Diane4114

I have a new foster here that is the opposite. He was in another foster home for a long while, he was termed a spook. Probably because of his behavior in the house, he wasn't taken out for walks, etc. I don't know if I would term him a spook or not..but he is extremely shy and skittish...inside. Even when running loose in the barn would rather not be anywhere near anybody. In the house he has found the kennels and basically will only leave them when it's time to go out. However once you put a leash on him he's great. I don't have a fenced yard here, so I have to walk the dogs on the road. Nothing seems to faze him. He hasn't given the traffic much more than a glance. He has seen the wild turkeys in the yard with a passing interest. The yappy ankle biters have been out running the fence line when we walk by without issue. He's only been here since Sunday. He started pooping on leash by Tues. Started sniffing things on Wed. Peed on leash yesterday. He trots along to keep up if he's slowed down to look at stuff. Sometimes he will even forge ahead of Matt and Sonny. He has floppy ears so they don't really stand up, but you can tell if they could stand up they would be up. That leash for him is like Sampson and his hair. Once your in the house...he's back in his kennel and will stay there until he sees me get my coat to go out again.

I was going to say the same thing. Just add Willow, Austin, Buddy and many others to the list...

Hi! He's very cute. Where in NH are you? I'm guessing you adopted from Stratham. There is a GH only play group in Dover the second Sat. of the month in Dover. Deco Dogs

Thanks for the advice. We live in Gray, ME which is about 20 minutes north west for Portland. According the google maps we're about 2 hours from Concord, NH. I will definitely reach out to the foster family coordinator to see if they could work with us and if we could help out with the next group of dogs that you bring in. Although we do encourage people to come to the open house the first Sunday of the month, it is so they can meet any of the fosters that come for the afternoon. Many people adopt without ever driving to Concord. We do home visits and we have a couple of people in the NH seacoast area that could probably go to Gray.

Our 2nd option of the training and medication was to try fostering. Unfortunately, I don't even know if that's possible for us here in Maine. There's only one group in Maine and they have a kennel and no fostering program at all. The closest groups that foster are in NH and MA and fostering and living over an hour away probably won't really work. I wish there was some group that would be willing to work with us, like if we foster with the intent to adopt that grey, would they allow us to live farther away? GPA-CNHC only fosters and we do adopt to people in Maine. Where in Maine are you? Many times we have people foster with intent. IN a good way we are low on dogs, but with no tracks in N.E. any more, we will have to get our dogs from further away. The days of driving an hour or two and pick up a couple of dogs are over with...for us anyway. From the article I read, it seems all the Raynham are spoken for and all will be gone by the end of the month. I don't know what the plans are for getting more dogs. GPA-CNHC Send an email to the foster home coordinator and/or keeper of the dogs, explain your situation, etc and see what they good do to help you.

Sorry to hear about Aquitaine's injury and she heals fast.

Dr. Dudley is the vet this group uses for their broken leg GH's.

I was contacted by the former director of a local GH group that had been supplying them with GH size Frontline Plus at his cost (he runs a pet food home delivery business). The group doesn't want to buy anymore for this year and he over stocked. He asked if I would ask around to see if I could find anyone wanted to buy his extra packages. There are 8 left. Expiration 7/10 Packages of 6, GH size. At his cost $40. He didn't mention anything about shipping. Anyone interested PM or email me and I'll put you in touch with him.

