DaveS
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Posts posted by DaveS
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We've had two dogs at one over the past 30 years. Always had a girl and a boy at the same time. When one died, it would be replaced with the same gender. It worked well with our Cocker Spaniels and now two greys. We have a three yo girl Grey and a five yo boy. They never crossed paths in their lives but now act like they were born as clones. But overall, I have to think it's all about personality rather than gender. We've been extremely lucky.
If you have a chance to attend a Greyhound meetup event where available dogs are present, do it. I think it's best to shop for and test drive ANY product prior to purchasing.
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Thanks for the replies. Interesting information on the process of hunting. I guess it's not all that different from modern fox hunting where the "hunters" enjoy the chase and the sound of the hounds, not the kill itself.
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Since greys were bred centuries ago to be hunting dogs, I wonder how the process worked. They found game by sight and were fast enough to catch it. Did they kill it, eat it, retrieve it, or drive it toward the hunter to take care of. Been wondering how this worked.
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Our five YO male lifted his leg and began to pee in the living room a day or so after he arrived. Fortunately I saw him and gave him a loud "NO." He stopped, I took him outside to finish, and he has never done it again.That was six months ago. He's so at home now I suppose he considers the entire house as his room so he doesn't soil it. Maybe the key is to let the entire house be his big crate.
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Thanks, Alex. I'll give it a try.
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Looks like bringing more dogs up from Florida is temporarily on hold because of the virus restrictions. We were scheduled to get more dogs tomorrow, but that's been postponed indefinitely. Probably the same for other rescue groups around the country.
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This brings up a question. How does one post a photo stored on a desktop computer?
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Looks like there are dogs available. My wife called and the group has arrived back in the Raleigh area. https://www.trianglegreyhound.org/availablehounds
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From what I hear from the local rescue group, a lot of greys will be available soon. My wife, who is more into this, tells me that with the combination of the racing ban in Florida, the end of the winter racing season there, and the virus crises is causing several tracks in Florida to shut down early. As in like now. She said there may be several thousand hounds available soon. She's going down with a group to South Carolina tomorrow to meet some haulers from Florida and bring eight greys back to Raleigh. Probably more to come in the near future. Get 'em while they're available.
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Are the feet the weak spot of these hounds? We have a 2 1/2 yo female and a 5 yo male. The only medical issues we have experienced with them are related to their feet.
Our female came to us minus a toe on a rear foot. Apparently she broke it in her last race and it had to be amputated. A month ago, she was running around the yard and went into the mulch areas that border the areas near the fence. She was limping badly and I had to use a pair of pliers to extract a big sliver that had gone through the flesh between her toes on a front foot. All is well now.
Then the male somehow dislocated the outside toe of a front foot and was limping badly. The toe had folded underneath his paw and he didn't want anyone to touch it. We took him to our vet and by the time we went into the exam room, he was fine. The toe repositioned itself and the vet said it would be OK, except that now the toe is cocked at an outward angle. Several days ago, I accidentally bumped or stepped on the other front foot. I barely realized I had made contact. He let out a mild yelp and my wife noted that one of his middle toenails was gone. We couldn't find it, so I have to think it was gone before the incident. Don't know if it will grow back.
Have any of you noted foot issues with your hounds?
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Eight greys from Ireland arrived this afternoon at Raleigh-Durham Airport after an eight hour flight from London. There were about 15 volunteers to help with un-crating, paperwork, watering, and walking them so they could relieve themselves. There was about a two hour delay while we waited for customs to sign off on them. I don't think any of them had anything to declare, but that's the way customs works. Someone said that American Airlines requires that there be a 24 hour supply of food for the dogs and what was left must be disposed of by customs. Who knows?
My observations of the dogs was that they all seem to be more filled out, that is, no ribs showing. Their coats were much thicker and heavier than the dogs I'm accustomed to here. And there were no bald butts. Maybe because they are from a cooler climate. And all but one was black or brown.
But the best part was that all of them seemed happy, reasonably well adjusted to a new world, and reasonably friendly in spite of their ordeal. Always glad to welcome new dogs to the area.
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A couple of TV broadcasts during and after Molly's grand adventure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1M1QKhvLdj8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad8cu2qXDYE
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I can't comment about the quality of GPS collars but I meant that SOME type of tracking system would be a great asset for locating lost dogs. As for for fence height, I don't know what is needed. Our two greys have never shone any inclination to go over our four-foot fence, even when going after a squirrel that eludes them by going through or over it. I've been involved with the local greyhound group for a year or more and haven't heard of any grey going over a fence of four feet. But I guess it's possible.
We have a bunch more hounds coming in from Ireland next week. This time they are flying directly to Raleigh so the added five hour car ride won't be necessary. You can bet that extra care will be taken to prevent another Molly chronicle.
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Molly's Journey
I realize this topic is covered elsewhere on this site, but the posts are several years old and I doubt that anyone is currently keeping track of them. So I'll post this here.
Molly is a female two year old GH who came from Ireland. Apparently there is a surplus of hounds up for adoption there and a shortage of folks to adopt them. The opposite situation occurs here. So the local rescue group here in the Raleigh-Durham worked with a group in Ireland to have 12 dogs shipped over to the US. A rescue group in Pennsylvania took five and seven came to NC. The pups were shipped from Dublin to Washington Dulles airport and several volunteers went up to DC and brought the pups home.
Molly was taken to her home on Monday night, January 27. Two days later she slipped past her owner and bolted out of the house.
