Fostering (With Intent To Adopt) Sweet Girl With A Broken Leg - Severa

[Guest T_Rexa]

We brought home a beautiful 3.5 year-old girl yesterday. We are technically fostering her until her leg has healed (she will likely need surgery), at which point we can officially adopt. She was designated as cat-friendly, and that seems to be accurate so far. She's the only dog in the house, and we have just the one cat who has been cautious but calm so far. Our new girl, Nio (we haven't picked a real name yet) completely ignored the cat at first. Now she will look at her occasionally, but her attention is broken very easily. Based on what I've heard, that's pretty much the best case scenario. Nio loves her crate, and seems to hate being muzzled. She constantly tries to pull it off unless she's sleeping. Because of that, I've been letting her spend a good amount of time in the crate without the muzzle, but I'm not sure if that's good. To sum it up, these are the minor issues we're having that I'd love some input on:

 

- We are in an apartment, so going potty on a leash is her only option. She's been good about not peeing inside (we had one accident yesterday, but I think that was due to excitement), but refuses to go until she absolutely can't hold it. I think the normal solution to this would be to walk her for as long as it takes, but we can't do that because of her broken leg. Once around the block is about as far as she can go. I've taken her out several times today (she did poop this morning), but she hasn't peed since we took her out at 3am (she wouldn't go before bed, and we heard her getting restless so we decided to make her come out with us in the middle of the night). She seemed very afraid when we went to take her out, and basically refused to move. But we didn't want her to wet her bed so we gently made her do it. I don't know if her nervousness in that situation was due to her new environment, or due to having to pee so badly (at that point, it had been almost 12 hours). Does anyone have any tips for this? I take her out very frequently and walk her in circles and back and forth. I try not to tug on the leash. Sometimes she seems like she wants to go, but a noise distracts her. I think somewhere quiet would help, but we're in the city so that's not much of an option.

 

- Like I said, she's spent a lot of time un-muzzled in the crate, and then I'll occasionally lock up the cat so she can roam around without it. There's no big area to lock the cat, so I can't do that too much. When she has the muzzle on, she constantly tries to remove it. Mostly she rubs it on things, but she's rammed some shelves and other furniture a few times and I'm concerned she's going to start knocking things down. She also seems very irritated by it and it makes her a bit sassy. I'm concerned that she might end up taking out her frustration on the cat (not violently, but jumping at it, etc. which could harm their developing relationship). Her demeanor is so much calmer without it, and I'm not sure what to do. She does respond well to "leave it" when she's trying to get it off. I don't know if following her around and attempting to train her to stop in that way would be a good option, or if it might make her hate it even more. Again, my instinct would be to wear her out so she doesn't get as feisty about the muzzle, but I can't do that because of her leg. Thoughts?

 

- Lastly, is it possible for her to love her crate too much? We originally intended to keep it upstairs and just have her sleep in it. But from the second we set it up, it's been her safe space. I don't want her to have to go up and down the stairs too much because of her leg, so we left it downstairs instead. Other than needing to potty, she seemed to be fine by herself last night, but that may change as she becomes more attached to us. When I leave the door open and her muzzle on, she is constantly in and out. She goes in when I'm in the room or look at her, and they comes out and tries to remove the muzzle if I walk away or sit down. She seems to immediately go into the kennel if I walk in the room. But I don't think she's actually afraid of me, because she was very affectionate before the kennel was there. Should I let this continue? It's nice for when I actually need her in there. But if this is bad anxiety or nervousness, I don't want to encourage it.

 

Sorry for the wall of text. I know it's annoying to post three different questions at once. Input on any of these topics would be very much appreciated.

 

Edit: I just want to add that so far we're incredibly happy with her. She is our first Greyhound, and these issues are pretty minor. I just don't want to mess up or make any of them worse by responding poorly. It's also only been one full day now, and I know there's a good chance she just needs to adjust.

Edited August 1, 2016 by T_Rexa

[Guest Scouts_mom]

For some reason my Bree doesn't like to pee unless she absolutely has to or have an accident. She once when 20 hours without peeing. During this period I was taking her out about every 2 hours. She just didn't want to go!

 

If she is in the crate with the door closed, I see no reason for her to wear her muzzle. (All greys try to convince us that they hate the muzzles and must take them off now!)

It's too early for her to be loose in the house unmuzzled with the cat around, but if you are sitting somewhere reading, watching TV etc..., take off her muzzle and put her leash on. Hold the leash or tie it to your belt so you do have control and both of you relax.

[greysmom]

Re-read your last sentence, and repeat as necessary!

 

Seriously, you can't really know the answer to your questions long-term since you don't know how she's going to react long-term. And she's only 3 1/2 so still basically a puppy. Your biggest trick is going to be to keep her quiet while still tiring her out. Get some of the black Kongs and freeze with peanut butter. If she's food motivated, food puzzles and balls can work too, especially if you have an open concept house.

 

I'm assuming she's in a cast??? If so, you really need to watch her and make sure she's not getting pressure sores. Moving around exacerbates the chance she'll get them too. Keep the entire cast clean and dry.

