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Post by jackal on Apr 2, 2008 19:37:05 GMT -5
Hi i am new here and new to greyhounds, i have just posted in the introductions topic.
I have a couple of questions regarding our newly adopted greyhound. Hope i don't sound too thick, but we are new to this breed!
1. We got Sky 4 weeks ago and her fur was quite thick and shiny, now it is starting to moult ( a lot!). I noticed when i started to brush her a couple of days ago. There is new fur underneath, just not as thick.
Is this normal? As i didn't think greyhounds moulted much? (Her coat is quite thick though).
2. I have also noticed a sort of "dog dandruff" that too gets worse when brushed. She had a little when we first met but now it is really flaky. She has had one bath since coming home and we used a dog shampoo and conditioner, this has not made it any better or worse? Help?
3. Sky has been left alone a few times now, my wife works 3 hours a day for 4 days a week. I am full time. Those 3 hours have been relatively ok. There is usually a bit of whining then she settles after 10 mins or so (according to my neighbour).
We give her access to the kitchen and lounge, all newspapers, kids toys and food items are put well away, (we learnt by experience on those ones!). However after being left on about the 4th occasion she decided to chew the door frame and pine dresser!
Since then we have given her a pigs ear or chew as we leave the house and she has been ok. A walk first tends to help as that tires her aswell. She still whines when left and tends to follow me a lot, even to the toilet! When i take a shower, she sits outside the door and crys a little and my wife informs me that once i have left for work she circles by the door whining for a short while.
We take her up to our bedroom at night where she sleeps quiet all night, because downstairs she howls for us. I have to lift her upstairs as she can't climb stairs (never seen them before).
Does anyone else have these seperation problems? One answer we may have, is to get a companion. My wife also fell in love with an 18 month old girl (non racer) at the rescue centre. She really would like her, and i don't imagine 2 dogs to be much harder work, especially if they keep each other company at night (downstairs!!!) and when we have to leave them alone.
Will this work? Any ideas? Or am i to keep carrying our big baby up to bed every night? LOL
Oh and one last thing.................why does Sky keep stealing the kids toys or clothes and hiding them in her bed?
Usually the most fluffy teddies go missing!
Is this to do with the "hare" or her maternal instincts of returning her young to the bed.
This is not a problem, quite funny in fact and we think it shows she is settling in ok.
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paulawright
Ironing Piling Up
make mine a large one!!!
Posts: 244
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Post by paulawright on Apr 3, 2008 2:03:41 GMT -5
sky is getting rid of her kennel coat now she is living indoors with central heating, dont worry this is perfectly normal and once shed she should have a lovely shiny thinner coat, as for the dandruff, im no expert but my molly suffers from this as well, we give her fish in oil as a treat couple of times a week and brush her regularly and this does help, dont know if it is the change in weather but it does seem worse than usual at the moment,
it took molly over a year to master the stairs and we think she only did that cos we got a lurcher who flew up them and she realised she might be missing out on something, but now i make both of them sleep downstairs at night, bit of whining the first night but she soon got over it have you tried a kong for her when you go out, they are big rubber things that you put treats inside and they have to spend ages licking it out
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Post by happydog on Apr 3, 2008 3:52:09 GMT -5
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Post by Lisa on Apr 3, 2008 6:35:37 GMT -5
First of all congratulations on your new addition. The coat she is shedding is kennel coat that they grow to keep them warmer when within a kennel environment. Underneath this you will find a sleeker shinier coat. At the moment the dandruff is part and parcel of the shedding. You need to get yourself either a good stripping comb OR use a small hacksaw blade gently to strip out the thick top layer of coat and leave the bottom layer of new fur behind. Wait before giving her a bath again till the majority of this coat is out. To help improve the coat underneath you can add some oily fish into her diet a couple of times a week, a tin of sardines usually helps. What is she currently being fed on as diet can sometimes have an effect also? Evening primrose oil capsules that can be purchased from the chemist will also help add 1 capsule into both her daily feeds. Regarding the settling im not sure what advice you were given by the group you adopted her from so will give you our advice but hope not to go against their advice. The post that Happydog highlighted was one written by myself and part of the guidelines we give to our adopters when taking on a new dog. However, you dont mention in your introductions thread whether you are giving her time out when the family is at home with her OR whether she is allowed fulltime access to you all? To allow her to become independant enough to settle when you leave the house you first need to get her independant enough as to not stress being away from yourselves in the house. I suggest you head to Argos and purchase a dog gate. Place it across the kitchen and set her a warm safe area up in there. Start when you are in with a relative small amount of time maybe 5 minutes each hour placed in that area away from you and ignore her if she creates. If it gets too load DONT go to her shout to be quiet from where you are sitting. It its imperative NOT to go to the dog when its winging and as you have kids