onrushpam

Awww... I am SO sorry to read this!!! I must've missed some posts... We are for sweet little Munchie. She got SO lucky when my DH saw her and she wound up going to you!!!

We made "Isaac Stew" for many years, so I have lots of experience with this! (DH, in a drug-crazed post-surgery stupor once crashed 2 slow cookers with 10 lbs of chicken/liquid/grease onto my kitchen floor, mixing it all into a mess of glass/pottery/plastic/chicken/grease/etc., etc... It even splattered the ceiling!) We always cooked leg quarters on low for 24 hours, fished out the bones and mashed them (usually just with our fingers or a fork). Sometimes we had to discard a few of the big leg bones because they just wouldn't get soft enough. So, if you do just legs, you may have some bones that just never get mushy.

Diane, I'm so sorry Grace is gone!!! And, I'm sorry I missed Isaac's birthday... glad he's still with you! None of them are ever with us long enough! Hugs! Diane, I'm so sorry Grace is gone!!! And, I'm sorry I missed Isaac's birthday... glad he's still with you! None of them are ever with us long enough! Hugs!

Don't worry about it! We have a home kennel with in/out runs. It has A/C, but we don't turn it on until it gets REALLY hot... the kennel is shaded, we leave fans on and it never gets really hot in there, even on the worst days. And, the dogs can go outside, under shade, whenever they want. Our dogs almost NEVER drink during the day. They all have free access to fresh water in SS buckets, inside. None of them drink much. When we bring them in the house after work, they all run to the water bowl. They also drink a fair bit in the mornings, before we take them out to the kennel. If they need it, they will drink.

Panacur does not kill tapes. As others have said, try Drontal Plus to start. It is expensive, but effective. Perhaps that's what your vet gave you when she first had the tapes? Down here, we do 5 days Panacur, wait two weeks, then do 5 more days.

Thank you Brian and Sara! I remember Jewel... she was a little bit of a crazy girlie! I'm glad she had the two of you with her at the end... No matter how hard we try to make sure the right dog goes to the right home, we can get fooled. Bless y'all for giving her a proper, caring end.

How old is Frank? I'm not sure, but I think Cushings is fairly rare in greyhounds. I'd sure be checking for tick-borne disease. There's an old saying, "If you hear hoofbeats behind you, don't expect to see a Zebra when you turn around." With retired greyhounds, TBD is the horse. Other stuff, like Cushings, is the Zebra.

Welcome! We have some friends who had a conure. They also had a bunch of whippets and greyhounds, including a naughty greyhound named Pooch DuJour. (Pooch is at the bridge and I think their daughter now has the bird, not sure...) The bird learned to say "Wanna go out?" and all the dogs would rush to the door. He also learned to say, "BAAAAAD Pooch!"

All our dogs and all the dogs in our adoption kennel get the Kirkland Chicken and Rice in the maroon bag. It's worked well for us for several years. Howevahh... If I could afford it, even just for my own dogs, I'd switch to the grain-free, Nature's Domain. We had a couple of foster dogs here for awhile and one had to be on grain-free food. Those two dogs had AMAZING poops on the Nature's Domain! I may try mixing the C&R with the grain-free for our own dogs. I know that defeats the purpose of grain-free, but it reduces the amount of grain.

We don't feed dogs when travelling... I know that sounds mean, but we've learned the HARD way! And, we've hauled 100s and 100s of dogs. We feed heavy the day before the trip, with the last meal at least 8 hours before departure. Once on the road, they don't eat again until we arrive at our destination, be it a motel for the night or when driving straight-through, it could be our final destination the next day. Motel meals are small (and the dogs often won't eat). And, our dogs are used to eating at odd hours. They really have no schedule (can't do it with our crazy lives). So, they eat when they eat. 99% of the time, they eat twice a day. But, sometimes they skip a meal. They deal with it and it teaches them not to get "antsy" about being fed at a particular time. Chill out and just do what you need to do for the trip. Feed when you can and when the dog will eat. Take some biscuits along... A couple of the big Costco ones can sub for a meal and often the dogs will eat them when they won't eat their regular food.

