject too much but it was mentioned several times in this thread, on the subject of not touching them while they're in their bed; so say your dog goes into her bed and won't get up when you're leaving for work because she knows she's going in her crate and doesn't want to, what do you do? When I say won't get up, I mean will not get up on her own even for her favorite treat or for anything. I had to leave this morning and had to physically put her on her feet because she went limp like a wet noodle. It was hilarious on the one hand because it didn't get past me that she's devious and trying to figure out how to test me and get over, but not so much at the same time because I didn't want to encroach on her space and she tucked her tail and of course looked sad as hell, but she can't stay where she was with no one home. So, if I shouldn't have dragged her out of bed, then what could I have done? I'm not saying nail trimming should be done in their bed, and this case certainly sounds like user error. That said, I hope everything works out for you and I hope your wife is ok. Is this the only issue you've had with your doggie or have there been other issues?

This can't be an easy time for you or Clark. My best thoughts go out to you and him that the vet can give him something to ease his breathing and hopefully he'll be ok for a good while longer.

Interesting. I would have thought they'd remember each other but I guess they been around so many other hounds it doesn't make a difference to them.

I had a similar problem with Ginger. We bought a bag of what they had at the kennel (forget the name right now) and she had diarrhea that got progressively worse and by the 3rd or 4th day it was water. She had 2 accidents in her crate (which she was so upset about I had to try and console her the whole time I'm knee deep in...well you know). So on advice from our GH friends (tg for them all) we put her on rice and chicken or ground beef which helped a lot. The vet had us put her on some low density bland prescription stuff that she did great on. So now we're slowly (very slowly) switching her to Iams Lamb and rice (red bag) and so far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed. I've heard/read a couple of times that a lot of the GH's never have really solid poops and that firm is good so if I get firm poops from her I'm happy.

Holy schmoly. I can only imagine the stress you guys had to deal with the last few days, and poor Dawson...yikes! I'm always glad when there's a happy ending

Ginger gets very excited to eat. But she's beside herself when we get home from work and completely wound up and I don't think it'd be possible to feed her without getting trampled. We were told to experiment and find what works for us and we hit on something that works for us right now. We do the walks a little backwards. In the morning, she won't do anything, and especially does not want to go out, until she eats and since we walk her late before bed (around 9pm) we feed her before her walk in the morning. It sounds wrong/backwards but it works for us: 7am eat then walk - 5:30 walk then eat - 9pm final walk of the day. At night, she's so worked up when we get home that we take her out for her long walk of the day and it calms her down. She's still excited to eat but she's not jumping around like a nut. So maybe walk him before you feed him to tucker him out a little? It took us a few weeks to figure this system out and it's an ever evolving strategy but for the most part everyone is happy. Any veteran thoughts on this?

Actually i guess they saw each other quite a bit this summer. They were probably at the kennel at the same time until we took Ginger home. Good thing no one mentioned they were related or who knows I might have went home with two dogs that day lol j/k!

Wow! I just saw your post in the other thread, Kayemgi. I just looked up the two of them on that greyhound data site myself. What are the chances of that? It would be pretty cool to see their reactions if we bump into you at the holiday shop. I have heard that they can have weird reactions but it'd be interesting to see what happens. Does anyone know is there a possibility they'd remember each other?

That was me that posted in your post. Is that right...Farley and Friendly are brother and sister?

I hope this helps but our first dog that we got a month ago is a greyhound so I'm not sure my experience is relevant so take it with a grain of salt. Ginger didn't like her crate in the beginning and it was impossible to get her in it. She'd just stop and lean back and I'd have to push her from behind. I doubt she had true SA but she went bananas when we left her alone in her crate in the beginning. She has slept in the master bedroom almost from the beginning because we just couldn't leave her alone at night. She's very velcro-y and likes to be in the same room as us when we're home. When we leave her alone we always leave a radio on and give her a kong with peanut butter in it. We'd slip out of the house with no fanfare no looks at her and no comments, we'd just leave quickly and quietly. But in the beginning it didn't appear to be working and you could hear her whining outside. I spoke to our neighbors right next to us on the side where the window is next to her crate and they said they didn't really hear her whining so I'm thinking she'd stopped after a few minutes. But for the first couple of weeks we'd come home and the crate was moved across the room, the bed was all bunched up and there was water everywhere. But we stuck to our guns. She couldn't stay out alone with the cats and we have to work to keep her in milkbones. We would also put her in the crate when we were home, the concept being that it wasn't a punishment and wasn't just a place we put her to be left alone. It's only two weeks and I know things can change but at this point she will often go in her crate on her own with the door open and sleep after her dinner and evening walk while the humans eat dinner (but only as long as we stay downstairs in the same room). She goes in the crate in the morning, all I have to do is point her in that direction and make sure she doesn't turn around and run off but she goes right in usually. I listen at the door for a few seconds but I don't hear whining anymore (maybe she's working on the peanut butter) so I'm hoping she's really getting used to it and realized we're always coming back for her. So, I'm certainly no expert having my first dog for 4 weeks but I hope by telling some of our early experiences I can help someone else a little bit. Good luck to your SIL.

