jetcitywoman

LOL, you guys rock. Thanks!

Oh, that's a great idea for Capri, too! She's a popper-upper. In fact, because she's so smart and her training is way ahead of Ajax's, if I don't treat her immediately and it's something high value, she'll flip with greyhound speed through all of her repertoir: sit,down,sit,rearup,sit... Once she even threw a rollover in there and I swore I heard calliope music! LOL Anyway, how do you train shake hands with a dog that doesn't normally lift his/her paws up?

Great, thanks everybody! The class teacher (who I think will also be our evaluator) tried briefly to shape him into a sit after our first class. I pulled her aside after class to see if she could help me with that. She ended up saying that maybe he just can't sit, so I shouldn't worry. So if she is our evaluator, it sounds like she'll just let him sphinx or stand instead. We are still trying to get him to simply put his butt down instead of doing push ups, because ... why not? He is physically capable of the posture, I think he just doesn't understand what we're asking for. Yesterday I got him to get into a sit passing through the sphinx position so quickly his elbows barely touched the floor. So maybe I can shape him into it with a backdoor sort of method. LOL When he does sit naturally, like to scratch, he's a sit-on-one-hip kinda boy. That's a winner in my book. Plus he's cute that way - with his size he looks a bit like Eyore. LOL

Let me clarify: I guess what I'm asking more is whether the test is typically done somewhere with a padded surface or outdoors on pavement. Ajax can push up into a sit starting with a sphinx position and I don't think stay will be a problem. Just that if we're on pavement, he's not going to down/sphinx either. Hard on the elbows, you know? Or am I too "soft" to allow them to balk at downing on pavement?

Hi All, this is a question for anyone here who managed to pass the CGC with a dog who won't/can't sit on command. I've heard it's possible, but I'm wondering how you worked around the test requirement. Was the test located somewhere with a soft surface so the dog could sphinx? I enrolled my gang in a CGC class with a test at the end. Since I've taken them to meet and greets for several years and to pet fairs and even to patio-seating lunches where they are consistently angels, I have no fear about the test. Except for possibly the sitting part because that's one thing that Ajax can't seem to figure out. We've been able to teach him to push up into a sit from a sphinx, but I worry that if the test is on concrete or something similarly hard, he'll refuse to even sphinx. Thoughts?

Not to mention that it's not true that mommas pick them up by the loose skin on the neck. I've seen momma cats carry newborn kittens around. They grab the whole neck in their mouth, or rather they gently wrap their teeth around the neck and shoulders. Predators instinctually know how to kill prey: grab by the neck and shake to snap the spine. So when momma predators carry their babies around, they know how NOT to do that to their babies. They make sure they grab them in the way that keeps the neck stabilized. Somewhat off topic, but meant to support your argument that the guy was just a blooming idiot. And to the OP, I also experienced what my Ajax does when I pick up a little dog. He does think it's a game or something and will start snapping at the little's back feet and hiney. It is scary. The littles are actually safer on the ground.

We have a split rail fence around our back yard with "pet mesh" stapled to it. The pet mesh is pretty invisible and I wondered if the dogs would run right through it between the rails after a bunny or squirrel. It's been more than five years now and they haven't. I'm not sure if it's because the rails are very visible so they stop and don't try to go between them or what. But if you like the look of a split rail (like to keep the open look and feel), that might be an option.

