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MerseyGrey

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Posts posted by MerseyGrey

    Is this resource guarding?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    17 hours ago, EllenEveBaz said:

    I was thinking that at the kennel he is in a crate by himself so he would never feel a need to guard his bed as a resource?  So training as a weekend foster would be occasional rather than consistent.

    I see what you mean. I think he is in a kennel on his own, but they say that they don’t really go into his kennel, they open the door and make him come to them so I don’t think it’s been an issue. They did tell us yesterday that the behaviour we described - the snap and then following his victim rather than just letting it go - is what his previous owner had experienced, but they weren’t sure whether or not to believe her as she was a bit inconsistent. They said they would talk to a behaviourist to try and work him out. Sounds to me like he’s a grudge-bearer and that maybe he has found a home with kindred spirits!

    52 minutes ago, LBass said:

    For a creature who guards his own space zealously, he has absolutely no respect for anyone else's space. :D


     

    :lol Yes! Ami lures you in with a paw of more or whining for attention…then it’s like a shark attack!

    Is this resource guarding?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    I will talk to the kennel lead when we take him back and let her know what happened and what we’re doing. I don’t really know what goes on behind the scenes and how they interact with the dogs there. I think their policy of ‘let the dog come to you’ is a blanket one for all dogs. They said they hadn’t seen any of the behaviour that had been described by the owner but, like you @EllenEveBaz, they hadn’t let those situations develop. Maybe the home environment is the break in consistency so if we stick to the NILIF training, he will start to expect the same at home as he gets in kennels. I don’t know. We can only try!

    Is this resource guarding?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    Thank you all! ‘Off’ is working well and he is choosing to go to his bed more than the sofa, so hopefully he’s a fast learner. I found a very short and comprehensive guide to NILIF. We’ve both read it and are working to the same goals. We are both ready to have him back in a few weeks’ time and keep working on it.

    I did wonder about pain as this was a definite factor in Buddy’s reactiveness - not to us, but to other dogs. Once he was on Librela, his attitude to other dogs relaxed a whole lot. Ami is only 5 and is twitchy about certain parts being touched but he doesn’t seem to be in any pain. He walks just fine, plays and wriggles his bum around for Britain

     

    • Like 1

    Is this resource guarding?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    Thanks Clare! I think it’s going to be a learning curve but that’s ok, we’re not ready to give up on him. It sounds like you’ve had a journey with Tiger, but they are worth it. I guess, like you said, that it’s about finding the right home for him with someone who knows greyhounds and can give him the space he needs. In the meantime, we will do what we can to help

    • Like 1

    Is this resource guarding?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    Thanks Jan! I think you’re right. It’s back to first principles for this boy and we will work with him as we can. He really is A Very Good Boy and listens to commands well…as long as we can work out what commands he already knows. I’ll look up NILIF, which I had forgotten about from previous posts. Thank you :wub:

    Is this resource guarding?

    in Training and Behavior discussion

    Posted

    This is an introduction of sorts as well as a question about behaviour. Meet Ami, a 5 year old moohound boy…

    IMG_3647edit
     

    IMG_3636edit

    IMG_3638edit

    Ami lived in a home for a year but was returned for biting his owner. It seems that she allowed him on the furniture and her bed, and had a habit of trying to cuddle him and ultimately she ended up being bitten on the bottom. It was implied that he had landed in the wrong home, and the owner was very angry about the defective dog she’d been supplied with. So he’s back at the rescue. The longer he’s been in kennels, the more shut down he has become. They’ve taken him into their secure fields to get him to run with another dog, but he just stands at the gate of the field and trudges back to his kennel.

    Enter the suckers Haydons. We’ve really enjoyed having a dog in the house at regular intervals and when we heard about Ami I wondered if we could give him a bit of a break. We brought him home on Thursday and he’s here with us until Sunday afternoon. Our instructions were : he likes his space. We don’t know exactly what his response will be as we never approach him on his bed, but if he’s on the furniture and starts to fall asleep, get him to go on his bed. Give him a wide berth on his bed.

    Thursday night: using my stomach as a landing pad, Ami decided to join us in bed. He gradually worked his way down to the end of the bed and we had an uneventful night. Friday - he was as good as gold. He joined me on the sofa and was pawing at me for cuddles and strokes. On Friday evening, he was sat on the sofa with me stroking his bum when Dan announced himself and approached his front. He kind of flew at Dan, bit his sleeved arm (no broken skin) and Dan retreated, pursued by a growling and snarling Ami. Ami then circled back to the sofa, still growling. I moved a little closer to tell him to get down (we’ve since learned that he understands ‘off’ better and will use that to be more specific), and he continued to growl and curl his lips. Then he stopped. He stayed on the sofa while I pottered about and took myself off to the other room, to where he followed for cuddles. The whole incident lasted less than 30 seconds but was quite scary. Last night we got him to stay in his own bed in our room, and this morning we’ve had a few sleepy and undirected growls while he’s been on his own bed, but mostly we’ve had paw of more and whines for strokes. Understandably we are more cautious as we had become complacent too quickly, but we would like to try and work to change this behaviour within the confines of his weekend visits here. 
    Am I setting myself an unrealistic goal? Should we just look at managing his behaviour instead, while giving him a little break from kennels? Aside from this, he has been a lovely, affectionate boy, and I don’t want to ruin him more.

