greychicken

:D

That is beautiful. Touching and true words too, he left a massive hole when he went.

It took me ages to get through all the pages, too many tears!

A year ago I said good-bye to two very special greyhounds within 6 weeks of each other ( not a fun few months at our place )

Could you please do a portrait for me of these two babies?

First is Fletcher

He wasn't even two years old and his heart was just not strong enough to keep him with us.

We only had him for a month before we had to let him go.

Thank-you so much, it will be lovely to have something to cherish as we had such a short time with these two.

Will put Asha's pics up later, it is too hard to look through all the photos at the moment.

Some of them are just baldy butts.

If it is in conjuncion with other issues it may be her thyroid, generally though I wouldn't stress too much.

I have a 3yr old, she never raced and had a furry black behind when I got her, now 18mths down the track she is a little finer than she was.

My boy who did race is a fluff ball ( as far as greyhounds go! )

Some of the dogs that get adopted from racing come in bald and the hair grows back over time, some never do.

As long as she isn't showing any other symptoms it is most likely just a cosmetic thing and nothing to worry about.

Glad to hear he is ok, poor little mite, I know how much it hurts when I break a nail

Hopefully in time he will get better with having them trimmed and you will be able to do it at home.

I had exactly the same thing happen to my greyhound boy. He was doing mad zoomies and broke one in the same was you describe. What a carry on, he limped and sooked and screamed his head off when I touched it!

I was worried about infection, in the end OH held him and we just endured the screaming while I cut the offending bit off. He was fine 2 seconds later when he got some roast chicken

Wrap him up and cut it off, way less stress when it is gone, I had a friend who had to get her grey's dew claw surgically removed after it got infected the same way, very costly and painful.....

I would do it slowly, one kitten out with both dogs on lead.

Have a spray bottle on hand, try first to use your voice to distract the dogs from the kitten.

When they respond you reward them. This takes time, use the water spray if they do not respond to your voice command IMMEDIATLEY.

This will teach them that the cats mean rewards when left alone and water spray when approached.

I have 2 greyhounds and adopted a zero tolerance policy from day one, yes, I would LOVE to see them all curled up and happy, I just chose to be on the safe side, my dogs know that they are never to initiate contact with the cats.

They basically ignore them, actually, Rocky runs and hides if they approach him

You can still use distraction until the dogs are calm and ignoring the kittens and gradually allow more contact if it seems like it would be ok, totally up to you. Initially keeping them on leash helps, it means less corrections and more rewards because they are right there, take the lead off when you are confident they respond to your voice and see how you go.

Good luck with them all!

I was going to say Big Dog too!

Chris is lovely, he sponsors the Greyhound Adoption Program and supplies all the food.

They have 2kg rolls of various meats and bones/chicken frames/turkey wings etc.

You get a discount if you buy by the carton

What are their names? I can redo it with their names in it if you like?

The Chicken, Rocky and Patch. I need to add a photo of Ben our new Bengal cat too! Havent got a good photo of him yet, he only arrived last night.

Would really appreciate it, the first one is great.

Is it ok to PM you when I get a pic of Ben?

OOOPs! Will fix that, credit where credit is due

got it right in the post, just not the signature!

Zelahi!

Thats awesome, I should have put their names in too but never mind.

Will try and attach it now.

I am hoping that a kind DOL soul with the talent to make a signautre would like to help me out

Don't have PS, or any talent!

What format do you start with, standard size photos or can you work off ones posted here that have been shrunk by photobucket?

If anyone would like to help me out I would be most appreciative, can email photos if that works better.

THANK-YOU in advance ( and in hope :rolleyes: )

a couple of the photos I would like to use

Depends how long you have had him, my Patch (also a greyhound!) used to throw up every time I gave her chicken necks for the first few months I had her. When she relaxed into life as a pet and didn't wolf her food down she was fine, I still prefer to give turkey necks though as they keep them amused for longer and I worry that the little chicken necks will get stuck, my guys are a bit slack on the chewing side of things......

Glad he is ok, is a bit worrying when the vomit like that.

EFS

That sounds about right for Woolworths ones.

I used to get them from the guy I get my BARF from, but they are not always available.

Hopefully with Christmas there will be some soon, they are a little cheaper, around $2.50 a kg I think.

That is a lovely video. Jonty is a stunning dog.

Windows Movie Maker is my latest time waster too! Have had a ball with it....

Mine get a bath every 4-6 months.....

The joys of owning greyhounds! They dont get really smelly, I use a stripping comb once a week and wet wipes on their faces when they need it.

Totally agree with offering her ONLY the BARF.

We have fostered many dogs and the food for them is supplied. The odd one doesn't seem to like it.

They get offered it, if they don't eat it it gets taken away, they figure it out pretty quickly!

It is very hard to feel like you are depriving them of food, but as said, they will not starve themselves.

I warm up my dogs food, my girl is still funny about food sometimes, I find that 1 min in the micro warms it up and won't cook the bone in BARF, it is just enough to take the chill off and bring out the smells so she is more interested.

Thank you for all you replies.

I am very keen to keep him involved, which is why I have kept my big mouth shut so far!

They do seem to know that I mean business and they can get away with acting dumb for OH.

