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Jessa

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Everything posted by Jessa

  1. Brandy recently had a vet visit for a pretty bad UTI- she was given Amoxicillin for 14 days which cured the UTI and stopped her accidents inside the house. She still seems (to me) to take a long time to empty her bladder, she will have a strong stream but she will just dribble for a good 10-15 seconds after she gets the bulk of her urine out. Is this normal? The vet was concerned about bladder stones, and wanted to do an x-ray- I held off on it because of the cost and wanting to see whether the antibiotics solved the problem first. Would it be worth it to have the x-ray done anyway? Ultrasound? She doesn't have any problem holding it for the 7 hours I am gone during the day at work, and will happily go do her business outside now. But the prolonged (?) squat has me wondering. And I don't want the UTI to become a recurring issue, as I'm sure it feels awful to her and is expensive for me. Has anyone else dealt with anything similar that could chip in advice, or am I just being a worry wart? She acts perfectly happy and normal, I would imagine bladder stones would affect her behavior too?
  2. JS Big Brandy? From what I've seen, she didn't seem to be very good Curious as to your thoughts about her!
  3. Welcome from Michigan as well! Are greyhounds more common downstate? Everyone that meets my girl has never even seen a greyhound!
  4. At your home visit, make sure to watch the dog's reaction carefully when they are introduced to your cats, especially to your more timid one. My first grey was cat-safe, and came from a foster home that had (confident) cats without issue, but my cats had never seen a dog much less had to live with one- they were terrified and would run, which led the dog to chase and view them as prey. I ended up sending him back because neither parties were happy and he wasn't showing signs of being easily trained out of it- and with a human toddler I didn't have the time to fairly dedicate to him. A month later we had a second home visit, and I knew that Brandy was the one since she refused to even look at the cats, and would flee the room as soon as she was allowed. Three months later, and the cats will walk right by and Brandy enjoys play-bowing at them. They aren't best friends and don't like being within a few feet of each other, but they co-exist happily. As long as there is no serious prey drive when you bring your grey home, give them a good month to adjust to each other. Your cats will be stressed and unsettled, but they will get over it eventually and go back to claiming their space as their own. As soon as Brandy got a poke to the nose from sniffing too close, she instantly learned that the cats were boss (which is hilarious since they are tiny). Don't feel pressured to absolutely choose between the dogs at your home visit either! If you don't feel 100% sure, there is no shame in taking some time to chew on it or meet other hounds.
  5. Brandy is super picky about where she goes, and we don't have a fenced yard so she has to be on leash. We worked out a compromise that you could maybe try- I only ever take her to a certain corner of the yard to do her business, and she'll trot around me in a circle so she can keep moving without the tug of the leash attached to the slow human. Any resistance on the leash will make her instantly stop and look at me, completely breaking her concentration. She's slowly working on having to do less laps each time, I'm hoping we get to a point where she'll just GO! She'll only trot counter-clockwise, too. Clockwise is just offensive. Old racing habits? Maybe she needs the illusion that she isn't necessarily on leash in order to go? Trotting her in a small circle takes away the awkward stop and go that being on leash gives, and her concentration to potty hopefully won't be broken!
  6. Jessa

    Hi!

    Welcome! My Brandy came from Florida So awesome that you want to volunteer! Do your research, but also don't stress out too bad. You'll find the perfect hound for you!
  7. I always heard that animals eat grass when their stomach is upset.. not sure if that is just a myth though. You could call his vet to try and get some insight into why he's eating it in the first place! Maybe muzzle him with a stool cup in it so he can't eat grass outside?
  8. Could you place something big in front of the door to block her from trying to dig at it? Or maybe train with her through the day when you are home, locking her in the crate and letting her out after a couple minutes (with lots of yummy treats before and after) to try and desensitize the whole door closed = humans gone? I've never had to deal with this as my girl is loose all the time, just throwing out ideas!
  9. For your future child, I would start regularly exposing Warbie to children as soon as you can so you can see how he reacts. Especially to adults holding small children, and to crying children of all ages. Always keep him leashed and at an untouchable distance. Let him just observe a newborn fussing, a toddler running around and yelling in excitement, a toddler throwing a tantrum, older kids playing. You don't want his first experience to be when you bring home your newborn. In my home, my two year old and Brandy never, ever, ever get to intermingle freely. My son has his safe/play room as the living room, which is sectioned off with a 36" tall babygate. High enough that Brandy gets no ideas about jumping it. Ideally Brandy would also have her own dog-only, no children allowed room permanently set up, but the way my house is laid out it's not possible for me. She has never shown any sign of aggression, but still, I will never trust them together until my son is capable of reading her body language- he will probably be well into school age. I allow Brandy to sniff him through the gate, and he will occasionally pat her shoulder through the gate but I am always right there, ready to separate at the slightest hint of anything going south. My son has no interest in dogs and will literally run away if one comes up to him. If he was the typical child that is obsessed with hugging/petting/bothering dogs in general I would have never dreamed of adopting a hound during this stage of his life. With his quirks, I wouldn't ever allow either of these situations to happen. They should be kept separate at all times by a solid barrier. If you have to take the child out of the safe zone, crate or babygate Warbie into a separate room until the child goes back into the safe zone. Until your child reaches the age where they will reliably respect and control themself around dogs, I wouldn't trust them being together. It's a lot of work, especially keeping the experiences positive for both the dog and child as far as not being allowed to roam freely in your home. It can be done, but you will have to make sure your husband, regular visitors to your home, babysitters, etc. all follow the rules you decide on without exception. Highly recommend the book "Living with Kids and Dog Without Losing Your Mind" by Colleen Pelar. Best wishes for whatever route you decide on!
