brianamac

I don't think you're blowing this out of proportion in any way. It sucks to be scared of your own dog. We have a grey that sometimes makes bite attempts with no warning, something normal like wiping his feet, that we do every day. Once in a while, with no calming signals or body language, it strikes him wrong. Nevermind something like cleaning a wound or going to the vet--those get a bite attempt (or connect) every time. I think it's really strong of you that you want to continue working with Cleo, but really, don't worry about re-homing... If you and your family are up for the challenge of training him, you've gotten great advice and are working with a trainer will help you figure it out. If it is ever too much, there is no shame in re-homing a dog that might do better somewhere else. Just wanted to say that I understand your fear and worries. And I'm sorry you're going through this. One thing that has helped us greatly is getting a fabric muzzle. The basket muzzle is wonderful for all purpose and in the backyard type of stuff, but what do you do when the dog has a paw injury, skin tear, or anything that requires handling? When you don't trust your dog, it gets hard. Obviously you don't want to use it all the time, but when you are dealing with a dog that can bite due to fear/space, it might be helpful to get a fabric muzzle that literally holds the dogs mouth closed, like the vets have. You can get them on ebay, and it will really help quell your fear if Cleo gets an injury or needs to be handled while you sort everything out.

An excited thing, but if it bother you, just give a quick high pitched yelp when he does it. He'll likely quickly learn that this is not a sort of 'play' that you enjoy and will knock it off.

I agree with greyt_dog_lover completely. If your dog is coming straight from the track/adoption kennel into your home, it will be used to having a set routine where people aren't always around and it is crated for periods of time, so it may in fact be LESS of an adjustment than having a brand new human around constantly. If the Greyhound is coming from a foster home rather than right off the track, chances are the dog is used to the foster family being at work/away for periods of time anyways, so maintaining a similar schedule to the foster home it comes from may ease the transition as well. IMO, it is easier to keep the dog's routine similar while altering the environment (home vs. kennel), rather than change both the habituated routine AND environment at once. Greyhounds are great routine wizards, just keep in mind the schedule it was accustomed to wherever it was before you bring it home and slowly adjust that to your needs.

I understand completely, we've had Boo for almost a year and half and we crate him every time we leave the house. He has no signs of SA in his crate whatsoever (we recorded him), but twice we tried leaving him uncrated when we left for about 5-10 mins each time and both times came back to pee on the floor... and he NEVER has accidents. Guess he just feels most secure in his crate, so we've adopted the attitude of: if it ain't broke, why fix it. If you want to have the crate in the reading room instead, maybe try one of these things: Slowly move the crate towards the reading room bit by bit each day. If he gets stressed again at any point during this process, take a step backwards to the last spot the crate was, and slowly progress until the crate is in the reading room. Depending on the layout of your house, this may mean the crate is in some funny spots--like a hallway--for a few days Or, you could try leaving it where it is for now and covering it with a blanket/sheet or crate cover. Let him settle into his newly covered crate. Then try moving it to the reading room with the cover on, and see if that works. It's possible the living room surrounding visuals are part of the 'comfort zone' feeling of his crate, which is why he didn't enjoy being in the reading room. If he learns to enjoy a crate cover whilst in his comfort zone, it should make it possible to move the crate to another room without stressing him too much. Good luck!

Any news from the vet on Tiger?

That sucks, warnings are scary! I would suggest you carry Magic down the stairs. If Magic isn't into being carried as is, perhaps you can place him (her? sorry!) onto a nice blanket and have a friend help carry the dog down that way. Hope you make it out safe and sound.

Offtopic, but- the UVic bunnies have been around as long as I can remember. It was always a favorite family activity to go see the hundreds of bunnies hanging around campus. The university allowed it for many years.

Thanks a lot for all the help guys, I agree... the lifecycle and right dosage is important and our vet doesn't seem too into hearing us out. I agree 3 rounds at 2 weeks apart SHOULD ideally get the existing ones, larvae and all. Tbhounds is helping us source some meds and we will probably look into a new vet. Any additional info is welcome, and thanks to everyone for the good advice!

Well, if anyone that lives in the US is willing to have me order the meds to their address and then ship them to me at my cost, I'm open. Unfortunately, none of the sites will ship to Canadian addresses, only the States. Very unfortunate as I feel I could order the right dosage of the right meds and medicate properly, and THEN take a stool sample in once that is done.

Well shoot, we did a 3 day round of Panacur but just one.... would one be enough? I am under the impression a second round two weeks later will kill any larvae that were living in the stomach and therefore weren't caught by the first round. Thanks Dick.

