Brandiandwe

Thoughts and white light to you all.

I let mine off least in two scenarios (other than the backyard). First, in a fully fenced dog park or field. Second, when lure coursing. Otherwise, never, unless I am disentangling leashes. And even then, I'm unhappy. The fully enclosed field everyone is happy with. But lure coursing isn't fully enclosed, and I am relying on my dogs to have the drive to stay with the lure and not be distracted. Thus far, that's been the case, except once where Brandi didn't understand the game and did zoomies before wandering off to join a group for a picnic morning tea. Since then, no problems.

Any chance you could go home cooked for a bit? Ground beef with veg? To give his system a break.

Yes. Although what the vet and I evenutually figured out was that Brandi wasn't so much getting a UTI as UTI-like symptoms because her entire system was inflamed by the kibble. We switched to a raw diet with vitamin B and the problems basically went away.

I had/ have a highly reactive and high prey girl. She would go into full prey drive when she saw dogs at up to 400-500 metres. We muzzle here because it's the law. If you need to muzzle you must make sure it's one which allows the dog to pant. The race muzzles are probably the way to go. But a wire muzzle in the Australian style will also work. What I did was as soon as Paige saw a dog, she got a treat wedged into her mouth. This happened even if she was barking - when her mouth opened, a treat went in. At first she'd spit them out (and neighbourhood dogs got very fat following us around). Then her reactions got slightly slower so there was a split second between her seeing a dog and going over threshold. Gradually she began chewing the treat while whining. Then she began glancing so me before reacting, then she gave me a couple seconds to get the treat out. Now we have a little game, where she pretends to react to get a treat. This took nearly four years of training and absolute consistency. She is still highly reactive and prey driven but certainly better than she was.

Yeah. The following thing.... After four years I still can't go to the toilet alone, and whenever I stand up there tends to be an eruption of three greyhounds who follow me around, particularly if I go to the kitchen or outside. You might just need to accept it. What might work is if you give Cooper his own mat or bed in each room, so that when he follows you somewhere, you can send him to his bed or mat so he can be with you but not underfoot.

Three of my four are fine. Paige, who is sensitive to red meat and various other things, and is a little picky, gets a bit of digestive upset.

The thing is that they seem to be doing what we have suggested: taking time, being non-threatening, treats. And it has worked for them, because Summer trusts them. She doesn't trust you or others. So you need to back off, and accept that this isn't a quick or easy fix.

It's not her dog. It's a dog which runs away from her. If it were my grey, the last thing I'd do is suggest that someone my dog is showing every sign of not trusting, and who has no experience with spooky, flighty or scared greys, is send them out the door, off my property, with my dog for a walk. Not happening.

These are not the actions of a confident or dominant dog. They are the actions, to me, of a timid or fearful one. The advice on the website is good, but as well as that, you just should let her approach you, not approach her. Don't give her a reason to run away.

His parents are right. It can take a very long time for a grey to accept different people. It took one of ours six months to willingly approach my husband and acknowledge him. It has taken her another three years for her to be happy up see him and snuggle with him as she does me. The other thing I'd say is that greys are incredibly sensitive to our feelings, and expressions. Watch how your boyfriends parents act towards Summer, their body language, volume of their voices etc. how is it different to yours and your boyfriend? I'm also wondering if you actually like the dog? Because she'll be able to tell. A final thing is whether you and your boyfriend are coming and going a lot in an inconsistent pattern? Routine can very important for these dogs especially at first, and if you're there sometimes, not at others, leaving and coming home at odd times etc, then it may be very difficult for Summer to figure out who you are and what you're doing.

My oldest needs to go out immediately after dinner. I can let him out immediately before dinner, he can pee copiously, but he still needs to go out immediately after dinner for another pee. He doesn't then need to go out again for (these cold days) about 16-18 hours because he prefers being in bed. Is your vet greyhound savvy? And how petit is she? One of my girls is a good weight at your gurl's weight, the other carries an extra 6 kilos easily and is fit. Finally, the peeing might also be food related if your dog has an intolerance to something in the food. Just a thought.

We now have a hook and eye on the pantry door (thank you Hermon, sweetheart, for eating all that raw rice then vomiting it up and having diarrhea all over the house).

I've used the Adaptil collar. It worked in that Brandi was much calmer, but almost to the point of losing her personality. I'd use it again if I was desperate though.

Hmmmm. I've just started my senior on soluble gelatin for his joints on the recommendation of a vet friend. We shall see, but it's meant we haven't needed to change his diet.

Poor old lab! I don't know about leadership in this context. But I wouldn't allow Charlie to approach any dogs at all and might consider muzzling. I would also avoid situations where Charlie is face to face with other dogs. Meanwhile, start paying attention to body language. What happened immediately before the bite. It didn't come out of nowhere. Charlie may have given signals which the older dogs didn't or couldn't pick up. I know that Benny, my senior doesn't see or hear as well as the others, and so misses cues. Fortunately they are also very tolerant of his bumbles, but I'm very cautious with other dogs for this reason. So it's up to you. If Charlie is at all unsure, it is your responsibility to protect him, so he doesn't have to. I always stand between Paige, Brandi and other dogs because I know they need my support and protection. You need to do the same.

I've a younger one who does this. Either I get up or I tell her to go back to bed. Usually a late turnout and an early start helps as does making sure she's warm enough.

I use the freedom harness above for all of ours and it works well for our high prey. Especially handy is the front clip which turns her around as soon as she pulls, which eliminates the pulling completely. And lots and lots of training!

I think, personally, that you should complete the alone training! Yes it's hard when you don't have successive days off. You might need to take leave, do doggy day care whatever until you can complete it. But you are looking for an 'easy fix' when, as it appears, your dog is profoundly anxious when she's left behind. And you're getting frustrated with her because oif it. But alone training, as you've seen, works. So, no, anti-anxiety medication isn't the answer. It can only work if it is coupled with appropriate training.

It also still strikes me that you never completed alone training. What about a play pen?

Have you done any alone training!

I've got two who aren't small dog safe. They will never be small dog safe. But after three years of constant work, they are better. Lots of treats as soon as they see a small dog has them looking at me, but they will also always take the opportunity for a quick snack if it presents itself.

To be clear: you want another dog! There's nothing wrong with that. But my Brandi is also a SA hound. She is better with another dog, but still 'needs' me. The SA isn't from being alone, it's from being away from 'the object of affection and support'.

I'm late to this, so I'm hoping Moonie is doing better. Something I noticed when reading was that Moonie was doing fine and then regressed. At the same time I read that your roommate had a cat but it had since died. Was there a correlation between the two events?

I've stopped mine by simply raising my knee at them before they actually jump at me, then giving them attention when they're settled. I'm not sure why you'd want to train him to be excited. Mine get excited without training.