MattB

I posted on fb recently after my new girl did this and I panicked. I watched her trot into the garden and back into the house and no idea how it happened. Washed it for the first few days in salty water and she mostly left it alone. It was a bit pink for a week or two but didn't look infected. About 4 weeks later it's starting to grow back.

Tomorrow we're on it! But that is purely preventative isn't it? Won't get rid of any actual plaque?

Thank you. Out of interest had you gone to a specialist because of symptoms?

Hi, just to say that we've recently got a really timid girl too. It's been so rewarding to see her come out of her shell.

Out of interest, did you react to the man your grey growled at? I'd posted on here about growling and, although ours was at other dogs, I've seen a huge difference when I followed some advice on remaining calm myself.

Thanks that's really helpful. I'll get going on the brushing, she is getting much better at letting me inspect her teeth. Out if interest At what point do you take your dog for a dental? I'm assuming that it's a balance between risks associated with anaesthetics and treating early? I recently took my mums grey to the vets and they did a quick scale when he was lightly sedated. I'm assuming they could do this as they knew they were in pretty good condition and they wouldn't need to extract any.

That's the other thing about Daisy - she rarely gets into the hard chews, maybe we need to try some more tempting ones. Is there a risk of too many hard chews wearing out their teeth? I had a retriever who loved collecting stones, lovely white teeth - just very worn down. Never heard of beef trachea - do you get that from a butcher?

That's the other thing about Daisy - she rarely gets into the hard chews, maybe we need to try some more tempting ones. Is there a risk of too many hard chews wearing out their teeth? I had a retriever who loved collecting stones, lovely white teeth - just very worn down. Never heard of beef trachea - do you get that from a butcher?

I've got two greys, my first (got him 6 months ago) had no problem with having his teeth brushed and stood patiently while I cleaned. He's since gone off the idea but he loves tough chews and uses his back teeth which seem pretty spotless. Our second grey is a very shy girl. It's taken quite a while for us to be able to show her affection without terrifying her so tooth brushing at the moment is out of the question I think. She'd been in the kennel a year and I assume she'd had her teeth cleaned on arrival. They don't look too bad but aren't as clean as our other grey. I've read rave reviews on amazon about 'plaque off' but am still dubious so just wondered if anyone had experience of this product? Matt

Hi, I had been reacting the same way to my dog growling 'no!' before reading advice on this forum. I've just been bought a book called The other end of the leash and it's got a bit in it about trying to overcome a dog's negative reaction to men which I found interesting. This may be jumping the gun though as it might be a one off. I think it's interesting how dogs react to different people. I've got a very shy girl and some people she wants to sniff, others she'd rather hide behind me when they walk past.

Thank you very much, all very helpful. Interesting re: vicious circle and stress hormones. Makes me feel guilty that I'm inadvertantly reinforcing his bad behaviour. Maybe it's my general unease at our rough neighbourhood and we just all need to move!

Thank you all. These suggestions are very helpful.

I recently posted about what I described as leash aggression - this was about my male grey jumping up and barking aggressively at approaching dogs. I had lots of really helpful responses and some useful references. I read one article about how confusing it is for dogs to have their owners try to correct 'aggressive' behaviour which is actually pretty reasonable - I.e. In the case of dogs running towards my dog, barking would be considered reasonable. This was illustrated to me on a recent winter night when a large dog sprinted towards us out of the dark and Charlie's barking stopped it in it's tracks. It feels like this is what happened originally, it would be large boisterous dogs who barking would be reserved for while dogs on lead, small dogs and puppies were tolerated. After a few months of this Charlie has stopped discriminating which makes me wonder whether, rather than focus on correcting his behaviour, we need to try hard to avoid these situations. I'm finding walks quite stressful now which I realise could quite well be a viscous circle as he senses my anxiety and becomes more tense. My biggest worry is that he could hurt a small dog but I might be blowing things out of proportion. So just interested in where people draw the line - what is ok and what is unacceptable when it comes to on-leash behaviour? Any thoughts much appreciated. Matt

Hi, I've read a few times on this forum that we should not discourage growling. I've not had a dog of my own before and instinctively I assumed I should say 'no' to this behaviour but wondered if someone would be willing to explain this advice? In practice I have one grey who has long nails, after a traumatic trip to the groomer (lots of blood from a really bad nail clipping) my plan was to file a little every few days by hand. Sometimes this is no problem, other times Charlie tells me that he's not in the mood by growling, albeit very gently, at me. Sometimes this is nothing to do with his claws but he doesn't want me to sit near him if he's tired. What makes this quite comical is that he seems to almost immediately express regret after he growls by crying and waving his paws in the air. So my question is, while I should respect his growling, am I right in thinking that he shouldn't learn that growling is the way to get what he wants. In the case of his claws, which I was trying to do in the least traumatic way possible, is this about trying to make him comfortable with the process with rewards? I'm not trying to make out I have a problem dog, he's very cuddly most of the time with people I'm the only person who he's ever growled at. Any thoughts much appreciated. Matt

We have a very frightened girl. She's come on a lot but still very shy. We've got on well with recall training with our other, more confident dog because he's very interested in us and treats but we don't know where to start with this nervous girl. I just wondered if anyone had any experience of this or is recall training simply not possible until she's got a bit more confident?

