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Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011

actionjackson posted:

Abby is on my bed pretty much all day

and now I'm lying down on it, and I let her jump on and slowly crowd me out so I'm just on the edge

just getting completely owned by my dog

hahaha Opal is exactly the same as Abby! :D Tazo's fine curling up in a corner all night, out of the way. But Opal? Nope! If she's not allowed to jump up, she'll wait until we're asleep, then slowly clamber up. I'll typically wake up and ask her what she's doing on the bed - she'll then sit down on the bed to demonstrate how little space she's taking up (honestly quite impressive - she occupies a super-small 'footprint' when she wants to!)

...then if we allow her to stay, throughout the course of the night she'll somehow expand to occupy the entire bed, trying to kick the rest of us off. I've managed to avoid disaster due to being both dogs' favourite, but there have been occasions where both Taz and my partner are forced off the bed simultaneously, so that I'm left on the edge and Opal is somehow everywhere else. she kinda reminds me of Marvel's "Mr Fantastic", with an uncanny ability to stretch out as much as she wants - defying the laws of physics all the while

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Radiation Cow
Oct 23, 2010

I got a foot in my face during my nap today. I also got the huffiest look when I got up, like 'How dare you remove my footrest, peasant!' Greyhounds are the best dogs.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost
Sparty keeps trying to cuddle and crowds us to the edge of the bed :3:

StrixNebulosa
Feb 14, 2012

You cheated not only the game, but yourself.
But most of all, you cheated BABA

It is astonishing to me how large dogs become on beds. Opal is a greyhound and has all those legs and my pooch Apollo is not, so he’s never pushed us off the bed, but I swear to you this bed used to be a king. It’s like dogs expand in size magically on beds it’s ridiculous!

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

Unfortunately Abby had a lot of trouble getting out of bed this morning - she tries to do it on her own when I'm not in the room, and sometimes she succeeds and sometimes not. If she doesn't, after I help her up she has some trouble walking around. She kind of drags the foot with the edema after this for a bit. At least the edema seems to be improving! She's continuing to lay on my bed all day and I just bring food and water to her. I've found it helpful to go for a long walk (weird to go on a walk without her) to help with the depression a bit.

It wasn't until she was 10 or so where she really had any medical issues at all, something that can be hard to keep in perspective when I'm dealing with all her issues now. I don't think she even peed in her bed once until she was 10, and her first dental was around that time as well.

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

definitely some improvement at least (left - Sunday, right - today)

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Red_Fred
Oct 21, 2010


Fallen Rib

actionjackson posted:

definitely some improvement at least (left - Sunday, right - today)



That’s looking way better!

Our girl got up on the bed at like 5am this morning. Usually I tell her no but I didn’t this time and woke up on the edge of the bed with her splayed out in the middle :hmmyes:

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

I'll be taking out the stitches on the other leg this weekend, so that should help a bit as well.

If anyone in this thread that has lost a greyhound would like to PM me just to chat, I would appreciate that.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost
I haven't lost a greyhound specifically (yet :()but I've lost several pets, been an inconsolable mess, and recovered, and would be happy to talk if you want. :unsmith:

skoolmunkee
Jun 27, 2004

Tell your friends we're coming for them

Actionjackson, it’s late here and I’m going to bed now so I can’t chat... but I want you to know I would give you a big hug if I could and make you tell me stories about Abby and you.

I started this thread with Union and when I lost her I was devastated, I couldn’t function for a month and to this day I miss her and sometimes mistakenly call Josie ‘Union.’ She went suddenly, not at all like Abby, so I can’t imagine how you must feel every day. It’s because we love them so much that it hurts too. Abby is lucky to have you.


Ummmm I volunteer at an animal shelter and someone surrendered four 6 week old greyhound puppies and I made sure to get pictures and videos. My iPad is not cooperating though so I will share them tomorrow from my pc!

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost
"How lucky we are to have loved so deeply that it hurts so much when they leave"

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

thanks guys!

how did someone happen to get four greyhound puppies? aren't they really only on farms?

edit: reached to Abby's foster to let her know Abby is still around and she said

"After you adopted her, I remember you had some issues with her urinating on your carpet. I was worried you might return her. Thank you so much for being patient with her, working thru her house soiling issues. And thank you for giving her a great life."

which was nice. had to admit I never really "solved" her peeing on the carpet thing that well - seemed like once she decided that spot by the patio door was her spot, she never gave it up. and if I tried to keep her away, she just peed in the closest available spot! coincidentally I now have hard floors.

actionjackson fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Apr 16, 2021

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm
I can’t help specifically with greyhounds but my family had a collie that passed when I was ~30 and it hit me hard when I realized I had known her half my life. The last few months were awful and I remember once my mom called me at work to say that Lizzie was OK after some scare and I had to go outside and walk on a trail for half an hour before I was presentable again. A few days after she had gone I collapsed in the bathroom sobbing. We lost the last of the goats, the horse, and the dog all in the same year and it was pretty gloomy visiting my parents for a while.

