Saffron

We also belong to a TD organization. I've been TD volunteering for almost 10 years now with various greys. Pilgrim has been volunteering for 6 years and has learned a lot of tricks on the job. I've taught them slowly and in response to needs. Just being well-behaved and liking to be loved on is the only real requirement. What Pilgrim wears is partly required by our TD organization and partly the preferences of the institution(s) we visit. She wears a regular martingale. Her TD ID tag is required to be on her collar. I change her collar according to the season because some of the residents love commenting on her collar wardrobe. We also have a specific TD Organization bandanna that Pilgrim always wears. One medical facility we visit also likes her to wear a TD vest/cape for easy identification. They issued her a hospital ID that is clipped to her vest. I dislike the vest because I think it interferes with cuddling, but what can I say. The week before Christmas she also wears an elf hat and a velvet belled ruff around her neck. It gives staff, patients and residents a real kick! Grooming: a thorough brushing before we go, although Pilgrim still sheds bunny fur copiously no-one seems to mind. I brush her teeth, go over her with a baby wipe and wash her face too (Pilgrim always seems to end up with breakfast on her face!) Pilgrim's tricks are sit, down, shake a paw, and "pick a book." In children's library visits we'll put a few books on the floor and ask her to "pick" one to read. She'll put a paw on a book at random. She also knows "rest your nose" which means to put her head on a person's lap, and "paws on table" which means resting her paws gently on a table attached to a wheelchair so that the person using it can reach her more easily. "Paws up" is also useful for reaching people in bed. Olly is still in TD training, but I think he'll be good once he passes the test. He'll learn by experience too.

We have a mixture of 4', 6', and 7' mesh deer fencing. The greys (and we've had 4) have never even tried to hurdle the 4', and neither has the Galgo (yet!) I suppose anything is possible, and the 4' is reinforced by the 7' deer fence. What is wrong with Dexter's paw? Chances are that you will have to leash walk for a while anyway. I usually leash walk new dogs around the yard showing them the fence for a couple of days. When I do first let them off-leash in the yard I have a duck squawker and plenty of yummy treats in hand and we practice recall. You should be fine, and have fun with Dexter.

At the bottle of wine and valium. Sounds like a good plan to take the afternoon off. I've not been a regular on GT for a while, life gets in the way, but just caught up on some of your posts about Thunder's seizures. I'm sure he'll be OK. Is he still a foster or is he home for good?

Yes, try to calm down. No way Thunder will cluster with all these good thoughts coming his way! I certainly understand the anxiety though. Odd that she said Valium wouldn't work because they put him on a Diazapam drip. Was this the neuro? Valium is just a brand name for the generic Diazapam. Some vets are reluctant about handing out meds for home use, maybe especially when we ask for the drug by name. Very understandable when you think about it. We are only supposed to use the OMG kit if Caesar seizes for more than 3 minutes or goes into a series of seizures. We also live a good 45 minutes away from and E-Vet. Anyway, if you think an "OMG kit" might be helpful in the future, perhaps ask if there is "anything we could have at home" that might help in an emergency as we are bringing him to the clinic E-Vet. Or perhaps ask your regular vet. Your regular vet probably knows you well enough to realise that you won't be popping the valium yourself instead of giving it to the dog. Edit to add other thought.

Good thoughts for Thunder. Let us hope that it was just a one off breakthrough seizure and it won't happen again. Your big black Thirder looks so like my Caesar -- and Caesar is another seizure dog. I posted his story recently on the Epilepsy thread -- his diagnosis is idiopathic epilepsy with hypersensitivity to drugs, Just a thought, as I haven't followed Thunder's story: We have what our neurologist calls an "OMG Kit" in case Caesar clusters. Usually this is diazapam* either injected or intranasally or rectally administered. Basically it just buys time if we should ever need to rush a clustering dog to the E-Vet, but it is comforting to have on hand. Has your neurologist suggested anything like that? *Of course my special snowflake can't tolerate diazapam so we have intranasal midazolam in our OMG kit!