treat it as you would with a baby if they learn that when they cry you return they cry for your return. You only ever go to her when she is quiet. Ignore her and let her out. Repeat again. The main thing is consistancy. When you leave the home and when you return you should ALWAYS ignore the dog until it has stopped leaping around head height greeting you. Dogs dont understand what we say and your voice is by means of an appology when returning if you make conversation. EVERYBODY including the children though must do this, when the kids return from school do not let them fuss her, make them come in sensibly ignore her, get their uniform off, put their stuff away and once she is settled they can call her to them for attention and a fuss. This link may also help it tells about attention on demand. www.k9deb.com/nilif.htmWhen she is following you around the house also shut doors, dont allow her access to you all the time again this causes more dependancy and upset when you leave. Squonking after someone when they leave the house and someone else is in is natural. Who is the main carer of the dog yourself? Your Wife? Get everyone involved, let the kids take over some of the grooming, some of the feeds or involve them with you overseeing the feeding. This will help her form a bond with all of you and not just one or two of you. Now the collecting, again this is perfectly normal. You have to remember that this is a dog that up until this point has lived its life in a kennel environment. Food has been delivered, toys are rarely seen, neither are sofas, other dogs. You have to imagine all this suddenly becoming available? I take it you have provided her with toys of her own? If so how is she suppose to differentiate between HER toys and the CHILDRENS toys? Its up to you to start to implement a swop with her. If she picks up a childs toy you swop it for one of her own. Greyhounds adore plush toys and also plush squeaky ones as they are easier to kill, de stuff and rip chunks off. The children also need teaching now that there is a dog in the house to move it or lose it simple. Alot of greyhounds are magpies and will collect and seize. Unlike us they cant pick up things and feel them in their hands so they rely on their mouth and sense of smell, taste. The ripping up of newspaper your picture of her at the rescue answers that. Alot of rescues and trainers/owners of racing greyhounds use shredded paper to bed the dogs down on. Kennel life is extremely monotonous and when bored they begin to shred the paper themselves for entertainment, one of the reasons they also tend not to use blankets. Papers in the house are therefore red rags to bulls with hounds and that is why she is ripping any up that is left lying around. About two weeks ago we had an incident here with a cheque and my flaming blood forms for the path lab  You can rest assured that once you have one greyhound you will have another and dont kid yourself that if you give into your wife for number two it will stop there either. They are easy dogs to live with an addictive to be owned by HOWEVER I think you should spend more time learning about and enjoying your new girl making sure she is totally settled before you think to add number two. Although it may solve some problems the second dog may come with a pile of her own then you have double the work. Once Sky is settled and you can relax with her then any second hound and its issues you can concentrate on fully.  to Gap and I hope that goes some of the way to helping you, |
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Post by jackal on Apr 11, 2008 17:15:35 GMT -5
Wow thanks for the advice. You must have spent some time on the reply Lisa, it is much appreciated!
I have read the two posts Happydog and Lisa have suggested, and surprisingly we have been doing a couple of things correctly! I am now trying to implement the other methods i have not been using.
Here's an update:
1. Shedding of kennel coat is continuing nicely. I have been brushing all the old fur out regularly. We go outside and brush for about 15 mins every other day. Sky loves the brushing!
2. Dandruff has settled a little. Brushing does bring it to the surface, but we have noticed it's not quite as bad as it was.
We have already been giving her oily fish about 2-3 times a week. We usually give her tuna, sardines or mackerel served with her usual dry complete. She has 2 meals a day; She has the dry complete every tea time, and cornflakes or weetabix with water, followed by a couple of slices of brown bread for breakfast. (As advised by the rescue centre).
The complete is a working dog food, which we got from the rescue centre. Not sure of the protein levels and think it is probably a cheap option. So if you have any suggestions on a decent dry complete food which is good quality but not stupid prices. Our vet suggested Beta or Bakers. Any ideas??? And is the above diet ok? We do treat her to the odd piece of meat left over from tea, chicken or pork etc and veg sometimes.
3. Up until now, we have been giving Sky full access to all the family. But now we have tried to implement a little solo time. If for instance i am in by myself and i go out of the room, she would normally follow me. But i have now started shutting doors behind me (the doors have glassed panels from halfway down so she can see through ). I go in the kitchen for a short while, leaving Sky in the lounge, she can see me and will whine etc. I ignore her and ignore her when i come back into the room, even if she is bounding around me. I repeat this for the toilet and if i go upstairs. If i pop outside the back of the house she will be creating at the back door, so should i leave her in the lounge and shut the kitchen door? (as the lounge is her safe area) She seeks refuge in her bed, on the sofa, or on the rug usually. The back door is our exit for walkies and her toilet so this may also stress her if i go that way out without her. I am going to try leaving her in the lounge next time.
