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rsieg

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Everything posted by rsieg

  1. There was a thread a few months back on blind hound assistance, there may (or may not) be something useful there, so FWIW I'm adding the link below. https://forum.greytalk.com/topic/329173-blind-greyhound-doesn’t-have-slow-gear…-how-to-keep-him-safe/#comment-6212572
  2. That calendar isn't complete if it does not include at least one bush poop.
  3. Well, I suppose being Arizona there aren't any trees to sniff around, right? He's got dirt, and ... and ...
  4. 1Moregrey & Houndtime, thanks for these ideas! I've never used a harness, I see how that chest connection and the double lead would give more control, and similarly with the gentle leader. Only challenge might be getting either of those on Ninja as he doesn't tend to stay still even having his collar put on :-)
  5. This is about Ninja, my recently adopted mixed kelpie/shepherd, but as this seems to be a generic dog question I thought I could slip it in on this forum. My question: Does anyone have a good way to limit the extent of a dog pulling on the leash during walks? Ninja loves walks, which is great, I’m getting back in shape walking him. But, he frequently pulls on the leash. He has short “good” intervals, but as soon as he senses anything of interest (strange smell, squirrel!, dog!, wind-blown leaf!, …) he lunges toward it. Not aggressive, he just wants to chase or play. It does give me a full-body workout on walks, but I'd love to be able to take a nice, sedate walk with him. First suggestion I got was to carry treats and give him one to draw his attention to me when he goes for something. It kind of worked, until he gets bored with the treats, and it does not work at all if the stimulus is too strong (squirrel!, dog!, blowing leaf!). At the dog obedience class we were told to immediately stop walking and wait till he stops pulling. Nice idea, but (a) we would never get anywhere, and (b) he doesn’t necessarily stop pulling if I stop. Other suggestions at the class there were to use a spray bottle with vinegar (not hit him in the face but close enough to smell), or use a pinch collar. I'm not going to use a pinch collar no matter what. I have tried a spray bottle with water (not vinegar, I think that could be damaging to the eyes). It works, but its not really practical to carry a spray bottle on a walk and pull it out just as he is lunging at something. (BTW, when he sees a dog he can pull full-strength on the leash and still loudly bark - I have no idea how he does that without blocking his windpipe.) On my own, I’ve tried pulling back on the leash when he gets to the end and starts pulling. It does nothing: he doesn’t seem to get it, or just doesn’t care. I sometimes pick him up to walk past if he is getting overly excited about another dog (one benefit of having a sub-30 pound dog), but that's obviously not a workable long term solution. I'm hopeful he will grow out of this (at least to do it less, I’m still not sure how old he is but positive the rescue’s estimate of 2 ½ is high), but does anyone have any other practical approaches that might actually work? Thanks in advance for any suggestions!
  6. Congrats Mark! Um, is ice cream and fries enough to get him to wake up and move?
  7. I've heard of that breed, looks very cool! I just "downsized" as well, and so far I'm finding that if they are energetic enough a 20-ish pound dog can be as much of a handful as a greyhound. BTW Wikipedia classifies the pharoah hound as a sighthound, so close to a greyhound.
  8. From what you describe, doesn't seem like either you or Rook did anything wrong. Why should Rook not react? If he is being suddenly attacked by a pack of aggressive chihuahuas he should defend himself. They are on the ground, he is outnumbered, you are above (not in a position to defend him), and he is the one in the direct line of attack. And he is at risk - a chihuahua chomping down on a greyhound leg can do serious damage. The fault is on whoever owns those chihuahuas for not having them under control, or at least moving them away as soon as the situation arose. They are not off the hook just because their chihuahuas are smaller than your greyhound, if the chihuahuas are instigating an attack. As far as what you can do, the only real option I can see is to try to move Rook away and/or place yourself between Rook and the chihuahuas, though that can be difficult if he is lunging toward them. I would do that before trying to tell the other dogs to back off - the dogs don't understand, and if the owner can't figure that out without being told...