  10. Just to share the flip side of the situation, our first greyhound was a huge 80lb boy that was absolutely crazy over our cats. Nonstop he would hunt for them in the house, and if they were within view he would stand stock still and quiver, and I wouldn't be able to break his gaze unless I forcefully moved him- and even then he would go back to it. One morning much the same that happened to Mac happened to my cat, the dog got his mouth over my cat's back and tore out quite a few chunks of fur. Cat and dog were both fine but after that, I was in contact with my group and we decided to have him rehomed. With a toddler running around, I didn't have the time or energy to focus on constantly training him out of his drive to chase/hunt my cats. He found an awesome home with older kids, and we adopted Brandy, who has ignored/been scared of my cats from day one. Which ever decision you make will work out just fine so don't sweat it too bad. I felt absolutely awful for having to send our first boy back, but it worked out for the best in the long run! Good luck!
  11. Brandy does the same thing when she does a big no-no and gets yelled at. She'll smile at me as big as she can and occasionally play bow as well. I agree that they do it to show that they're friendly and mean no harm! Still melts my heart though. It's hard to yell at such cuteness. Congrats on Emma, she sounds lovely!
  12. Definitely recommend getting a metal babygate if you go that route. Brandy has routinely chewed on the wood and wire one I have (just replaced it with a metal one last weekend), and our previous dog Stu that we had for a week actually rammed his head hard enough into the bottom of the gate to pop the wire out while he was trying to go after a cat. Your grey won't be able to chew or easily destroy metal, even though he doesn't sound like a big trouble maker! If you do invest in a gate, get one that will last. The biggest thing though, just relax! We've had Brandy for a little less than two months and there are times she's still learning how our house 'works'. He will eventually settle in and learn, give him lots of love in the meantime
  13. When we first got Brandy both of my cats were terrified, and I wasn't sure how Brandy would react to them either. I set up a safe room for them as well, and periodically through the day I would muzzle and leash Brandy and walk her into the room. We would just stand by the door, let the cats and dog get an eyeful of each other, and exit. I made sure to keep the times random that we would appear. At first, the cats would fluff themselves up, hiss, make crazy eyes, and dart. Slowly, they started to just freeze and fluff up, until it got to the point that while they would go very, very still and not let their eyes leave Brandy, they lost their super intense fight-or-flight reaction. Throughout it all I would ask for Brandy's attention, and praise when she looked away from the cats. She never really had an interest in them though. Within a week I was confident that she wouldn't try to catch a cat, and let them have free reign of the house. The cats rarely left the room, but when they did venture out I would keep a close eye on Brandy, and praise her when she lost interest and would put her head back down. Any time she tried to get up to investigate I told her no. Pretty quickly she learned that the cats were off limits. Perhaps you could try something similar as far as letting Cyrus 'intrude' occasionally so to speak, into Mac's space? Neither of them are going to particularly like it, but eventually they have to get used to each other. Your cat will be stressed, but it will click that bad things don't happen when the dog is around. My cats went from being ultra stressed, hiding, and shedding like crazy, and now they will walk up and sniff Brandy's paws (as long as she doesn't move a muscle) and will swat at her back playfully when she walks by where either of them are perched. If Cyrus is calm, then I would allow Mac to warm up at his own pace. Maybe you could also try letting Cyrus sleep in your room, muzzled?
  14. I put her in the guest room mainly so she doesn't get into trouble when we aren't here. She's a counter surfer and my kitchen in open to the house. There's no way to barricade it off, and there are times that I leave baked goods and things in containers on the counter. She also has tried to chew on things that aren't even food- I've caught her with a few plastic items she's stolen off of tables like water bottle caps, and once a plastic outlet protector- I don't want to think what could happen if I wasn't there to immediately fish them out of her mouth. I can't pick up the house to 100% cleanliness every time I have to make a run to the store, and the guest room is plenty big enough with only a desk and dresser that never get used.
  15. Awesome advice here already, just wanted to say good luck! I've been in a similar situation. Time and patience will be your friend.