We recently used it with a foster "bounce" dog that had seizures, whose vet recommended a grain free diet. We switched him from the Blue salmon to the Costco one and he did great on it. All our dogs wanted to eat it!

When our good friend, John, moved to Summerwind Farm in Coweta County, we started calling him Colonel Parker. (It's a Southern thing, a bit of a joke and has nothing to do with military service.) When Amy's puppies were born, one looked just like John's dog, Merlin (Amy's littermate). So, I named him Colonel and he eventually went to live at Summerwind Farm, along with his sister, Stella-Stubby. He was the sweetest, goofiest boy and he never forgot us. Every visit to Summerwind began with a big greeting from Colonel and Stella. Stella is on her own now and we don't know what she'll do. Colonel was the only dog who would put up with her wackiness! Colonel had some HUGE health challenges throughout his life, but seemed to be a miracle dog who pulled through every disaster. He was diagnosed with Lymphoma a couple of years ago, but went into remission. Yesterday, he just suddenly crashed. Today, the vet said the Lymphoma had come back and there was nothing to be done. So, Colonel left us. He was a fighter, a lover and a proper greyhound, who loved nothing more than roaming around the pasture, hoping a rabbit or a deer might appear and give him a good run. Colone's GH-DATA page, where you can see his cute puppy picture, with his Uncle Merlin. We'll miss your sweet greetings, Colonel! You were a good boy and we loved you!

Too much space. Confine him to just your bedroom. Well, you have to do what you have to do... But, I agree with the concept of not leaving cat food out all the time, especially if you can't reliably keep the dog away from it. Your desire is unrealistic. Many dogs never go beyond just standing by the door to signal the need to go out (if they even get that far). Their signals are often very subtle. But, if you confine him to your bedroom only, you'll have a much better shot at learning to wake up if he is standing by the door, or up and pacing about. With new dogs in our household, we initially block them into a very small space between my side of the bed and a substantial piece of furniture. The space is barely bigger than a crate. We use the side panel of a drop-pin crate, leaned across between the end of the bed and the end of the other piece of furniture (it's an antique chaise-lounge). If the dog gets up and moves around, the "gate" goes down with a BANG! You have to get creative and figure out what will work for you and your dog.

Well, if you clear up the diarrhea, the pee problem may also disappear. But, to the question, "How do I get him to tell me he needs to go out?"... As I said above, some dogs just never learn it and a schedule is your friend. But, to make an attempt: Wait until all the diarrhea issue is resolved. Don't even attempt to train this until you've solved that problem. Forget the bell. I've tried it and very successfully trained dogs to ring a bell, and ring a bell and ring a bell... I don't think they ever really associated it with going out, but just with getting a treat! Or, maybe with going out to chase birds/squirrels, etc. I don't think they ever associated it with elimination and they drove me nuts with ringing the damned bell! (I was working from home at the time and it became incredibly annoying. I eventually put the bell away.) Get the dog on a schedule and I'll bet he will start to anticipate the schedule and go to the door when he knows "out time" is near. When that happens, give him a treat, snap on the leash and take him out. Treat again for successful elimination. Be careful what you ask for! My dogs are all incredibly good about communicating their desire to go out... to the point of extreme annoyance! Donald, in particular, will do his "bounce and bark routine" at all hours of the day/night, if he decides he wants to go out. Note I didn't say he "NEEDS" to go out! He "WANTS" to go out. And, he is a real pill about it! DH is a semi-saint and never fails to get up to let Donald out, cursing all the way. I guess the bottom line is, your dog is relatively new and you are still figuring things out. With patience and observation, you'll figure out what works for you and your dog, along with what your tolerance level is for BS "I want to go out" requests, whether those be bell-ringing or bounce-and-bark!

