sobesmom

This is an interesting discussion! I really love hearing all your insights and experience. I "WILL" concede one thing though - I shouldn't have expected the vet to just give me antibiotics over the phone... that was a bit much to ask on my part. It seemed logical to me at the time, though! I don't worry about "super-bugs" though. In 6 years and 15 greys, my own and fosters, I think I've given antibiotics twice. I'm not a pill-pusher. I'm sure dogs "could" develop a resistance to antibiotics if they were given frequently, among a large population, but I really don't see it happening soon. BTW- Diana's beercan sized wound, is now the size of my pinky nail. The large flap of skin (the circle) fell away, but new skin grew in very quickly. And - how weird is this - the new skin has ALL the brindle stripes of the original! I just assumed brand new skin would have brand new hair or none at all, and would look like a big scar. Nope, it'll be totally un-noticable in another week!

Prey drive, pure and simple. It's just how nature works. I've had some success with some high-prey dogs by covering the small animal's cage. Out of sight, out of mind. Training might work. I've not had great success with it, but I also never worked hard at it. My solution for my DD's hamster's was to move the cage into her bedroom and babygate that room. I hope you can find a solution here. My experience has not been good in this kind of situation.

Excellent questions! I always love to see new adopters asking questions that aren't at the "HELP -PANIC!" stage. The "could use some insider info stage" is WAY easier to deal with! Keep asking questions! The leg thing seems odd - how old is the dog? How long does she favor it? Is it limping or stiffness? Does she seem to be in pain? Has she done this the whole time you had her or is it a new thing? If it's only in the last few days, I'd guess she's pulled a muscle playing and will be ok. If it's been constant the whole month - I'd consider watching it, and having it checked. As others have said, mouthing is just that - mouthing. My dang Diana "chaws" on my hand every time I walk in the door, and also if we're out and about somewhere and she gets overly excited. It's affection, and perhaps a calming/reassurance thing. These guys thrive on physical contact, and often treat humans they love as packmembers. It generally annoys me, so I usualy just say "that's enough" and move my hand away. Not harshly, because she means no harm and she's doing no harm, and she's NEVER done it to anyone else but me. Mouthers usually only mouth their very close humans. Yes, slobber is love. Skin and coat changes are normal for a new adoptee. Brush her a couple times a week with a soft brush (that's more than a grey normally needs), but don't scrub at her. It's nice bonding, too, most greys love it. If the dry skin continues too long, it may be an environmental allergy or a food allergy, but I certainly wouldn't worry about that yet. And usually that's not a big deal, either. The eye thing - by "sleep in it" do you mean eye boogers? Sorry, crude. I've never seen that, personally, in a grey. I'm sure it's no biggie, but you might want to get that checked out if it doesn't clear up in a week or so. It could be a bit of infection. If you're at the vet's ask about the leg, too. All good questions. None of them sound like anything serious, but certainly all are things that you need more info about, and I hope you get it here.

I think it's perfectly appropriate to treat dogs differently if you're doing what is appropriate to each dogs' needs. That said - I also feel that a crate is a training tool, to be used until you train a dog to learn to be uncrated in a household. But - all dogs ARE differnet, and the important thing is to meet EACH dogs individuals needs.

I'd say take off the sweater. I live in northern PA, and when I got my first grey thought he had to be bundled in the winter. I learned that if you're going for extended exercise walks, coats are fine. I also learned that for "potty breaks" coats are not necessary. The dogs can adapt to the climate, as long as you don't extend it too far. For long exercise walks - use the coat. For bathroom, don't. It'll save you a LOT of headache. BTW - it's NOT that cold yet. I wouldn't even consider using the coat for exercise walks until the temp is below freezing. These dogs are far tougher than you think. If they shiver - they're cold. Ohio is NOT the arctic.

I'm sure that others are right, and color doesn't matter. BUT - my current foster, mostly white, sheds more than any other grey we've ever had. He does have a thick coat, and that may be the reason, but I've NEVER swept up this much dog hair in my LIFE with greys! Call it an urban legend - but this white dog sheds a LOT!

Well - the vet's take was that if was big enough to call about, they should SEE it to decide what treatments were necessary. I know it was only skin-deep, there was no skin to pull together to possibly stitch, and there was no bandage in the world that would work. So - I decined the $60 visit to have him tell me that. I'm considering asking my adoption rep to send me a general range antibiotic course to have on hand. The group gets them in bulk, becuase their vet knows they know when to administer. Luckily - Diana did not get infected, so it's a moot point in this case. But- if it was available to me, I'd have given her a course as a precaution in this case of such a large open wound.

The dog will be fine. Before I learned how to fully deal with my dog's amazing ability to get to and eat anything that wasn't locked up beyond belief - my 2 greys injested a 5 LB. bag of sugar. Yes, the entire bag. I came home to about 20 piles of liquid Big-D throughout the livingroom. Perhaps the worst dog day ever. I took a day off work to rip up the carpeting. We now have laminate flooring. But - the dogs were FINE. No ill effecrs. I'm NOT trying to trivialize your question. It's a good question. And it's ALWAYS right to ask. Just relaying a story.