Yay, for the seizure-free! Zonisamide was another drug we considered with Caesar. Both Keppra and Zonisamide are "newer" drugs for seizure dogs in the US. Caesar's neurologist went with Keppra instead of Zonisamide because Keppra is apparently easier on the liver and doesn't need as frequent blood tests in combination with titrating off Pheno (Caesar is also vet-phobic but that is another story and he is getting so much better!) I have a great grey-savvy vet who refers us as necessary to specialists. Honest to goodness, Caesar is my third seizure dog and the only one who has had such a nasty post-ictal. The other two did well on Pheno/Potassium Bromide. Caesar's reaction was ... unexpected. We now know that Caesar is hypersensitive to drugs, but if I ever have another seizure dog I'm not sure whether I wouldn't go the Pheno and potassium bromide route again before reaching for the $$$$ drugs like Keppra and Zonisamide. What do other seizure dog owners think?

Hemangeosarcoma comes in different forms. Dermal and hypodermal (cutaneous) hemangio is curable and has a fairly good prognosis after surgery. It is the visceral (heart or speen) hemangio that is the absolute killer. More information on the different types here: http://caninecancerawareness.org/canine-cancer-diagnosis/hemangiosarcoma I'd definitely follow through with your vet. What you are describing sounds more like cutaneous hemangio so please don't give up yet! Having said that, I would be quite concerned about the weight loss. My Catwalk's only symptom of hemangio was rapid weight loss towards the end. No symptoms otherwise, and even her blood work only showed mild pancreatitis. She had visceral hemangio that had already destroyed her spleen and most of her liver. We decided to let her go after her diagnosis. She was only 7 but it was a quality of life issue. She would probably have only lived a few more weeks with massive pain control and could have bled out at any time.

w9816 That is a very frightening story. It sounds as though you were lucky not to lose your grey as continuous seizures like that are definitely life threatening. I'd hate to be so far from a vet with a seizure dog. Good job on keeping him cooled down and hydrated, and I'm glad he is doing well today. Barbivet = Phenobarbital, I think. We usually check liver values every few months as Pheno can be very tough on the liver long-term. Caesar's story in case it helps anyone else. He has had a full neurological work-up at Mass Referral Hospital and his official diagnosis is idiopathic epilepsy with hypersensitivity to drugs. He had his first seizure last June, aged 5. It was a full tonic/clonic (grand mal) lasting about 2 minutes. This was followed by a focal (petit mal) seizure 3 days later. He also had/has a very bad post-ictal phase lasting about 25 minutes where he is terrified of everything and tries to run away from himself and jump out windows. He is bit of an anxious guy, but usually very sweet. Immediately after a seizure, however, he is dangerous to humans and other dogs, let alone himself, as any sort of movement feels like a threat. He'd prefer to run from it, but will bite and snap while still confused. Not his true character at all, and I am still really scared about what would happen if he has a seizure during a walk. We put him on Phenobarbital after the first seizures because I felt the post-ictal phase was so dangerous for him and the rest of us. He did well adapting to the Pheno. He had a couple more focal seizures and then another tonic/clonic in December. As his levels were rather high we decided to add Potassium Bromide (we did not do a loading dose) with the goal of weaning him off the pheno slowly and protecting his liver. Within a week of starting the Potassium Bromide he pretty much went psychotic! His anxiety went through the roof, and he was pacing, whining, barking at nothing, reacting badly to the other dogs, and keeping us awake all night. He was miserable. Due to the behavioral changes, we suspected a brain tumor, thus the full exam with CT scan and spinal tap at MRH. Everything came back clear and we had our diagnosis. We took him off Potassium Bromide immediately and put him on Leviteracitam (generic Keppra) instead. (Note: we could not have discontinued the Potassium Bromide cold turkey without putting him on another drug.) I had my sweet dog back within 3 days! He is doing well on the Keppra/Pheno combination and we hope to wean him off the Pheno slowly while keeping him as seizure-free as possible. Apparently psychosis is a rare side effect of Potassium Bromide. It is not often mentioned in the literature, nor mentioned much by seizure dog owners, and after our experience I wanted to alert people. I wouldn't want to put people off Potassium Bromide altogether because certainly I'd use it again on another dog. I just have a special snowflake who couldn't tolerate it. Unfortunately, we kept him on it for almost a month hoping that things would get better and, in retrospect, I wish we had taken him off it sooner. A final quick note on Keppra: Fewer side effects and easier on the liver than Pheno, and it is working for us. Downside is that it is expensive! We found much the best price at Costco.

