[Neyla]

I'm so sorry to see this Jen. I'll be thinking about you and Neyla tomorrow. So so hard to imagine her gone. Even harder to think about you going through this. . Big big hug from me and Lima Bean.

[Corns Surgically Removed]

I think you're going to see a pretty clear consensus that surgery isn't the way to go because most of the time the corns just come back. I've come to the conclusion, as I think many others have, that the best way to deal with them is to change my outlook from thinking I can get rid of them forever to managing them as best I can to minimize the overall discomfort that Lima has to deal with. For us, that means hulling on a regular basis (usually once every 3 weeks or so for us), using things like bee propolis, bag balm, etc. to try and slow down the corn growth or keep it softer than it otherwise might be, using a Thera-paw when the corn gets big enough to affect Lima's walking but not big enough to hull, and then using duct tape to help make the hulling easier.

[Hulling A Corn At Home?]

I use a pair of cuticle scissors. I don't actually use it to cut anything, I use one of the blades to act as a pick to dig out the corn.

[Newly Developed Car Anxiety]

Hi Emily! We just posted a bunch of pics here .

[Newly Developed Car Anxiety]

Hmmm, I wonder if some how Dunkin has started associating the car ride with something stressful. One thing you could try doing is to try and recondition him to associating the car rides with really good things. Take him on a lot of short drives that always end up somewhere he really likes, the park, or a hike, or a fast food place for a french fry treat. This was actually the advice someone gave me when I was dealing with a foster who was always getting car sick. The thought was that a lot of the car sickness was from the dog getting stressed out in the car. When he started learning that the car ride always ended up somewhere awesome, he started getting much more relaxed when we got in the car (and he stopped getting sick ).

 

Is this Dunkin', the former greyhound welfare dog? Don't know if you remember me and Lima Bean, but we remember you . Hope all is going well besides the car stuff.

 

Rally

[Nighttime = Sleeptime, Not Pottytime]

Is he a retired racer? I ask because retired racers are housebroken. They know not to go in their 'home'. The only thing they sometimes need to learn is that your house is also their home. That's one of the reasons heavy crating at the beginning is good. They know their crate is home and won't go potty in there. Their life in the kennel is also very regimented, so they know exactly when they get turned out and learn to do their business then. Make sure he's on a very consistent schedule so he learns when he goes out. Also make sure he does go potty when he goes out. Encourage this by rewarding every time he does. One of the reasons you get so many responses that this is a UTI is that it's just not typical for a healthy retired greyhound to be peeing or pooping in the house unless something physical is going on.

[Nighttime = Sleeptime, Not Pottytime]

The only times my dog needed to go out in the middle of the night was when she had a urinary tract infection (UTI). Definitely get that checked that out first.

[Settling In = Some Bad Behaviors]

PhillyPups and Swifthounds are right. These aren't necessarily bad or aggressive tendencies at all. What typically happens with a greyhound who is newly adopted is that it gets so overwhelmed with its new world that it withdraws which looks to us like an extremely stoic and quiet dog. Sounds like your guy is starting to get a little less overwhelmed with things as he's there a little longer and is now getting to the point where he's comfortable enough to express his displeasure with certain things (growling at the cat). However, things are still very new to him and things are going to be scary so he may react by barking more than normal, growling, etc. The best thing you can do is to remove all the uncertainty and unknowns for him. The way to do this, as Swifthounds noted, is to get him into a routine. Dogs thrive when they know what to expect and know what is expected of them. Make sure he's on a very consistent schedule, especially early on. Training is a very effective and important tool too. And it's not that hard. It can be as simple as rewarding him when he does what he's supposed to. Most importantly, give it time. Remember, these dogs have come to adulthood in a VERY different world than what they end up in as adoptees. Give him a chance to figure things out.

[Outside?! No Way, Says Arrow.]

Is he food/treat motivated? If so, take advantage of that. Every time he goes out (and as soon as he steps outside), give him a treat. Every time you walk another block, give him a treat. Also, don't hesitate to take it slow. If he only wants to walk for a couple minutes, do that. Then the next time extend it a few minutes. In the big picture, you're essentially trying to slowly desensitize him and also get him to learn that the things that are scary actually result in good things happening (treats ). One thing to keep in mind, it won't be uncommon for him to perhaps get overwhelmed or have some incident which will set him back and seemingly lose all his progress. That's ok, it just means you have to build back up to the point you were before.

 

Keep in mind too, it's only a month and these guys' personalities take a really long time to blossom. And if he's pretty spooky, it could take awhile, but if you're patient, he will improve a lot.

[A Corn Question]

I'll second using the duct tape. That tends to make the corn stick out a bit. Soaking the pad in water/epsom salt also seems to help draw the corn out a bit.

[Maintaining Alpha]

OP here. Thanks for all the replies. I will definitely work on the leave it / drop it command. My biggest concern was the growling. Help me with the doggie logic here - if I offer her treats in exchange for dropping something after her growling, it almost seems like I'm saying, "OK, you are the boss - how can I make you happy?" In other cases where she has not shown aggression, it makes perfect sense.

