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tyguy7760

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    Ty

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    La Vergne

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Grey Pup

Grey Pup (4/9)

  1. We already tried the pb routine. She's smarter than the average bear. She licks it off and then runs for the hills. If i start brushing with PB still on she decides it's not worth it and bolts
  2. It's been a while since I have been on the forums. We've had our grey for about 8 months or so and she's greyt. She loves us to death and we all love her to death. Unfortunately, she is one of the unlucky ones that have terrible teeth. And unfortunately, she is not one that takes kindly to having her teeth brushed. We have tried the bribery technique, and nothing. She absolutely hates it and jerks away after only a few moments. She had a dental with extractions done last summer before we got her and upon her last visit the vet said she is probably going to be ready for another dental soon. This vet charges about 500 bucks for a dental (i know many others are much cheaper) and we will gladly pay that to keep our baby healthy but 500 bucks every 6 months to a year is a hard pill to swallow. But for those of you that brushing is not an option, what do you guys do for dental health? We have a water additive and a healthy regiment of dentastix and/or greenies plus the vet has suggested a regiment of antibiotics every month to keep infection down in her mouth. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
  3. We give Piper Purina One Sensitive Systems. That is what her foster gave her and she seems to do well on it so no sense in changing it.
  4. If you close him in a room does he still go berserk? Or is it just the crate?
  5. Here is the Martha Stewart one or one very similar http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=12960699&f=PAD%2FpsNotAvailInUS%2FNo
  6. We use a harness on Piper because she is a high prey dog. Or at least the rescue said she was. We really haven't seen any signs of her chasing a squirrel or cat or small dog. She is definitely interested though. It just gives us peace of mind and that's what the foster used on her as well. We use the Martha Stewart Harness from Petsmart. Actually fits her great and is very soft.
  7. Piper enjoys her crate that is in a different part of the house. If we are downstairs and we can't keep an eye on Lizzie then Piper usually goes up stairs. If Piper is in the room with us then we make sure that Lizzie doesn't go around her unless she is obviously awake and attentive. If we are in the part of the house that her crate is in then we make sure and keep her away from Piper and her crate unless Piper is attentive. Our 7 year old knows already not to bother her when she is sleeping or in her crate. If Piper bites my daughter again it would completely depend on the situation. If it was seemingly unprovoked and unwarranted then returning her is a possibility. But you run that risk with any dog and not just a greyhound. And from what happened I wouldn't label Piper as a bite risk anymore than I would any other dog. And keep in mind I posted this after 3 days of contemplation. So yes I was extremely concerned about it and still am but you run the risk of being bit anytime you have a dog in your house. We learned this and we will just have to be extra vigilant when it comes to the children.
  8. Quick question about toe nail grinding...sorry to hi-jack but since I started the thread I feel like I'm entitled Is there a good way to get Piper to lay down on her side? The foster had been doing it while she stood up and claimed Piper loves getting her nails done. Apparently I must really suck because Piper does not like it at all. She continually tries to pull her leg out of my hand and I think the only reason she finally lets me is her leg is tired. I try to keep her paw as close to the ground as possible so she can keep her balance and most of the time my wife also holds her and steadies her but she still is constantly pulling away. I have been very careful not to get in the quick and I haven't yet (I have some experience at this with other dogs so I know what not to do). However, this past weekend she got so fed up she just went and laid down. I wasn't even half way through at this point so I just went ahead and started up again to see if she would let me. She didn't even move at all and finished the other 3 feet in less time than i did the first. Any hints? I know this is way off topic but oh well.
  9. Yeah, when we heard that was the reason she was returned we thought "Man this dog must do some serious damage to a house" and we were a little apprehensive about her. But then when she came for her home visit and they explained "No it's just the original owners were not good about keeping her nails trimmed and let them go for several weeks" I realized how silly that was. We do her nails every weekend just to make sure she doesn't do any damage or hurt herself but seriously...scratching your floors? Obviously big dogs weren't their thing...or at least regular toe nail grooming.
  10. Oh I completely agree with you on this. I didn't mean to give off the vibe that if we can "fix" piper's sleep aggression (if she does have it) then we can let Lizzie crawl all over her. I think we realize now that we are going to have to be much more careful. I'm just glad we are coming to the conclusion that it is something we can fix (on all of our parts not just Piper) and not something that can't be. I think we saw how great Piper had been being with Lizzie and being occasionally bumped or accidentally stepped on and we just let our guard down and took it for granted. We knew going into it that greyhounds weren't labs and weren't as passive when it comes to kids but at the same time still a great family dog. We knew they didn't like to be continually hugged and pulled on and such. But after we saw how great Piper was being I think we started to think maybe we had the exception. We learned we didn't and thankfully with little damage. I have been around toddlers and their dogs and have witnessed how some toddlers can jump on them and hit them and pull their ears and such. By no means does Lizzie do this. Even before this incident Lizzie was a little wary of Piper just because of how big she is in comparison to her. But as everyone knows, toddlers are unpredictable and not sure footed at the least. And I also completely agree that Piper is not a bad dog. If I thought she was, then she would have been returned to the adoption agency by Lunchtime Friday. Like I've said, we absolutely adore her and place most of the blame on ourselves.
  11. Well right now the only words my daughter can consistently get out is uh-oh, dada, mama, tank-u (thank you), and bye-bye so it will be a little while before she is calling piper over to her. But we are putting treats in lizzie's hand and letting piper eat out of it (with both of us right there of course) so hopefully that will help.
