Rascal21

Hi All, I'm looking for some advice / personal experiences regarding my foster, as none of my grey's or other fosters have been in this situation. He has had one of his load bearing toes amputated off one of his front paws (about a month ago i believe). I've noticed that when we go for a walk he'll start limping on that paw not long after we start and sometime he'll stumble, as that leg gives out briefly, every few walks. I've examined the paw for corns, cuts, foreign bodies and swellings etc but i've not seen anything abnormal. Has anyone who's grey has had a weight bearing toe amputated experienced this? Im wondering if he's just getting used to it still or if its something to be concerned about. I'm hesitant to initially go to the adoption agency until i've explored some options as they have new management who are very heavy handed at putting greys down that have minor issues, so i don't want to raise any flags with them. Thanks R

Hi Guys, I’m looking for some advice on food aggression. My GAP agency has asked me to work with a 2-year-old boy who has already had 2 other foster family’s and failed his collar assessment three times now, over the same two issues. He is the most beautiful boy who is a big teddy bear and wants to cuddle 24/7, however, has food aggression and small dog issues. The excitement over small dogs I’ve experienced with other fosters, however, I’ve never had a dog (grey or other breeds) who has demonstrated food aggression / guarding. He demonstrated food aggression at his first foster home but then was placed in a foster kennel where the aggression apparently didn’t show, so GAP wanted me to see if it was a one off or not. A bit of background, he’s never raced but was in a kennel up until he went to his first foster family. He doesn’t like toys yet, is not that interested in my grey but loves people – he’s’ a follower, leaner and cuddler. He has had 4 meals at our house now, the first one i wanted to see if there was any aggression at all so feed him by himself. He inhaled his food in a few mouthfuls but allowed me to pat him whilst eating and using a fake hand, was able to get his bowl however he really panicked and tried to quickly eat the remaining food. The next meal I feed him the same time as I feed my grey, they were 5m apart and I stood in the middle. Same thing, no aggression just food panic. Third meal, I gave him a slow bowl so he’d take his time, this time however he growled and bared his teeth when I tried to take his bowl. At the same time, my neighbour came over and let my grey out of the house and she walked behind him whilst he was eating (she was 2m away) and he turned, snapped and growled at her (I completely understand why). The fourth meal, once again by himself and in the slow bowl and he would let me pat him but became even more upset that the last time and wouldn’t let my ‘fake hand’ even in touching distance of the bowl. I understand this is not real aggression just resource protecting. My GAP agency has given me advice and tips to resolve it, however, I’m interested to see if anyone else has experienced it and how it was resolved as I really want him to pass his test in a few weeks and find his forever home.

I had the same issue with Jazz when we first got her. My other half always slept through Jazz’s wake up calls and couldn’t understand why I was tired and frustrated. I was told by my GAP association, the early mornings are ingrained from early morning track work and feeding! It has been a year now and instead of pacing around the room from 5am, Jazz now sleeps through and won’t even get off her bed unless she knows I’m 100% getting up, not going to the bathroom or the closet. It’s quite funny as we have a foster at the moment who is the early riser and every morning she grumbles at his early morning antics and looks at him with disgust :-) What we did was increased our walks from once a day to twice a day (you guys have done this), I also varied her breakfast meal time so she didn’t associate this with waking up. But the thing that worked the best for us was each night telling her “Bed” and when she lay down, she got a treat. We did this regularly but once she had the hang of it, varied it up so she didn’t become accustomed to it. When she would wake up early, we would say “bed” and give her a treat when she lay down. It does take time (6+ months for us) but hopefully he’ll get there soon. On your corns, I’m not sure if you’ve tried the duct tape method? With Gin, the duct tape drew the corn out enough for us to hull it, but we actually noticed that it seemed to provide a bit of a cushioning barrier between his foot and the ground and he didn’t limp as much when we went walking. Good luck with the corn, they are horrid, horrid things!

Trena.....i went through the same thing with Jazz and it was not fun! My partner is a heavy sleeper so would sleep through it and couldn't understand why i was a walking zombie every day! My dogs have always slept in the bedroom, they are not allowed on our bed and we don't crate (its not a big thing here in AUS). Jazz would do the same, go to bed, wake up, walk around the room (we have floorboards so you can imagine the noise), bed, wake up, walk around, nudge me, want to go outside, bed...........this went on for months! I am happy to report that she no longer does this (we've had her nearly a year now) however, the bad news is it will take a little time to sort out. Firstly, she is new and it is also getting used to her surroundings, i've found with all my greys, it takes about 2-3 months for them to fully settle in a home ie to get used to this is furever and they are no longer racing (Jazz we found took a lot longer as she was/still is slightly an anxious dog). We started doing morning and evening walks to tire her out, it seems she is one of these elusive greyhounds, "The very Active Grey" and she just had pent up energy at night. She now knows that she has a night walk and when she wakes up, has a morning walk. The last thing we did, was like the others have suggested, is the treat at bedtime. When we said "Bed" and she sat on it at night, she got a treat, she soon worked out that bed = treat and walks! She now loves her bed, even to the point she lays on it until i'm fully dressed in my walking gear and have her lead in hand, before, she was licking me awake 1min before my alarm would go off. It will take time but she will get there x

