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JustJamAA

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  1. This is probably totally irrelevant but it just made me think of a dog I met at the vets. It was a border collie, according to his owners he reacts really badly to ill people. They were telling me that he growls like crazy at a person on their street who has cancer. He was completely fine with them but one day the dog just started growling at him/her. The person was then diagnosed with cancer. They started to notice a pattern. Now they know if someone is ill just from the way their dog reacts to them! I think you were right to let her go. I would suspect something had happened on a walk and just in practical terms you'd always feel uneasy if you kept her on, worrying your dog might go for her, worrying she was doing something off camera etc and it's not worth the worry. But it could be that she just smelled funny - maybe she was smelling like another dog she walked that yours does not like or she's wearing a perfume that the dog has a bad connection with etc. Could be entirely innocent but like I said, not worth the worry.
  2. My lad does this. His stupid goofy face, makes me laugh. I haven't quite worked out why, I thought maybe anxiety but he does it when he's chilled out. I think it's just one of them things!
  3. We aren't going to bounce her. She's a very loving dog. I think she just growls in her sleep. She did it to my other dog who clambered onto her bed. She was fine and we were watching her. She was drifting off and my other dog moved and she growled. He didn't do anything and she just fell back to sleep. Yeah, I think it is sleep startle - just not sure if we're reacting the right way. Thanks for responding though. Just wanted to check that telling her to get down when she does that is the right thing to do.
  4. I was walking my two exceptionally well behaved Grey's through the to the car after a walk. I make the point of exceptionally well behaved because in that instance they were doing nothing wrong, tongues lolling, happy and happily tired dogs after a nice walk, not paying any notice to anything particularly, just walking like any other dog. They were wearing their muzzles as they often do. A man, about 28yrs or so, nudges his girlfriend and loudly enough that I know he wanted us to hear he said; look at those dogs, dobermans them, vicious dogs, look they have to wear muzzles. Vicious dogs. All I can think is - what an idiot! Take no notice. That lady, like this man has no significance in your life ;-)
  5. Hi, just wanted to check in on a behaviour we've experienced a couple of times. One of our greyhounds (no medical problems) has just recently started to get on the sofa with us. She usually prefers her own space when she's sleeping. But she loves a snuggle and is super affectionate but after a while she will start viciously growling. What we think is happening is that she's fallen asleep, forgotten where she is, and then woken up with someone in her space, and probably forgets it's us. Now I know that you shouldn't tell off growling but in this scenario she's chosen to get in our space - when she has an excellent dog bed (which she loves) and the option of another sofa. So my feeling is, 'no we're not going to jump off 'our' sofa heeding a warning to back off because she's started growling. So everytime it's happened we tell her sternly to 'get down'. And she does. Is this the right thing to do though? I understand that you shouldn't tell a dog off for growling because the growl is a warning and if she growled at me when i went up to her bed, I would back off because that's her bed. But when she's in our space - and this is the sofa that my husband and I always sit on, I feel it's right to say - 'you get down then'. We don't say anything other than 'get down now'. Would you mostly agree that, that is the right approach? Or is it detrimental? She isn't in pain and doesn't have any medical issues. Thanks!