I stick to basic obedience functional stuff too usually, unless the opportunity comes up and they learn something cute like shake, or bow. That said, some "tricks" can be functional too. Caesar has occasionally decided that he is afraid of a specific doorway -- usually because he has seen something really terrifying there like sunlight flickering on the floor (gasp)! The fact that he knows "touch" can distract him with performing a task and help in getting him through the doorway by increments. Once he has done that a couple of times he stops being scared of the door. (I wish he knew other basic obedience tasks as well as he knows touch. He's a bouncy guy who loves trying to give strangers kisses.) Making a "beep beep" noise is our cue for all dogs backing up. Invaluable in a small space. Probably Pilgrim's best trick is to do a down/stay whenever I drop the leash to the ground. I taught her one that after I had a couple of bad falls on the ice during a nasty winter a few years ago. Luckily I kept hold of all leashes both times I fell, but it made me nervous. I've never needed to test this one outside a fenced area yet, thank goodness. On the other hand, this trick does have its downside. I'll be leashing up all three dogs to go out, and the other two go to the front door to wait for me. Unless I'm actually holding onto Pilgrim's leash as we go to the door, she'll wait in a perfect down/stay back in the family room and I have to go back and give her the release. She gets a really martyred expression on her face if she really needs to go potty and I've dropped the leash indoors.

Others have already said the important stuff. Separate when there are high value treats like kongs around, and muzzles are a wonderful thing, especially when dogs are just getting to know each other. If there was no blood shed it was probably just a scuffle. I'd err on the side of caution and not leave them unsupervised together without a muzzle for a bit. Olly the Galgo has been told off by both "I'm the boss" Pilgrim and generally happy-go-lucky Caesar. We've only had the odd bark, snap or growl though. It's usually been when he goes galloping past too close to their sleeping noses, or takes a flying leap over the couch and lands too close to an occupied bed. Those Galgo puppy bursts occasionally get on their nerves, although they usually just ignore him when he is letting off steam. Olly retreats quickly, does a lot of doggy submissive behavior, and acts very cautiously around them for a few hours, but soon gets over it. He is a smart dog, just like Gamo. He and Kevin will settle down soon and be best of buddies, I'm sure.

This sounds familiar. It's a sort of ululating wail in several keys -- I remember being grateful that we had no close neighbors. Olly has been known to sound like a whole pack of coyotes all on his own and definitely had some SA at the beginning. He is a lot better now, but it took some work. I agree with others, you are doing too much too fast. This is what we did: The goal is not to have him start yowling in the first place. Start by doing all the usual things you do before leaving the house, walk to the door, touch the handle but don't open it. Walk away. Repeat many times. Eventually he'll get bored watching you. Now do all the above and open the door. Close it without exiting. Repeat many times. Work up to getting out the door and closing it -- then coming back in immediately. Do it again. And again. And again. Now you can wait outside the door for a moment and gradually extend the time by a few seconds and minutes. Vary the amout of time you are out. Sometimes come in again in 2 minutes, and at othertimes leave it 10 or 15. Work up to half an hour. The next step is to get in your car, get out again, and come back in, but you get the picture! I'm lucky in that I work from home and could do this for several days. Tiring but worth it! Specific to Olly and not necessarily relevant to your situation, but worth a mention. When we first brought him home Olly was still in a splint from a badly broken leg, and just getting over a subsequent resistant staph infection in the leg. (It is a long story, he was in a cast and splints for 5 months and very nearly lost his leg.) He was still on restricted activities and had to be kept calm when he was pining to gallop around. I had to tether him to me 24/7 and/or crate him to keep him quiet. I don't know whether this helped with or actually exacerbated the SA. I know that crating is not always the way to go with Galgos but it was necessary for Olly and he is quite happy in a crate these days. He is still not overjoyed when I leave, even with the two greys for company, but nothing like SA.