With great sadness Buddy left us to be with Willow, Austin and so many others. Buddy didn't always have to best post retirement life. Adopted from Seabrook, he lived with a family for a few years, the wife of which wasn't able to accept dogs for what they were. Some times they might come in with muddy feet, water sometimes spills on the floor, sometimes they might get sick in the house. Sometimes they didn't want to be bothered while on their dog bed and didn't react kindly to being forced off it. It seems he spent a lot of time outside or banished to the basement if wet or dirty. My friend Laurie heard of these people through a 3rd party. She offered suggestions to help, but they were not taken seriously. They were seriously considering putting him to sleep. Laurie and her husband took him for a weekend to evaluate him. Laurie wanted to keep him, but they already had 6 or 7 GH's and her husband said that was enough. So back to his family he went and Laurie said he seemed happy to be there. These events were happening over the course of a few months in 2007. In Sept. 2007 Willow left to be with Austin. So it was Matt and whatever foster I might have. Since Matt seemed like he would be fine as an only dog, I kept it in mind that I would keep that space open for a hound that needed a place to go. At Dewey a few weeks later, I received an email that Buddy had to go...and now! So I answered that if was was cat safe he could come live with Matt & I. Knowing that he would need a dental, Laurie arranged it with her vet and I would pay for it. The initial estimate was off by a bit. So my 'free' dog...with the $1000 dental... came home to live with us. Looking back it probably wasn't the best time to bring a new dog home. So soon after losing Willow and what was going on with my Mom's illness. Buddy fit in well enough with the other dogs, but he wasn't my favorite by any means. He became quite attached to me and made it difficult to do much without him causing a fuss. That first winter when I would have to be in the barn and the dogs stay in the house, he would bark and howl at the picture window. It was always covered with dog drool. He would get the other dogs going and it would be quite a racket. Thankfully I didn't have any close neighbors. Even though we have just come home form a walk, if he saw me come out of the barn and didn't go in the house within a few minutes, he would pee inside. We also had issues with him trying to eat the other dogs food when he was done first. That's when I saw the other side of him. This dog that would seem so quiet, plastering himself on anyone's leg who was standing near him...would turn into Cujo. Snapping and snarling. The same if I wanted him to get off his bed for some reason. he was a bit scary and he only had 2 teeth left by this time. So even though I originally thought his first family were nuts, maybe not so now. They did have a couple of other dogs and young children. Well I found ways around his quirk's for the most part. The window was always covered with drool. He stopped trying to steal every ones food and became a decent foster brother to a few GH's. The only bad thing was that he was teaching them all to bark. Last Sunday all seemed well. We went for a walk at the tree farm as we usually do most every day. When we got home he tried to hop the 4 steps in 2 hops as usual and he couldn't do the first hop even. I'm still trying to get 2 others GH's in th house, he tries again and falls over. I try to get behind him and steady and guide him up, but he is having no part of it. He struggles and falls again and doesn't want to get up. So I wait a few minutes. Someone had given me a dog ramp last year, so I go get that, but he wants no part of it. He didn't want me to pick him up. By now he's panting, upset and very unsteady & wobbly on his hind legs. I managed to get him in the van and off to the evet we go. The vet was very nice and gave us some pain and anti inflammatory meds. Telling us to get xrays at our regular vet on a follow up visit as soon as we can get an appt. My vet would charge us 1/3 as much as the evet would of. He was willing to walk, but was a bit unsteady still. Followup xrays showed no breaks or fractures and his spinal column looked quite good for a 10 year old dog. He took us off the other meds, the effects of which acted like a narcotic. Wanted to see how much of his hind end issues were him or the effects of the drugs. He was put on Prednisone. Not wanting to put him in his kennel overnight while I was at work, I x-penned him in the living room. I got out Willow's waterproof crate pads, mattress pads and regular kennel bedding and made him a stall...and prepared to wash bedding every night. I also had to carry him in the house. 70 lbs....ugh. I found that if I picked him up a few feet away from the steps he was OK. He groaned...or it was a soft growl...each time. Mine was a groan. I was to call the vet on Thurs. to give him an update. We decided to wait until his prescription was out to decide. Thinking that was Monday, I had another appt. for him on Tues. His meds were going to run out on Sat., so Friday AM I called for a refill. Friday was a bad day for him. He really didn't want to get up at all. He would fall and his hind legs would splay. Once his front legs as well. That night I kept asking him if he wanted to go out and he didn't even lift his head. I was in the other room an heard the jingle of tags. Thinking he was getting up and wanted to go out, I went to check on him. He had peed laying down was was lying in it. This time he did get up and go out, but staggered back the 10' to his area, barely able to make it that far. I made the decision then to let him go on Sat. AM. He was a good dog. Once I figured out how to handle his quirks, we became friends. When I have only 2 dogs, they can ride in the truck to go on errands. He must of been in trucks before, he always sat on the seat beside me, and Matt had the floor. Most times either his head or paws on my leg. Always an attention getter at M&G with his snaggletooth, he would lean on anyone that stopped to chat. We will all miss him. Snaggeletooth (Please excuse the dirty rug ) A mild case of ETS At Dewey last year. Their Easter card. Buddy is on the right.

I'm sorry to read about Asia, She had a good life with you, Asia and Audrey at Grapehounds 2 years ago.

I'm so sorry. I'll be thinking of all of you every day.

I'm sorry for your loss. Even though I never met Quiet Man, he's been such a big part of GT for so long, I feel like I've know him forever.

This is very sad...you 2 have been here forever.

Yikes! I hope she is home and feeling better soon.

I'm sorry to hear about Emmy. Hopefully she'll heal fast. I would think buying a nothing fancy lawnmower would be a lot less expensive than hiring a lawn service to mow regularly.

I'm so sorry for your loss, but she is healthy again and among friends.

Valethics

Austin Willow

A friend of mine had one of her GH diagnosed with hip dysplasia a few years back. It was a misdiagnosis, another vet said it was a hock issue. I would definitely get a second opinion.

Thanks Diane, we'll get through it. Will you be at the GPA dinner coming up? Yes...You?

Welcome from one NH resident to another. Good luck with the changes coming for all of you.

Paul..you'll be OK. Buddy says to tell him that teeth are over-rated! Buddy had bad teeth as well. His prior family had dentals done on him. He lost teeth every time. When I got him he needed annother. His previous one was in May, and I got him in Oct. He only has 2 left.

I think it might be a problem if the socks get really wet and they are on for a long time in freezing temps.