  6. Thanks racindog - your post actually made me cry. I was doubting myself into thinking, maybe I'm not the right owner for them, but your post gave me a lift and a renewed boost in confidence seeing the positives that did come from the situation xx Yesterday I went back today to see if I could find the owner of the spaniels, he wasn't there unfortunately, but a lady who was also there at the time, and saw it all unfold, she said she felt so sorry for me, there was a lot of support, and no one was blaming me for the incident. I was so grateful to hear that. It wasn't actually a dog park, we don't really have them in the UK, it was just a normal park, like an open grassy field that we were walking through. Anyway, she did say the Spaniel was completely fine. He had no marks at all, and she walked off home. She said from her view, all the dogs rounded on that spaniel because of the noise she was making. Obviously i'm sure if I had a slow motion video I could see all the things that went wrong, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wasn't prepared because they'd never given me reason to think they would do that - or so I had thought.....actually they gave me loads of signs but I misread them. She did say, it came out of nowhere, it was just a split second thing. So we all misinterpreted the signs. Your right in that he did let me open his mouth and he didn't draw blood and that really is something. Still trust is broken with them around dogs, so they will always be wearing muzzles from now on. I have learnt a couple of things. I have learnt my dogs won't bite me, even at a high arousal state. I know I need to somehow find them an opportunity to run free and burn off more energy - walks are just not cutting it, they want to run, they want to get to high speed's. My dogs aren't the lazy coach potatoes I'm seeing everywhere else. They sleep, and they love to lounge on the sofa when we're at home, but they are ready to go, they want to play, they are fit, they are eager and they are anything but lazy. They sleep the amount they need to - around 18/19hours a day but that still leaves 5-6 hours worth of energy to burn. They aren't lazy dogs. They're lazier than a border collie, but they aren't lazy. If that makes sense? I also learnt, I won't judge people as harshly as I used to when I came across incidents where a dog bite. I am a sensible lady. My husband is sensible. We're responsible dog owners. Our dogs are loved and cared for. Over christmas with my nephews and nieces, we were beyond diligent. I've spent the last 6 months introducing them to little dogs, being in a home and living a pet life. I came from a dog family, I grew up with dogs. I don't walk my dogs irresponsibly. But this still happened to me. It's so easy to judge people as a bystander, so easy to watch a youtube video and say - look at all those warning signs - the owner is an idiot. But those videos, they take out the human factor. Easy to assess a situation when you're not involved in it. They don't provide the watcher with the sensory overload that the human is going through as well. We can't see our dogs faces when we're walking them, and sometimes it's easy to confuse one signal for another. I confused prey drive with play, the excitement the posturing, the fact my dogs had been around these dogs before and all had been fine. I knew my dogs were getting excited and with that there was some frustration because they were on a lead. I knew that and I felt that, but I still confused the signs. I knew I couldn't stay because of that, but more because I was thinking - poor buggers, not fair they can't run. I was not thinking this is dangerous! Not anticipated how fast it could escalate. I went from 'I'm going to have to go, my dogs are getting a bit overly excited' - to my dog now has a spaniel in it's mouth - and that happened in an instant. So i had misread all the other signs while we were walking into that park and the worse sign that I missed, the calm fixed stare. I read this article: http://greyhoundequality.org/care_article1.html Due to the nature of prey drive and predatory aggression, signs may be misinterpreted as play. They include, but are not limited to: - Dog becoming excited & difficult to distract - I thought they needed more training - Shaking, trembling, fixed stare - I had confused with anxiety - May be unable to take their eyes off the small dog - i had confused with interest - Neck arched, tail up, stiff stance - thought this was excitement and being alert - Trying to encourage the small dog to move; the greyhound may be rough with the small dog e.g. placing a paw on it, bunting with its nose over the neck or abdomen - The dog may vocalise if it is thwarted from obtaining access to its intended target - I thought the whining was, 'I want to play' Up until the behaviorist pointed out 'prey drive' as being the cause, I hadn't really explored that topic. Greyhounds will chase a squirrel and you won't be able to catch him, so keep him on a lead, was what I was told, so it's what I did. I read everything I could get my hands on about body language and none of the above came up until I googled, Understanding greyhound prey drive - which is a pretty specific search term. My searches before were - dog - body language, can you see what I mean? I just didn't know what I needed to know. Like a quiz show, it's easy when you know the answers. Those points there should come as standard in a leaflet when you're adopting a greyhound. Had someone said to me, be careful when you see this sort of body language and don't necessarily confuse it with them being anxious or excited, from day one I would have been switched on to it. Is that my fault? Yes and no. I did so much reading before we brought the dogs home, but I was reading stuff like 'the other end of the leash' and how to understand your dogs body language, and training positively. I wasn't willfully ignorant, I just hadn't come across probably the single most important points to look for as a greyhound owner, what prey drive looks like before the chase I know now and I will be better prepared in the future. Yesterday on our walk I couldn't believe how many times they had locked eyes on a moving object ahead. I'm really glad the spaniel appears to be uninjured, and this was the warning point for me to be switched on to the right body language in my dogs. Thanks all for your responses. I have learnt a lot the last couple of days, luckily no one was injured, including myself. I realized when I stuck my hand in his mouth that I could well be bitten but actually I was more concerned for the spaniel than my own hand. It's testament to my grey's own temperament that they didn't and also a reflection of the respect and bond that exists between us. I will work with the behaviorist because I need to be demonstrating that I'm taking this very very seriously. I think a key part of training might be 'watch me', where I can refocus their attention on to me before their arousal levels get too high.
