RedHead

Yes, it is possible, but it depends on the dog like the others said. I do think you have to think about a back-up plan in case you feel you can never fully trust your greyhound with rabbits though. I have 4 rabbits with a relatively high prey greyhound. I am still easily able to manage because they have their own room (I keep the door shut when I am not around). When they free range on the upper level I just baby gate the stairs off so Teague can't come upstairs. He can be with them when they are in their pens, he basically totally ignores them because he sees them every day (the novelty has worn off). I can also carry the buns around in my arms and he takes no notice. If they are free range on the ground though, I don't fully trust him, and don't think I ever will. Just remember that with greyhounds, small triggers (such as a sudden movement) can trigger a prey drive, even when you think they are fine. So...don't let your guard down. YES! In fact it is quite easy, all of the 8 rabbits I have had (that were spayed and/or neutered) litter trained right away. That's one reason why I love them so much, they can free range and be more like cats.

Chicken and beef do seem to be the most common meat allergies in dogs. But...if your dog does not have a problem with it, I see no reason to stop feeding it Allergies do develop over time, after repeated exposure to an ingredient. You can try rotating protein sources and food types if you are really concerned.

Welcome!!

Oh no Poor River isn't going to enjoy being cooped up. Poor girl. I hope her surgery goes well.

Oh no I was so saddened to see Dory's name here. I always admired your amazing maturity and sense of responsibility in being a young dog owner. You gave Dory the best 4 years of her life (you can see all of the wonderful adventures she had). Dory was the perfect companion for you, I know how hard it is in the beginning with constant reminders of your pup everywhere. With time you will forget this sad day and remember the happy times. Hugs!

If you want a reliable come with (most) greyhounds you will have to do a LOT of repetition and training. Start in a low distraction area, like a hallway or somewhere in your house. Then you can move outside to your yard, then to more distracting places. Keep it very positive, lots of lavish praise, treats, etc. Don't call him if you aren't sure that he will come, or use a long leash so that you can reel him in to make sure he follows through. I practice recall often in training sessions, but I could still never trust my hound off leash. I use it for around the house and for places like the dogpark, fenced enclosures, etc. So just be aware that you likely will never have a 100% reliable recall with many greyhounds.

Wow. Kudos to you for your amazing effort, it looks like Joe found the home that truly understands him. So nice to hear happy updates, and hopefully your story will give hope to other families going through similar situations.

You can feed any of those foods raw or dehydrated. Heart and organs are very healthy, obviously just don't go overboard or you might run into poop issues. FYI if you keep these foods raw, you will keep some of the benefits in them such as glucosamine, taurine, etc. I believe many of these are destroyed by heat. I have some friends who order freezer meat, they always bring me all of the "icky" stuff like hearts, liver,tails, tongue, etc. Dogs love it!!

You may also want to look into changing foods in the future...if it hasn't started working by now, and he doesn't want to eat it, it may be making him feel ill. I would feed something bland in low amounts (eg. rice or pasta with meat) for a few days as well. Definitely go to the vet to check for worms though, they are very common, and could be the underlying problem causing this.

He's beautiful! I love northern breeds. I grew up with malamutes and did (very!) recreational sledding. Right now I have an Alaskan Husky x Staffie who has similar colouring/markings to your boy. I am no expert at all, and all dogs are different, but in general I find the Alaskan Huskies a bit more sensitive and shy than the sibes. I don't know whether it is the different breeds in them or the fact that they have been bred solely for their work ethic and not for temperament. The amount of sighthound in your pup could determine why he is so skinny, a healthy greyhound weight would look underweight for most other breeds. Would love to see a body shot! Edited: Never mind you just posted one! He is gorgeous, he could maybe put on a few pounds, but he doesn't look that skinny for an AH. The hips/ribs showing is normal for a sighthound if he does have a high percentage.

I also have a WWW harness. I always use a harness for hikes, I just feel safer that if he slipped or bolted, he wouldn't hurt his neck. Also, it allows me to use a much longer leash (20 feet or so) which I also prefer for hikes. We hike almost every day, and in the beginning Teague was freaked out by little noises and objects too. I found that after doing it over and over he gradually got used to things, and he is pretty much bombproof now. Frostie will probably become less jumpy once he is more used to it.

Don't buy tripe from the grocery store. It is bleached and cleaned for human consumption. Dog tripe is green as it is stomach that hasn't been cleaned. Sounds disgusting but dogs love it and it is actually a really healthy food. You can easily get it canned, or frozen raw from some petstores/distributors. Beware though, it stinks! There is a company (maybe Solid Gold?) who sells packages of liver powder. It is basically the dehydrated liver treats ground up. It is made to sprinkle over dogfood to make it more enticing. My guys are picky and both love it.