It took a few years (too many, probably) before they got Lucy. She ended up being absolutely nothing like Lizzie but still provides such immense happiness for them (and me when I visit).

This is going to sound horrible but I’ll say that you shouldn’t hold back your feelings. It’ll be easier in the long run.

On a completely different, I got kicked in the face by Katie yesterday. After some zoomies outside she collapsed in a panting heap and I went over to belly rub her. Well, turns out she wasn’t quite done and all I really remember were some flailing limbs, a sharp blow to the face that knocked off my glasses, and my dog obliviously doing donuts around me. Now I know to always pet her from the safe side when she’s flopped over like that!!!

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

you do have to be careful sometimes, there were a few times were Abby was kind of crouching, I reached down to pet her and she leapt up, hitting me in the chin with her head!

skoolmunkee
Jun 27, 2004

Tell your friends we're coming for them

PUPPIES




https://youtu.be/STeH9QiFbPc two minutes of puppy running about and puppy barks
https://youtu.be/qJnihvnY51o twenty seconds of puppies including puppy whines
https://youtu.be/3cF9I3HahV4 45 seconds of puppy showing a towel who is boss

So we got these little babies because two people with unaltered greyhounds were a little less vigilant than they could have been. I dunno where they got their greyhounds, they must have bought then privately, maybe from a racing breeder? But puppies are a lot of work and although 6 weeks is a little young to separate them from their mom, they're already eating solid food so she gave them to us. (We are glad she didn't sell them)

There are two boys and two girls, the boys I called Broken Tail (for his broken tail, which is now amputated because the break was bad) and Two Toes (two white toes on each foot). The girls I called Tippy (for the white tail tip) and The Other One. Of course they came with names, and their fosterer is probably going to rename them. But for the purposes of IDing them I think my names are most useful!

They were in the centre for all of an hour before they went off to their foster home, so I didn't get to spend too much time with them because everyone wanted to cuddle them. By the end they were tuckered out (that is Tippy having a snooze in my arms in the second photo)

number 1 snake fan
Jul 16, 2018

skoolmunkee posted:

PUPPIES




https://youtu.be/STeH9QiFbPc two minutes of puppy running about and puppy barks
https://youtu.be/qJnihvnY51o twenty seconds of puppies including puppy whines
https://youtu.be/3cF9I3HahV4 45 seconds of puppy showing a towel who is boss

So we got these little babies because two people with unaltered greyhounds were a little less vigilant than they could have been. I dunno where they got their greyhounds, they must have bought then privately, maybe from a racing breeder? But puppies are a lot of work and although 6 weeks is a little young to separate them from their mom, they're already eating solid food so she gave them to us. (We are glad she didn't sell them)

There are two boys and two girls, the boys I called Broken Tail (for his broken tail, which is now amputated because the break was bad) and Two Toes (two white toes on each foot). The girls I called Tippy (for the white tail tip) and The Other One. Of course they came with names, and their fosterer is probably going to rename them. But for the purposes of IDing them I think my names are most useful!

They were in the centre for all of an hour before they went off to their foster home, so I didn't get to spend too much time with them because everyone wanted to cuddle them. By the end they were tuckered out (that is Tippy having a snooze in my arms in the second photo)

:kimchi::allears:

Veskit
Mar 2, 2005

I love capitalism!! DM me for the best investing advice!
THEY LOOK LIKE LEMOONNNN!!!

jesus WEP
Oct 17, 2004


oh my god

Drunk Beekeeper
Jan 13, 2007

Is this deception?
Last night Jody started limping a short while after her walk. She was still limping this morning at breakfast. The shoulder area feels warm and might be a bit swollen, kind of difficult to tell. We got into the vet first thing this morning for x rays. The vet couldn’t determine if it was osteosarcoma or not, they suspect it may be related to Valley Fever or perhaps a racing injury flare up. Definitely some damage of some sort on the bone there but not a blowout like they usually see with cancer. We need to wait three days for the valley fever test results. They sent us home with rimadyl for the inflammation and told us to wait for the test results.