  7. Hi, Sorry long post, I'm pretty emotional. Something awful happened today in the park. My 2 greyhounds (5yrs old, ex-racers, adopted) attacked another dog - a spaniel medium sized dog. In the park was 4 adults and 6 dogs. Mine were both on the lead, 3 were off lead, another on a lead. These are dogs mine have met before. My dogs have never done this before, or given me any reason to think they would do this. The only reason I keep them on lead is because they have no recall, they haven't shown any aggression like that before. We approached the park and I waved to the group. I could see my dogs were excited, but they are often excited seeing other dogs. I went over to the circle of adults to say hello. Dogs came over, lots of sniffing and general excitement. At one point, my male greyhound growled at one of the spaniels, but the spaniel ran off and I said to the group, 'think he's getting a bit overwhelmed, better head off' - it was chaotic - with dogs bouncing around everywhere. My dogs were getting bouncy and excited and possibly frustrated that they were on a lead, so I knew we couldn't stay. The spaniel was yapping, a real high pitched bark. I said goodbye and was turning to leave (all the while I've still got my dogs on the lead) when ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. My male grey had got the yapping spaniel in its mouth and pinned to the floor. I didn't see exactly what had happened, it was just one minute I'm saying good bye, the next minute my dog has its mouth round this other dog and is shaking it. My other grey then went in. There were people, dogs, tangled leads, the spaniel was screaming, the other off lead dogs were trying to get involved and my dogs refusing to let go. I literally pulled open my dogs mouth with my bare hands. He released and I dragged him back. The owner of the spaniel had my female grey by the back of her harness in the air. Once untangled, I dragged them back from the other dogs, they were still pulling, whining, lunging but I was stood far enough back, as everyone tried to get their dogs back on their leads. I was saying, 'is your dog ok, is your dog ok' - while the owner and another lady was checking the dog over. The man shouted back, I think so, yes, doesn't seem to be any blood. She's ok. They just had her pinned. Then he said, she's a drama queen probably sounded worse than it was. He was being nice..... it was bad. I said, do you want my number in case, he said, no it was ok - it's still frantic at this point, I'm still trying to restrain my dogs, still lots of barking and dogs pulling - as I see this guy quite a lot on walks, I said, 'ok let me know I've got to get them out of here'. I marched them all the way home. I've immediately called my vet, to tell them and to tell them to call me if a spaniel turns up. I also got a number of a behaviorist. I went through what happened with her, she's said - doesn't sound like they (my dogs) were scared, doesn't sound like they were playing - if they were shaking the dog - that's prey drive and it's dangerous and not an awful lot that can be done, she said it's easier to train fear aggressive dogs than dogs with a high prey drive, but there are some things we can do to lessen arousal. We're organizing an appointment to have her over. I'm just in a state about it. How can I ever, ever trust them again? This has never happened before. They are always great with other dogs. I'm always telling people how friendly they are. They were playing with a Jack Russell puppy the other day. They'll always be muzzled from now on for the rest of their lives. I don't 100% know if the other dog was injured. I wish I'd stayed around to take his number, I just want to know she's ok properly. After he'd taken her home and fully inspected her. I feel awful. I don't know what caused it, or where it came from or why. I can't even look at my dogs right now. I marched them home and put them in the kitchen. I let them out an hour ago in case they needed the toilet. I know they probably have no idea what they've done wrong but they attacked another dog, I can't very well bring them home, give them a treat and say goodboy like I normally would after a walk - so I put them where there beds are, made sure they have water, and closed the door, and other than letting them out for a pee, I've given them no interaction. i just don't know where to go or what to do from here. I'm devastated and so ashamed about it. I love my dogs, but I cannot have this. If I was the owner of the Spaniel, I'd be calling the dog warden, which who knows he may get home and very well decide to do. I'd be furious if two dogs twice the size of mine grabbed my dog, pinned it down and started shaking it. The only saving grace is they didn't appear to draw blood. There was no bite wound, who knows he might get home and discover something, but between him and the other lady, they couldn't see any marks on this dog. This is a terrible thing to have happened and I just don’t understand why, or where we go. The trainer won’t be able to come for another couple of weeks. What would you do in my shoes?