Respectfully, your husband's tough love will work for some dogs but not others. It sounds like it's too much for your dog. Here is an example of what I mean. My Capri has an intrepid personality and actually rather likes novelty. There were a few times when she was new with us that she spooked at something strange on our walks. Skateboard, plastic blowing in the wind, and occasionally immovable objects like a red parked car, a street sign, and a traffic cone! But she never spooked at anything more than once. She's now my bomb-proof dog and I feel I can take her anywhere, and your husband's strategy would work fine for her. But dogs with some level of anxiety at strange places and things, it's better to go slowly. Others have advised this, but I'd like to break it down more specifically. When your dog sees something scary on a walk, do this: immediately stop and stand quietly and confidently and let her just observe the scary thing from a distance. You mentioned you're already doing this, so that's great. While she's observing the scary thing, YOU observe HER. She's likely having mixed emotions - curiousity and fear. Allow her to step closer if she wants or just stand there. She may try to circle around the thing, and that's fine too. Let her do that the first few times - and once you're past it, stand there again and let her look behind her. It will help her confidence to see that it's not going to jump on her from behind. When she's ready, continue your walk. On future walks, each time you encounter the same scary thing (that's important - don't try to move forward with different scary things or she will continue to be insecure - only move forward with repeated exposures to the same thing) see if you can get one or two steps closer before you stop and observe it. Allow her to dictate how close you get. This part is trickier because I don't have a clear way to tell you when a good time for this is. You'll have to know your dog and it's at the point where she trusts you a little. At this point you can start dictating that she gets closer to the scary thing. Move her just slightly too close for her comfort and stop and don't let her back away but don't push her closer either. Stand quietly and when she calms down, treat her. Move another step or two closer, when she becomes calm again, treat her. When you get close enough to the thing that she could touch it by stretching her neck, put a yummy treat on it. (If the scary thing is a child, have the child hold the treat out to her. Depending how spooky your dog is, you may consider having the child stand sideways or facing away from her.) Stand quietly and allow her as much time as she wants to build up the nerve to take the treat. When she does, praise and pet her and then move on as if nothing happened. After that, you'll be good as gold!

After raptly watching for a couple years now Tina's FB posts from Galgos del Sol where she shows pictures of loose/abandoned dogs they're trying to catch, I agree with this. In all of the pictures she posts, dogs are either alone or in pairs. They do seem to form buddy bonds, not necessarily mated pairs but just buddy's, in twos or threes. But never have I ever seen her show a picture of more than three bonded. Absolutely. I think the image of the doctor pinning down the baby in the OP link really illustrated this. Dominance theory is just fancied up words to describe being an abusive bully. At risk of offending some religious people here (which isn't my intention, just perhaps a side effect, so please take with a grain of salt), my feelings about this is that our proclivity toward bullying and dominance are much more about our primate origins and less about dogs. Our behavior patterns are much closer to primates than any other species, especially the worst ones. The ones that we should be controlling with our "superior" brains!

On the topic of the stairs, I see that you said you got advice for that in another thread, but wanted to add my experience in case it helps. When we got Capri, she was also afraid of the stairs but we wanted her to sleep in our room with us. For us, braving the stairs was a better option than braving a night alone in a strange place. (I understand if you have other feelings about this.) So my husband and I coaxed her up stairs using a combination of the "one foot at a time", body blocking and treats on every other step methods. We got her up stairs that first night, threw her a party at the top and then let her rest in her crate for the rest of the night. We left the down-stairs lesson for the next day. After that first 24 hours, she had enough confidence to do the stairs on her own with us calling her and rewarding her with treats. I mention this because I wonder if some people feel they have to teach both up and down at the same time. Also agree that it does help if another dog can demonstrate. When we got Ajax, he saw Capri run up the stairs and he followed. We didn't even have to cajole him.

Absolutely. But relax. As you get to know your new girl's personality and typical behavior you'll be able to read her better. From what you described it sounds to me like she was just running up the stairs behind the cat because she finally could go up, not that she was chasing her. When my dogs chase my cat, they always have their noses down at cat level. When they're running just because and the cat happens to be running in front of them, their heads are up. Subtle clues like that are what you'll eventually pick up on. And then there is the fanciful stuff. Like I can't tell you why, but I swear Ajax calls our cat "little dude".