Perhaps try a different sort of gate to keep him away from the cat food? Some are sturdier than others. You might need the kind that actually screws into the door frame. Or, if you rent and want to keep damage to a minimum, you might try what has worked for some of our adopters... eyebolts screwed into the door frame or wall (needs to be in a stud or use molly bolts), then use a clip to attach an xpen to the eye bolts. You can use a tall xpen and it's easy enough to unhook it when you want to open it. It sounds like the cat food consumption is your real problem. As to peeing in the house... some dogs just never learn to "signal". It's better to establish a routine and follow it. If you observe his habits, you'll quickly figure out if he is a dog that needs to GO right after he eats, or is he's one that needs to GO 30 minutes after he eats, etc. Dogs are creatures of habit. A schedule will help a lot! Hang in there!

No sick dog can be expected to "tell you" he has to go. He may not know until it happens! If your dog is having bad diarrhea once or more a month, something is very, very wrong. Is it always a result of him eating what he shouldn't? If so, you must do a better job of keeping him away from food he shouldn't have. For example, put the cat food into a container with a locking lid. If he is just randomly getting sick, he needs a vet visit to figure out what is causing it. You must eliminate the cause of the diarrhea before you have any hope of solving this. This is not a housetraining issue, it's a health issue.

You might be experiencing what dog trainers call an "extinction burst". When you try to eliminate a behavior, sometimes the dog will do very well for a long time, then just at the point where the behavior is about to be truly extinguished, there will be a "burst" of the behavior recurring. This is actually a good thing! But, you have to manage it and go immediately back to correcting the behavior (or preventing it). Still, when it comes to food on the counter and trash, prevention is always the best course. Just don't give the dog the chance to be wrong! That's one reason we have a trash compactor (no dog can open one of those) and never leave food out within reach. Yes, my trash compactor cost way more than even a SimpleHuman can, but it has been SO worth it! (Plus, we don't have trash service out here in the boonies and have to haul our own trash. The compactor helps on that front, too.)

You might consider two of Patricia McConnell's books. Feisty Fido is about leash-reactive dogs. Off Leash Dog Play is about dogs playing safely together Here's the link.

I respect Dr. Couto tremendously! Howevah... The "sampling" of AKC dogs and Galgos whose owners reported their causes of death are tiny, compared to the statistics available on retired racing greyhounds. And, where would he have counted my two dogs... one AKC registered, with racing dogs in his pedigree; and one UK coursing dog with no racing dogs in his pedigree, but lots of the same bloodliines as racing dogs. It simply makes no sense to put that forth as any sort of scientific comparison. My one AKC dog, had I reported his cause of death, would've bumped that "cancer" bar up a notch (due to the small size of the sample). And, my coursing bred dog doesn't fit anywhere in there.

I've lost 3 dogs to osteo... No. 1 was a pure NGA dog that never ran an official race. She was 9 when she died, just missing the double-digit mark. But, she had other physical issues, due to an injury sustained as a pet, that hastened her end. No. 2 was an AKC dog that did have one NGA registered ancestor in his pedigree. He lived to be nearly 15 years old, suffered from congestive heart failure and squamous cell carcinoma of the mouth. Osteo was what got him in the end. No. 3 was a UK coursing-bred dog that never raced. He died way too young at 7. All long-boned canine breeds have a high incidence of osteo. Greyhounds are statistically the longest living amongst all those breeds. It's likely racing dogs have a higher incidence, due to their athletic pasts. Osteo tends to develop at the site of previous injuries, even if those injuries were minor. All dog must eventually die of something! The "show" greyhound lines have a relatively high incidence of heart problems we never see in race or coursing bred dogs and it is well known which lines have produced that problem. They also have a horrible genetic problem that shows up in some litters, causing all the puppies to deteriorate and die in the first two years of life. Also remember, the NGA and the AKC are registries, along with the NCC (England) and the ICC (Ireland) and whatever the Australian one is called. There are a good number of dogs (I've owned a few) that are registered with the NCC or ICC, the NGA and the AKC. You have to look at the pedigree. Registry is really meaningless. I LOVE going to greyhound events and seeing many older dogs (in double digits) in really good shape! You'd never see that at a gathering of Irish Wolfhounds or Rottweilers or Great Danes! Italian greyhounds share no common ancestry with "proper" greyhounds. They are toy dogs and have their own set of health issues. It is not surprising they have a low incidence of osteo, because they are not long-boned dogs. It's all a matter of perspective, doncha think? Yes, osteo sucks!

