Fruitycake

If your grey hasn't been extensively tested with cats, do it before even considering bringing a kitten home. I agree that kittens are cute kittens only for about 4 months and then they're brats and then they're adults. Or mostly adults. We had two adult cats that had learned about dogs before we got Monty, so they were fine and Monty was really great about them (he wanted to share playtime and offered toys to one of my cats to play with). But adult cats can be just as crazy and rambunctious as kittens (Fruitcake, at 13+ years old, is more kitten than "matronly" cat and romps and stampedes and chases her tail as good as any kitten). If your dogs have shown very little interest in cats, it may work. Kittens are pretty resilient and can learn doggish attitudes and even believe they're one of the pack. Although, if you have a local shelter with adult cats who have been with dogs I'd probably go that route. [but that is me - I've gone through the kitten stage with my two, and that's enough for me for a lifetime. Kittens and puppies are so adorable because they need that to survive their youth!] You mentioned your teeny-tiny house. We have a greyhound (78 lb), a keeshond (35 lbs) and two cats and two adults in a 950 sq foot house. Of course, usually the cats are on the humans and the dogs are on the floor underfoot, but it works for us. Cats are indoors only, their litterboxes are babygated away from the dogs (gate with a little kitty door for thme cats to get through) and the food is given in a "dog free" room. Think about the layout of kitty bathroom and food before bringing someone in. Dogs like litterbox buffet (and clumping litter can be really really bad for them)!

For the "getting nose stuck" issues, I've had great luck using a warning statement before physically pulling away from something interesting. I use "too slow!" (I'm not too original) and give it about a second before pulling on the leash. Or at least at first it was a pull, now it's usually "too slow!" and just shift the leash in my hand to swing it and he sighs and comes away. I'd say it works by itself, with no actually tugging on dog, about 90% of the time. I've been doing this for about a year and a half now. (But I do have a lot of verbal commands/signals for them, so that kind of warning comes naturally for me.)

I know that they make nice basket muzzles for other breeds of dogs, which might work if the dog has a muzzle that doesn't quite fit the standard greyhound variety. I do think that keeping her elsewhere (in a kennel, x-pen or gated off room) is better for the immediate fuuture, but wonder if there might be some separation anxiety issues that might cause this to be an issue. I agree that if she is that reactive with teeth, all "intruders" into the house or her territory need to be protected by a muzzle if nothing else. I like Bean_scotch's suggestions too. Do some training with the dog so she knows that her people have everything under control and *they* will protect her if need be. And start working with her in small doses to make "strangers in my territory" a good thing, even if it starts by "look someone's at the door - we go over here and get a treat without even seeing the person" until people can come in and become part of the "good" thing happening. Good luck.

Monty (now 4) is now reacting to storms and firecrackers and other sharp noises that he didn't even notice before. It's very odd because as far as we can tell nothing else has changed. Same neighbors with firecrackers, same types of storms.... We just try to ignore his pacing and eye-rolling and just call him back to his bed and encourage him to lie down again. Sometimes it works. The funny thing is now he's on melatonin for butt-hair-regrowth and there's one of those DAP diffusers in the kitchen where he sleeps (because Allie gets restless at night). She still doesn't respond to storms at all.

I have to say that I actually checked Monty's appreciation for raw using turkey necks - which are a LOT of bone and didn't cause much digestive upset for him. When I give him chicken leg quarters I have to remove the skin and some of the extra fat because those will cause pudding-poo. Ugh. Some dogs need the skin removed and some handle it just fine, and some can have it later but not at first. Monty's a delicate boy in the digestive department. Turkey necks and beef work for him (or, if we're lucky, venison). Sometimes chicken leg quarters when they're too cheap to pass up (but they still soften things considerably - I think because the cheap ones are really fatty).

I have to say that this does happen entirely too much of the time. Sometimes this is why children end up neglected or abused, and sometimes this is why they end up growing up without their father because they left. Some people should not be forced to be parents, and some people don't want other dogs (or any dogs) in their house. Marriage is a contract, and both parties have to learn compromises. But forcing another to accept something they don't want because the other one does, seems wrong to me. It can be a marriage breaker. I'm not indicating that the OP is trying to push her husband into something he doesn't want, but that she's trying to smooth the way for something she does. If she can get the dog to stop doing behavior that is unacceptable for him, he'll see that dogs can be trained and that she's working with the dogs to make his life easier. It sounds like a good compromise to me. I think there were some very good suggestions here. Block access to the areas you don't want poop, even though that too will be a hassle for a while. Escort the dog to the right place to potty (is it possible to give the dog its own spot to potty, where the other dogs don't? a special area of "the potty hill" area?) and reward reward reward. I'm also wondering if there's reluctance to go to the potty area unless pushed to that area because it is dirty. With the cleaning off of the driveway the dog knows there's no poo to step in or other dog dropping to worry about. The suggestion with the newspaper is a good one. I never thought of that (well, not for moving but for catching like the other poster that uses plates - we do that with Monty sometimes when it's particularly bad - but he's always pottied on leash). Good luck.