I've trained my houndies to do this (for squirrels, rabbits, neighbor's cats and even strange, leashed dogs): We (I like to think in terms of pack) stand calmly and watch from a short distance. I think that satisfies their curiosity but usually doesn't go so far as to trigger a lunge/chase. When they lose interest, we move on. But that works for mine because they have either no (Capri) or low-to-middlin (Ajax) prey drive. What you DON'T do, is what I've done twice (slow learner) and hubby did once (doesn't learn from others - LOL): participate in the stalk with hounds on leash, slowly sneaking up on the critter. Because when you get close enough, you'll experience first hand what "fast twitch muscle mass" means in greyhounds. If you have a good grip on the leash, they WILL pull you onto your face and possibly drag you, depending on how much of a boat anchor you are to them.

Yep, Capri too, told us exactly what she thought of the baby gate. I think the difference is whether you're there in sight or not.

Sure, try the baby gate and see how it goes. If he doesn't like it, then get rid of it, no harm no foul. Like crates, the room-babygate situation should be somewhere where the dog can see what's going on in the house and doesn't feel isolated. Some do fine with them, others make their own rules (jump over or bash them down).

I have another great story about Ajax and our cat. Ajax had only been with us for a week or two, and as I said we only muzzled him in the house for one day so he'd been loose to roam the whole house for a while. Even when we're at work, we allow our beasts free run of the house. So one day when he's a couple weeks with us, I'm the first one home from work. Everybody is happy to see me and looking normal. Except. Ajax's nose looks funny, so I look closer. He had an entire cat claw stuck in the fuzzy top part of his nose just above the leather tip. Actually it was the sheath, not a claw, but it was the hughest sheath I've ever seen - the entire sheath. I pulled it out and he was fine, and I checked the cat and she was fine. There's a story there that they'll never tell. :

Good sign. As you gain trust in them you can remove the muzzle while you're home. It's up to you. I have a cat and only muzzled my dogs for one day (each dog) when I first got them. Call me bold, or crazy, I'm good either way. They've been very good with the cat, with one special exception that no muzzle would have prevented: My Ajax is sometimes a stinker. He's the more playful of the two dogs and loves to pounce things. You guessed it, a couple times he's gotten excited and too mischievous and tried to pounce the cat. He's missed both times - on purpose I'm sure because slamming his 80 pounds down on her with his front paws I'm pretty sure if he wanted to he would have smashed her flat. And she was unharmed. But he got the Voice of God both times and his disposition both times was "being a stinker" not true prey drive or aggression. Most times he's sweet as candy with her, like touching noses and letting her brush her tail on his face, so I know he really likes her. Oh, I forgot to add that I asked about their behavior of fussing at the muzzle also, when mine were new. I don't know where the thread is anymore, but someone here who works in a kennel said that yep, they pretty much all try to rub their muzzles off on the turnout fences and workers. And my two still do it also. I never scold them for doing that because I don't want to make the muzzle a bad (worse) experience for them. Sometimes they need to wear them, end of story. They can act like babies if they want to, I just giggle - especially when big ole Ajax rubs his face on the floor/grass with his giant butt sticking up in the air.

Absolutely and here is how I trained Capri out of her sleep startle: First, the Prime Directive Which Is Never Broken: Her bed is her own and she is never disturbed there. In our house, this now means only her night time bed in our bedroom, but during her first few months with us it meant anywhere she was laying down. Caveat: the couch is not her bed. Ever. It is a privilege she has for good behavior and is instantly revoked when she doesn't share nice. So, with these rules in mind: I started out letting her on the couch next to me and I would stroke her gently until she almost fell asleep. I wouldn't let her actually fall asleep, make a noise to wake her up again - awake but very pleasantly comfortable. Get her used to me touching her. There were a couple times in the first year when she growled or snapped at me on the couch. Each time I immediately stand up and pull her off the couch. I didn't get angry or afraid. No emotions or punishment, just "snap at me, off the couch you go, on with my day". The last time she did that (which is over three years now) I could see in her face that as soon as she snapped she knew she messed up. I took her off the couch and she rolled tummy up on the floor at my feet. I stood there not looking at her for a minute, and then knelt down and petted her and told her I understood and it was okay. Then I went on with my day. I think her behavior in that episode was profound, and showed me that we understood each other very well. So anyway, very gradually over the span of about three years, she learned to fully trust that someone touching her when she was asleep was not a danger so she didn't snap or growl. Actually it is a combination of trusting that we won't hurt her and also knowing it's bad behavior. She still does growl and snap at dogs that approach her when she's laying down. Just not humans. The final proof: a couple years ago we were on vacation with my in-laws in a shared rental house in the Outer Banks. I walked into the living room and saw DH's 10-year old niece and Capri laying on the couch together. Niece was laying her head and shoulders ON TOP OF Capri's butt. I had to stand there and analyze Capri's body language for a minute to really comprehend. No stress, no annoyance. She was awake, but they were comfy all cuddled up watching tv!