  9. My condolences on the passing of LaVida. It is good you were able to have her pass at home.
  10. I promised to provide a remembrance for Logan, so here it is. There is no way to capture 10 years with my best buddy in an Internet post, so I will just do my best with a stream of consciousness, and some pictures of course. I adopted Logan in May 2013 from Greyhound Adoption of Ohio (GAO). He was so friendly at the kennel, did the leaning thing. When Logan first came home, I had a ratty vintage 1970's avocado couch I was keeping only because I had heard that greyhounds like couches. Well, Logan did not use the couch. After a couple weeks, I was planning to put it out with the trash. The evening before trash day, Logan got up and looked at the couch, walked over to it. Put his front feet on it and kneaded it. Soft, comfy. He jumped up and lay down on the couch and looked over at me as if to say "Ok boss?" From then on it was his couch. So, here is is in 2014 on his avocado couch: A couple weeks later, my brother and niece were staying overnight. I woke up to desperate howling from Logan. Came out, they were on his couch. From then on, the couch was the one item he would always be defensive of, I was the only person that could sit with him there. The first two years I had him, GAO had a summer greyhound get-together with a 200 yard run. His best time was average 38 mph for the 200 yards. He got so, so excited when he saw the course, and for months afterward whenever we walked by a golf course he would get excited seeing the golf carts (they used a golf cart on the course). Here is a shot from his run in 2014: After a little over a year and a half after getting Logan, I adopted Max, who was then 10 years old to Logan's 4 1/2. Logan was such a good brother to Max. They walked together perfectly, Logan on the left (I'm left-handed so that is what he learned initially) and Max on the right. Almost never crossed leashes. Logan was definitely the dominant one given the age difference (Max tried though :-) but Logan did not push Max around. Here he is asking why he has to put up with the new guy: and on a walk together: Over the 10 years I had him, I think we walked at least 10,000 miles together. From walking apps I know he did 5,000 miles after Max passed in January 2018, and we were in the 4,000 miles range with Max and Logan together. I did not track the year and a half before Max came. Logan would stop and crash on the grass during walks occasionally, but always loved going. And he liked variety - if we went around the neighborhood two or three days in a row then he would insist on a park trip, and even in the neighborhood he would never take the same route twice in a row. Logan never, ever, ran away. When I first had him we were doing yard work and messed up and left the gate open, he just ran out front to me. We were fortunate that Logan was never really sick or injured. His worst episode was winter before last when he sprained his rear leg slipping on ice. He was going mostly on three legs for several weeks after that, but still wanted to go for his walks. The last year or so Logan was definitely slowing down, though he would go an average of 1-2 miles per day. He still liked park trips, and I would take him down in the car, he'd go for a quarter mile or whatever, still enjoyed it even if shorter. He was not a social butterfly, with either people or dogs. When I first adopted him I tried to do the greyhound event circuit with him but he made it clear early on he did not enjoy it. Logan, Max, and I went to a couple greyhound summer meetups, but Logan did not enjoy those either. Max would play with all the other greyhounds, Logan would be ready to leave 10 minutes after we got there. But, Logan did enjoy meeting people on walks, it's just he wanted to say "Hi" and then get back to me and the walk. And, the last year or so we started going to a local coffee shop where he would get a pup cup. By that time he had mellowed and really enjoyed going in and meeting people. I'll finish up with a few more photos. More couch time: This was Christmas day 2014, at the Nature Center which was closed. I forgot, Logan did like to go in there as they gave dogs treats - so they're not happy it's closed. Unfortunately when the Nature Center reopened after Covid they stopped the treats, and Logan remembered that for quite a while (Max passed in Jan 2018 so he missed that). January 2019. He would take my boot or shoe into the living room, kept that up right up through this year too. May 2019. He's seeing something here on his walk, not sure what it was. BTW, he had that same collar the entire time I had him, it went perfectly with his brindle coat. Sept 2020. He would lay beside the brown couch, which was mine, to get petted. He was in almost exactly this position last Sunday, the day he died. Did not seem like he was having a problem at that point, then got up and started heaving bile. July 2021. Logan never liked toys much, but this is a nice shot of him using one. A couple shots I really like from Feb. 2022: June 2022. Another boot theft. Also June 2022. At that coffee shop I mentioned, getting his pup cup. March 2023, tongue out: April 2023: May 2023: If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading and helping me to remember my buddy Logan.