With our greys and foster greys through here, about 15, it's been 50/50 with dewclaws. Some owners remove them, some don't. That preference probably has something to do with the trauma it may cause a puppy, or cost to remove, - I don't know if that's real or not. I DO know, as an owner of an adult dog - I prefer to not deal with a dewclaw.

Despite what I've read, I've had quite a few greys through here, and none had terrible teeth. Our current foster, has some darkness at the base of some of his teeth, and his breath STINKS! I'm not inclined to ask the adoption group to do a dental. I really don't think he has rotten teeth (I've looked) just a buildup of tartar and crud. Perhaps - my non-dental opinion. Suggestions? He's not a big chewer - I've given rawhides, and he graws them occasionally, half-heartedly. I give RMB's occasionally. And marrow bones, not his thing. Turkey necks? I've never used them, but I'm not opposed. I think those teeth just need a good bone-crunching scraping regularly, but he's not a recreational chewer.

We had an "incident" a couple weeks ago that would have had me calling for an emergency - off hours vet call a few years ago. BTW - This is a rural area, and if you call a vet off-hours, it better be BIG - and it's going to be insanely expensive, cash expected up-front, if you can get them to go to the office. I did that once, and for a VERY good reason. My incident a couple weeks ago was that my grey and the foster were out in the yard for after-dinner potty, and came barreling in like crazies - and then there was barking heard. We don't normally have barking. So the humans went to the door to see what was going on, and the foster dog came in with tail tucked, looking like he'd been told what-for. Went straight to a dog-bed and hid his head. My grey, Diana, pranced in like queen of the world with a big gash in her side. A cresent, about 2" long. Ugly. About an inch wide, skin deep only. Apparently, our "playful" foster slashed her with a nail. And along the ribline, that skin TEARS. My dog seemed fine. Actually proud of herself for "putting him in his place" (the barking we heard). So I decided to wait it out. The next day, the cresent turned into a circle when the skin pulled back. An open circle the size of the bottom of a beer can. Still I decided to wait. There was no way to stitch it. I called my vet to ask for a precautionary course of antibiotics, they said no. I said, I'd bring her in if needed. We've made a point to keep it clean, keep her from licking TOO much, and after 2 weeks, it's the size of a dime. Healing very nicely. I couldn't find a way to bandage, or cover, that wouldn't incite her to go after it, so we left it alone, and watched. If there had been ANY sign of distress from her, or any sign of infection, she'd have been at the vet IMMEDIATELY. My point is - sometimes you learn to wait it out. The hard part is figuring out when you "know enough" to do so. I expected EVERY DAY to come home and regret my choice, and have to go to the vet feeling like a jerk. When do you really LEARN how to make that call?? I'm learning...

I've been on GT for several years, I've read about Thunderphobia, I dealt with my first grey that got himself stuck under my bed during his first storm in a house, and I've dealt with varying degrees of nervousness with several fosters. BUT -our current foster - is a phyco in a storm. I was warned that he would be... I thought that the person was probably being dramatic. NOT - she was right. I have NEVER seen this level of panic and terror. He shakes to the point his nails click on the floor when he's standing still. He can't breathe - he pants, stops breathing, then gasps. He tried to dig through our bed to hide. This was a minor storm that lasted 15 mn. Hhe was a wreck for 2 hours. We did EVERYTHING to comfort him, and try to acclimate him.. The 3rd storm - I gave him a Benadryl. Nothing will fix this fear. It's REAL. I had NO IDEA that true thunderphobia was so bad - and there's nothing I can do, or train, to fix it. I've fixed lesser storm trauma - but this level - needs medication. For a short storm, Benadryl took the edge off...but come summer storms - this dog needs drugs.

Deer hunting season is BONANZA time around here for my dogs! I feed kibble, but supplement raw and RMB's. I have friends that hunt, and after they process their deer - I get the the scraps. I freeze up the bones that are the "junk" with lots of meat attached, and give it to the dogs over the next several months. The LOVE IT! I'll use as a meal, or a supplement, depending on how much meat is still there. Verison is FINE for dogs, even if you can't get the bones.

My Diana get her nose out of joint every time a new foster comes here, for a little while. She gets all lazy, and clingy, and won't play - and she's the QUEEN of PLAY. Eventually she gets over the adjustment and realizes "HEY - I LOVE having another dog around! WOO HOO" It sounds like they're doing super well already. You're very lucky to have found such a good match.

My 2 grey, plus about 15 fosters - never one crunch during meals. All kibble is lapped up and swallowed whole. No dog in this house has ever chewed a bite of kibble. Either dry or with water.

I tend to stay away from grains in dogfood, because dogs aren't herbivores. They don't need grains, and given the choice wouldn't go eat corn. Dead animal is what their bodies are built to eat. Many dogs do just fine with kibble that contains grains, I've just found that it goes in one end and out the other. It's a filler. My current foster is eating what I consider a "junk" food - more grains than meat by far - but, according to sources, he doesn't do well on "better" foods. He's healthy, and fine. Given the choice, I feed as little grain as possible.