  12. Yes we have said many times since Friday that she could have done a lot more damage than she did and are grateful that the injury was so minimal. My wife said that she actually bit lizzie several times but it only resulted in one discernible mark. And minutes later Lizzie was happy and talking and her normal smiley self. We already have baby gates all over the place for lizzie so it's not too hard to move Piper out of the room if we are preoccupied with something and letting Lizzie have the run of the room. Muzzleing is an option but one we'd rather not resort to. I know the greyhounds don't mind it but if she wanted to attack with the muzzle on she could still do some damage. Removing her from the room if we can't keep an eye on lizzie is a better option I think. That all being said, we love Piper to death. She really is part of the family for us and hate that this happened. But I think we learned a valuable lesson with little damage. I would love to hear from others that had sleep aggression (not saying that is what this is) and how you either worked around it or worked through it.
  13. I admit we let our guard down around her because she just seemed to be a saint about everything. I think what set us back the most was just the viciousness of the attack with no warning whatsoever. If it had been a growl or a warning snap this would have been a non-issue but we really did have no warning. But thankfully we have learned our lesson as far as let sleeping dogs lie on this one with no major injury. As far as new space/sleep aggression issues, I really don't think she has space aggression at all. The children have been within a few feet of her crate and she seems to pay them no mind. I also can go over to her crate and pet her in it whenever I want and she doesn't seem to show any aggression and looks pretty happy when I do it. Sleep aggression on the other hand seems like a possibility even though she doesn't show it to my wife, me, or our 7 year old. Piper sleeps next to my wife in the floor and or daughter usually gets up at least once a night and my wife has to walk very close to her and she has never shown any aggression in these instances. I have also petted her several times while she is laying down and she has shown no aggression towards me either. Same goes for the 7 year old. But like I said, we've installed new rules that the kids can't be around her when she is laying down and when we can't keep a constant eye on lizzie at all times, Piper goes to her crate or another level in the house. I just didn't know if anyone had any suggestions on other things that may help.
  14. So we adopted Piper, our first Greyhound a little over 2 weeks ago. We have been singing her praises ever since. She is getting so much more friendly with all of us, and seems to be really coming out of her shell. We have been calling her "the perfect dog" the entire time as it just seems like she really is just perfect. And we absolutely love her to death. Unfortunately, Friday we had a bit of an incident. My 7 year old had went to school and I was gone to work leaving my wife, our 14 month old, and Piper at home. All three were downstairs in the family room. Piper usually lays by the door to the family room when she is down there (she doesn't always come down because her crate is in the middle level and she loves it so she still spends a good amount of time there). My wife was on the couch and Lizzie made her way towards Piper. With no warning, Piper jumped up and lunged at Lizzie and bit her on the forehead. Scary. She immediately went to the other side of the room with her head down (as if she knew what she just did). Fortunately the bite was not severe and only bruised lizzie's forehead. From the angle my wife was sitting at she could not see Piper but could see Lizzie. She said that from where Piper lunged from it did not appear that Lizzie was on Piper but more like 2 or 3 feet away. So it doesn't appear that Lizzie stepped on her. Needless to say it was a scary and sad day. Anytime anything nearly 70 pounds attacks your 20 pound daughter a ton of emotions and thoughts run through your head. Ranging from returning the dog to everything else. Fortunately, after several hours of sitting and thinking of what possibly could have happened and what we should do, we came to the conclusion that Piper must have been asleep and either dreamed (she dreams frequently) or a combination of waking up and Lizzie startling her and attacking. My wife said that this wasn't just a snap but she did lunge at lizzie so it wasn't a "oh it startled me and I'm going to give a warning snap and the toddler was closer than I thought". We decided not to return her as she has been in several homes over the past few months (including 2 fosters and a family that returned her for scratching up their hardwood floors...yes really) and we know there is an adjustment period and all of the homes she has been in had children full time or part time and to our knowledge there is no history of aggression whatsoever. She seems to have no space aggression as I or my wife can reach in her crate when she is in there and she happily takes the pettings we offer. She is not food aggressive as when we feed her (her bowl is in the kitchen) the entire family is around her and I pet her every time she eats just to make sure she doesn't think we are a threat as I have had extremely food aggressive dogs in the past. Really we have seen no signs of aggression from her since or before. My wife and I can freely go up to her while she is laying down and even sleeping and she doesn't so much as move. She seems to like Lizzie or at least doesn't mind her. Lizzie has mistakenly fallen on her once or twice and even stepped on her foot a few times and Piper hasn't even moved a muscle during those instances. We have come to accept that this must have been an isolated incident. We kept her for a number of reasons but chiefly because she is just an awesome dog who has thus far been great with everyone. We have installed new rules that the kids are not allowed around her when she is laying down and if we are doing something that we can't keep a constant eye on lizzie we usually move Piper to her crate or another part of the house. She loves her crate so this is not a punishment. The kids already know not to get around her crate when she is in it even though she shows no signs of space aggression. Anyways, after all that does anyone have any suggestions on making sure this doesn't happen again? I know that really we can't guarantee that it won't. But anything that may help? I have considered that maybe she sees Lizzie as a subordinate and not as important as her. Any suggestions on making sure she realizes that Lizzie is higher up? We have been putting treats in Lizzie's hand and letting Piper eat out of her hand a few times. Not sure if that's good or not but thought maybe that would encourage her to see Lizzie as higher up. After all that I do want to emphasize that we absolutely love Piper. Like I said we have been singing her praises and been calling her perfect up until now. We don't want to get rid of her and really that is not on the table at this point. But in the event that it happens again in the immediate future, I don't really have a choice but to do what's best for my daughter.
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