  16. Success! We left tonight to go out to dinner, and left Brandy babygated in the guest room. We were gone for a little over two hours, and she was quiet even when we came in the house, with no potty issues at all! So happy, guess it was the crate after all. Lots of smiles and zoomies when we opened the gate Edited to add- we don't have an outdoor faucet or I would just hose her down! All our plumbing was replaced by the previous owner after the copper got stolen by thieves when it sat vacant. He didn't add a spigot for whatever reason. It's on the to-do list for this summer!
  17. Does she have to sleep in the crate? When we first got Brandy she would do similar things and cry periodically through the night, no matter where we put the crate. We removed the crate and gave her a comfy bed in the corner of our room and she sleeps without a peep through the night until we physically get out of bed. I would say get rid of the crate and see how she does.
  18. If you really get desperate too, you could provide a litter pan in an enclosed box of sorts where Piper simply couldn't get to the poo. One of my cats had an issue when she was young where she would go anywhere but the box, I had to make the litter more appealing so that's where she would choose to go. You could buy litter attractant to entice your neighborhood kitties, it might even work if you sprinkled it somewhere in the yard where Piper can't access. They make sprays too to deter scratching, which might possibly work on keeping them away from doing their business in your garden! Not sure if it would kill plants, though.
  19. Usually I do use baby wipes, however I didn't want to chance missing anything in all of the crevices in her feet- plus I was a bit overwhelmed when we got back, my first thought was to get her in the tub. In hindsight, I think I will use a bucket and just dip her feet in and wash that way. The bathing itself she was fine with, it was just getting in and out of the tub where I had an issue. The crate isn't super necessary, this is just the first incident where I have realized she has a problem with it. She happily will lay in it for hours at a time during the day. The previous time I had to crate her to leave she did pee a little, but I was gone for 6 hours so I wasn't sure if it was just a time issue or her actually being anxious. Next time I'm going to try just leaving her loose in the guest room with the gate up and move the baby monitor in there so I can actually see how she does. As far as thunderstorms, we had several spurts of loud thunder last night and she was cool as a cucumber.
  20. So this evening we put Brandy up in her crate so we could go grocery shopping. She rarely has to use her crate and I know she has regressed since coming to us since there is always someone here 24/7 except for the odds and ends occasional trip. She pooped and possibly peed in her crate even though I gave her plenty of time out before we left and she went potty right after she ate her dinner as well. We were only gone for a tad over an hour so I know it wasn't a length of time issue. I'm thinking about leaving her in the guest room which has the baby gate and minimal furniture/items for her to get into when we have to all leave in the future.. I'm just wondering if there are any clues as to whether it was the crate itself or our absence that causes her to have this anxiety? I'll be searching around for alone training tips on here as well, but it's going to be difficult with her because we really don't all leave very often, not even once a week. Also, I had to get her straight into the bath when we got home to get the mess off her feet and other areas, any tips to share that would make that part easier? I had a very hard time getting her to step over the sides of the tub to get in without hurting herself, and the whole time I had to keep a very tight hold on her collar to keep her from trying to scramble out. I reassured her the entire time with a calm voice and praised her for being still, is there any thing else I could do to make her feel more secure during bath time?
  21. I'm keeping her around 4 cups a day unless I see too much weight gain now. I had her cut back to 3 cups a day and she has recently started occasionally throwing up bile about an hour or two before her normal feeding time, and she has no issues with an upset stomach when she gets the extra cup of food. She's still really young and active, so I don't feel bad giving her a little more as long as she maintains her current weight! I may just take her to petsmart today and let her pick out a new toy and weigh her if they have a scale, just so I have a good reference point. I'm really happy with where she's at now, she isn't so ribby looking but her structure is still well defined.
  22. ^ That was what I was thinking after seeing her behavior, thank you! I had no idea she would even show interest in the pointer, I had never seen a dog go after one.
  23. I discovered last night that BB is totally into the laser pointer. I was playing with the cats with it and next thing I know, she bumps her head into the babygate and REALLY wants in to get it. So I go into her space and let her chase it around for awhile. My question is, her play seemed more like prey drive with the laser pointer, compared to when she does zoomies and throws her stuffies around- will she want to go after the cats? She was interested in one of them last night after I put the pointer away, and perked her ears at the cat when he jumped the gate and moved like she was going to stand up off her bed. I immediately corrected her. So far she has been very low prey drive and still won't make eye contact with a cat, but I don't want to possibly teach her it's okay for her to 'hunt' things inside the house, if that's a possibility? Should I ditch the laser pointer?
  24. I'm so glad to hear it! With Stu, our first adoptee, he never would really cruise for food or even get too excited about mealtimes. He would take treats and everything, but was very polite about it. I guess Brandy just loves her food! (I'm also guilty of pre- and post-dinner snacking )
  25. We have had her for 1.5 weeks, so still very new. The vet invoice has the wrong ID number, so that info is for another dog- good thing too! 85 pounds is just nuts to me. Brandy's race weight was 65 pounds which is more believable, and that was just back in February when she was still at the track. I think I will cut back 1/2 cup and wait it out to see if she stops being so ravenous!
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