  11. Thank you again to everyone posting thoughts and condolences. I really appreciate it...
  12. Thank you everyone for your kind words. It helps a lot.
  13. Logan is gone, and I’m trying to figure out what happened. He was fine Saturday, went for his usual morning walk and ate his breakfast. He did skip dinner, but he does that sometimes. He wanted to go out for a late Saturday evening walk, but got scared by a firework. He somehow broke a nail in the time it took for him to go down the front walkway, hear the firework and head back. But it was barely bleeding, nothing hanging, and I bandaged it at home and went to bed. Sunday morning, he did not come by the bathroom door like he usually does, I went to check and he was still lying in the spare bedroom where he often sleeps. I took the bandage off, nail looked fine. But, Logan was lethargic, had no interest in his morning walk or his breakfast or even a couple treats I tossed to him. He did eventually get up, but was panting. He went out and did #1 and #2, then laid back down. I found out later he must have had to go as I found a BM in the back hallway he must have dropped overnight. He came into the living room a while later on Sunday, still looked lethargic but he laid next to me as I was on the sofa and even rolled over on his back to get a leg rub like he usually does, seemed to be comfortable. But when he flipped back over and stood up, he started gagging, and vomited a little yellow bile. At that point he laid down and was not getting up. I tried to pick him up to take him to the eVet, but could not. He did eventually get up and get into the car, barely (I'll always be thankful to him for doing that, though I know it must have been very hard for him), and I drove him to the eVet. He was able to get out of the car on his own but only when the vet assistants tried to slide him out, and walked in on his own power. Vet did X-ray and blood test, said blood looked ok, she was concerned his spleen seemed enlarged but her main diagnosis was pneumonia, with a fever of 105 F. She said they could keep him overnight and give him an antibiotic regimen, but she thought it was 50/50 whether he would make it through the night. Unfortunately, they would not let me stay with him overnight. After talking with the vet, I decided to let him go. I’m still not sure that was the right decision, there was a 50/50 shot he would have gotten through the night. The vet did not have a strong opinion either way, first time I’ve dealt with that as with my past dogs it was obvious to everyone it was time. But, he was 13 years old, and I could not stand the thought of him suffocating to death all alone in a vet ICU hooked up to an IV. I might have let him be treated overnight if I could have stayed with him, but that was not an option. And to be honest, I was afraid if he did recover and got home and then had a relapse, I would not have been able to get him back to the vet. As it was, he went peacefully, and I think comfortably, just laying on the floor with me. (They did not insist he go onto a vet table). So I guess I’m still trying to figure out what happened. Is it common for a dog to develop severe pneumonia virtually overnight? Could he have had symptoms for a few days and I missed it? He was still walking 1-2 miles a day last week, and even did two miles last Monday, and did not seem overly tired afterward. Could the broken nail have somehow been related? And what I will never know, whether I should have had him stay overnight and see how it went? Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading, I think it is helping just to write it out. I’ll try to post in remembrance later, but not up to it right now.
  14. Nice find, and inexpensive compared with almost all other approaches! I wonder if this would work for Logan on walks? He is fine in the house, on the 4th he was flat out sleeping in the middle of the living room as the city fire works were blasting off like a war zone. But on a walk, one teeny, tiny pop way out in the distance, and he's turning around to head for safety. Even motorcycles and muscle cars scare him nowadays.
  15. The article says they can fly up to three or four body lengths. But the video looks like the flight is way longer than that.
  16. If this just started recently, then is there any chance they are afraid of fireworks? Logan turns around and heads back immediately when he hears any sort of firework (or even a bang, even if it is clearly a mile away :-)
  17. I think most greyhounds (and most dogs in general) will be ok with, or at least quickly get used, to walking on hardwood floors, though a few may have issues. Can you take the prospective greyhound somewhere with hard floors to see how it goes? Put someone across the floor with a treat - if the hound goes across to get the treat I expect he will be fine. If the greyhound is ok walking on hard floors, then you could just put a few rugs or dog beds in corners away from where your husband would be walking, so the greyhound has comfortable places to lie down.
  18. Congrats to Facebook on being a teenager!
  19. Eh, Logan always takes time out to smell the urine :-)
  20. Finding Ohio State trained vets seems pretty easy in my area. I looked through the bios for the mega animal hospital - 27 vets, 21 graduated from OSU vet school. The closest veterinarian office to me has four vets, all Ohio State. But looking at their website, the office closest to me is actually a satellite office that is only open three days a week. I did pick up Logan's medical records this morning. Made me kind of melancholy. I was looking through them, and he has had 46 visits over the 10 years I've had him. He is terrified of the place, but they gave him good care. Thanks for all the advice/suggestions!
  21. Thanks for the heads up, I hadn't thought about vets not accepting new clients. The retiring vet gave a one month notice and I've let a week go by, so I will need to move fairly quickly here. The big animal hospital may be the only choice. Mobile vet idea is interesting, I think there are at least a couple around here. But at Logan's age I'd prefer immediate vet access over arranging a home visit.
  22. My current veterinarian is retiring. They are a husband/wife team that has been practicing 39 years, and we have been taking our pets there my entire life (my dad first, now me). So I am now looking for a new vet for the first time ever. There is a very large animal hospital (about two dozen vets) which is a 10 minute drive from my house, and I have taken Logan there a couple times for emergencies since they are a 24 hour/365 day evet. The seemed to be good, although perhaps expensive, so I'm thinking of going with them. Being a patient at a closeby evet seems like a good thing, with Logan being 13 years old now. That way in an emergency situation they have his records onhand, and as a large animal hospital I expect they have resources onhand that a sole practitioner vet would lack. But OTOH mega-anything seems like it brings its own problem.. I assume we would generally get a different vet each visit, whereas my old vets got to know each dog well. There are a couple smaller vets nearby based only on Internet searching and looking at their websites, one that recently opened and is very close by but with more limited hours. So I guess my question is, what should I be looking for? Are there any specific questions I should ask, or any red flags I should be alert for, in selecting a vet? Thoughts on whether a mega-animal hospital or sole proprieter vet is better? I understand this is probably unanswerable, but any thoughts or advice would be appreciated! BTW, I'm on the westside of Cleveland (North Ridgeville/North Olmsted/Olmsted Falls area) on the offchance anyone is local and has specific suggestions :-) Thanks in advance for any thoughts!
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