cgs

About teaching him to ring the bell....I hung some bells and when he would stand by the door to go out, I just took his snout and moved them to the bells so they'd ring, and then I'd open the door. I didn't think he was getting it since he never rang them, but one day I wasn't paying attention when he was near the door and he rang them! Smart boy--no need to ring if someone is there. Our little dog is the same--she'll sit patiently by the door, and after a little while if no one notices, she'll quietly grrrrr. The little one barks to get in if no one notices she's there. Poor Percy just waits and waits for someone to let him in. Sometimes I forget about him and he's out there for 15 or 20 minutes and he's not normally one to just hang out outside the way Lulu does. I figure eventually he'd bark (or roo) to get in if we really never noticed him there. Anyway, just letting you know I didn't need treats or anything else. He just caught on.

I tried the DE also, but it didn't do anything. After 3 months, he was still positive for worms and his poop was the same. Percy is on Olewo carrots twice a day now, so that makes his poop firm. The afternoon one can still be a bit soft, but much better than before. I'm giving him Panecur and advocate every 2 weeks now. Not sure when I'll test again.

Percy took about 2 weeks to really get the hang of the stairs if I recall correctly. The first 2 nights, I slept on the living couch and he was in his crate next to me. The third night he stayed in his crate and I slept upstairs in bed. He was fine. It was maybe 2 weeks later, after he had learned stairs, that he started rooing in the morning. I think he decided we were now his pack and no longer liked being alone. I had tried to entice him upstairs at bedtime prior to that, but wasn't able to. He could do the stairs, but it seemed too hard at night when he was tired. He finally decided to come upstairs and sleep with us. I would think that with 2, they'd be fine in the kitchen alone. Percy was crated, so didn't have accidents (except he did poop in his crate one morning, but I don't think he could help it--had upset tummy). If you get them early enough in the day and keep reinforcing that they go outside to potty, they might already have the hang of inside/outside by bedtime. But without crates, it's hard to know. If they're crying at night, then you'll know they need a human downstairs with them for a couple nights. But they're used to sleeping with other dogs, not humans, so I'd think they'd be ok together.

Your post made me remember that there was one other time when he sort of grrrr'ed at her when she went to her bed. It was in a different spot then, and to get to it, she had to walk very close to him. So we moved it. He hadn't had any issue with her being there in the new spot. But yeah, maybe just communication between the two of them and no big deal. I've just never seen him show his teeth like that or growl like that. I didn't scold or correct him. Just kind of say "Percy? Everything ok over there?" And it was over.

Percy peed in the house a few times early on. I think for him it was mostly marking, maybe some need. He got the hang of going to stand by the back door pretty quickly. We put a bell up and taught him to ring it. He only rings it when someone doesn't notice he's standing there.

It's extremely rare that I take something away from him. Once was out on a walk and I had no treats. I don't think it's a "I'm tired of this and asserting myself now" kind of thing because Lulu wasn't really near him. I guess I'll see if it happens again.

Percy is super laid back. I think maybe the second day we had him, we had to take a chew treat away from him after realizing it wasn't safe and he growled a little. But since then, nothing. If he's lying on his bed, I can brush his teeth, grind his toenails, the little dog (Lulu) can sniff around him, etc. He barely twitches an ear. After that first incident with the chew treat, I have successfully and easily removed things straight from his mouth when needed with not even a hint of a reaction. Last night he was lying on his bed in the family room while we watched TV. Lulu went over to her bed, which is a few feet away. All of a sudden he started barking and growling and showing teeth. Lulu moved away--I think she was confused, but not scared. She didn't growl back at him. It was over immediately and he became his normal self. I've never seen him sleep startle. I've accidentally kicked him and stepped on him at night with no reaction whatsoever. So what was this? If he was deeply asleep, I don't even see how Lulu going to her bed would have woken him up.

Glad to hear progress. We're about 7 months in. Hoping for an end to this soon.

Yeah, i think by the end of my post, I had come up with the same thing you did. 😁

I haven't had her retested. I'm assuming she's fine. She had one day where she had an upset stomach and loose poop, but my husband had given both dogs some hotdogs the night before and both were sick. She can usually eat anything.

Latest link for the prison program. The link changes as they update it. This was updated last month--July 2018. http://prisongreyhounds.org/Hookworm%207-2018.pdf If the link doesn't work, search ohio state prison greyhound hookworm. I'm going back to this regimen, but with panacur. I have a lot of trouble getting Drontal into my boy. The part at the end does mention using either Drontal or Panacur, though they recommend Drontal. I originally used both and it didn't help, but only did 3 or so treatments, which is what the prison program recommended at the time. Now they're saying do it for 5-6 months.

