busfrsr100

Thanks to all for your advice.

We had all sorts of this when we first got our boy. He would freeze often, and sometimes when we were far away from home. We found turning him in a tight circle would sometimes get his brain to get out of freeze mode, and we also used the "touch" command where you put your finger a few feet away from him and if he walked a few steps and touched our finger with nose, he was treated. We would also sometimes drive him a few blocks away and then walk him back home. That was a hit or miss strategy. That all said, the real solution is time and repetition. When they are in a new environment it is overwhelming and in my experience there has simply been no substitute for time in adjusting for Stanley.

Hi All, My vet recommends a dental cleaning for my 7 y/o boy. She said she thinks his teeth warrant a cleaning and that she expects that there will be some extractions required. She is willing to do the dental, and has done so for other greys, however she has been very transparent that she always worries about doing them for greys given their intolerance for anesthesia, their propensity to go hyper/hypo thermic due to stress and their tendency to be bleeders. She said the absolute safest thing to do would be to find a board certified anesthesiologist. I happen to live 5 minutes from Michigan State University that has one, but I am moving in May and they are booking out well past my move. I haven't found any other board certified anesthesiologists in the state. I'd like to get this done before my move and to complicate things more, I will be moving three times in the next 2 years and don't know where I'll be moving each time. I trust my doc, and she has obviously been careful to advise me of all options. That said, I don't think a board certified anesthesiologist is in the cards at this point. My main question for the group here is whether or not you get your dentals done by your normal vet, a dental specialist OR a board certified anesthesiologist? Appreciate the insight!

Hello, and thanks for your offer to help. I live in the Lansing, MI area and would be happy for any referrals you can provide. Let me know if anyone comes to mind as I have done a bit of research in the past and didn't find anything promising.

Thank you all for your feedback. I agree and have slowly come to terms with the fact that this is simply him and that is ok. I'm glad I'm not the only person that has experienced this!

We've had our boy for over four years now and while we love him dearly, he has a few quirks that sadden us. For years, I have thought he would "grow out of it" but I am starting to think that this is how he was born or something happened on the track that caused him to behave this way that will never leave him. Specifically, he is a cuddle bug (or wants to be) but only on his terms. That is to say that if he cuddles you and rest your hand on him, he growls loudly, gets up and relocates. He will sometimes show teeth as if resting your hand (without moving/petting) on him is a threatening and aggressive attack. Similarly, if he is laying on the other side of the couch from you and you move, he tends to growl and potentially show teeth but I think that is related more to sleep startle. He always wants to be touching us/cuddling on the couch at all times, but he can't figure out how to act. The only way he remains content when cuddling is if he is constantly being pet. We have tried taking away couch privileges several times to no avail. At this point, I truly believe this is something that is deep inside of him that simply can't be trained away. I'd be lying if I said this didn't make me sad but I would also be lying if in the back of my head I feel like we have done something wrong (that said, he has had this behavior since the day we got him). Wondering if there are others out there that have had similar experiences and have had to come to grips that their hound isn't ever going to be "perfect" (at least in human eyes). I can't stress enough that we love him and we think he loves us, but the situation saddens us at times. There is no question in my mind that if we didn't stick it out with him he would have bounced around a few homes before he got someone that would put up with it so we also rationalize that we were meant to get the challenging pup.

@greysmom No ants or ticks yet as I am in the great North. I'll send pictures to vet and solicit feedback there. Thanks for that idea. @MerseyGrey just one sticky blister.

Hi All, I am noticing an interesting looking lesion on Stanley's back inside leg. I just noticed it minutes ago and am wondering if anyone has seen this before. It seems to have a bright red ring on the outside and inside is the normal color of skin, but the whole thing seems moist or sticky to the touch. It immediately made me think ring worm, but upon a quick google search I'm not confident that it is. Maybe a run of the mill hot spot? I've had Stan for 3 years and have not seen anything like this yet. I have pictures but I can't find a way to attach them as it appears the file size is too large. Do I need to go to the vet or are there some conservative treatments I can try first? Any thoughts are much appreciated!

@racindog this is interesting insight, but how do you explain that he is only reactive to some dogs? For instance he loves my sisters Pomeranian, he was ok with my neighbors husky and he absolutely detested my neighbors doberman.

