antisense

Sounds like she might be wanting to see out the window. Perhaps to try to look for you? Is it possible to get a different kind of window covering, or use furniture/cardboard/etc to block off access to the window while you're away? Unfortunately I don't have any suggestions to help with the SA, but I hope that you will find something to help Luna resolve her anxieties.

Never heard of a dog bonking before! :hehe Five minutes of zoomies will usually knock out my JJ for the entire day, but he will always find the energy to bring himself to eat. This dog lives to eat. Sorry, I really have nothing helpful to say! Your story was really funny!

I'm so happy. I dropped by my neighborhood meat shop today and they gave me nearly 10 pounds of frozen chicken backs for FREE! Now I'm faced with the puzzle of how to separate the backs while keeping them frozen since I was given two 5lb bags and I don't want to thaw out 5 pounds in one go. They are frozen together pretty solidly so I haven't been able to pull them apart. Any one have any ideas?

JJ's sole mission at the dog park when he is alone (and he is always alone... he doesn't get along with other breeds) is to mark and mark and mark the perimeter of the fence He's an completely different dog when with his greyhound pals: he'll run and play and roll in the grass until he's tired, then he'll solicit scritches from the humans

Good boy, Rocket!

No experience with Dogsbar or Dogsbutter, but I just thought it was funny that you tried some of Audrey's treats. I decided to taste a Himalayan chew today before giving it to my pup. Now I don't feel so weird! On another note, we make our own no bake protein/energy bars as we're lucky to have easy access to locally made (and non excessively refined and possibly adulterated) honey. Though less than $1 a bar for Clif Bars is pretty sweet! (are you a pro runner or pro triathlete?)

As long as he isnt strugling to get out or soiling in his crate, let him whine it out for a night or two. Eventually he'll learn that whining isn't gonna get your attention and he'll learn that the crate is just where he has to sleep at night. Coddling will be more likely to cause SA because he'll learn that crying for attention gets him attention. With our grey we had no room for a crate in the bedroom so he slept in the living room. He cried for nearly a week but every day was less than the previous. My adoption group actually suggested putting a blanket over his crate so he couldn't see us and then banging on the crate with a stick or other hard object to get him to quiet down (we live in an apartment and we were worried about noise complaints). We never had to do it, but that's something to try if the crying gets out of hand?

Just curious as it was brought to my attention today that some people advise against feeding raw food with kibble at the same time. I did a search on google and found that people advocate feeding raw separate from kibble because of different digestion times for these two types of food. This can potentially cause problems such as bacterial overgrowth as kibble is digested slower than raw which results in the raw staying in the body for longer than it should. Or it causes digestive confusion because the body doesn't know when to secrete certain enzymes because the foods are going through the digestive system at different rates. End result is your dog gets sick/has diarrhea/digestive system shuts down/bloat/dies/scary stuff. However, aren't greyhounds fed kibble mixed with raw (and rice, and veggies, and all sorts of things depending on kennel) during their racing careers? Just wondering what experiences people have had with feeding their own dogs, and if any specific way has worked better for their dogs.

Fecal float came back no parasites seen so that's good news I hope. I did switch his kibble to a grain free variety yesterday and immediately he firmed up to almost crumbly hard poop. I hope this lasts and it isn't just his body's initial reaction to a new food.

Thank you for all your suggestions. It seems that my dog might be sensitive to grains. A few tortilla chips or milkbone or two seem to be fine, but after 2 weeks of Iams green bag his poop was mushy and slimy. After switching to a grain free food, poops were immediately firmer - almost crumbly. Hopefully this keeps up as it has only been 2 days.

JJ's poops have been getting worse and worse. Initially I attributed it to a drastic change in feeding and walking schedule. He was loose for a few days, but then started firming up again into formed, pickup-able poops. Now they're getting mushy again. He tends to have one piece of soft, formed poop, then everything that comes out following that is unformed mush. Today he pooped out a glob of mucus covered poop that's got me worried. (It picked up really easy though because I guess the mucus held it together) Going to take in a sample to the vet for a fecal tomorrow morning. We have an appointment tentatively booked for this Saturday. He used to only get 2 walks a day and he would produce a lovely firm poop in the morning, then a softer poop in the evening that I could usually pick up with no problems. Now he's been getting 3 walks a day due to our schedule change, so wants to poop 3 times a day (and usually gets his way). Could it be the increased activity and increased pooping frequency that's causing things to be softer because his stool is not sitting in his gut for as much time getting the moisture reabsorbed? Do you think he might have some kind of infection/infestation? He's had roundworms/hookworms in the past, and although his most recent fecal this past winter came up with no ova/parasites seen, he could still potentially have something.