Monty was like this for weeks. I have to agree with the person who said walk and walk and walk and walk and walk and walk.... We also had to turn to the side and send out seriously strong "we are not there" vibes at him while standing as far from him as possible and *not move*. At first there was no speaking, no moving, no shifting the leash, nothing to remind him we were there. We only had a 6' lead, so if you can get a longer lead (or link two together) to get more distance, I'd say go for it. He also would poop on bushes. I think because he viewed peeing as less embarrassing than pooping so he'd start with a leg up and then the wrong waste material would come out. [And try not laughing or even making any movements of humor when your dog does that.]

I walk Monty on my right side, and the boulevard is on the right, because he only lifts the right leg and I want him to pee on trees and telephone poles on the boulevard instead of on lawns. Walking him on the other side would mean waiting for him to turn around to pee on something, and that's too much hassle for me. Now if anyone had any tips for how to teach a dog to be ambidextrous with his peeing leg, I'd be happy to hear them....

I have great sympathy for you! Our Monty would also put on the brakes regularly, and was resistant to walking around the neighborhood (and to pottying on leash). He was used to being turned out (as Jillysfullhouse said) and we have to walk because we have no fenced yard. It was a lot of work at first to get him used to being out on a leash. We found that he was so wary of everything that he wouldn't want to eat anything, even the most tasty treat, when on leash. We just had to work on him all the time, for most of two months before he was calm and would never statute when on walks. Another possibility is to do the leash training inside the house as well (and if she's messing, you may want to do the same thing to prevent messes by having her tied to you and taking her out all the time and rewarding for doing things outside). If it is the not-quite-understanding the concept of the leash that is increasing the problem, put the leash on and walk her inside the house and give her a treat when she accompanies you (I'd do this with pieces of her regular kibble, maybe just before feeding her). If you get the statuing in the doorway and she's looking around, if possible see if you can just stop there for a minute or two without pulling or dragging or anything and just let her look around. Then you can singsong her name (especially if she knows it) and give a command like "all right" or "let's go" or (our choice) "too slow" and do a gentle nudge to take another few steps and then treat. If you can get her to take the greatest treats from you when outside, I'd suggest doing it farther and farther from the house to help mold the behavior you want (she has to go farther to earn that reward, even if just inches). If possible, do this before feeding her, so she's already hungry and the temptation of the treat is even greater. Good luck, and welcome to greytalk!

"Mine!" is a good book, but I have to go with the others here and say you might want to back off on the allowing the new dog on the furniture for now. Sometimes they just need to learn how to be a homebody and that they still get good things and don't have to worry about losing them (therefore don't need to protect them violently). He's still settling in, so you can do what we've done with our dog and just decide that for the first few months he has his spaces and you have yours. It isn't that he isn't a good dog, and won't ever be allowed on the furniture, but right now I'd let him settle in and learn that the couches and beds are yours, and he's allowed on them when you let him (and not when he wants to and he has no ability to tell you "MINE!" because it isn't his). Greyhounds can take months to settle into a family, and since it's all new to them you'll see them pushing the boundaries so they know exactly where they are (not that that doesn't happen in other pets too!). Jean Donaldson is known as one of the premier positive/reward trainers out there. You chose a good book, but I think you might want to just put a little more constraints for a little while. Welcome to Greytalk, and to your new boy! It sounds like you have made a good match, with just this one problem to work through.

I believe I have bolded the contradictory term in this sentence. I've seen more aggressive little ankle biters than I care to mention, and chihuahuas are not known for their easygoing nature! Maybe a nice non-aggressive stuffed toy dog from the local toy store is a better bet.

There are definitely brown recluses in the area. They have been expanding their original territory north and used to be extremely rare up here and now are more common than I would really like (any is too many!). Good luck to the poor guy.

Our Keeshond (a naturally barky breed, but this one has a very piercing, high-pitched bark that hurts!) seems to have been trained in this way. When we get home she's so excited she barks, then runs around and tries to find something, anything to pick up and carry around. She doesn't want to give it to us, just carry it. When she looses herself and barks for other things she does the same thing, with an "oops, sorry, I forgot" look on her face.