It's also important to remember that not all track or vet scales are calibrated the same. For example, dogs that come to JCKC from Naples will often appear to have lost 5-10 lbs. Not so. The Naples scale weighs heavy and the JCKC scale weighs light. Our vets' scale seems to be on the light side. Go by how the dog looks. The photo of the red dog above shows a dog in perfect weight! Good job!

Absolutely! Watch Jennifer's videos on NeverSayNever. Look at how happy and enthusiastic her dogs are about training! Jennifer is a hard-a&^% with her dogs, in comparison to most people. But, they see training as a game. She has posts on there about how to manage two dogs, with one having to wait while the other trains. Her dogs WANT to train! You can't get an unhappy dog to a Utility Dog title or a Master Agility Champion title. They have to learn to love the work. I learned that the hard way with my first greyhound. After she had the first two "legs" (qualifying scores) on her Companion Dog title, I realized she was miserable in the ring. We took six months off and learned how to PLAY together! Then, we went back to training. (Well, it was all training, but with a new attitude.)

This isn't an easy subject, which may be why you don't have many responses. A few ideas: I don't know where you are located, so can't make specific suggestions. But, try to find a good trainer in your area and sign up for a class or take a few private lessons. It will be well worth your time and $$. Look for a trainer who uses positive reinforcement, clickers, etc. Classes are all about training the human! The Trainer Search button on apdt.com is a good place to start. Go to neversaynevergreyhounds and spend some time reading her training posts and watching her videos. She's an awesome trainer! Watch her intro to clicker training video and observe her technique/timing. Ditto for patricia mcconnell Order her Family Friendly Dog Training booklet. Don't show the treats. Put them in your pocket or in a pouch. Palm one tiny treat, or hold it in your mouth. (This is unless you are still at the stage of luring the dog into a sit or down, etc.) Remember that you need to reward 100% of the time until the dog in responding to the command instantly 100% of the time before you start to fade the rewards. Then, you fade sssslllooowwwlllyyy! You go from 100% to 99% to 98%, etc., etc... The rewards can never go away. It becomes like a slot machine for the dog. He'll keep "pulling the handle" as long as he knows there is a chance the treat will appear. Don't get in a hurry! It takes many, many repetitions before you can even think about fading the reward. For difficult tasks, like recalls, retrieving, etc., it can take 100s or 1000s of repetitions before you start to fade the reward. Competitive obedience trainers use a technique called "back chaining". The dog must perform a number of complex behviors, all strung together, without edible rewards, toys, etc. So, you train each task individually, then start to string them together. You start with the last one, with the reward always coming at the end. Then, you add the next-to-last and string it with the last one, with the reward always coming at the end... working backwards, until you have the whole string. But, the dog always knows the reward will come at the end. And, you periodically throw a surprise reward in at random places. Keep that "slot machine" primed. Working dogs that perform very difficult tasks (search and rescue, drug sniffing, etc.) are always rewarded, 100% of the time! Hope that helps edited to fix the links

Many, many dog behavior studies (sorry, don't have time to find the citations) have shown that most dogs with separation anxiety have a "burst" at the initial leaving that lasts for about 10-15 minutes. If you can get the dog interested in something that will last past that time period, it's likely the dog will be okay alone. That's why stuffed Kongs and other toys/distractions work. With some dogs, you have to get them into the habit of going into a crate or other area with their Kong/distraction before you actually leave. So, you might have to try a frozen Kong (takes longer to get at the good stuff). Let the dog get started on the goodie while you are still there, then quietly leave. Another key is that they pick up on cues that you are about to leave. So, alter your routine. Put your purse in the car, put the keys in your pocket, etc.,etc. all well before you actually leave. I've even known of people who altered the routine by sneaking out a basement door or exiting through a window! Don't make a big deal out of leaving/returning. IGNORE the dog for a good while before you leave and when you return. No big departure kisses and no big greeting when you return.

for remission!!!