Thanks. I'm copying the relevant part here: PaddysDad, how did you get the 1.1ml per 5lbs of dog figure? This site says "According to Susan Stack, (see reference below) a veterinarian practicing in Yuma, Arizona, cattle Safeguard is exactly the same product as horse Panacur suspension (10% Fenbendazole), and both are also made by the same manufacturer (Hoechst). The canine dose of the horse Panacur suspension is 1 cc per 4 pounds given daily for three days. This means a 60 pound greyhound gets 15 cc," Your calculation would be 60lbs/5=12*1.1= 13.20. Do you know/remember where you got your calculation? The bottle itself says it's 100mg/ml, which is .1 gram/ml. The panacur powder dose is 8 grams for a 70lb dog, which (according to the panacur box) is 222mg/g of actual medicine. So 222mg/g*8g=1776 mg. 776mg/100= 17.76ml. If I do this same calc for a 60lb dog, I'm back to PaddysDad's calculation or thereabouts. (222*6g panacur=1332mg. 1332/100=13.2.) I guess there's a range on the powdered panacur. 61-80lbs gets 8grams of panacur powder. So I guess variations in the liquid dose don't matter too much. I think I'm thinking too much and doing too much math.

Also, is there a better/cheaper way to get this than panacur c or a good place to get panacur c?

Ugh PaddysDad. I look forward to hearing about the drontal vs panacur experiment. I think I'm going to start panacur again. I've just been doing AdMulti. But Percy had an upset stomach--eating grass--last weekend and again today. He's had nothing but kibble to eat and small milkbones. No people food for about 2 weeks. I think it might be the worms. I give it for 3 days right? Then wait 3 weeks and give again? (I don't feel like calling the vet.)

I don't remember exactly--maybe 3 rounds of panecur and drontal? I think the panecur was for giardia. I think I may try panecur again. I'm not sure if people are having better luck with panecur or drontal.

Did it work? I have completely lost track of who's hook free and who isn't. I started with the prison protocol, but it didn't work. Maybe it would work now that we should have "steady state" in the larval leak problem.

Has anyone had any luck getting rid of the hooks with just Advantage Multi? This is what my vet recommended after consulting with a parasitologist. I was told it could take 6-12 months and it's been 5 months and seemingly no progress. I'm wondering if I should just be patient and continue on with the Advantage Multi, or if I should go with a round (or 2) of panacur or drontal now that steady state should be built up to deal with larval leak.

Percy's test came back moderate again. Last time it was low. I thought we were heading in the right direction. I know one test isn't an accurate picture, but things did seem to be getting better with his poop. It's gotten worse again, which is why I tested again. Just a totally random thought, but there's so much research going on with the microbiome in humans--gut bacteria. I wonder about in dogs. Percy seemed better and then I started training class, so he was getting more high value people food treats, but just boiled chicken, plus my husband started giving him some people food after dinner at night. I've cut that off again. I was giving marshmallows for recall training. The hooks live in the gut right? I'm going to cut off people food again and just stick to kibble and a few small treats (because my husband can't be stopped, lol.) I wonder if there's any research on diet and worms.

Dropped off a sample today, so we'll see. I think one reason this thread dropped off is that we've all become resigned to the fact that this could take up to a year to get rid of.

I think it's just literally the number of worms they see in a sample, whatever "sample" means. I don't know if they look at one smear or several or dig through the whole mess or what. I really think something's gotten worse with Percy. His stool isn't as good, even with dehydrated carrots, and he's been gassy even though he's not eating anything except kibble for the most part and he wasn't gassy before.

Yours sits? I've never seen Percy in a sitting position. He's getting better. It's harder when my little one is around because she barks and pulls more and that can get him wound up. But we just encountered this this morning and she was good even while she was being a pain.

I'm planning to retest Percy in the next week or so. Last fecal was low infestation--1-10 or something like that, vs the earlier 11-30. But I fear it's gotten worse. He's been gassy and licking his butt some, which he doesn't normally do.

I'm just laughing at the opposite advice you've gotten. In my gut, I agree with Rakete: What might really important for him is to learn, that life can be pretty boring and that humans do not interact 24/7 with him. But that might just be because that was my parenting philosophy because I was too lazy to play with my kids and I thought it was boring to push a wooden train around a track for more than 2 minutes. So they learned pretty early on to entertain themselves. I don't know all that much about dogs though. But I would try the turning my back thing, then turn back toward him when he stops whining/barking like Rakete said. I'm doing something similar with Percy now. He's gotten very hyper lately when I start to get my shoes on to take him for a walk. He starts getting nippy and boinking me with his nose. So now when he does that, I freeze--absolutely freeze in the middle of putting a shoe on or tying it or whatever. As soon as he turns his head away, I continue. He's getting it. And, you can actually do both pieces of advice at the same time. More exercise and ignoring/turning back when he barks and whines.

I have the same intermittent problem. Most of the time, Percy just looks very interested but doesn't do anything. If the other dog reacts (even from across the street), he is more likely to react. If I'm walking both my dogs and Lulu (little dog) reacts, Percy is more likely to react. But even sometimes just by himself, he'll react, and I kind of never know how he'll be. We routinely cross the street or go the other way, and other people with dogs do the same. There are a couple little dogs he met early on when we got him and he poked at them with his pointy nose, so we don't let him near them anymore, but he still reacts to them when he sees them. There are other dogs he knows (got to run around off leash with them once) and he's fine with them. With random unknown dogs, it's unpredictable. I just give a wide berth, keep saying "easy, good boy" and keep walking. I think there is a technique with giving treats at your side so his attention is on you and he decides that being at your side is good.

I took the advice of others here and started applying it before bed. By morning it's pretty much ok. But I forgot last night (and the night before) and just put it on a little while ago.