The key is to teach the leave it/drop it separately so that you can apply this before the growl occurs. A dog growls because it's communicating to you that it's not happy with what's going on. This is the only means for a dog to *tell* you this. Since a dog can't speak in human language, and we can't read a dog's mind, this is a good thing because if the dog didn't growl, it would bite. Now, nobody wants a dog that growls a lot, but you should look at it not as a symbol that you have a dog that is vicious or disobedient or mean, but that you have a dog that is too many times, in a situation making it uncomfortable. The key is to understand the situations making the dog uncomfortable and addressing that.

 

In the case of the beer can, it's likely that the dog is thinking something along the lines of, "I found a beer can, it's mine. Now you're stealing it from me, I don't like it." Remember, growing up and living with other dogs her entire life, that's how things work with other dogs. The logic behind teaching the leave it/drop it command is that you're teaching the dog that when you take something away from the dog, you're not just stealing it, but that there's a better reward for giving it up. In the bigger picture, you're teaching the dog that by obeying you, it gets something good. And in the bigger bigger picture, you're teaching the dog to trust you.

[Neyla Osteo Update]

so glad to hear this!

[Kevin]

Neyla,

I am in no way trying to start a fight, or otherwise create any tension. Could you explain to me why you dont like the "last word" suggestion? I am always looking for more information and education, I honestly would like to hear your idea why this is not a productive thing. I am open to new ideas and ways of accomplishing behavior changes in a positive manner.

 

Chad

The theory behind it is that dogs communicate via growls, barks, snaps, and bites. When a dog growls, he's telling you that he doesn't like what you're doing (for whatever reason, it scares him, it hurts, it's uncomfortable, or he just doesn't like it). If you don't listen, his only options are to let it go or to "raise his voice", which means instead of growling he resorts to mouthing you, snapping, or worst case, biting you. Just think of the growl as your dog saying "I don't like what you're doing, please stop." If he says that repeatedly and you don't listen, well...

 

At the same time, we as humans don't like anything that we see as aggression, including growling and I agree that it's not a good idea to reinforce it repeatedly. But, my feeling is that it's our responsibility to then avoid doing the thing the dog doesn't like so he doesn't feel he has to growl, while working on desensitizing him to it using positive training methods.

 

This doesn't mean that you have a household where your dogs rule the roost. Instead, you ensure you have a calm, respectful pack of dogs by teaching basic manners like wait, leave it, etc. There's a little booklet by Patricia McConnell about managing a multi-dog household that I think contains a lot of great general info (that would apply even to a single dog home) about how to achieve that dynamic. It's called Feeling Outnumbered.

 

I hope that helps explain where I'm coming from. Thanks for asking.

I can't agree with this more wholeheartedly. I think there's a misconception that by not actively correcting things like growling, we're giving in and condoning it. This is definitely not the case. I think you have a couple of approaches, you can either punish the dog for that behavior, or find a way to remove the anxiety that is causing the behavior. Punishing the dog is easy and gets quick results. But you create a situation where the dog is doing what you want more out of fear. The second approach is harder, you have to be smarter and more clever about it and it takes a little more time. But in the end, you have a dog that is doing what you want because the dog wants to do it, not because it's fearing what will happen.

 

You can make an argument that maybe it's fine that the dog is doing what you want because it fears you. I'm sure that there are people that prefer that type of relationship. But I'm willing to bet that most of us would prefer our dogs do what we want because it's what they want to do.

[Crate Tricks?]

If not letting her out of the crate is an option for you, then what I would do is make sure that crate is still a fun place to be while she's in there. When I foster, most of my fosters hit a point where they start getting reluctant to go back in the crate - they're basically reaching that point where they probably don't *need* to be in there. But for various reason, *I* need the foster to be in there. When this happens, I start doing things like randomly dropping a handful of kibble while the dog's in the crate (while she's being nice and quiet of course), dropping in treats here and there, and giving her attention while she's in the crate - talking to her, petting her paw or whatever I can reach.. This almost always works. I know one thing that often happens with me is I get into the habit of ignoring the dogs when they go into the crate - so they start associating the crate with getting no attention. Once I turn that around, they're usually good again.

[Update On Lola]

Sounds like you are well on the way!

 

Just to warn you: Don't panic if she has a backsliding incident (potties in the house one day). Evaluate ("should I have taken her out again?"), remain calm, don't make massive changes unless your evaluation indicates. Things may go "two steps forward, half step back, three steps forward, half step back" for awhile.

I was just going to say the exact same thing.

 

Great to hear you're making progress!

[Update On Lola]

Slight hijack: for those of you that follow this plan, how do you get anything done? I mean, sometime you have to buy groceries, and that can't be done in 3 minutes. We've got SA issues as well, and I'm really struggling with the structured alone training.