This so far is playing out just like Jake’s diagnosis last year and it is just killing me. I’m trying to be optimistic but it is so hard. Same leg and location as Jake’s cancer. She’s only 5 years old. Hug your hounds for me.

I can post the X-rays if anyone is interested.

pastor of muppets
Aug 21, 2007

We were somewhere around the Living Hive, on the edge of the desert, when the drugs began to take hold...

skoolmunkee posted:

PUPPIES




https://youtu.be/STeH9QiFbPc two minutes of puppy running about and puppy barks
https://youtu.be/qJnihvnY51o twenty seconds of puppies including puppy whines
https://youtu.be/3cF9I3HahV4 45 seconds of puppy showing a towel who is boss


:five:

e: ugh DB that's loving awful, especially so soon after Jake. :( Hoping for good news for you all.

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

So sorry to hear about Jody!

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost

david_a posted:


This is going to sound horrible but I’ll say that you shouldn’t hold back your feelings. It’ll be easier in the long run.


I can second this. I got my childhood golden retriever when I was in third grade, and she was put down right after I graduated college. I new it was getting close to the end when she tried to slowly walk over the hill into the creek when she normally never left the yard. We'd already scheduled the in-home euthanasia so I just carried her poor shrunken skinny body home and apologized to her the whole way

When they started putting her down I stayed brave for her and cradled her in my lap, but as soon as she was unconscious I started crying and when the doc told us her heart was stopped I bawled uncontrollably, full on ugly cry full of snot and gasps and shuddering. I still managed to get out something thanking the vets.

Just remembering that is tearing me up, but the thing is I don't really feel bad about it now and I didn't feel bad about it then. She went when she was ready, and she was comfortable at home with her people around her to the end. I feel like I did right by her, and I see her occasionally in my dreams.

I say all this to say it's going to hurt, it's going to suck, but it doesn't have to be the end. I'm always glad for a chance to reminisce about her. Even if it does mean it gets a little dusty every time I do, ten years later :unsmith:

jesus WEP
Oct 17, 2004


DarkHorse posted:

When they started putting her down I stayed brave for her and cradled her in my lap, but as soon as she was unconscious I started crying and when the doc told us her heart was stopped I bawled uncontrollably, full on ugly cry full of snot and gasps and shuddering. I still managed to get out something thanking the vets.
this was also me last year with bonnie. you aren't gonna do anything a vet's not seen before, just let it fly

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

I'm not sure which is worse, something that happens suddenly or unexpectedly, or just a slow decline like what Abby is going through.

I do have some good news, the swelling has decreased considerably!

jesus WEP
Oct 17, 2004


ive been through both and sudden is a lot easier for sure, with the caveat that ive never had one so sudden i didn’t get to say goodbye. that one would be worst of all imo.

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm
Well I have a serious problem seemingly out of nowhere with Katie. Last night I was giving her some good night belly rubs like I always do and she snapped at me and growled if I got too close. Same behavior this morning. I called the vet since I thought it might be her stomach but everything is going in and out fine and she seems normal otherwise. They didn’t think it was a GI problem from my description.

I was very hesitant to touch her today but she seemed normal; she came up to me for pets and I can touch her head just fine. The day was relatively normal and I fed her half her dinner out of my hand.

When she laid down in front of the TV on her side a few minutes ago I tried to see if I could touch her - I waited for her to paw at me that she wanted me to, but she lashed out nearly instantly. She didn’t really bite me per se but one of her teeth hit my hand.

I’m gonna have a call with my adoption rep in a few minutes but I feel utterly devastated. I can’t help but feel like I’ve inadvertently done something horrible to cause this.

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

I highly doubt you did anything terrible. See what your group thinks and keep us updated!

Lagomorphic
Apr 21, 2008

AKA: Orthonormal
If she's okay being touched on the belly when up and about she's likely just protecting here sleeping space. Greyhounds are used to sleeping in crates and thus not used to sharing sharing that space or being handled in it. Gannon also used to get really on edge if you loomed over him so if your walking up to her while she's lying down that might be putting her on edge.

At his point Gannon's snapped at me hundreds of times and it is always when he's lying down.

skoolmunkee
Jun 27, 2004

Tell your friends we're coming for them

Yeah my guess is that now she is settling in, getting more comfortable and confident, and figuring out her place in the family... she is telling you she doesn’t like her tum being touched when she’s having a lie down!