Hello everybody, Stanley my 6 y/o has sporadically demonstrated the following behavior for as long as I can remember but it seems to be getting worse. Some dogs he sees from a distance and his body language is soft and happy. If I let him get close to said dog and assuming the other dog is well behaved, they will sniff each other and move on. Some dogs he sees (and probably a majority) he stiffens, hair stands up and he gets an extremely angry tail wag. Then cue the barking and growling. Even worse, if we are walking he will pull to the point that he is choking himself. This happens until the other dog is out of sight. I have looked for patterns, small vs. big, M vs. F, fixed vs. intact and there seems to be no consistency. Say Stanley broke away from the lead during one of these episodes I trust it would get ugly. I'm sure the only way to temper this behavior is through some sort of training, but I don't know that I am skilled enough to pull it off. Does anyone have insight on what may be going on here and if they have had success with changing the behavior? Thanks as always for your help!

Thank you all for your feedback and sorry for the delayed response. I was delayed in responding because of course shortly after I posted, the cut healed and has not re-opened since. Crossing my fingers this is permanent, but based on all of your feedback, if it re-opens I should at minimum discuss the possibility of removing the toe with my vet. That seems so extreme, but I understand it may be the only option.

Stanley has a wound on the side of his outside (Pinkey?) toe of his front left paw. It started back sometime in October he was zooming about and then I noticed a limp and then I noticed a lot of blood. After consulting with vet, I kept it clean put him on an antibiotic and it healed perfectly without any type of sutures. About two weeks after healing, he was zooming about and boom the same laceration re-opened. I spoke with the vet again and he indicated to take the same approach because it is an almost impossible area to stitch. Took the same approach this time no antibiotics and it healed again. Rinse, wash, repeat. Two more healing periods (Looks fully healed) two more zoom sessions and two more re-openings of the same cut. Vet says that we may need to consider putting the pup under in order to explore the wound to see if there is a foreign body (he is a grey specialist so he knows his grey specific anesthesia thankfully). Anyone else have any other experience with something like this? I feel very badly because every time it gets re-opened, there are no more walks or zoomies for a while which decreases quality of living.

Thank you for the support. Just what I needed. I agree with your approach. It is like life in general. One day at a time! Bringing him into our family has definitely brought us so much happiness so it is all worth it.

Hi All. Just an update. I adjusted Stanley down to two meals 12 hours apart based on some of your feedback. I also gave him free run of the house at night and he has been sleeping in our room from about 11pm-5am most nights which is quite nice. It's funny that he is laying in his bed in our room every night, because before we confined him to a few rooms of the house he always slept on the back couch! I have an appointment with a new vet that has a ton of experience with greyhounds (my current vet just wasn't impressing me with their lack of knowledge about the special considerations one should have for greys) and we are going to do blood work and another round of fecal tests to ensure his internal health remains tip top as well. Thank you all for caring to post!

Hi GeorgeofNE, While I appreciate all of the insight and support this group provides, and I respect the significant contribution you've made to greytalk through thousands of posts, I think this is just the type of comment that would upset just about anyone and shouldn't be made in haste without a full understanding of the situation between dog and owner. Clearly I am looking for support (note the title of the thread) not for opinions on whether or not I should surrender my dog of whom I care deeply for and who has made my life better than it was before getting him. If you notice in my original post I commented that "he has brought me more joy than I can describe" so obviously it isn't all bad. I don't mean to be rude, but just need to stand up for myself and my pup as we have both worked hard to form a good relationship together. In any case. Thank you for caring enough to post....that does mean something to me. Hi Greysmom, Of course all the health issues are out of his control and I am working tirelessly to help him be as healthy and happy as he can be. I trust I am like a lot of people and there are ups and downs. We have had many more ups! I was simply yearning for words of encouragement in this case as I happened to be stressing out at that moment. Thank you for caring! Hi Sobesmom, Thanks for the insight. I agree there should be no shame in giving your dog up if it simply isn't the right fit. I do believe he is a strong fit for our family, but I do understand this is an option. If I ever got to a point that his ability to be happy was compromised in our home I would think hard about going this route. Thank you for caring.

Thank you all for your input. One person said maybe the boop means he needs to go potty. Perhaps that could be a contributing factor, but often times after his breakfast he will lay on the couch roaching for 6 hours straight and won't even be bothered to go outside. Amazing!

Thank you for the encouraging words. We love him, but it is hard to keep a cool head when you feel like no matter how hard you try it doesn't make a difference.