A search started immediately, mostly by members of the local rescue group. Molly was spotted a couple of times over the next few days but she's a shy dog and ran from anyone who approached her. I'm sure the ten hour flight and five hour car trip didn’t help her feel comfortable.
She was lost is a suburban area that covers several square miles. Mostly individual homes on wooded lots with numerous brushy creek bottoms behind the houses. Visibility is limited.
The search went on for over a week with numerous sightings that caused us to quickly move from one location to another. We plastered the area with posters and talked to residents. One of the local TV stations did a news story about the search and a lost dog tracker was hired. The tracker used her search dog and followed the locations of some of the sightings. Baited traps were set out without success. The town's animal control agency and the police joined the search and a drone was sent up for a better view of the area. The couple who lost her began grilling hamburgers on their deck to send out a signal of food in the hope that it would attract her. But no Molly.
On the ninth day, Molly came home. Surprisingly, she went into the fenced backyard of the same house she had escaped from. The gate was shut behind her and she dove under the deck. The owner's other grey went under and brought her out. What a relief. Today, Molly is a well adjusted dog and settled in with her family.
In looking back at the lost dog posts, there isn't much to add to what's already there. The only thing I could possibly add is to use a GPS collar on all greys. AKC markets one for about $50 and they are invaluable in locating a dog.
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Our Hailey is a 2.5 yo female who only raced 6 times. We've had her for six months and she's still a puppy. She's destroyed two pairs of my Crocs, two pairs of boat shoes, several pairs of my wife's shoes, one dog bed (filled the room with foam pieces), numerous small articles like toys, and at last count, six TV/Cable remote controllers. Yes, six. But she's sweet and gentle and has recently been certified as a therapy dog. So there's hope.
Be prepared for puppy experiences.
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Thanks. And can you define the difference between a route and a sprint? Distance?
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Dick, here's another request for track records. The dog's racing name was Killer Huxley. He's about five years old and we brought him home just this afternoon. Thanks in advance, Dave.
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We had a 3 yo Corgi and an 11 yo Cocker Spaniel when we brought our 2 yo female Grey home. That was 3 months ago. There were some initial reservations, a couple of snarks (from the Cocker) but all are best buddies now. The Grey and the Corgi are inseparable.
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Northern hemisphere, middle of summer here now.
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Thanks for the comments. My concern was/is that the bald butt seemed to happen rather quickly.
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I didn't see anything about this on the forum, so I'll pose the question. Our 2 yo female has been with us for a little over three months. She has settled in well and has made herself at home. Over the time we've had her, she seems to be losing hair on her rear end. The fur on the upper portions of her back legs and her butt seem to be getting thinner. Maybe I just recently noticed it, but the condition seems to be advancing more rapidly recently. Is this a seasonal thing, a normal aging thing, or what? FWIW, she is solid tan, no brindle.
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No particular reason I crate them that long. I probably exaggerated the times, but they do stay in their crates a lot. They seem to enjoy the crates and are willing go in and lie down. I'm referring to the Cocker and the Corgi, not the grey. She's out most of the time, usually sleeping on one of her beds. I'm not a cruel master.
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Thanks for the comments. I guess I was baffled by how easy it was to crate train an older dog yet the difficulty in crating a dog I thought was familiar with it. Perhaps greysmom has the reason; the crate at our house is not the same as the one that our gray was accustomed to. All crates aren't created equal.
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There have been many comments (on other sites) about adopting a grey because of the way they are treated. Often cited is that they are kept in crates up to 20-22 hours a day. We adopted a 2yo female grey about three months ago and already had a Cocker Spaniel and a Corgi. So we rearranged our dog living arrangements to suit the new composition of our "pack." Long story short, the Corgi (3yo female), the Cocker (11yo male), and the grey were given crates to sleep in.
The Corgi had no problems with the crate. I suspect she was crate trained by the breeder we bought her from at about 8 weeks old. The Cocker had to be bribed with food or treats to go into his crate but within two or three days, he was perfectly happy in it. He's still a happy, friendly, lovable dog and shows no ill effects from being in the crate. Both of these dogs are now in their crates 20-22 hours a day during the week and 12-16 hours on weekends. Meanwhile, the grey is very reluctant to go into her crate. She'll go in for a while with a bribe, but starts complaining within a few minutes. So she sleeps on a bed at the foot of our bed.
I'm surprised about how easy it was to crate the Cocker at age 11 while the grey is so reluctant to go into hers. I would have thought the opposite would be the case.
Problems with feet
in Everything else Greyhound
Posted
We have two hounds and the only health problems we've encountered are with their feet. The five yo male dislocated a front toe, I think coming up the steps. The toe was turned under his foot but by the time we got him to the vet, it had gone back in place, mostly. It still is a bit cockeyed. Then later I accidentally (and lightly) stepped on a front foot. He jerked it back without complaining but now he's missing a toe nail on that foot. Never found it and he was fine.
The three yo female came to us minus a rear toe. It had been amputated because of a racing injury. Later she has picked up several splinters of yard mulch that stuck in a foot between the toes but no problems after I removed them. Then yesterday evening she came into the house from outside with a bleeding rear foot. My wife cleaned it up and put some antibiotic salve on it but she won't put any weight on that foot. She doesn't seem to be in pain and is getting around on three legs nicely. I'm taking her to the vet later this afternoon.
Are foot problems common with greyhounds? Or we just unlucky?