LOL! Funny responses. I'm glad someone posted this. I was just thinking about last night Ginger went for her late walk after all the trick or treaters had been running around like maniacs with their candy. As it was dark we didn't even think about the probability that there was candy dropped in the grass like M&M's and other small pieces of chocolate that of course fur face sniffed right out. Man is she quick. My wife tried to stop her from eating something at least once but it was gone. We certainly don't let her have any kind of chocolate or candy but I'm sure a little M&M or Hershey's Kiss or whatever it is she found in the grass isn't going to hurt her but I'm more worried that she's just over diarrhea and we're trying to slowly switch her over to regular kibble at this time. Hopefully it doesn't set back our progress too much but it's good to hear it's not something you all think should be a major concern.

Ginger does this when we get home from work sometimes. I wasn't sure what she as doing but she wasn't biting so I just thought it was some weird thing she started to do. She hasn't used her teeth so far, she just sort of nibbles with her gums. We also thought she was growling at first when she's super excited, but she's actually snorting and grunting lol.

Ok, I think the dry chicken tender things had a somewhat stinky negative side effect. We wanted to try it again because she loves them and I agree with the people who say they need some variety to keep things interesting (not to mention we have a big bag of them left still). But an hour or so later, she'd walk by and you'd think she had an accident lol. She didn't seem to mind the smell but I think we'll try the duck instead anyway (I'm glad we bought the small bag of those just in case they give her gas also). In the short time she had the rawhide, I can already see it (you could hear it also as she chewed on it) splintering so maybe I'll have to toss that.

Thank you for all the replies. I think we'll try some of the alternate options so she has something to chew on. Sounds like rawhides don't seem to be a good idea.

Our Ginger hated our stairs when we first brought her home. I would imagine we had it much easier because we have our own stairs to practice on but basically we did what a few other people already mentioned, standing behind her and walking her up and standing in front of her and walking her feet down until she figured it out (about 3 weeks). We have hardwood stairs, no runners or padding and she's up and down the stairs like a champ now. The one thing I can add is that she seems more comfortable against the wall. Weather going up or down she usually hugs the wall under the railing (more so when she's going up). Outside stairs she learned much more quickly. I also find that the more she stood there thinking about it, the more freaked out she got. So weather we had to go up or down, I got her going quickly before she could think about it too long. Even now if I let her pause at the top too long she'll get nervous and need to "re-set" before she'll make her descent. You wouldn't know it to watch her now but I actually had to carry her down the stairs the first few days because we didn't know what else to do with her lol. They're smart dogs, she'll figure it out with your help before you know it.

Hello, We've had Ginger for about a month now. She's our first dog so please forgive me if some of my questions are stupid. Quick background: She had a diarrhea issue in the very beginning that we have finally gotten sorted out I hope (knock wood). So, we've started reintroducing a couple of treats for her to have between meals that we combine with training. We started with a bland treat we got from our vet then gave her some milkbones and a chicken jerky-like thing which she loves and half a hard boiled egg a couple times a week. We introduced like one new thing every few days for a variety. So far so good, which makes me think it was a combination of things that first week that made her loose like a new food, she was just spayed and of course a whole new environment. My questions: We heard that the rawhides were rich and could contribute to the diarrhea so we withheld that until yesterday and gave it back to her. She chewed on it for about 20 minutes and we saw some pinkness where she was chewing so we figure her gums were bleeding a little bit. We took it away from her (you can take the food out of her mouth she's such a good dog) and checked her gums but don't see any obvious signs of cuts or blood. I know they don't give the dogs anything like these treats or do any kind of dental maintenance at the track so I thought maybe it's just because of that, weak gums or whatnot. I guess my question is are the rawhides good for them? Should we limit her time with it? She really likes it, I just want to make sure it's ok to let her keep it before I give it back to her. On a side note does anyone give their dog dried or dehydrated yams? She likes those too but I'm hesitant to start with those again. I also heard the dehydrated or freeze dried or whatever duck treats are good for them. This is what we have so that's why I'm asking about these specifically. Thanks.

I live in New York. Heart worm preventative? No one ever mentioned this to us.

My wife and I recently adopted our first greyhound and from what I understand you should apply flea and tick stuff once a month. Is that every month, year round? Or not so much in the winter? What months should we use this stuff? Sorry if this is the wrong thread but thank you for any assistance.

My wife and I recently adopted a female (4 weeks ago today) and it was the day after her spaying. I don't know if you're seeing this also but every now and then she would have a tiny drop of blood in that area which was occurring for about a week and a half or so. We consulted our vet and he said it could be from the spaying but to keep an eye on it and if it doesn't stop we'd have to take steps. That stopped after about 2 weeks. I also read somewhere that they give them something at the track while they're racing that makes that area become somewhat swollen, as it is in our girl as well, which will either go down or it won't, but it's not as swollen as Skyler's appears in that picture. We consult with our vet about everything unusual or anything that concerns us but that may be because we're so new at this and we overreact but that would be my advice. Edit: Ah yes, Sighthounds4me posted it while I was writing lol - it's hormones that they give them.

I assume crating him when you're out is not a viable option?