I've used Frontline Plus for years on multiple greys/dogs. I've never, ever, seen a flea on my pups, but we are in MA tick central. Those little blighters leap off the undergrowth! We examine (dogs and selves) and de-tick several times every day on all entrances to the house after walks (,I know they technically bite and die before embedding, but still). Anyone have a better grey-safe recommendation for repelling fleas, ticks, and also skeeters? Just throwing the question out there. :-)

OP, I just tried to send you a PM but it didn't go through. You can email me through my profile, I think, or post an email address here so that I can give more info, if you want. My vet is on vacation this week and is a long way from you (Ayer, MA), but I highly recommend her for working with my vet phobic hound. He used to go into a blind panic at being restrained, having his nails touched, and out-of-his-tiny-mind at the very thought of a needle. Fighting, snapping, struggling -- a danger to himself let alone any vet or vet tech. Otherwise a sweet if rather anxious guy. He is a bit better now, but we still live in fear of emergencies. In the short term, as the presenting problem is the bandage, is there any way you can you muzzle your girl and try to soak the dressing off gently? Have her stand in water, gently soak the edges, perhaps loosen it a bit so she gets it off herself? I'm assuming that it is healed under there enough for soaking and that there are no stitches or staples to remove? In the long-term, you really do need a vet behaviorist and a good vet close to you for a desensitization program. Tufts may be your best bet for that. It is a case of carefully assessing and monitoring any drugs you use. Dogs can react differently to the different drugs. Caesar is on Clomicalm, but we have also used Alprazolam. Re. Desensitization, we also used a good rewards-based trainer and had private lessons just to get my guy used to handling by a stranger with no threat of treatment. Clicker training does seem to help rewire the brain, somehow. We also had almost weekly social visits at the vet. It was a long and very slow protocol that I can describe in detail but don't have time now. Hope this helps.

I'll just throw my 2 cents in here on medicating anxious dogs. I have a generally rather anxious guy who developed full blown vet phobia after emergency surgery about 18 months ago. I initially resisted putting him on meds, for the same reasons some people here have stated, but later regretted not using them earlier because it made the behavior modification so much easier. We used a behaviorist supplemented with a really good reward-based trainer, and our vet and her staff. I have a great vet who really worked with us to get the meds right. We used Clomicalm (clomipramine) initially in conjunction with Alprazolam (Xanax). He is still on Clomipramine, but we hope to get him off it before too long. It has taken months of work and almost weekly "social" visits to the vet, but he's improved a lot. He now loves going to the vet, until he suspects he is getting a shot. It is going to take a while longer, but he is well worth the time and effort. IIRC, Clomicalm (clomipramine) is an off-label use for general anxiety or phobias. Also it can cause increased anxiety so it might not be the right med for Gila and you may well need to discontinue it. Remember you have to titrate the dose down -- you can't just stop it cold turkey! Just for comparison, our DVM Behaviorist cost $250. This included the initial 2 hour office assessment, 2 follow-up visits, and several telephone consults. Home visits are a bit more expensive. She is also available for follow-up consults for the life of the dog. I think she (and Dr Dodson at Tufts) also does long distance consults. I personally would prefer that the behaviorist sees the dog, but if you are really stuck it might be worth a try. One other thing that I don't think has been mentioned on either of your threads -- have you tried a ThunderShirt for Gila? They are used for general anxiety not just for thunderstorm fears.

Pat, We used Petbehaviorproblems.com in Lexington. 8 Camelia Place, tel # 781-862-5060. They do home visits, office visits and telephone consults, as needed, and I think are best known for treating SA. I felt we got a very competent assessment, a good plan, and reassuring advice. The follow-up was good too, and I think the weak spot in communcations, my only complaint, has been addressed. There are several people in the group, some with more grey experience than others. We were assigned a DVM with experience in Caesar's problem who wasn't an expert on greys but was very open to learning more about greyhounds. For us, the key to success was in combining the behaviorist's advice with a very good trainer and an excellent vet. We're still working on the issue, as you know, but there has been a lot of improvement.

Try Eddie's Wheels -- http://eddieswheels.com/ They have a limited number of "loaner" wheel chairs that they can fit to a grey, or they can build one from scratch. Standard wheelchairs for dogs don't always fit. I looked into wheelchairs a year ago for my very old grey who was slowly losing control of his back legs(we didn't get to the stage where we needed one) and this company seemed to be the absolute best.

