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Hey all, us again 🙃 Annie is settling in great. We figured her playtime roaching was just a sign for "give me bum scratches" and complied (not the actual butt, just the meaty part of the legs). Anyway, new issue! We are $250 deep in collars and harnesses that don't work for us 😬 We've tried a cotton martingale and it's not made well so the hardware twists on the fabric. But previous grey experience taught me that the synthetic woven styles rub off fur We've tried the following harnesses: EzyDog quickfit in XL - goodish but she's between sizes and can easily back out of it when she does her kangaroo leaps. L is a smidge short in the chest strap but somewhat more adjustable, but same backing out issue. El cheapo $2 store harness which is step through, and she's backed out of it. PupCrewPro Pathfinder in XL - great, excellent, well fitting, soft chest triangle...except she's now got a raw nipple from where the belly strap rubbed. And I'm fairly sure it's rubbed a bald patch on her belly too. We've only had it for less than a week. I'm at my wits' end! Soooo much money spent on these and not sure where to turn. We'd like a harness, and a good fitting martingale, ideally that won't rub her raw or rub her fur off (also a common occurrence with anything that goes onto this dog). Tips?? We're in Australia. Also open to ideas about how to diy them to be more comfortable! Ty

We’ve had Greyhounds for a dozen years, and never had any successfully back out of their martingale collars. But it has happened to each of our dogs in the last couple of weeks when encountering off-leash dogs. Yikes! It’s so scary. I am now shopping for “can’t-back-out-of” harnesses, and I would appreciate suggestions from the Greyhound community. Any guidance? (Yesterday, an aggressive Beagle slipped his collar from his owner and charged towards Runner, Fargo and me with teeth bared. It all happened so fast! As I screamed at the oncoming dog while trying to corral my high-prey-drive dogs who were both rising up to the challenging dog, Fargo backed out of his collar. All near a busy road. Fargo and the Beagle were immediately in a scrum. I was somehow able to grab Fargo by his house collar and the man pulled his dog away just in time. Both of us had one leashed dog and one off-leashed dog. All four dogs were hyped-up and it was so frightening. No blood, thankfully. We were all lucky this time.)

I know there are posts on this but search isn't working. Please let me know your recommendations for harnesses to support my old girl - her rear legs are starting to fail her so we'd like to give her help for as long as she is willing to keep going. Bella turns 14 on Monday. Thanks!!

Senior dogs are the sweetest! Our senior greyhound Misty is 14 years old now. She has been through discospondylitis, kidney and urinary tract infections, anaplasmosis, and now arthritis. We have been very lucky with her health after adopting her as a two year old, but after a while, old age catches up. Right now she is experiencing another health crisis and we're not sure she will pull through considering her age. I want to share some things that we believe have helped give her a long, happy life and things we are doing now to keep her comfortable. Good quality food is a must. I've always fed Misty good quality kibble, going through a lot of different brands over the years including Wysong, Natural Balance, California Naturals, Earthborn, EVO, and most recently, Blue Buffalo chicken and rice. She loses interest after a while and she relishes a change every so often. I supplement this with homemade food, carefully following the instructions in Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats. At times I fed her only homemade food, but I found she liked the kibble and ate better with the mix. I also use good quality canned food. We have a very good vet who works with me to minimize invasive procedures while still keeping up with Misty's health. One thing that I believe helps is to do only one immunization at a time, not several at a time, despite the need for more vet visits. I believe this is easier on her system. I also ask my vet do titration tests to see if vaccines were necessary. I think the less you do the better, as long as you are keeping up with the necessary vaccines to protect them. Now that our sweet girl is in her golden years, it's hard to get her to eat. I've managed to tempt her with baby food (Beechnut stage 1 chicken and chicken broth is a favorite), Castor and Pollux canned food, and homemade chicken or beef stews. She will also usually eat ham or pork chopped up and mixed in her food or in the recipes from the Pitcairn book for a better nutritional balance. Hamburger and rice works great for diarrhea. She likes Stonyfield Farm yogurt, often right from the spoon. When she has been really sick and dehydrated I have fed her by smearing baby food into the side of her mouth, carefully dripping pedialyte or Gatorade (not artificially sweetened) into her mouth with a big syringe, and spoon feeding yogurt. We recently bought a Ruffwear harness, which I wish I had bought before. It's a little bit of a pain to put on but it can be done by holding the leg strap at floor level and lifting the foot just a little, then sliding the rest over her head. A soft coat fits over it, modified with a hole cut for the handle. The handle on the back is perfect for helping her outside and boosting her up from lying down. My husband built a ramp so she can get in and out of the house--heavy planks with wooden strapping for traction. Her Christmas presents included a supersoft blanket and a Crazy Warm pet from the Green Pet Shop. I don't understand how it works, but it contains tourmaline which reflects the dog's body heat back and keeps them warmer. She loves it and sleeps on it for hours. Her beds have grown in size as it seems more comfortable for her to stretch out now. Her bed in the living room is a combination of a bolster bed plus an orthopedic bed so the whole thing is the size of a child's mattress. Despite her current condition, she sleeps on it very comfortably. She loves to be covered by a soft blanket or pashmina shawl (yes, she has her own collection of pashmina shawls). Due to her current condition, she is now on gabapentin, mirtazipine to stimulate her appetite, and prednisone to help with inflammation in her spine and legs due to arthritis. X-rays show something going on with her left lung, possibly a tumor. At this point we are not going to put her through further testing or extreme treaments. We are trying to find the balance of comfort care, possible improvements, and non-stressful treatments. I'd love to hear how long other's greys have lasted and any other tips to help keep our Misty comfortable.

Hello All While walking our girls recently, someone stopped to admire them ( happens often ) but dropped this little nugget before moving on: martingale collars can cause throat cancer in greyhounds who sometimes pull from their neck. We have a harness and used it on our big boy Lander, before he passed. If there is any truth to this at all we will purchase another and Put Frannie and Chloe in them to walk. They are good walkers about 75% of the time but you know how it is, sometimes we're just out of our minds with excitement and act a bit crazy...... Has anyone ever heard of this cancer issue?

I did a lot of research before purchasing a harness and decided do go with the Freedom harness from 2 Hounds Design. I ended up needing to send it back to have a hybrid harness created, but I was very pleased with the customer service! I just received the altered harness and want to ensure I've fit it properly. Shuffler isn't much of a puller (kind of a slower walker, actually), but occasionally she goes nuts if there's a teeny-tiny dog on our walking route. For those who use this harness, does it look like it's sitting in the right spot on her? I've never fit a harness before.

Hi everyone! I adopted a 3 year old male greyhound in early August. He is very outgoing and LOVES people. He is very good about walking politely and not pulling, until we see a person. Then he wants to drag me to them (whole body wiggling) so that he can say hello. Unfortunately, not everyone appreciates a 75 pound greyhound's head in their lap. I am looking at front clip harnesses to help with the pulling while we work on appropriate greeting behavior. But I am worried about the security/safety of harnesses. I live in a city and if he were to get loose the road is not far away. Does anyone have a favorite harness they would recommend?

Hi lovely Grey people I'm looking to buy something for my old lady Misty to help her support her back legs when she walks. She doesn't need it quite yet but I'm trying to pre-empt it so I'm ready when she does. I've seen various devices online like harness things for the backlegs which you hold whilst they're walking. I'm feeling a bit bewildered with the choice! Has anyone used one they could recommend? Ideally it would perhaps be one where she can have it on most of time - indoors as well, in case she's struggling. thanks