Not exactly your collar question (because my dogs wear theirs all the time, they're not crated), but: Occasionally my dogs will get it into their heads that they don't want to do something, most often do a potty break in the back yard. "No, mom, I don't want to". They'll jump into the couch or chair and cringe and try to roll into a ball if I come try to pull them out. You'd think I was going to beat them - which I NEVER do, of course - they just turn on the tears. However, if I grab a leash and click it onto the collar - HOLY COW WE'RE GOING OUTSIDE THAT'S THE BEST THING EVER HOOORAYYY LET'S GO WHAT'S TAKING YOU SO LONG???? So that's all it takes: click leash onto collar and stand back. At least they're predictable.

The only thing that hasn't been mentioned yet is this, so I'll throw it in:

Already answered and accepted, but for any lurkers who are thinking about electric fences there are a couple of other issues with them. Patricia McConnell isn't totally against them, but advises that they need to be used with extreme caution and in conjunction with supervision and proper training. Another "side effect" of electric fences that she's mentioned (not greyhound specific): If you live on a suburban street where other dogs get walked beside your yard, it can cause dog-aggression. How? Strange dog approaches your yard when your dog is out. He goes to investigate the new dog and gets zapped when he gets close to the fence. It won't take too many of those occasions before he associates strange dogs with bad things (being zapped). Possibly can also happen with people.

Agreed with the others. I would say when in doubt, don't do that. I never do things that makes my dogs growl or snap at me because I figure they are telling me it's something they don't like. That's safer for you, and better for your relationship with the dog. If he perceives that your behavior is erratic or threatening, he will not learn to trust you.

I'm very sorry to hear about Addie. This is the primary reason why we are religious about brushing our houndies teeth - I don't want them getting anesthesia for anything that's not a life-threatening illness/injury because the risks are too high. A few years ago DH took Capri in for a dental and the vet told him that everything went fine. A few months later, I took her in to check for some minor issue and coincidentally got the vet who did her dental. The vet made a comment about how Capri scared them all when she was coming out of anesthesia for the dental, and then brushed on by it. I didn't pursue it because Capri is fine, but it did perk up my ears and scare me. And agree with the comment about it happening to people, too. One of the girls I went to high school with - a really sweet, pretty girl who everybody liked - went in for breast reduction the year after graduation. And never came home. Super tragic to die so young and for such a senseless reason. (anesthesia, not the breast reduction)

If you can do so safely, it might help to let her get a sniff of one. From your description it's hard to tell if she really has prey drive or if she's just dying to know what in heck that THING is.

The only trick for us is that I taught Capri how to catch a treat. It was an accidental thing, though. I lobbed a treat at her head and she snapped at it, which then turned into a fun game. She's pretty good and has caught stuff that I threw at her when she wasn't expecting it. Contrast that with Ajax.... I've beaned him in the face with about 1000 treats by now and he never, ever even tries to snap at them. Now he just gets a slightly annoyed look on his face, so I don't do it anymore. ...much...

For those of you who use the WWW harness, do you put it on underneath the dog's coat in cold weather? If not, how do you adjust it between warm days and cold days? That's my only complaint with it - it's not easy to adjust while it's on the dog, so we tend to run around with ill-fitting harnesses in the spring and fall when the weather is variable. I don't like that, but we just do the best we can. Is there a better way?