Some good suggestions above. I've always found this article really useful with SA dogs. http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002/sa.htm

Oh boy. Poop eating. It happens, but I just find it disgusting because those mouths then kiss me! My pups are OK in summer, but frozen poopsicles are apparently manna from heaven in Winter. And, yes, we feed premium food. As far as I can tell the only cure is to pick it up as fast as possible. Like immediately with the pooper scooper or bag as close as posible to the sphincter! Forget additives and such they just waste money, You just have to be on the job of poop control.

Just wanted to say that I find the new format very easy on the eyes. Can we keep it? Pretty Please! I'm probably the lowest functioning GT user on the block. I'm still on freaking dial-up and don't use anything more complicated than the really high tech multiquote button that has been there for a while! Back to your regular programming, but thanks to all the mods and Jeff for working so hard.

Our thoughts are with Pat and Chick, and we are hoping for a good outcome. Chick is such a sweetie. I have not been here recently, so sorry, but Pat and I have the same conscientious vet and have emailed each other about Chick's situation. Low fat and high calorie is a hard mix. I'm just adding in summary form what I've already said to Pat, and I hope might be useful info for others. Blenders are fantastic for pulverising all sorts of meaty stuff into an edible paste. This is useful if you ever need to syringe feed a sick dog. We have used skinless chicken, low fat hamburger, beef heart and kidneys. These are poached in water and all visible fat skimmed. We then pulverize the meat to a paste in a blender. Adding cooked pasta to the paste mix seems to make the meaty things more workable and palatable and probably adds a few calories too. Yes, whole eggs can cause pancreatitis. But if you have a egg loving dog that you want to cram with low fat calories scrambled egg whites are definitely an option. Separating out the yolks is a pain, but egg whites and low fat *Egg-Beaters* are available in your local supermarket in carton form in the dairy section. We add some stinky stuff like cottage cheese, parmesan cheese sprinkles, and fish to help it go down the dog. Experience says -- the stinkier the better. Commercial supplements like Nutri-cal are also available, but check the ingredients for your pups specific needs. Hope this helps.

I am so sorry. This is devastating news. Spoil and love that boy rotten. You have been given the gift of time to say goodbye.

Before you completely despair check outthis link: caninecancerawareness.com There is a big difference between dermal and visceral hemangiosarcoma. Dermal has a much better prognosis.

I almost could not stand to read this thread. I hope and pray the diagnosis is wrong. Hemangiosarcoma is the silent killer. Viceral Hemangiosarcoma took my beloved Catwalk. An incredibly fast onset. She went from active and happy to at death's door within a few days. We counted ourselves lucky because most hemangio dogs just seem to die in their beds without warning. We had some few days warning, at least, because she got visibly sick. We decided to let her go, because she was so very, very sick. And in pain. All Tufts could offer (post diagnosis) was a possible 6 weeks on chemo, with pain control. We were not sure that the pain control would be enough and were afraid that the chemo would not make her feel any better. It broke my heart to let her go, but I hope we made the right decision, at the right time. For her -- not us. My thoughts are with you at this hard time. I would never second guess your decision. I hope you will not second guess mine.

We have a crate in the family room. A big one. I'd dearly love to get rid of it, such an eyesore, but it is Pilgrim's happy place. So we keep it up because it is her den. She was miserable when I took it down. So I set it up again, door almost always open! I have always thought of crates as temporary control, and something to be graduated from quite quickly. That said, a dog who has been crate trained will not freak out if for medical reasons he/she has to be kept quiet in a crate. I was so glad that we had Pilgrim's crate and she liked it, when we had to keep her quiet and calm for 6 weeks after her major back surgery. Crates have their place. They are not always a negative. Some greys like them.

Phenobarb is usually the first drug of choice. We have had 2 dogs here that have been well controlled on pheno. Yes, yes, and yes! I have always been careful to separate potential seizing dogs from the others. There is something about seizing that can cause other dogs to attack. A Grand Mal siezure is scary, for dogs and humans. Please be careful. But if you are careful, it is OK to deal with. We have done it.