We lost Gin a couple of days after Christmas (2 months ago), it was a sudden and tragic accident that our other dog Jazz witnessed. Initially, Jazz went into shock and depression and didn't eat for a few days and just lay around but would go for walk. We tried to get our life back into a routine which was very hard as we realised our whole family revolved around Gin because he was just so loving and goofy. Jazz was very, very shy when we got her (would hide and not let people touch her) but had blossomed into a confident lady, however we started noticing she was reverting back into her shell and would not let anyone other than my partner and i touch her, she was getting aggressive to other dogs when we went walking, and just wanted to lay on Gins bed. The turning point for me was when Jazz collapsed a few weeks ago and she nearly died. It turned out she was poisoned (not sure how) but our vet said she was so depressed her immunity was compromised and the poisoned affected her more than it would of is she was her normal self. We foster greys as well and i decided that we needed to get a foster to help her through this. My partner was not ready and found it very distressing to have another dog in the house, however, we had to do the best for Jazz. I asked the GAP people to get us a big goofy, funny male so he could break up the mood in our house. We have had James for 3 weeks now and he is the happiest hound i have ever met!!! Jazz is still a little depressed, the vet said it will take some time, BUT she is getting better and better each day! It took her a little time to get used to James, but having another dog to play with took her focus off Gin. James has not only healed Jazz's heart, he has helped my partners and mine and was the best decision i made. Utopia, my advice, listen to your heart, you know your dog and you will know deep down what the best is for him. I felt like i was betraying Gin, by fostering James but i realised at the end of the day i was honouring his memory as he wouldn't want any of us being sad because we missed him but happy because we loved him! I wish you and your boy all the love an happiness to get you through this tough time xox

If you are able to, i'd suggest fostering, that way you can get a good idea of what the long term picture will be.

Greytfish, totally understand how you feel! I'll preface this by saying that i foster greys and always have 2 at a time. I can honestly say you will never really know the personality of your grey until around a month or so from having them, you will get ideas and some do show you most of their personalities, but not all! I fell in love with one of my fosters and decided to adopt him, ironically my partner fell in love with the other grey we were fostering so adopted her as well. We had fostered them for 7 weeks and i thought i knew their personalities but after a few weeks our girl (who was very very nervous when we fostered her) must of become truly relaxed because she showed her true colours. This dog is a Border Collie in a Greyhounds body!!!! She is beyond active, she would walk all day if she could and doesn't even break a sweat! I took her on a 8-mile fun run to wear her out, we got to the end, she turned around and started walking back!!! She would wake me up in the middle of the night and take me to her lead wanting to go walking! She has always walked well but the minute we got to our driveway she'd freeze and not go in!!!! I was so overwhelmed, i'd get anxiety attacks that id make the wrong choice that i should have never adopted either of them and should have stuck to full-time fostering! What i did that helped, was feed her when we got back from our morning walk and afternoon walk so she associated the walk with getting fed! Take liver treats with you as well in case of a freeze, dogs love them! If you haven't already, talk to the foster family to see if they had the same issue, if they didn't then it will help you eliminate some causation or narrow down what it may be. You are not failing if you decide to give him back, like i said, i've fostered a lot of greys and whilst sad to, was happy to give all of them back other than 2. They are like humans, they are all unique and not everyone suits everyone. Don't give up on the bread, they are genuinely the best breed in the world. If you do give him back, if possible, i'd suggest fostering to adopt, that way you get to understand the dog before you decide to commit full time.

Yes i saw the X-rays and you can see where the fracture was, the healing and the areas where the arthritis was affecting compared with the other wrist which was clean. The fracture was in May and the X-Rays were taken a month ago and according the Vet #2 had healed. I had read the threads on here before his surgery and objected to it, however, as he was a foster dog at that point i didn't have a say in the treatment. The pad is not infected or swollen currently (it was a long time after surgery so i have a base line to compare it with) and it is evident there is another corn there again. He doesn't lick his paw at all and we walk him every few days on the beach as the sand does help due to the softness. His prior life issues haven't impacted on his foot according to both vets and i agree. I'm in Australia and he is 3 years old. Vet#1 was the greyhound adoption programs vet and they swear by anything that he recommends and i have talked to them about other vets but they only recommend him or one of his other private practices. I do have another vet that i use and was considering going for a third opinion.