Delete please

JJ likes all sorts of vegetation, but will only eat it once he's seen me eating it. He repeatedly turned his nose at cucumber until he watched me eating some and begged for a slice. I gave it to him thinking, "Silly dog, I know you won't eat this." And then he ate it and came back for more. I especially like giving him carrots because I enjoy listening to the crunching noise he makes as he eats them. (youtube video series of eating a carrot!: part 1 www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUDbSjYPfXo , and part 2 www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_244n6thww)

Haven't checked for worms recently. Not since after our incident with rounds and hooks last November (possibly one of the grossest photos ever posted on greytalk!). He gets diatomaceous earth mixed into his food once a day which I'm hoping will prevent intestinal parasites. I've tried stopping the DE for a week to see if that's what was causing his poop to be soft, but it made no difference so now he's back on it. Poops were beautiful, bouncy nuggets a day after starting Iams, but have since reverted to the usual difficult to pick up soft poos... but not quite as bad as before.

Tortilla chips stopped working after the first day. *sigh* Poops are consistently soft like picking up a raw hamburger patty. Gonna try Iams green bag since I can buy just a little bag and see how that goes. Never taking firm poops for granted again!

Just thought I'd mention... Tortilla chips seemed to help! I can't believe it! 12 hours after giving 3 chips, JJ had an easy to pick up poop! It was not hard by any means, but it didn't leave any mess behind in the grass. We will see if it was just a coincidence or if it keeps up.

I grew up eating those myself (cooked, of course!), so the look doesn't bother me! It is kind of creepy when JJ is chomping on a foot and you can see the toes danging out of his mouth. He gets a whole foot about once a week with no tummy problems at all. The first time we gave him one, he threw up, but he's been fine ever since.

I've been thinking of trying the kirkland chicken once our current bag of lamb runs out. But that won't be for a while!

Tortilla chips - YUM! JJ is going to love you for suggesting that. Do you get the wheat flour kind or the corn kind?

I've had a massive schedule change with work, and JJ's feedling/pooping schedule has been completely turned around! As I expected, the first few days were pretty awful when it came to potty walk time. I considered bringing out the paper plates again and playing catch, but JJ is a poop walker and I'm not great at catching... It's been about a week now, and poops are still pretty soft. They are pickupable if you do it very gingerly, otherwise they fall apart and then there's no hope of getting it in the bag. I'm crossing my fingers that with some more time he'll go back to his normal, but for now what can I give him that will make potty time less unpleasant? What we've tried: -Canned pumpkin - doesn't change his poop apart from making it bright orange -Yogurt - no effect -Oatmeal - trying it right now, 1/4 cup of cooked oats twice a day, not sure if it's doing anything Background into: JJ's poops have never been consistently solid. They were typically solid in the morning, and fairly soft by the end of the day. We haven't checked for worms or parasites recently, but there's been no big change in consistency so I haven't been concerned. He's been eating a mix of kirkland lamb and rice mixed with prepared raw feed since we've got him. I haven't tried completely raw feeding him yet to see if that would be better, but I might try a different kibble in the future to see if it would improve things. I don't really have the freezer space to store all that raw food so I'm hoping not to go the all-raw route.

Yes... Definitely scent related! It's as if he were savouring a good smell. Thanks for all the info!

Trachea seems to work wonderfully for us, but we also brush at least 4 days per week. When I can't brush, I give a beef knuckle bone to chew for an hour. I get my knuckles from the butcher shop after discovering that the ones from petsmart are smoked and cause lots of puking afterwards. JJ has the cleanest doggy teeth I've ever seen!

Mine prefers to lift his right leg and balance on his left, but then again the right one is the one that he injured while racing so maybe he doesn't feel as stable lifting his left leg and balancing on his right?

My J.J. has done this since week 1, and I've never quite figured out what it is after 6 months. When he gets really interested in a smell, presumably the smell of another dog's markings, he will open and close his mouth and make clacking noises with his teeth. You can see his whole mouth open and close and the first few times I saw it I thought he had found something to eat in the grass but he had nothing in his mouth. This is different from chattering. I've seen my boy chatter and it's a very rapid clicking of teeth, almost like a vibration, when he's very excited about something like imminent chicken feet. The clacking is much slower, more like one clack per second. Patricia McConnell's blog mentions it, but she believes that slow clicks of the teeth are a sign of aggression, as in “Hear that? Those are teeth! Big, white, sharp, bit-ey teeth! And I know how to use ‘em!” But in J.J.'s case, he isn't directing his teeth clicks at anything.. just kind of, contemplating to himself? And if I call him, or distract him, he stops. Any ideas? Just curious!

Does he react like that at any time during the day so long as it's the upstairs bedroom bed? Or is it just at night? And does he react only after he's been asleep for a few hours, or anytime on his bed? I'm no expert, but with our grey he showed aggression to being disturbed on his bed when we first got him that was NOT sleep aggression. We could throw toys on him and he would just snap his head up and look around to see what hit him. However, if WE disturbed him (eg: brushed him while walking past) he would wake up and let out a deep growl. He's much better now. What we did was call him off his bed and then I would sit on his bed myself for a while and not let him on it until he gave up and went and lay somewhere else. Then I would let him have his bed back. I think you could also remove his bed, and give him a different bed that he doesn't feel so attached to.