Hi All, I am struggling. We have had our pup for almost 2 years. He has brought me more joy than I can describe but also more stress and anxiety than I would have expected. It is a constant grind. As soon as we resolve one thing the next comes up. E.g. hook worm for 6 months, fleas, statuing on every walk for a year, scared of kids, won't sleep through the night (Still won't) and now he has all of the sudden become territorial of the couch. I have read books about positive reinforcement training and worked with the pup ad nauseum. I read books about understanding how dogs think, express themselves through body language and have even taken a greyhounds only training class! Each thing we are challenged with we usually get through, but this latest issue with him growling and occasionally showing teeth when we sit on the other end of the couch (5 feet away from him) is quite hurtful (He has lost couch privileges indefinitely). Anyways, as pathetic as it is, I am just needing some community support. I like to think I am not the only person to have experienced this. Best Regards and thanks for your input.

Thank you all. The reason he didn't have run of the house was because instead of barking to get our attention he would just pace about the room and boop our face with his wet nose. I'm unsure which is worse at 4am! We are taking the suggestion to move his last meal to around 6:00pm and a small snack before bed. We also gave him run of the house again since everyone seemed to be aghast that he was confined to the kitchen and a couch and crate. He is now back to pacing and booping at 4:15am. I think I need to bite the bullet and positive reinforcement train staying on his bed until 6:00am but that will be easier said than done!

Thank you all. The reason he didn't have run of the house was because instead of barking to get our attention he would just pace about the room and boop our face with his wet nose. I'm unsure which is worse at 4am! We are taking the suggestion to move his last meal to around 6:00pm and a small snack before bed. We also gave him run of the house again since everyone seemed to be aghast that he was confined to the kitchen and a couch and crate. He is now back to pacing and booping at 4:15am. I think I need to bite the bullet and positive reinforcement train staying on his bed until 6:00am but that will be easier said than done!

Stanley has been with us for 1.5 years.I can't remember how long this has been an issue but it has been extremely bad for about 6 months now. Stanley is fed before bed and in the morning. He anticipates both meals to an extreme degree. Heart rate goes up, pacing, crying etc. About 3-5 times per week he will start whining and barking between 3:30-5:00 am and won't stop no matter what. He stops after being fed. He gets run of the back room and kitchen in the house with a couch and crate available so he should be more than comfortable. However, I keep him babygated in that space so that he can't pace the entire house and claw at our bedroom door. We stood strong and didn't give into his barking for the last 4 months figuring he would learn. We have "his" alarm clock set for 5 am so when that rings he knows he is getting fed. We tried starting the alarm at 4 and increasing by 10 minutes every time he slept until it rang but once we got it to 5am he started whining at 4am again. I wonder if he is anticipating his food so much secondary to an anxiety problem? Or maybe he has some other medical issue? I am at my wit's end but love him dearly. I have somewhat succeeded in getting him to wait calmly for his evening meal with positive reinforcement clicker training. That is hard to do when you are trying to sleep!

A. We added the third meal because he wouldn't sleep through the night. B. He will cry and bark until he is fed. He will keep at this for an hour so saying "not now" doesn't cut it. However painful it is for us, we deal with it and stay on schedule as it is our choice not his. We have had him for 1.5 years. The behavior isn't new, but it has gotten progressively worse. He did have hook works when we got him and we struggled with that for a full year. He is allegedly free of parasites but it is probably time for a re test. He is healthy, happy, has good stool and is energetic. Perplexing to say the least!

Hi all, I feed the pup (raced at 71 lbs and now hovers around 72-74lbs) 3 times daily, 1 cup per feeding + a Kong once daily packed with 1/3 cup kibble and a bed time snack of 1/3 cup kibble. Stanley approaches every meal as his last and his internal clock is spot on for every meal. I take him out at 11pm and administer the bed time snack right after.....he is up at 5am crying to be fed. Sometimes earlier. Here is my dillema.... I don't want to feed him too much but I'm wondering if the only way to get him to sleep later than 5am and to have his finger generally satiated is to feed more. The problem with that theory is that after I feed him at 5am, he will lay on his couch roaching for literally 7+ hours without a peep. This leads me to believe that he just knows he gets fed when we wake up and has learned to anticipate his morning meal to the point of anxiety, which causes whining until he gets fed. I'm at a loss, but certainly want him to A. Not be starved and B. I'd prefer to sleep past 5am once in a while. Has anyone experienced this?

Thank you both for your insight.

Hi All, We need to purchase heart worm preventative. We just finished using Heart Guard and have been told by various sources that Sentinel is better for Greys especially if they are prone to hook worm. Stanley is currently hook worm free but it took us a year to get him that way so I would like to use whatever is best for prevention of both heartworm and hook/whip/round worms. Let me know. Also any tips on where to buy it the cheapest?