When my wife goes to work Sky has the kitchen and the lounge, so i think we will try leaving her in the lounge only and move her water bowl in there for that time. The kitchen just isn't suitable as a safe area as it is quite long and thin, wall to wall with appliances and cupboards. She is more comfortable with the lounge in any case.
Everyone in the house is under strict orders to ignore the dog when entering the house! Once she has calmed she retreats to her bed or the sofa, then we call her over after a few mins.
Myself and my wife do feed and care for Sky quite equally, with me doing the most walkies. We try to involve our son who is nearly 6yrs old, he helps on walkies and gives Sky treats after going to the toilet. And loads of cuddles and kisses.
Our daughter is too young to help at 1yr old, however she does like to feed Sky (by launching food from her highchair whilst giggling!)
Sky has her own toys, but she gets a little spooked by the squeaky ones! We take the kids teddys/toys off her and say a firm NO, then swap for one of her toys. The only playtime Sky has responded to, is when i throw her fluffy shoe toy in the air, she pounces at it with her paws (nearly cat like) then waits for me to do it again, or grabs it in her mouth and tosses it up again! Not bad for starters.
And finally we are still taking Sky up to the bedroom at bedtime. We don't have a problem with her being in our room as we both agree leaving her downstairs for up to 7hrs is a bit long at this stage. It's the carrying her upstairs which we are working on. I carry her nearly to the top and place her down about 3 to 4 steps from the top. She went rigid the first time, but i stood behind her and she made a scramble for it. She is getting good at this now, so we will work down a step one at a time. We will leave coming downstairs until she has mastered going up! It could be a long road.............literally!
Thanks for the advice, hope i haven't blabbed on too much, and i will keep you updated.
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Post by Lisa on Apr 11, 2008 18:28:12 GMT -5
. 2. She has 2 meals a day; She has the dry complete every tea time, and cornflakes or weetabix with water, followed by a couple of slices of brown bread for breakfast. (As advised by the rescue centre). The complete is a working dog food, which we got from the rescue centre. Not sure of the protein levels and think it is probably a cheap option. So if you have any suggestions on a decent dry complete food which is good quality but not stupid prices. Our vet suggested Beta or Bakers. Any ideas??? And is the above diet ok? We do treat her to the odd piece of meat left over from tea, chicken or pork etc and veg sometimes. To be honest its still something that bemuses myself as to why so many rescues advise weetabix or cornflakes or toast. Its human food. I personally believe that dogs should be on two good meals a day of *dog food* My own dogs are on Wagg which is relatively cheap at £9.99 for 15kg for one dog it should last a month. They all do really well on it the only two arnt are the puppy who has illness related issues going on and Rodney one of my older dogs again who is poorly and both have terrible tummies. I would change her to two meals a day of the complete avoid at ALL costs Bakers its full of colours and additives and is like feeding kids smarties, I also agree that a working dog food is not necessary and the protein levels will be too high. She isnt a working dog. Morning and night 1 1/2 mugs of complete with what you are using now to mix sardines, tuna or your own meal left overs is fine. Brilliant keep it up regularly and try and get the rest of the family to stop her having access all the time. Personally I would use the lounge but put a dog gate on the kitchen it means should she have a bit of a freak out the door isnt going to be wiped out in a scratching fit ALSO another cheat we have recommended and works well is if you do use the backdoor more than the front only take her out for walks via the frontdoor. Whichever door you take the dog out for a walk via when humans leave the house without the dog use the other door. That way they quickly associate the difference between one door meaning they go and the other meaning they dont. New or nervous dogs feel less responsibility with a smaller environment to begin with so chances are she will settle better in one room and less space to move between and pant and pace Perfect! I am a total believer in dogs settle better at night when they are with you and there is no reason whatsoever to not always allow her to head upstairs. How food motivated is she? If she is very foody lay a trail of something tasty like cheese up each stair OR head up slowly offering food yourself, this often helps with stair training. Another way of helping them gain confidence on the stairs is to put them on and then walk up the stairs with their back end resting on your knees and front so you are pushing them with your lower body and supporting them at the sametime! Reading this bit of advice makes me think I spend way to much time with these bloody dogs  Thanks for the advice, hope i haven't blabbed on too much, and i will keep you updated. [/quote] |
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