  8. thanks for your responses! They sound great. Yes she gets plenty of walks and physical activity overall, although at the moment she's got a poorly paw, so she's on bed rest - hence why trying to keep her entertained but still rested in the house. thanks
  9. Hey, My female 4 year old Grey: 1) gets bored very easily 2) has a very low attention span 3) but also, 'gives up' easily 4) is very food motivated My husband says she's just a total diva, haha. Any bordom breaker / brain train games you can think of that might suit her? thanks!
  10. Build the bond and trust with your dog before starting training, and especially crate training. Building trust means not fussing over the dog, being consistent, matter of fact but kind and most importantly letting the dog come to you. By all means buy a crate, by all means have a bed and a duvet in there and by all means toss treats in there - but I wouldn't recommend any training to leave the dog for a period of time alone and locked inside, until the dog has learnt to trust you. Give it a couple of weeks of just getting to know each other before any training.
  11. awwwww this is lovely! I must have two of the worst behaved greyhounds then! haha. Mine are into EVERYTHING. We cannot put a single thing down without it being stolen - shoes, tissues, food, hairbrushes, remote controls, you name it, if they can get their mouth round it, it's going in their bed - and when I take the object away, my girl looks at me and SIGHS! She sighs at me, like a teenager with attitude! haha It's very funny. It's like she's saying - ooooooohhhhhhh but that's not fair. They are complete loons and they're into everything, no corner left unturn. It's adorable and very funny but we certainly have to be on the ball at all times. And begging.....man they have rampaged through the house on the sound of the fridge opening. I swear ours aren't greys - someone got them confused! haha. (just kidding). They're amazing.
  12. On balance is it more cost effective to feed this type of diet? i am interested to try it
  13. Is it possible he could have been having a bad dream? Or was only half awake and didn't realise it was Lulu? But yeah I'd look for pain first,
  14. thanks! that's so helpful! and to ask another daft question - what portion size do you give? Mine are 30kg. How many grams of this would you give per meal? (they are fed twice a day - 12 hours a part). You think your retired vet made the wrong diagnosis with giardiasis? What do you think it was? How long should a dog be on the chicken and rice diet? I'm guessing they miss out on nutrients long term. Dog diet is my biggest area for improvement/learning curve!
  15. Some good ideas here - it would be great if our girl just decided to do the stairs! These are indoor stairs. The party idea sounds pretty good too! We'll figure out how to do that. I will keep you posted if we manage to get anywhere with this! thanks
  16. I wrote a post in another thread for a gentleman who was checking whether he was doing a good job. I wrote about Seperation anxiety and crate training there. My approach to your thread is very different. I do think from what you describe you may have a seperation anxiety problem looming if he can't be left for 10 minutes without destroying something. For the other poster I said, don't worry about crate training, for you - I'd recommend following all the steps. I didn't want anyone to think I was being hypocritical but your case does sound quite a bit different. It might be worth reaching out to a behaviorist. Problems like these you want to really nip in the bud, get a handle on them before they become embedded. I've got some friends who adopted a dog who displayed some issues. Same week they called a behaviourist which I thought was a bit soon but actually they got some really good solid help and advice and 3 hours of time to just figure the dog out, and it's put them straight on the right road. They could have left it several months but by then habits are ingrained, patience is thin and the bond with the dog is not where it should be. Doing it straight away usually means new owners have got bags of energy, time, love and patience for their new dog and all those things help immensely. It's not usually cheap but if you get a good person it can be well worth the spend. One of the things they learned was - the dog wasn't getting enough rest. People were keeping him on the go far too much so he was having toddler tantrums basically because he's tired. I thought that was some key insight into their case, something I hadn't thought of and they hadn't either. Their dog isn't a greyhound, it's a high energy and endurance dog but he's still a young dog, still a puppy and they had failed to pick up on that but equally they did call someone the first week they adopted him, so very swiftly rectified and he's doing much better now. He actually needed more nap time to stop him being so destructive around the house. He was too worked up and living off adrenaline, growling at people, mouthing all the furniture and being a menace (he's only a young small dog at the moment). The change in him was instant over night change - within 24 hours after having enough rest and naps during the day - he was like a totally different dog. How are you getting on?
