GreytTerp

Best of luck on your move and congrats on your new house! When we bought our first house back in March, it was the 4th place we have lived with our guy Marvin since adopting him 3 years earlier. Each time, we have had him stay with his favorite Rover sitter or friend while we were moving everything. He loves exploring new spaces, particularly once he knows that he is going to stay there and that we'll be there too. We did have some changes in his separation anxiety each time we moved, which was interesting. Moving from original place #1, where we had to put up his baby gate before leaving or he would throw a fit to place #2, where when we did put up his gate, he shrieked like a banchee. Baby gate went back into effect as a 'safety blanket' in place #3. Place #4 (actual house), he could take or leave his baby gate - he actually has his own bedroom with multiple beds, toys, water, and nothing else he could possibly consume (e.g. cell phone chargers, headphones, recycling...). Having a yard for Marvin to zoom and go crazy once a day with a toy has greatly helped with his 'neediness' (I'm not sure I'd call it anxiety, but it could be mild anxiety). I like the idea of having some of his stuff that still smells like him and his familiar surroundings there for him in the new place. They can always go into the washer once he's all settled in. Routines, if your guy is very particular, can only help as well.

I'll second the belly band recommendation. Our guy has never once even attempted to mark in any of the 4 places we have lived with him, but he goes right for it if we go to a house with another dog. The belly band works wonders, and after a few hours, he's fine for the entire rest of the visit. It won't hamper his movement either - Marvin went through his first 3 or 4 full agility classes with his band on...b/c he was THAT dog the first time we went. Good luck!

I'd owe a mortgage in vet bills if we had to get checked out for every chicken bone Marvin has eaten off the ground on walks. I watch like a hawk, and he would just magically find them. Everywhere. We've never had any problems of any sort from it, and the problem no longer exists where we have lived the past few years, but just keep tabs on him. We feel your 'pain' with a hound who likes to eat things you would greatly prefer he wouldn't...

For videos, I sure wish we had taken some the first time we gave Marvin a treat with some Rescue Remedy drizzled on it... Such a product would be wonderful if it can be an alternative for those with anxiety and health issues that have been difficult to find solutions for.

We have this now, and they are definitely soft but not messy. As for homemade treats that stay soft but aren't messy, I might suggest some sort of doggie meatball. I usually just grate/puree/mash carrots, sweet potato, lentils, or other veggie and mix it with some lean ground meat and wheat flour or wheat bread pulsed in the food processor. Adding oatmeal, peanut butter, or whatever else I can find in the cupboard that our guy likes, and then baking. Good luck with the dental!

We battled no air conditioning and the long process of getting it fixed when we bought our house earlier this year, with no AC through mid-June in the Washington, D.C. area. We do not have windows that can accept a window air conditioner without destroying the moisture barrier, so we were stuck with opening all windows at night, closing everything up during the day, and keeping fans running. Our mostly finished basement is always cool, even when the rest of the house is very warm, and we made a special area just for our hound (and for us, as we were also sleeping down there). As an alternative to a window A/C unit, there are many videos and tutorials online where you can use a basic fan, a 5 gallon bucket, a styrofoam cooler, and a frozen gallon of water to make an effective room air conditioner to get you buy until your A/C can be fixed.

Congratulations on the first month! Our hound came to us with Nutro Ultra, and he just didn't seem to tolerate it well. We went through about 5 of the highest price foods, including grain free, and with our guy, the richer the food, the worse the output. After 2 years, I got tired of carrying a nalgene bottle to wash the grass and paper plates to collect the mess, and threw the IAMS green bag into the cart. It worked wonders for us, though it doesn't work for everyone, particularly those sensitive to chicken. All of Marvin's gas (the scented variety, anyway) disappeared as well, and he now tolerates us mixing in a bit of the richer grain free foods with his IAMS. Good luck!

Our guy can just inhale any edible bone, but we finally got two huge raw beef bones from our neighborhood farmers' market, and they are perfect. The downside is that you do need to give it to them outside. The upside is that after 45 min or whenever they get tired, it can go right into a plastic bag and into the freezer. We tried the frozen turkey necks, but they lasted less than 2 minutes. I would not recommend the knuckle bones, as the one we got seemed to be very mealy and consumable. It had terrible results - the bone meal was too much for our guy, and he was shrieking in pain trying to poo the next day as things were crumbly and stuck. I had to um...assist...I felt so bad for Marvin and won't ever give him any bone like that again. Marvin's not a hard chewer, so he has done well with his antler as well.