When I need to take a bone off Patch I just walk up and she gives it to me, if OH tries she will grab it, play bow and take off around the yard in the doggy version of "na na na na na, I've got the bone" she ends up giving it to him, funny to watch though.

I was given a clicker so maybe I will see if I can get OH to trick train Patch with it while I iron out Rocky, then he can see how he goes with my sooky dog.

That was fantastic! He was having such a ball.

Lovely to see a dog enjoying itself so much, I wish mine were half as receptive as he is....

silvawilow - HA my boy is a carpenter, I have been waiting 4 years for a coffee table.......

I am not the subtlest either, I have so far refrained from saying anything at the risk I put him off totally, I really do appreciate the turn around in him, it is nice that we are a "pack"now, instead of him being very much on the outer.

The dogs have done wonders creeping into his heart, when I am not around he is very sweet with them and when he thinks I am not listening he tells all and sundry how fantastic and well behaved they are.....

I don't worry so much with Patch, she is clever enough to do what is asked of her, but Rocky is at a delicate stage, he really is a sook, if you look at him sideways he gets upset. I want him to be well balanced and obedient (as far as that goes for greyhounds)

I think he just forgets that Rocky doesn't quite understand what is being asked of him. Will try and approach it in a positive way - maybe take him to obedience and he can handle Rocky while I work with Patch, that way it won't be me telling him what to do!

Do you have to pay more to have 2 dogs at obedience?

TonyMC, tell me about it! Everything I say to him is "suspect" and the same thing coming from mums OH is gospel!

sidoney - I should have been a little clearer, he doesnt use force as in physically but just stands there repeating "sit" in an increasingly stern voice, to which my greyhound takes offence..... he is a delicate soul and raised voices freak him out.

thanks for your suggestions, I think I might circumvent the walking anxiety by getting a twin lead and handling them both myelf, then OH can be in charge of holding the treats to hand out when Rocky "sits" when asked.

I am glad that he wants to be involved after all this time, I went out for a walk this afternoon as OH was out, he rang me while I was out and said he would see us in a bit, was most dissapointed that we had left the park when he got there

It was just too cold and miserable....

A tough one.

I brought dogs into our lives about a year ago. OH wasn't against it but wasn't exactly for it either.

Basically said it was "my venture" and I was to be responsible for everything.

That suits me fine, they are very much my dogs and I like it that way.

Ok, so a year later he is besotted by our girl - who has been with us for almost that long, and our new boy, that we have had for 6 weeks odd.

We are starting to walk them together and due to my work commitments changing he sometimes feeds them for me.

Here is the problem.

They walk beautifully on lead for me - not him

They sit when asked for me - being greyhounds this is no small thing - not him

When we are walking I ask them to sit on kerbs before crossing the road. My girl does it, my boy needs some more training as he has only just figured the whole sit thing out. OH tends to try and force the issue, which I DONT want as I fear it will make Rocky reluctant to sit in any circumstances.

I love that OH is involved, but I cringe when he bandies about words like "sit" "stay" etc, my dogs are very sensitive to me and behave very well, I am trying to think of constructive ways to approach OH and explain that Rocky is only 6 weeks out of racing kennels and not as trained as Patch -who has been with us for nearly a year and seems to know what I want from her before I know!

How do I get him to stop undoing all my training without offending him????

I got these Boots for my greyhound when she was dragging her leg.

They are not the most solidly constructed boots, they simply velcro on and off, she used to drag her leg when she was excited/tired etc as she had a bad break that healed incorrectly.

They were enough to protect her foot and she seemed to remember to pick it up a little more when she was wearing them.

Looked really funny, her tearing at full pelt around the dog park, picking the booted leg up just that extra bit more...

I use them on my other girl when she tears her nails just to keep the foot clean.

For the price they are a handy addition to my first aid kit, no worrying about foot bandages coming off and getting yucky when outside.

I get my food from Big Dog in Brisbane.

There is a range available, I tend to get the Breeder Choice at the moment as it is higher in fat than the Weiner and my new boy is still a little lean after coming out of kennels not long ago.

I highly recommend a nose chain...

you use it as you do a check chain on dogs..

Works wonders kept all my Stallions and show horse on the Ground !!!

can go over the nose, under the chin..

when he starts to want to jig around give him a quick check.

I agree, nose chains saved me more than a few times when I was breaking in race horses in Japan.

The Japanese don't have as much horse experience - at least not the farms that I worked on - and I was dealing with unbroken colts getting fed waaay too many oats! I am only 5ft4 and 50odd kg, there was no way I could fight it out with these horses and used a nose chain to very good end. Just takes the spring out of the step with a gentle pull and doesn't pressure them when not needed.

Good luck with it, and please please please post pics of your boy, he sounds divine!

You will no doubt be told to do a search on BARF diets done previously, there are a stack of them.

I am not sure how to put the link in to the most recent one but I mentioned that I buy the BARF diet in 2kg rolls as opposed to the patties.

It is the same stuff, just in a solid 2kg roll so not as convenient, but at $4.40 for 2kgs I am not complaining about breaking it up! Beats making it from scratch or paying the huge difference for the patties. Also allows me to feed the exact amount I want not just the set amount of the patties too.

I am in Brissy so my supplier will not be much help to you but there should be someone who does a similiar thing where you are.