 

/hijack

Yeah, that can be tough. I've been lucky, I've only had to deal with relatively mild cases of it myself (basically with a couple of different foster dogs). What's happens with me is that I'm able to target a weekend plus a day or two off of work, so four days basically, to focus strictly on alone training. As I noted, I've been lucky and by the 3rd day, we've made enough progress that I could, if needed, be away for a long chunk of time (> 1 hour). I've also found that the improvement isn't really linear, I might be able to only be away for a few minutes at a time for a long time, and then all of a sudden, we're able to increase to 20-30 minutes, then we're stuck around there for awhile, and then we suddenly can get to an hour or more. I've also found that once I get to an hour or so, we usually can quickly get to a whole work day.

[Hello!]

Welcome from a fellow Hokie !

 

The Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies is definitely one of my favorite greyhound specific books. A couple of other books that aren't greyhound-specific that I really liked are:

- On Talking Terms with Dogs: Calming Signals by Turid Rugaas

- The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell

 

Both of them talk about how dogs communicate, relate, and understand things. The Rugaas book is very short, but really informative and focuses on interpreting dog behaviors and how they try to communicate to us. The McConnell book is much more in depth.

[Neyla Needs Your Thoughts]

[Update On Lola]

Hi Sandy,

 

I went and looked for your other thread to see what kind of advice you got and you did get good advice, but I was surprised that you didn't get more advice about applying very structured alone training. I did see someone recommended the McConnell book which is good. I think you did mention something about alone training... how much have you done? In these more difficult cases, you really need to the alone training in extremely small and deliberate steps. This is very repetitive, can take a long time, and will involve some set backs. The key is to slowly increase your time away, but not so much that Lola passes that point of getting overly stressed. When she does (and she will), you have to take two steps backwards and work back up to where you were before you can move on. This can be as small as going away for a minute or two at a time, over and over, until she's comfortable, and then going away for 5 minutes, repeating and repeating, and then increasing. You might hit 10 minutes, and then she poops again, and at that point you need to take a step back and only leave for 7 minutes, or 5, or whatever.

 

When you leave, do you know if she really gets stressed out (panting, pacing, barking...)? If she's really struggling like that, you may need to get her on some medication to help calm her down and use this in addition to the alone training.

 

This can be really challenging and it'll seem like you're not making any progress. But it usually works. Good luck, I really feel for you and understand how frustrating this can be.

[Neyla Needs Your Thoughts]

Oh Jen... We'll be thinking of you and Neyla.

[Frightning Roick]

so sorry to hear this.

[Peanut Has Osteo-How Can We Do This Again?]

Oh my God, that is really unfair and crappy. I'm really really sorry to hear this.

[Roscoe Has Horrible Leash Manners]

Make walking next to you more fun/interesting than stopping to smell stuff. When I have a poor leash walker, I take a bag of kibble with me and constantly 'treat' the dog whenever it is walking nicely. It works well in conjunction with the 'heel' command. When I say 'heel' and the dog heels properly, he/she gets a piece of kibble.

[Stealing People Food]

Unfortunately, that sounds like pretty normal behavior to me . A lot of human food is just way too tasty for these guys. Lima Bean is a big time food hound and I cannot leave anything out anywhere. My garbage can has to be locked behind a baby-proofed cabinet door and anything that *might* be edible has to be way out of reach (and anything on the counters, kitchen table, in the sink... generally anything that's below the level of the top of my fridge and not behind a baby-proofed door is within reach). I have to store her food in another room with the door closed. If I get lazy and leave any dirty dishes in the sink, she'll pull them out of the sink and lick them clean. In fact, just yesterday, apparently I left my empty coffee cup on the counter because when I came home, it was on the floor in about 20 pieces .

 

But the upside is that I'm a lot neater than I used to be

[Separation Anxiety Big Problem]

I wanted to reinforce the recommendations for very slow and deliberate alone training. This can take awhile, but if you're patient and persistent, it will usually work well. One of the keys with working with a dog who's having separation stress like this is to increase your time away in small increments. You want to be able to increase the time away without him reaching that stressed out state. As you increase the time away, you'll probably hit that point, and when you do, the next time you leave, you need to reduce the time again, and then slowly move the time up again. This can be a frustrating experience because it can be tough to see that progress is actually being made (progress IS being made, trust me, it's just tough to see). The nice thing is that you'll be going along for awhile thinking, this isn't getting better, but then you'll reach a point where suddenly, your dog will start improving in leaps and bounds.

 

I don't know if you've spoken to your neighbors, but if you haven't, it can go a LONG way in gaining their understanding and patience if you approach them proactively - explain to them that you have a new greyhound, you do know that he's barking but this is something that isn't entirely uncommon (maybe give them the story about how they're in this brand new world, etc...) and you are following a very deliberate process to get the barking under control. Even better if you can bring your dog with you 'cause it's impossible to resist that pretty greyhound face .

 

Good luck!