  17. Thank you for taking the time to respond. I did wonder whether a passerby could have tossed something into our garden that's inappropriate, but I also do think it looks like a dental chew. We won't be giving any of them out anymore! (What do you use instead?) I think the pancreatitis could be the issue, probably a mild case but with her being de-wormed 4 times in a month with 3 different wormers, I can't imagine that, that is still the problem. I wouldn't rule it out entirely but at this point I think it's worth considering other causes. That said the last 24 hours there's been much less prayer position but after her dinner last night she was doing her whinning but this morning she had bags and bags of energy, racing round the garden like a complete loon! haha. I think I will try the rice and chicken diet - this will sound like a dumb question but how do you cook it? (I'm only asking this as in - do buy a full chicken and just boil it, or part roast it, or do you get chicken thighs and bake them - and with the rice, is it just plain easy cook white rice, or do you use a wholemeal rice etc?) I did also wonder about allergies, I read that ex-racers going from their kennels and into a home can cause mild allergies as they adapt to central heating, dust and dust mites etc and that makes sense. I know when I stay at hotels I wake up all stuffy usually because the air conditioning has been left on all night!
  18. Hey - awwww sounds like you're doing really well. My only suggestion would don't walk into this thinking that you 'will' have a separation anxiety issue and get hung up on crate training. Most dogs are fine on their own. An entire industry has been created around separation anxiety to sell us products and training that we don't need. True SA is horrendous. Proper anxiety is a full blown anxiety attack - with full on destruction either to themselves or your house and requires medication. Most dogs don't have this, they are just 'uncomfortable' with being left alone - whinning, panting, inability to settle, some inappropriate chewing and that's all quite normal - dogs are pack animals and when a member of their pack has gone it unsettles them. That's not SA, that's just pack mentality. Unfortunately that doesn't work for humans but dogs are good at adapting to their humans when strong trust has been established. If you have SA on the brain he'll pick up on your angst and that will make him more worried. Just recognise this is a new environment and he may need help learning to trust that when you leave you always come back and that this is his house now and it's a safe and lovely place to be and he has a job to do keeping watch of the den when you're out! The best advice when you leave him, leave him tired. Make sure he's had some decent exercise, a run round the garden, a walk anything that makes him tired. So cool goodbyes and warm hello's (this new technique of ignoring your dog when you get back might be a technique for true SA but it's not necessary for a normal dog who is just excited to see you). When I get back I come in and say 'hi, oh good doggies, good boy, good girl, and give them rubs and love and act excited to see them and take them straight out into the garden and play ball'. It's a happy time. We are all happy to see each other and it's a lovely bonding time. I have a nannycam and they settle fine. I've watched them go from sound asleep when I've been putting my key in the front door and they've heard it and jumped up ready to greet me like huge love bugs. To snub them as a means of dealing with a problem that doesn't exist just feels mean and unnecessary. The text books would tell me this is the thing to do, my own common sense tells me in my case that advice would negatively impact my dogs. My girl didn't like the crate she was panting and whinning in it, my boy loves his. So we dumped her crate - she settles fine now in the kitchen with her favourite bed and my boy has his crate but we leave the door open. So far so good. Approach and deal with him as if he's a well adjusted, happy, friendly, confident dog untill he gives you reason to think otherwise. Crate training is a tool to help a dog settle but it's only one of many tools. As for the toilet. I ignored all the accidents. The most I said was 'oh dear' when my boy cocked his leg against our bath (I was trying not to laugh as he'd just watched my husband pee in that room and clearly thought that was the place to go because he looked at me with this little smug face - like he was saying - look I learn I go here right? Haha). We just kept taking them out and waited till they pee'd. If I was peeing and someone came in and shouted no, wagging a finger at me and dragged me outside by my neck - I'd be pretty scared. I might learn the lesson but I wouldn't like the person very much and it would make me wary of going to the loo. That doesn't mean allow them to pee where they want but toilet is a sensitive one, it's