Hi, we're having the same trouble with Charlie and think he gets car sick as he looks peaky throughout journeys. We enrolled him in a class (short lived but nothing to do with the car) and I spoke to the trainer. She said it would be a slow process of trying to make the car more appealing using treats, having him explore the car, getting rewarded for going near working up to him putting his head in to get a treat from the seat. We've been trying to make it nice and cosy inside the car with his bed and duvets in it, it's a small car so we put the back seats down. Unfortunately he gets so stressed that he doesn't want any food when we're near or in the car at the moment. Anyway, good luck, if you have any joy please share.

Oh lukasmom that made me laugh a lot right as I headed into a meeting! So Charlie's healthy eating plan starts now!

Thanks. The difficulty is other dogs running up to us on walks. I thought a muzzle would be the best thing for the time being but I hate leaving him defenceless in case we meet an aggressive dog.

I've had an ex racing 5yo male (Charlie) for the past 8 months. Recently we've adopted a second dog, same age but female from same kennels (Daisy). I'm not sure if this sudden behaviour change has coincided with our new arrival but our boy has always been a gentleman on the lead which is good as people with dogs often stop and say hello. Recently Charlie become more aggressive on walks, this has started with 'return fire' at dogs through the fence that he used to ignore and barking aggressively at any off leash dogs that come near. Today he snapped at another dog on its leash and when a spaniel came running towards him he bit it's face. While I do think that owners should be careful about letting their dogs run up to other people with dogs, I feel awful about this biting incident (other dog was fine and even came back to say hello again 10 mins later). I'm not sure where this aggression has appeared from, I wondered if it's protectiveness but any suggestions would be much appreciated. M

Thanks very much for your help guys. I didn't know that info was available! Direct point (Charlie) is currently 76 and Angela's kiss (daisy) is 66. I think the outline of Charlie's ribs has been receding of late! M

Direct point And Angela's Kiss (previously Boozed Bride) Should have added I'm in the UK.

Hi, I've got two hounds and I'm trying to work out what an ideal weight would be. Lots of advice centres around not going too much over their racing weight but, despite them both being retired racers, I can't find any reference to their weight on their paper work; this field is always blank. I've weighed then both but this is a bit meaningless in the absence of knowing what they should weigh. All advice appreciated. Matt

I just wondered what people do re: clipping claws? I've clipped my mum's 3 dog's claws for some time (including a gh) with no problem, I've done this while they've been sat or lay down and they've barely raised an eyebrow. We got a hound who had very long nails and we've been trying to get them under control - clipping little and often. I'm not sure if it's different or if it's because our new hound is quite sensitive about his feet but me and my OH find it difficult to clip his feet - the first few times were ok but now he growls and barks and gets quite worked up. Although it feels like we're being defeatist, we decided we'd take him to a groomer from now on, he's much better behaved for her. However last time although I explained to the groomer that we'd been recently and only wanted a tiny bit taken off - she cut a huge piece off his first claw; it bled lots, he cried lots and was clearly extremely distressed and now I'm not keen on taking him back. My other thought was to use a manual file very briefly a couple of times per week but I get growled at when I try this. His nails aren't actually too bad now - I'm just keen that they don't get too long again. I just wondered what advice people have about DIY clipping - not just the clipping itself but keeping dogs calm and where/when/what position people do this in. Matt

Quick question: we've currently got two greys and winter is approaching. Our last greyhound hated her coat with a passion and rarely wore it. I just wondered how important people think it is for hounds to be wrapped up warm?

Hi, just got a new ex racer. Five year old female. She's had slightly red eyes since she arrived. It's the whites of her eyes which seem a bit pink, she's very nervous and this adds to her stressed 'look' but they don't appear to be bothering her and there's no discharge at all. From looking at lots of dogs it seems that some have eyes which are a bit pinker than others and it's more obvious in this girl because she looks at us out of the corner of her eyes but I just wondered what I should be looking for in terms of signs I should be going to the vets (I'm not trying to avoid a visit!). Matt