 

Question #1: Put her on the schedule you need her to be on for her regular day. Do this schedule every day, even if you don't go to work/school/whatever. She's used to having a very defined daily schedule. Take her out as early and as late as you can to try and avoid the noisiest times. She should get used to things soon, but in the meantime, your potty training will need to take a back seat to both her physical ability, and how fast she settles down. This may be hard for her as a city environment is something she's never experienced before. If you find she begins having accidents, puppy training pads will help keep the mess under control. You didn't mention it, but I assume she hasn't had an accident in her crate?

 

Question #2: She's lying. She's *very* used to wearing a muzzle, she just doesn't want to. If you haven't seen evidence of problems with the cat, then she's *probably* fine. Again, her leg and her newness might cause this to change as she settles in. If you want her to wear her muzzle, then have her do so. Just be aware that she *can* get it off if she's clever (I have one that can get her muzzle off in about 3 seconds!). Make sure your cat has a safe space to retreat to if she needs to where the dog can't go, and that there are multiple escape points from each space for the cat should she get chased. She may need to be muzzled if she begins messing with her cast/bandages.

 

Question #3: If you want her to use the crate then leave it up. Right now, it *is* her safe space, and it sounds like she likes it, so I would probably leave it. Again, if she casted/has a broken leg, she shouldn't be doing stairs at all, meaning she will need to sleep downstairs away from you. This isn't ideal, but necessary at this point. After she heals, she will probably want to sleep in the bedroom with you, either crated or not.

 

Reread your last sentence, repeat as necessary!!! Good luck!!

[Guest T_Rexa]

Thank you guys for responding! You're right. I definitely don't expect any of these issues to be long-term. I just want to make sure not to exacerbate them for the time being. She is a youngin', but she's very calm and quiet so far. She's quite food motivated, so I'll work on some options to keep her busy.

 

She doesn't wear the muzzle when the crate is shut. I wanted her to be able to walk around and still have that safe spot, so I left it open and available to her with the muzzle on. That's when she kept going in and out, but mostly only out to eat and rub the muzzle on things.

 

Yes, she is in a cast. We have a boot for it for when she goes out to make sure it stays dry. Her wrappings were changed on the 26th, and will be changed again on the 10th. That's also when we'll take her to the vet (with a rep from the kennel) to find out if she needs surgery.

 

She has not had an accident in her crate. She hasn't peed inside at all, actually. She pooped inside when we first brought her home but I think it was more out of excitement/nervousness. She pooped outside in the morning with no problem at all. She's currently on hour 16 of no peeing right now though, so that's my main concern. Based on her behavior, I think she'll be really upset if she has an accident inside, so I really want to avoid that for her benefit as well as mine.

 

Again, thank you for your responses!

[peglywegly]

Hello T Rexa,

Welcome to greytalk, there is lots of great information here. My last foster was a girl with a broken hock and a 12 hour bladder. They- girls - don't seem to need to mark, if they need to pee they do, and that's it. My boy dogs, all have to pee on every bush and boulder on our walks. And they have multiple places in the back yard that are marking spots. The girl Marie, wasn't interested in where to pee, just when she wanted to - it was time. She would also poo regularly, usually 2 in the morning and a small one after dinner. I would try to take her out to go potty when I'd take the boys out, and she just didn't want to go most of the time. Being a broken hock or leg, she will need to be leash walked for a few months, until completely healed.

So don't worry if she only wants to do potty twice a day.

 

Her crate is her safe place-consider it her house- don't let the cat go in there. As time goes on and her comfort level (and yours) rise she will adjust to being out more. But with a broken leg/hock she should stay in confinement. It sounds as though she has been doing great with the cat. We have four cats, (and are deemed kitty boot camp for our group). Marie never liked the cats coming by her x-pen/crate and looking at her. she would growl at them. but she was completely cat safe. if you can distract her- that is the biggest Key. i wouldn't keep the muzzle on her. but a leash when she it out of the crate, like previous post suggests.

 

Keep us posted on how things are progressing.

[Guest T_Rexa]

Great news, guys. She finally peed at around midnight and then slept all night with no problem! Based on the fact that she seems to poop with no problem, I'm thinking this might just be her way.

 

Also, I lured her out of the crate last night and got her to sleep on a dog bed next to us for a few hours. Then later on, she chose the bed by choice over being in the crate. It made it much easier to get her outside later on when she got sleepy, and that's when she finally peed. She also seemed more relaxed and social outside of the crate, so I think it was the right choice! I'm not going to keep her out of it constantly, but it seemed to have a good effect once she got over trying to get back in the crate.

[GeorgeofNE]

She may be used to wearing the muzzle, but not wearing it in the crate. That would be the time at the track that it was removed.

 

I wouldn't muzzle her in the crate unless she's licking at her leg and you have no choice.

[Guest T_Rexa]

She may be used to wearing the muzzle, but not wearing it in the crate. That would be the time at the track that it was removed.

 

I wouldn't muzzle her in the crate unless she's licking at her leg and you have no choice.

She's only muzzled when the crate is open so she can walk around. She usually goes back in once she's done rubbing it on things though. She leaves her leg alone, fortunately. We're just trying to protect the cat.

 

 

Last night I lured her out with treats. We kept the leash on but no muzzle, and she hung out on a dog bed near us for a few hours while we watched some shows. That seemed to help pretty drastically with everything. She relaxed a little, and still loves the crate but is now coming out on occasion to hang with us.