Don’t punish her for growling, in case you were thinking that. Growling is good, it’s a warning.

However you can try lots of things to get her to let you back into her space. Try just sitting near her at nighttime, without paying her too much attention, and working forward slowly from there. Try to pair that time with getting treats and positive attention. Just don’t accidentally reinforce the growling.

Josie doesn’t like people (or cats) up in her space when she’s on her chair/the sofa, so she growls sometimes, even at me! It’s extra ridiculous when she’s the one who has sat down next to me, then she growls. I’m not moving, dog, you move! I think it’s fair for her not to want cats jumping on her or having people in her face when she’s trying to relax. It was just figuring out her boundaries. (She does however let me bother her when she’s in her chair- she just doesn’t like an extended presence.)

skoolmunkee fucked around with this message at 04:31 on Apr 17, 2021

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm
We think she might be slightly injured or have something that’s making her feel unwell that gets aggravated when she’s lying down. This behavior was incredibly sudden; I’ve been giving her goodnight rubs since I got her and she got snappy out of the blue Thursday night. I’m very careful to make she’s awake before I touch her and usually I’m on the ground when I do this.

After thinking about it, I have noticed her spending more time in her crate today and her breathing is maybe a bit labored when she’s on her side (hard to tell since she has exciting dreams all the time). She seems fine when she’s standing up, although I’m honestly afraid to touch her body much. I can touch her head and feet just fine.

On Thursday when she was out doing zoomies with a rope toy she was swinging around she did wack herself in the side with it hard enough for her to yelp. Seems dumb if that’s the problem but who knows. They mentioned even something like an ear infection could cause this.

They recommended having a vet do a full physical exam for painful spots as soon as possible. We’ll try to keep it calm this weekend; she does do an awful lot of walking for a greyhound which may also be making it worse.

skoolmunkee
Jun 27, 2004

Tell your friends we're coming for them

If you have two people you can give her a gentle exam yourself! I understand you’re new to this and a bit nervous of her right now. Greyhounds are used to being handled though and you shouldn’t have much trouble.

Have one person in front of her with tiny portions of high value treats... little bites of sausage, a spoon of peanut butter, shredded cheese, etc. Have them portion that out to keep her happy and distracted while you move your hands gently over her. Just look for any kinds of reactions like a flinch or if she turns her head. You don’t want to push down or anything. You can start with the zones she’s ok with like her feet and head to get her used to it!

If you’re worried about her snapping you can position yourself so your back is to her face, that means you need the help of the treat giver to call out any reactions they see, but it might make you feel safer.

DarkHorse
Dec 13, 2006

Vroom Vroom, BEEP BEEP!
Nap Ghost

skoolmunkee posted:



Josie doesn’t like people (or cats) up in her space when she’s on her chair/the sofa, so she growls sometimes, even at me! It’s extra ridiculous when she’s the one who has sat down next to me, then she growls. I’m not moving, dog, you move! I think it’s fair for her not to want cats jumping on her or having people in her face when she’s trying to relax. It was just figuring out her boundaries. (She does however let me bother her when she’s in her chair- she just doesn’t like an extended presence.)

Spartacus does this with his feet when lying down. Jump up on the bed or couch because he wants to be near you, stretch out to relax, growl because now you're touching his feet. Great job dumbass

Don't worry about doing anything wrong. If Katie still likes being around you generally then she's just letting you know that this specific thing is something she doesn't like. That's a good thing, she's comfortable with you! It may fade as she feels better if it is an injury.

number 1 snake fan
Jul 16, 2018

It definitely could be something as silly as it's a little tender where she whacked herself and she's acting like it's worse than it is. Our greys are huge drama queens, Nemo screams like he's being killed if the leash goes taut between his legs even though he's perfectly fine

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm
Honestly finding some minor injury would be a big relief for me. The notion that she suddenly and abruptly decided she wasn’t OK with being touched while lying down is disturbing to me. If she didn’t like it, she had an odd way of showing it - she would roll over on her back a lot to let me scratch her chest and often times she would do the pawing thing whenever I had the audacity to stop touching her. When I stroked her, she would gradually close her eyes like she was falling asleep.

I feel like my trust has been violated a bit and the worst part is that now I don’t entirely trust her.

Anyway I managed to get a vet time in two hours so we’ll see if they find anything.

NomNomNom
Jul 20, 2008
Please Work Out
Dog's gonna dog. Don't worry about it. If she really is showing sleep and space aggression just start slowly approaching with treats. Getting awoken with chicken will solve that pretty quick.