Another thing you always want to remember is to end training on a good note. Something he will do and can get rewarded for and then you both walk away from training with the positive experience at the end, so the next time it isn't all a memory of frustration. A lot of trainers that I've read suggest training multiple times a day, for *very* short lessons and not much repetition. We want it to be fun, not a chore, and not overtaxing. I don't think that greyhounds don't want to please us, but that they don't know that they can try to figure out what we want. Some dogs when trained using aversive training (punishment instead of lure or clicker-reward) will learn to not offer behaviors and will not want to try new things because maybe they'll do them wrong and be corrected. I think greys were never introduced to the concept of offering behaviors and getting rewards (their lives are kind of regimented), so this may be a completely new concept and it may take a while to teach them not only tricks or lessons, but that training can actually be fun (as silverfish has done with Sid, obviously!). I personally have a very active and incredibly [too] intelligent keeshond who caught on to offering behaviors immediately, and Monty who looks suspicious when he's asked to do things because he doesn't have her drive and desire to be active and thinking. He just wants the treat, thank-you-very-much! just my $0.02

Monty absolutely HATES the rain. When we put his leash on and go out onto the porch and open the door and he sees rain, he visibly shrivels and looks like the most abused dog ever. Allie doesn't care, so she's pulling on the leash when I open the door and Monty has to be dragged outside. He also doesn't understand that the sooner he potties the sooner he goes back in, so he holds it and holds it and holds it and we both get soaked and even more miserable. Some days I wish he had more of a brain. I think Allie got about half of his IQ allotment in addition to her own.

I'm sorry you had something like this happen and I am glad that everyone is all right! I think at best I would avoid that house by taking another route if possible. I hope they take care to either raise the fence or tie the dog when in the yard to prevent another fence-hop. We have a neighborhood dog that in the winter learned that she could jump the fence because the snow was high enough and they had to have her tied until the snow melted. Thank goodness she doesn't realize that when she jumps when running along the fence barking that she is actually jumping high enough to make the fence. At least this dog is friendly, so we just calmly walk her back to the front and explain that she's hopped the fence. Again. I'd like to second a spray bottle with something that smells bad but not a dangerous chemical. I've been tempted to fill a bottle set to "stream" for some fence aggressive dogs that can get their head and neck between their fence and the neighbor's fence when we walk by and bark and snarl and snap. I try not to go down that side of the block, but some mornings I am halfway down the block when Allie's Enemy (with his human) appears at the other end walking toward us on the same side of the block and I have to change sides of the road because they won't. I hope your cold gets better!

Could you have some outdoor beds for them? I know that if there isn't a bed for Monty he doesn't want to lie down, but if he's got one of his beds he makes himself at home. He does, however, jump up and get excited if you head toward the house, though.

We use one of the baby gates with the kitty door and have the door tied open (one of my cats isn't terribly bright and if the door is closed she'll try to go between the slats...and get stuck). She's a tiny thing, but her hips are just a little bit too wide. The gate is nice because the cats can see through it and know that it isn't a trap.

In the high summer I will wet a washrag and rub it on his belly and inside his back legs to cool him down before his walks and after his walks as well (he's a bit nervous about the spray bottle). I think that helps him some.

Another vote for rugs. Monty was frightened of my sister's linoleum floor in her kitchen because one of her cats yelled at him and when he was scrambling to get away he slipped. She was kind enough to move some of her rugs around and after being extremely low key about him walking across the floors and giving him treats and moving slowly around him in the kitchen he's perfectly fine with them again. Just a lot more careful about moving slowly and avoiding both of her cats when they are in there.

Monty isn't a digger in general, but freshly tilled garden is too soft and inviting to resist! We had a great laugh at his kicking dirt many feet behind him in a rooster-tail the year before last just after we'd finished tilling my sister's garden. We laughed, shooed him out of there, and put up a small garden fence with "caution" tape on it so he could definitely see it, and he never bothered it again. But he looked so very happy when we caught his attention - his face all full of dirt and the biggest grin on his face...

You might want to try to get him used to his trips outside being on leash before the move and he *has to* potty on leash. Some dogs can be shy (Monty was exceptionally shy about doing anything on the leash for the first 3 months here, and we have no fenced yard). Getting him used to it before moving may mean one less thing for him to get used to after the upheaval of moving. It can definitely be done, though! Good luck in your new digs.

I have the perfect excuse and it's also completely true: Monty has absolutely no coordination and slams his head into things and bruises me, much less a small child. I say it with a laugh (and by then he's usually swinging around bumping into me and proving my point). I like the idea of enthusiasm, or you can even go the other way like we used to: he only felt comfortable with people over 5 feet tall, so I asked them to stop and let him approach them and play up how scary children are to the dog!

I'm glad that both are doing all right, and hope that you all have recovered (emotionally especially) to this incident. That said, I have to say that with your skittish cats, this might not be the best situation for trying to "startle" your dog from any focus on the cats - a loud can of pennies, or the VOICE OF GOD at the dog, may well cause the cat to scatter and make itself look even more enticing to the dog. I know that would happen here with my spooky boy kitty. I agree with the people who are saying go back to the very beginning: muzzle and tether, and squirtbottle in arm's length at all times for *any* intense interest from the dog. I also agree with having a babygate with a catdoor in it (you may have to tape the door permanently open, and have the door on the *far* side of the gate from the dog to prevent blockage of a quick escape). Good luck.

I just read through this, and it read like a thriller. Very scary, but the later entries have relieved me considerably! I am glad he is looking better (a LOT better!) and that you both got some good sleep. Hoping his improvements continue.