I apologise in advance for the long post! I’m looking for some advice or other people’s experiences around toe removal and limping. A few weeks into fostering Gin he started to limp and he was sent to the greyhound association vet who diagnosed a cut pad and gave him some cream. The cut was very minor and we didn’t believe this was the cause of the pain however accepted it. As he was put up for adoption a few weeks later he started to limp again and we took him back to the greyhound vet who said it was a very large corn and needed to be surgically removed. Whilst under they found a large abscess behind the corn which was drained and the corn was removed (the largest the vet has ever seen with a very long anchor). We have since adopted him (no one wanted him and he was going to be put down) and his limp remained. We went back to the same vet on 5 occasions who said it was just taking a long time to heal, which I disagreed with. A few weeks ago, Gin was attacked by a bird and suffered an injury in which he required surgery, so I took him to my local vet and asked them to x-ray his leg whilst he was under as I thought it could be Osteosarcoma. The results indicated that he had fractured his wrist when we first fostered him and because it wasn’t set, healed incorrectly, this along with juvenile arthritis was the cause of the limping and not the corn site healing. The local vet said every 3 months he would need a cortical injection and be on pain relieving tablets for the remainder of his life. This week we were at a greyhound function and bumped into the greyhound vet who saw that Gin was still limping and he examined him and said that the corn had come back even bigger, and he needed to get his toe amputated as it will just continue to reoccur. I explained what my vet had said and he said it was rubbish that they were trying to just get cash out of me. To show me, the greyhound vet bent Gin’s leg back and flexed it to show me he wasn’t in pain in the places the other vet’s had said was the fracture and arthritic site and then pressed the toe with the corn and he did cry. I know don’t know what to do, I have 2 vets telling me 2 different things! The greyhound vet is a bit of a cowboy in my opinion; I’ve had a few issues with his practices with other foster dogs I’ve had, but I’m also questioning what my local vet tells me??? I don’t want to do something as drastic as amputation to find out that the problem is still there but am happy to do it if it solves the problem. Gin has had an horrific life up until he came to us and I just want to make him happy and healthy. Has anyone else been through this or something similar and what did you do? Any advice will be appreciated!

Hi All, We are starting to have a behaviour pattern emerge in our girl Jazz that we would like to help her with so it stops asap. Recently Jazz will snap, growl and bark at any dog (other than our boy Gin) who comes near her. She will allow a dog to sniff her but after around 30 seconds she launches. We have no issues with Gin who loves everyone, just her. She was very timid when we got her in April and didn’t like people other than us, however she has now blossomed into a people lover and will actively (albeit slightly hesitantly) seek people for cuddles (she is a cuddle monster!). I understand she is not being aggressive it’s a bit of fear and nervousness but I am unsure of how to help her through this. Has anyone else had the same with their grey and how did you solve it? Cheers Raquel

I switched both my dogs over to a Raw diet after I did some work for a pet food company and saw what actually went into the products and how little the nutritional value was, even the expensive vet recommended brands. That night I went home and donated all the food I had to charity and started mine on the raw diet. The change in my dogs is indescribable! My boy would not put weight on and had persistent dandruff and dull coat……he put on 3 kilos in 2 months and has the shiniest, clean coat. I found that it’s cheaper to make their food packages up than buy it from a company. I go to the local markets and buy bulk vegi’s, meat, supplements and diary and package it up each week. It’s a bit of a chore but it’s 40% cheaper than using the local company.

Thanks everyone for your ideas! Yes it’s winter here but they both have pj’s, blankets, pillows and a single bed each (very spoilt!) and are warm so it’s not that. There are some possums in a tree a few doors down, which they have caught two of previously, so I do believe that they are waiting to see if a third makes the mistake of coming into the yard but not the primary reason for pacing. I think it could be perceived hunger pains, so will try the mini meal before bed and we do have the water squirt bottle for other behaviour, so I will trial it during the night along with the treat idea for doing the right thing. Fingers crossed! Enjoy your weekend!

Hi All! As they say, long time follower of the forum, first time poster! :-) I’m just wondering if anyone else has issues with their grey’s walking around and pacing during the night? We have fostered a lot of greys and they all sleep in our bedroom, and have found that they all sleep the whole night through however wake up around 5am each morning, however after a few weeks start to learn to sleep in. I now have 2 retired greys, a girl Jazz, and boy Gin, who are both 3 years old who we fostered and could not let go (usual story!) and have had them for five months. Like our previous fosters they slept well and woke early however they are now waking in the middle of the night and pacing around the room, often a few times each night, each dog. We have tried putting them in another room however they cry all night and want to be near us; we have tried seeing if they need to go outside, which they don’t and we have tried just ignoring them but they then also start crying. We have also found they want to wake us up as early as possible to play and to get their breakfast, which when you need a sleep in, does not happen! I’ll also state we don’t have crates and don’t plan to get them unless really required. Has anyone else experienced this with their greys, and if so, how did you get them to stop? Thanks Raquel