If you scroll way down (almost to the bottom) on this link it lists the protein/phosphorus levels of several brands of food, and recommends some that might be good choices as kidney diets. It looks like a lot of the senior or lite formulas contain lesser amounts. http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidneynonprescription.html

If most other dog breeds looked like greyhounds (ribs, hips, spine showing) they would be underweight. Groomers, vets, etc. are often given those little diagrams showing overweight and underweight dogs. So...in defence of the groomer, if she is going by the general rules, your dog could be seen as underweight to someone who is not familiar with sighthounds. Maybe if you go again, you could show her what the ideal greyhound standard is. I agree, too many dogs are overweight, people's perception of overweight and underweight is often off.

Not all by-products are bad. By legal definition pet food manufacturers can't include things like feathers, intestinal contents, hoofs, hides/feathers etc. in their food. By-products like feet, frames, organs, etc. can have a higher nutritional value than muscle meat. I wouldn't want to feed a food with only by-products (for example, something made up almost entirely of ground up chicken legs is going to be limited in nutritional value), but they are not all bad. I just question the quality of some of the by-products, especially generically labelled ones ("meat" by-products), and am a bit distrusting of the monitoring and quality of by-products intended for animal feeds. I think they can be a sign that a food/brand is trying to get by with the cheapest ingredients possible, but I don't think having by-products makes every food bad. I make my own food, and feed by-products like lung, spleen, tripe, feet/hooves, frames, etc. quite often.

I have a nutrition book (Lew Olson) that also has some recipes for kibble add-ins. It says the same thing as the advice above-as long as the add-ins aren't over 50% and are reasonably made up, you don't have to worry about "unbalancing" the diet. So...you can still provide your dog with the benefits of fresh, flavourful, healthy foods, but can also have the convenience of kibble. I've fed dogs like this in the past and I have almost always found that add-ins actually aid in digestibility with sensitive dogs.

Freezing shouldn't alter the structure of bone like cooking does. The only warning I have heard is about the large, weight bearing chew bones. I have heard of dogs accidently chewing down too hard on them due to the cold numbing the feeling in their mouth (since they tend to last quite a while). I don't think it matters for things like necks, thighs, etc. my guys like them frozen in the hot weather.

I probably keep stuff longer than some, but probably after about 4-5 days I would think they would start to get a bit icky. Of course my dogs have been known to dig them out of the dirt in the garden and eat and roll on them with no ill effects.

I would think that 26% is fine unless your dog has a specific health condition. A lot of foods are higher than that.

Have you checked out RawPaws? They look like they are in your area, and have some product and ground mixes. There are 2 greyhounds on the cover page, so it looks like some of the members or owner might own and course greyhounds. Having some people close by to mentor you is always a good idea (that and a few good books on the subject!). Usually independent supplier groups like this like to take the time to answer your questions and help you start a plan. It really isn't that hard if you have access to good suppliers. http://www.rawpaws.org

Teague also LOVES eating grass. It's the only "veggie" he'll eat. My other dogs of other breeds have never eaten grass, only on rare occasions when they need to throw up. Teague eats it all the time though and it never makes him sick. He seems to just enjoy eating it, I don't know if he likes the roughage or what. I don't worry about it.

My dogs don't always eat everything in their kongs so I try to put non-drippy stuff in. I often stuff it with leftover shredded meat from chicken or roasts which they love. They also like a bit of cream cheese or cheese cubes which aren't too messy. I also try to mix it up so it doesn't get too boring and is always new and interesting.

I totally agree with you on that, it just seems like many dogfood companies do the same thing. Either using buzzwords words like "farm-raised" meat (what meat isn't farm raised??!) to putting deceptive pictures of fresh foods on the bag. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that there are a few massive rendering plants that almost all of the major foods source their meat from. I could be wrong though. Anyways, don't want to get this off-topic!

Don't most other foods get their meat this way too? I thought almost every major dog food company got their food from rendering plants/deadstock.

I have never asked a store for expiries, but it wouldn't hurt to try. I do go in when they put the 50% off stickers on the meat though. Our grocery store has started selling trays of "dog scraps" for about 50 cents a tray which is basically trimmings and bones from the beef they cut for the store.. The butcher might be a better option, one of them around here will save trim and organs and it is amazing quality meat. I get most of my meat from a local supplier so haven't really looked into getting large amounts from the grocery store.