something they need to do - whereas grabbing food from the counter is not something they need to do - so a firm 'NO' or 'ah' I think is fair with that one. But when you gotta go, you gotta go....you see dogs at crufts pee and poop on the floor and those are highly trained dogs.... Mine quickly caught on. Every 2 hours is very frequent. I suggest you take him out first thing and when he's pee'd give him 3 hours and take him out, if he doesn't pee that time take him out 1 hour later and if he doesn't pee that time take him out 30 minutes later and that time wait till he does. If you can just let him out in a secure garden and let him sort himself out while you hang back even better. We haven't had any more accidents. It's all a learning curve for them. They don't know but they want to get it right, they just need the time to learn and us to learn them also. You'll be a great owner I can feel it just don't get too hung up on the text book stuff of what 'you should do' - pick and choose what works for you. In a nutshell don't let a book or article replace your own common sense. That said I really recommend reading the other end of the leash by Patricia McConnell or searching and watching some of her YouTube videos. She's fab and makes a tonne of sense and she's a common sense lady. But I think you're going to do great!
  19. This probably isn't the same but we adopted two greyhounds at the same time. One of them literally walked into his crate and roached immediately. We set up a nannycam and the footage of him is ridiculous - he sprawls completely out and is so relaxed. The girl though - a bit different. She took ages to settle and panted a lot. She then started to refuse to go in her crate. We determined she had a mild aversion to the confinement, on top of us leaving, we recognized we were on a path to full blown anxiety so we ditched her crate straight away. Now we block off the kitchen if we have to go out. We've removed her crate entirely. We've kept the boys crate but we leave the doors open. They have all their toys, different beds and watching them now it's pretty sweet. They snooze, and swap beds occasionally and they also play with their toys and then have another little snooze. The one thing we always do.....tire them out before leaving them. Usually with some good running round the garden - either throwing balls or playing with a tug toy, or just getting them to chase me - but it's 10 minutes of high energy exercise where they spend part of the time running - they tell me when they've had enough by carrying their toys back to the house! Haha. If you don't have a garden for them to run round a good walk will work anything that makes them tired and feeling like they need a sleep. Then we come in, I let them settle and get their breath back, cool off, drink water etc and usually about 30 minutes later and just as I'm about to leave I will give them a Kong with dog food in it and some pieces of cooked chicken. If it's around a meal time - I will exercise them, give them a break to settle down, feed them, let them go toilet and then give them a Kong (again just with some of their dog food portioned off) and then we'll leave. I always leave a break between the exercise and feeding. The Kong works well, it's like the reward they get because we're going. We don't give them a Kong any other time. I think they look at the Kong like - oh they're leaving but at least we get our Kong! I guess some dogs could wind up not liking the Kong then - but it's just about finding what works for you. A distraction for them while you go. The combination of having done some exercise, and them eating usually means they're too tired to fuss about us being gone. It just takes a bit of planning now before we leave the house but so far they've been really good about it. We get masses of love when we return but it's nice they can settle on their own for a bit. The nannycam means we can check in on them. We can talk to them through it but we don't as I think they'd fine that so confusing. It probably does help we have the two of them. But I think the key thing is leaving them when they are tired and ready for a sleep that way they are too tired to be overly anxious. The other thing to do is get him used to being left on his own while you're in the house, i.e block off the kitchen while you're cooking or having a bath or just using the loo! Start off small. But make sure that space is a great space with his toys and duvets, somewhere that's a nice place to be really. Best of luck xx
  20. Hey - sorry, but I saw something weird in both the dogs poo today. I have no idea what it is but it was undigested, rectangles od something with a rubbery consistency. They were perfectly shaped - rectangles - so not torn up pieces of a toy. There were quite a lot too. The consistency was almost like cooked pasta and the colour like a pedigree dental chew - but the shape was weird. In one poo i saw 5. 5 perfect rectangles - about 1 inch in length and 1/2 inch wide. Totally straight corners. I have no idea what it is or where they have got it from. All they ate yesterday was cooked chicken, their kibble (dark brown and round), and their wet food. And in saying that the dog who seemed to be suffering from tummy ache does seem better today. What on earth could it be? :-s