Ditto. We do Nexgard at the end of the month and Heartguard in the middle of the month to space them out. Luckily, there seem to be a lot of good options that are still effective out there.

Great list of so many different types of resources - thanks for posting!

Welcome! I was so excited to see so many sighthounds around Koeln while on travel there last week. I have had good luck using Photobucket and copying the links for posting photos to this forum.

Great job! We had a tough time teaching our guy to do the stairs, particularly down and had to teach him in increments. Marvin did the same thing as others have mentioned with just going up and down on their own right after they learn 'for fun'! Without two of us, it would have been even more challenging. Signs we turned into suckers for about a week after friends taught him to go up, but not down (see photo)....

Ditto. Our guy was on Frontline Plus and then he picked up a massive load of fleas from my inlaws' place over the holidays, just a week after his previous dose. We switched to Nexgard and have been happy with it.

We wish you luck getting your girl back on track with her SA. We had a relapse that didn't appear to have a trigger (no boarding, we didn't move, etc.) after 2 years of lazy, angelic behavior while we were out. And this is with a dog who is literally bombproof - he just rolled over, chuffed, and let out a big sigh the other night after some very severe storms passing, with thunder and lightening taking out trees in our neighborhood. He now is baby-gated in essentially his own bedroom (an entirely empty room except for his bed, toys, water, and a twin bed he has claimed as his own) but has definitely improved over the past few months. We've never boarded Marvin at our vet (though we love both vets we use), as he came to us with a bunch of teeth broken on metal crate bars. Instead, we have found two regular sitters on Rover where our guy gets to stay in their home as a part of the family with his own bed(s) and routines. All Rover sitters are certainly not created equal, but I still like to suggest it for dogs who might have some special needs and their humans need to go away. Again, good luck!

We use the small dog Milkbones as little quick treats for when we babygate our guy to leave the house. He has some larger crunchy bones with hip and joint supplements. We've always liked the Trader Joe's biscuits. As for dental treats, Hill's makes a T/D diet, where the pieces are large (it's actually food), but our vet had us using the pieces as individual treats. Our vet has since switched to a Royal Canine version of the same dental diet. They apparently have some texture that will work like dental floss (who knows for sure), but they are fully crunchable, and our guy tolerated them well as treats. You can get a big bag and keep it in the freezer to last a long time. A third alternative that I do is to make some homemade dog biscuits, usually something easy in ball-form or smashable with a fork. I keep them in the freezer and just take out a handful or so at a time to keep in the fridge. I'm happy to share recipes for anyone interested

We had success with the turning away and ignoring him when our guy was new to us and very jumpy. He's super food/attention motivated, so it was quick and painless for us to teach him to lay down and stay there or he gets no love or permission to go eat (such a rough life he leads with us *yeah right*). It's great though that your guy is so responsive to you though!

We've had all of the above (and waaaay more, including several hundred dollars worth of percussion mallets and sticks, much to my husband's dismay...) annihilated by our boy, who never used to get into anything, and still usually does not. It just started one day, about 2 years in to life with us, though it was only when we left him alone. I say 'was', as the house we bought is still way to large for our collection of tiny apartment grad student furniture, and he now has a completely empty bedroom with just his beasty stuff to be babygated in while we are away. We have a couple of giant nylabones, an elk antler, and another bone that are places strategically within sight around the house. If it's plastic she's looking for, maybe a nylabone would be an attractive alternative? Our Marvin is not at all a big chewer, but when he gets angsty or peeved at us (thinks he isn't getting enough treats or undivided attention), he will go grab his bone and at least drag it around and chew it for about 30 seconds, which seems to curb his intentions on our cell phone chargers, coasters, and other plastic items. Good luck! We've definitely had the 'shakes head' moments and asking our dog, 'Did that seriously taste good or feel ok on the way down?'