I won't give the whole backstory because this will be long already, but in short, Boo has a very persistent case of hookworms. When our vet first diagnosed him, he said, "We don't see very many cases of hookworms in Alberta", so I am assuming he doesn't have to treat them often. Boo has now gone through multiple rounds of de-worming treatments, and a stool sample after each one. We are sitting around $1200 over the last 4 months in vet bills just for the worms. We have completely bleached every inch of the backyard, and we pick up every stool immediately as it hits the ground. We then bleach the area where we picked up as we go, too. He doesn't go to dog parks or play in other dog's yards. The first time he was treated, he did a couple rounds of de-worming spaced 2 weeks. The issue is that my vet (and techs) now insist on giving him one round of de-wormer, then testing. I've researched hookworms to the nth degree and received some great advice from adoption groups and know that a stubborn case should be treated several rounds 2 weeks apart... not one round at a time. The vet techs keep telling me that since he is alternating heartguard and interceptor every two weeks, that should take care of the worms. But it doesn't. Additionally, I have to pay $60+ for every stool sample I bring in... and I know when the hooks have come back without a stool sample. He does a treatment, stool becomes normal, he eats, has energy, etc. Then within a couple of weeks, he stops eating, stool becomes soft serve, etc. I don't really need a stool sample every time. It's pretty obvious when the hooks are back and the sample always does come back positive. However, they insist on testing the stool two weeks after every treatment. I've tried suggesting nicely that I would prefer to take a more aggressive treatment course, and suggesting which meds I would like... they always just say "No, no, I'm sure it will work this time...", even though it never does. My question is this: At what point do I either 'demand' (nicely, of course) my adoption group's suggested meds and course of treatment, and otherwise take my dog elsewhere? Or do I just keep throwing $100 down the hole every two weeks while they continue to fumble with something they admit having little experience in? Orrrr do I just order the meds online (Drontul plus alternated with Panacur) and do it myself?

Muzzles and crates are wonderful tools. Since it sounds like your group may not have a crate to lend you, many can be found on kijiji or craiglist for great prices. Good luck!

Since she isn't a fan of water, you might try wetting a lightweight bath towel (cheap Walmart beach towel style) with really cold water, then squeezing it out until it's just damp. Lay that on top of her when she lays down after a walk or when she seems hot. We do this for ours and while we have to re-wet it every 10 mins or so to keep the towel cold enough, he usually cools down enough in half an hour or so that we can just remove it. And it doesn't have the 'shock' factor of a direct water spritz or a pool.

We are dealing with a hard hookworm battle right now so I don't have much advise, just sending good luck. Strangely, our vet just prescribed us a year worth of Interceptor so I guess it is still available here? Strange. He advised that we alternate that with heartguard every two weeks in addition to the de-worming rounds.

Thanks guys! We always add pumpkin in with both his regular food and during chicken+rice times. Good to know about the eggshell powder.

Oh definitely, even raw bones are something we feed with caution/attention. Well perhaps if there is controversy it is 'safer' to stick with cooked chicken. Safeness prevails over laziness, I guess!

This might seem like a ridiculous question, and google searches yield the same answer: of course dogs can eat raw chicken. But I wanted to get some greytalk opinions. Boo is going through a loooong de-worming process for hookworms right now and his stool is pretty loose. In the past, we always switch him to a diet of plain rice and cooked chicken for a few days and that seems to help. I'm not very meat savvy as neither DH nor myself really eat meat, but we just bought some chicken thighs for the dog yesterday and I started wondering... do I have to cook them, or is it just as good to give them to him raw?

Sorry, not a funny problem but a very funny description!

This isn't meant to scare you, because I have certainly met greyhounds who let humans touch their cuts with no problem... But we ordered an extra muzzle to keep in the car in case our boy gets a cut or injury while out and about. He screams bloody murder and snaps at anyone getting near even a tiny cut to clean it. We've learned to deal with it but a muzzle is necessary... so an extra one is something you may want to consider adding. Besides, it's awfully handy if you go to a hound play date and someone forgot their muzzle.

No insights, just want to wish you and your hound the best of luck and good thoughts!

Hmmm.... I'm just going off what we did (for each different food, sheesh!), but I would say give it a little more than a month or so and then switch if it isn't working. Although if the poop even *starts* to look better towards the end of the month, wait a little longer.

Hope you get good results today... So worrisome I imagine! Off topic, but where oh where did you get that greyhound stocking?!

You've gotten some really great advice here. This behaviour could be just related to the initial settling in, or perhaps it is a fear that will persist a little longer. Just one thing I want to add from personal experience: If it is indeed a fear beyond the normal settling in process, go SLOW! When we tried to rush our guy, we would get good walking results for a couple of days, then he would revert back to not wanting to leave the front porch. Once we realized that we need to go s l o w l y, we've gotten more 'lasting' results... 9 months of patience every day, twice a day means Boo can now walk a full 4 block square, even past houses with dogs barking in the window. But sometimes we would go weeks where we wouldn't try to actually walk him... just let him sniff around the grass to get familiar with the smells of other dogs and being outside, and then slowly making his 'sniff session' areas bigger. Good luck and keep us posted on the progress!

I agree, x-pen. If your yard is big enough and you want to give Misty a little more space, try attaching two together. I bet she'll love it!

I think it depends what type of worms and which dewormer. I would take a stool sample in to check anyways. Boo is currently going through the deworming process for hookworms, and we have to give him a round every two weeks for 3 rounds. So I guess with some meds every two weeks is fine.