  21. I'm sure there are lots of posts on this - but for some reason the search function here really doesn't work for me! Any advice on stair training for a really adverse dog who refuses to put back legs on the steps? Can this be trained with lots of patience (or should we just give up and except she won't ever climb stairs) (she really really doesn't like it) Any method that worked best for you? If you did train, how long did it take you? and lastly anyone just resort to using a ramp or some other method? and p.s what am I doing wrong with the search function? haha thanks
  22. thanks everyone, some food for thought here to discuss with the vet, so it's really helpful thanks so much for your ideas xx
  23. I'm in the UK. I've never heard of ragweed! She hasn't lost her appetite though, that's the only thing that's stumping me - she's the first to the food bowl and will race to the fridge whenever she hears it open. How would you know it's hookworm if the test comes back negative? what are the other tests to perform to confirm? She's been treated for worms now 3 times in a month - is there another treatment I should try? She's had advocate x 2, panacur 15mls for 3 days and Droncit. I will certainly drop the greenies as I am wondering if that's the cause. The high fat makes sense. I'm not sure what to feed if not the dry/wet food. I'd prefer to feed natural homecooked meals but it's all very confusing. Is there a good pet food brand that anyone could recommend? thanks
  24. thanks for responding. I will read up on them more. She has gained weight since being with us and since the worming treatment and her appetite is fine - in fact she loves her food and will take anything on offer. I thought the worms were gone due to her weight gain and healthy appetite.
  25. Hi, Just looking for some advice - first things first - I have booked an appointment with the vet. If my dog deteriorates, or shows any signs that her discomfort has turned to pain, or gives me any reason at all to rush her appointment - she will be taken in for emergency care. Currently she isn't urgent, so I've just booked a standard appointment and I'm keeping a close eye on her. Anyone shed any light from their experience as to what might be wrong with my dog? Her symptoms are; more than usual - pray dog/bowing positioning (making me think stomach or back ache) she's been excessively licking her paws to the point where she's received treatment for them laying on her back, turning her head to point towards her tummy/back and whinning - almost like she's trying to reach a spot she can't get to slightly soft poo but nothing terrible and not all the time. No vomiting which I've been closely watching for, but some retching although infrequent and mild restlessness and whinning - but it's not constant. She can be laid out on sofa and just suddenly side twist and whine She occassionally snorts sometimes as well She seems more tired - although she will get up and run around and play, she just gives up quicker and lays down more than normal but on the other hand she still gets excited and races round when she's up for it the whinning is what has me worried, when she does it, it does seem to be because she's uncomfortable. Treatment received so far Vet visit 1 :4 weeks ago: Reason - chewed paws & she was itchy: antibiotics, pain relief, bandaging, cream for her paws. (Her paws are much better) Vet visit 2: 3 weeks ago: Reason: visible sighting of worms in her poo and she was itchy (she'd had advocate prior to this): De-worming and flea treatment - panacur and droncit, first visit to vets (3 weeks ago) Vet visit 3: 1 week ago: reason - still itching: Given advocate Itching has lessened but she still seems not herself. For stomach issue the first thing to rule out is parasites, we've done that now. The live worms may have been a result of her previous advocate treatment (but I can't be sure exactly when she had that, as she's recently adopted) There is something wrong and I know this is a bit wishy washy but thought might be worth asking - even if it's just for possible causes, that way I can read up and when I take her to the vet, we can have a discussion where I'm not just nodding my head with no idea what the vet is saying! She's fed on a grain free, hypoallergenic kibble and wet food - but she does have treats. One being a greenies dental chew (which I will stop giving now as this is the only treat that is more suspect than the others). Mostly for treats she gets cooked chicken or ham. Many thanks for any ideas or suggestions. I am worried about her. xx
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