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm
Well the vet found nothing physically wrong and it’s hard to argue about that given how she’s acting & moving. He also thought she might just be settled enough now to let me know she doesn’t want to be touched when she’s sleepy. I’m really glad she never figured out how to get up on furniture because trying to share my couch with a snappy greyhound would have been intolerable.

I really miss stroking her but the only way I’ll feel safe doing that is if she intentionally walks up to me, flops down, and paws at me (is that even something greyhounds do?).

I may have been taking our bond a bit for granted and I think I’ll keep doing stuff like hand-feeding part of her meals along with other activities to let her know who’s nominally in charge.

Now I also have to figure out to how to grind her nails when she’s standing up which might be the worst part. Thankfully she’s pretty good about letting me handle her feet.

Legit Businessman
Sep 2, 2007


david_a posted:

I really miss stroking her but the only way I’ll feel safe doing that is if she intentionally walks up to me, flops down, and paws at me (is that even something greyhounds do?).

My dog will definitely paw me if I stop ear rubbin time early.

Legit Businessman fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Sep 5, 2022

david_a
Apr 24, 2010




Megamarm

Drewjitsu posted:

Rush will definitely paw me if I stop ear rubbin time early.

Yeah Katie did the pawing thing, I’m more wondering about coming up to you for belly rubs. My parents dog will do that.

Legit Businessman
Sep 2, 2007


david_a posted:

Yeah Katie did the pawing thing, I’m more wondering about coming up to you for belly rubs. My parents dog will do that.

My dog doesn't beg for belly rubs. His spots are basically in order:

EARS
Ears
ears
...
...
...
Belly is okay, I guess?
....
Please don't touch my feet.

Legit Businessman fucked around with this message at 07:59 on Sep 5, 2022

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Veskit
Mar 2, 2005

I love capitalism!! DM me for the best investing advice!
I'm coming up on my month anniversary of getting Lemon Pepper. She's due to be spayed in a month, and I feel like the puppy puppy experience is over, so I wanted to get my thoughts out there while they're still fresh, and in case anyone is interested in going down the puppy route. These pictures of my stinker were taken the day I met her, when she was 6 weeks old, and her mom tolerating her antics




First off, I want to thank everyone here for their stories with their pups. It helped me a lot in deciding to go with a greyhound. I really wanted an independent and aloof dog, and these goofballs looked like a good choice i never would have put together. I started looking for puppies through different websites, and I saw a guy selling greyhound puppies through the AKC site. I went out to his place 2 hours outside atlanta where i live, liked the guy, liked the parents, and put a deposit on lemon. I picked up Lemon two weeks later when she was 8 weeks old. I genuinely didn't understand that I had an abnormal journey in all this because it went so smoothly, but here we are. What I will say is that I hope there comes a day that people have an opportunity to adopt puppies if puppies are for them. That said... Puppies.


If you go online and try to do greyhound puppy research you find a lot of material about how hellish greyhound puppies are, and I think that overall greyhounds aren't especially worse as puppies i've had before. They are 100% though a different dog than when they're adults. Lemon as a puppy is kind of indistinguishable from when she is now. She had a lot more outbursts of energy, probably around 4 hours of day of wanting to run around play and be an active dog, and did everything with 100% go. She was really hard to walk, and just hard to control in general. Food was a big deal, and one time I got bit from her resource guarding. I put a bell on the door for potty training, but really she used it 100 times a day to go out and play but would come inside and pee. General greyhound stuff that was annoying. To have a successful day she needed at least an hours worth of running.

I kind of gave up on command training. I think if i had more patience or time with her I could have had her be better about dealing with commands, but instead I focused on behavioral things. I dont have issues with resource guarding, children, rodents running around, she doesn't bark, she's really good now about being a regular chill dog, but she could use work at even the simple commands like come and heel.

Also I've never had to train a dog to want to guard the house, I thought they all naturally barked and would kind of watch over, but she couldn't give two shits, which given how greyhounds are it makes 100% sense.

So the first few months were hard, but it gets easier, and easier and now we're here, to the 55 pound lady she is today




I don't think there's a lot of nuance between do I adopt an older dog or a puppy in greyhounds that you wouldn't find with any other breed, but 100% I will say that it's crazy the difference between the puppy and the adult and that's only because adult greyhounds are so different while puppy greyhounds are so familiar to other large breed puppies.

If the cost isn't an issue, and can give a lot of attention to the puppy for the first 4-6 months, I really recommend greyhound puppies.

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