I wouldn't continue the "fillers" forever. I did use them with my Sobe when I switched him to a food with about double the calories of his previous food, so he was getting a lot less volume. Maybe 2 weeks. That was it. He loved to eat, and any trick he could pull to make me "think" he was hungry, he'd try. I ignored it, and he eventually gave up. My experience is - most greys will eat anything that doesn't eat them first. Genetically programmed to get food when available. The more you reward the "it's been 30 minutes since I've eaten - I'm STARVING" - the more of that behaviour you'll get. Hand the dog a rawhide, or a marrow bone to keep his mouth busy. Meals are meals here. You eat, you're done. No fuss, no muss. Treats are treats, chews are chews. I don't do "add-ins". That said, I DO give my dogs variety in their diet. Raw bones, raw meat, dinner leftovers, as appropriate in substitution for, or as part of their kibble meals, not all the time - occasionally. My choice for their overall health - not because I feel compelled to "give a little something extra" because one acts finicky. But - I'm also referred to as the "dog feeding Nazi" here.

Others have given solid advice, use it. Also - I'd get out the crate. Don't use it as a "lock away" place - establish it as DOG-ZONE. A place where the dog can go to get away, and the child is NEVER ALLOWED TO GO INTO. A 2 1/2 yr. old can understand - NO NO - doggie's bed. Don't touch. Don't go in. I'd leave it open-crate. But I'd DEFINATELY give the dog a NO-KID place to retreat to.

OH, you have a SMART dog. Not necessarily a good thing. He's figured out that there's food in there, and he's figured out how to get to it - and he's rewarded himself by getting the food. This is a slippery slope. You're going to have to do one of two things - either train him to NOT get into the cupboards, which is going to be hard now - you'll have to be vigilant and say "NO" or squirt him with a water bottle or something until you can train him out of it...... or - you're going to have to lock up the cupboards or move the food. I've found that once a dog has rewarded himself by getting food out of a cupboard - I personally can't train it out of him. I'm just not home enough to be that vigilant. Same story with a trash can. So - my deal is - no food in accessible cupboards, and no trash can left in the house. Baby-locks are our friends. When/If your smart dog moves up to opening the refrigerator, and microwave - PM me. Been there, too. I truly hope you don't have to deal with that.

Sounds like she's gonna be okay~ Progress ALREADY! Good for you! You'll never know her past - but she's going to have a GREYT future. Give her time, and I'll bet you a quarter that she'll starting playing, fetching, and/or throwing toys around in.... 3 weeks. Got your quarter ready? Mine's sitting by my computer and I WILL mail it to you if I'm wrong! What is her name? Did I miss that in the posts?

I'm a little confused over the OP. I don't think killing and fighting over a prey animal is really related to eating raw served as a meal. They're just different things. Lots of dogs with zero prey drive eat raw, and lots of dogs with tons of prey drive don't. As far as ill-effects from the rabbit - I really wouldn't worry about it. If your dog had worms, which I assume is why you treated with Panacur - I'd have the stool checked in a month regardless, sometimes it takes a couple treatments, they can reinfect easily from feces. Or maybe the rabbit - but I wouldn't necessarily blame the rabbit. I would suggest putting the dogs on Interceptor monthly, and you're covered. I also never read/heard that dogs shouldn't eat raw on panacur. I believe you, I just never heard that. I've fed raw and used Panacur before, and it was fine. huh. Maybe I goofed! ETA - what does "trigger warning" mean?

Yes. I use them a a supplement (kibble-feeder with raw yummies). Along with almost any raw meat/bone waste. The puppers love the cast-offs.

As everyone else has said - it's fine. My have eaten rabbits, mice, birds, squirrels and moles. I have a great rabbit story - it's on greytalk somewhere. It involves my dog actually bring his kill into the house, chomping away on his dogbed, me getting the dogbed and rabbit away, and me in T-shirt and undies outside at 3am trying and failing multiple times to throw said dead rabbit over the fence via the dogbed - with the very excited dog bouncing around me the whole time. It was a show the neighbors would've loved to have witnessed.

It depends on the dog. I know for a fact that Diana can jump over 5 ft. up from a dead standstill - I've seen her do it to grab a bird well above my head while she was just standing beside me. She didn't even put a great deal of effort into it. But she's never once considered challenging our 4 Ft. welded wire fence. We've never had our other grey or any of the fosters consider going over the fence, either. But - we also don't let dogs out in the yard when we're not home. Unsupervised, yes, but not when we're not home. If it's not a big issue and you could go either way, sure, fence more and don't worry about it. If it's a big issue - don't fence that part and supervise until you know for sure. No plan is fail-safe. Just make an informed choice that makes sense for you and your dog.

Oh wow. I won't hazard a guess - but I agree to treat her like a just-off-the-track grey. Let her acclimate, don't push things, and use caution around new situations. I know nothing about such things, but is it possible she was born without the leg, rather than an amputation? I'm with you that somebody that paid to have a leg amputated wouldn't just let their dog go missing. How did the vet check go? Keep us posted, please!