    • Like 1

    Librela

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    On 2/8/2024 at 10:46 PM, Bogangles said:

    Very funny. I hope this does not come back to bite you. After all the mistakes done to my dog outside of this I pray yours do not suffer by using a drug which has so very many downsides and deaths.

    Thank you, but it’s not likely. We lost Buddy last October to an unrelated condition after being on Librela for his final 13 months. I’m fairly sure that without it, we would have had to say goodbye to him a good deal sooner, as he was almost certainly in pain from his arthritis and his quality of life would not have been as good as it became on Librela, and that’s why I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again.

    As others have said, we needed to increase the dosage in the last three months of Buddy’s life

    • Like 3

    Librela

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    1 hour ago, macoduck said:

    Howie got his first shot this morning and I hope it helps. He didn't help himself though when he jumped into my living chair (rather than the lower ottoman) and promptly did a face plant when he jumped off :rolleyes: before I could catch him.

    This was one side effect I did notice: it made Buddy think he was much younger than he was so we had a few scrapes and tumbles. I miss that silly boy. I hope that the only thing Howie bruised was his pride :beatheart

    • Like 2

    Librela

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Chipping in here too. Buddy was on Librela for a year before he died (not related to the drug, and it was like having our 8-year-old back, rather than a 12-year-old. We saw improvements within two weeks of his first injection, and towards the end of the year that he was on it we had to increase his dosage as it was making less of a difference, but had another condition. His quality of life was vastly improved and I wouldn’t hesitate to use it again or recommend it to others.

    Not very helpful - but it seemed like our first vet had a random number generator to decide how much it would cost each month! The price was never the same but was always around the £100/month mark. Our second vet allowed the nurses to administer the injection so it would have been around £70 a month.

    I’m also curious to hear what bad things you’ve heard about the drug. It had no known side effects with Buddy, but we always had a niggling doubt about Librela’s relationship to his final illness - nothing more than that, there is no causative link as far as I’m aware. Despite this, I would still use it with another dog because of the improvement in his quality of life.

    • Like 2

    Foster update

    in Everything else Greyhound

    Posted

    9 hours ago, ramonaghan said:

    I *think* Sammy likes you. :wub: Quite a coup, getting you to surrender your bed! 

    Congrats to Buster for landing in his forever home, and I'm sure it won't be long for the lovely Merlin. Will you be offering dogsitting services for your former fosters? 

    Sammy *likes* everyone :lol. We took him home with us after a sighthound social that the kennels had organised, and as we left there we’re still a few people milling around. Sammy sashayed, serpentine fashion, from one set of human legs to the next, stopping for a quick lean on about five strangers before heading out the door with us. Such a floozy.

    We have to stop ourselves from offering ourselves as a holiday home for the non-resident dogs. The rescue has a sideline of boarding and I think that’s how they keep enough money in the coffers. The sighthound social this weekend raised almost £900 which was way above their expectations, and will almost cover their vet bill for the month.

    • Like 1

    Foster update

    in Everything else Greyhound

    Posted · Edited by MerseyGrey

    Hello! This is just a little update for anyone who is interested. Buster, who we fostered a few times in December, has been with a family for the last month and should have his adoption papers signed this week. They have another dog to keep him company so it sounds like he’s landed on all four paws. Good for Buster!

    Last weekend we had blue boy Merlin to stay with us. He was a completely different personality to both Buster and Buddy, but 100% good boy. We were both surprised on how many people approached us, and how many told us how beautiful he was, or what a gorgeous colour he was (both true!), but so were both Buddy and Buster and hardly anyone said the same about those big black beauties.

    https://www.instagram.com/p/C2kqcf8IK9c/?igsh=ZHF6aDVnNzRuM3Yx
     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/C2mRuHDIQQO/?igsh=Nnc0Y2hndnVoaW5x
     

    https://www.instagram.com/p/C2pFGYmI09W/?igsh=MTl4c3A4cGxzcDZoeg==

    This weekend we have Sammy just for one night. Sammy has no concept of personal space and after several failed attempts to get him to settle for bed last night, he invited himself up onto our bed, smashing through the last line that Dan had drawn about dog ownership! At 3.20 this morning, we woke up to find ourselves clinging to the edges of the mattress while Sammy stretched out in the middle, looking like life could not furnish him with any greater pleasure. Enjoy the photos!

    Sammy the Greyt
    Giant lapdog chest dog

    Sammy the Greyt

    Sammy the Greyt

    Sammy the Greyt

    Sammy the Greyt

    Lapdog. Nailed it. 

    • Like 2
    • Haha 1

    Dental Advice

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    With regards to how often to clean your dogs teeth, I would recommend as often as you can - as often as your dog will let you. After an expensive extraction we stepped up our cleaning to around five times a week, but luckily our dog enjoyed the taste of the toothpaste (if not the actual brushing of the teeth). His teeth were in reasonable condition up to the last few months before he died, which we were grateful for as we wouldn’t have wanted to put him through anaesthesia as an elderly dog. 
    We also gave him a eucalyptus Dentastix each evening which were just about his favourite treat, but anything that will scrape his teeth would help and you’ll probably get lots more recommendations. There are also supplements that you can add to their water or sprinkle on their food but we never found these as helpful as brushing. 

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