We used to have the chubby greyhound at all the meet-and-greets, as Marvin just isn't a high energy dog at all. We brought him home at about 65 lbs, but he peaked around 77 lbs, mostly during a cold winter and a time when we were struggling to find a food that produced good results or leave him driving us up the wall wanting food all the time. Wiley looks like he is built a lot like Marvin as well: no severe tuck, very thick neck and wider head (I laugh at the 'large greyhound measurements' for hound knit hats), fuzzy tummy, and just wider everywhere than nearly all the other hounds we ever meet - head, chest, rib cage, hips, the whole bit. He could probably lose a few pounds, just to ease any stress on his joints, but if you can see a few ribs, vertebrae, and hip tips, then it's not much. We got Marvin back down to his happy 72-73 lbs by just cutting back on his food a little bit until he leveled out (took out up to 1/4 cup per day from his usual 3 cups). Gosh, Wiley is handsome

We battled a persistent ear infection in our guy for over a year, mostly because both of the commonly prescribed medicinal ear drops caused nasty allergic reactions in his ears, constantly getting yeasty brown goop out. We ended up finally clearing the infections for good by using an ear flush that has a non-neutral pH (creates an environment in which yeast cannot grow). I'm thinking it was a basic solution, as it felt soapy, and it was about $14 from our vet with no office visit required. We have also used a mixture of water, vinegar, and hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball to bring out anything down deep in his ears. Once we knew from an initial swap and inspection of the yeast infection from our vet what was going on, and that our guy was so allergic to the ear drops that he couldn't use them, we were able to keep his ears infection free with over-the-counter ear flushes. More than two years with no ear infections so far. We also found the flushes to help with his ears getting dried out in the winter. Good luck! Have you tried baby benedryl, as opposed to the full strength? A full baby benedryl doesn't have any noticeable effect on my parents' 17 lb pug, but maybe greyhound biochemistry affects how your guy metabolizes it.

Glad to hear Amber is feeling better! We can't do any of the dental treats with our guy, as he doesn't chew them, and they do not seem to break down in his stomach...and they just get vomited back up. We also do IAMS green bag, but we do 3 cups per day total for our 74 lb male. I know I don't feel great when I eat too much, and I'd imagine our dogs can feel the same way! I'll also second the possibility of something foreign bobbing around in her stomach. Our guy unknowingly (at least to us and our vet and the x-ray machine) ingested 3 squeakers, which remained in his stomach for almost 4 months before he finally vomited 2 of them up and passed the 3rd. He was throwing up almost regularly, but it was on an empty stomach and bileous in his case. Worms are not at all uncommon, and it can take several rounds of deworming to get them all. Hope Amber continues to feel happy and spry in her new home with you!

Just sending along some encouragement for you and your husband. We had a few months of alpha issues when we first got our guy, but we worked through it, and I'm so glad to hear that you are committed to working with Biddie. We've all had to unlearn/relearn/learn-for-the-first-time dog behavior nuances and skills. Wishing you luck!

Pacman is stunning! We had the same frozen behavior while out walking with our hound, though it didn't start until about a month after we had him. It can be really frustrating when they go statue on you and you just need to get back home. I would give a little nudge with my leg or try to divert in a slightly different direction to get him moving. I also had to bring treats a few times. It took our guy a good while to figure out how to get into the car, and I had to put his front paws up and then lift his back end in. Now, he launches... It took months for Marvin to really settle in with us, and 3+ years later, he is still showing new things from time to time. We were told that bringing home a newly retired hound would be like bringing an alien into our place, and that turned out to be a really good description. Just give it time - it sounds like you are doing great so far.

Our Marvin lets out a good, long groan just about every time he plops down in non-sphinx position. Depending on his level of agitation with us not caving to his begging for food, the groans can be quite lengthy and loud. We just like to say he's deflating.

We've tried several of the $60/bag foods...and for 'sidewalk bouncing' poos, we caved and converted to IAMS green bag!

We live in College Park, MD with a spacious Cape Cod house and a fenced yard (4ft fence). We have one 6-year old male greyhound and no cats or other pets, along with lots of comfy beds all around the house. I usually work from home at least two days during the week as well, and we'd be happy to host your hound for those in the DC metro area! Ashley, Kevin, and Starvin' Marvin