christinepi

There's this one page "essay" that floats around GT every once in a while that talks about the changes in a greyhound's life when he or she gets adopted, and it's told from the perspective of the greyhound. It's very enlightening and has been helpful for me, also a first time adopter. I can't find it anymore--could somebody please post it again?

I agree with Neylasmom. Try to find someone you feel comfortable with. You don't want to have regrets later. Not to mention the $$.

Just wanted to add that if the love bite is too painful for you, you should let them know (kindly). Most people advocate a high pitched yelp, just like dogs would let out if another bit them too hard. Usually they get it pretty quickly. Or look on this forum for "nitting".

Fantastic!! Has he come down yet?? Actually, regarding your signature, I think dogs are the only animals (apes can't do it) who will not just stare at your finger but follow the line of sight to the object you're pointing to. It fascinates me. It doesn't always work, but more often than not (which usually includes the dog knowing that there's a high probability for something tasty to be had).

I'm wondering, if your stairs aren't carpet covered (but wood, say), whether it would be a good idea to cover the steps with something non slip until they've figured it out, just to build confidence faster? This might be too cumbersome/inconvenient/unnecessary, but I'm just thinking out loud.

In the wild???? As in a ranch off Interstate 20 west of Ft.Worth? I'm not catching this -- what does a ranch off interstate 20 west of Ft.Worth have to do with what I said? There are no cows in the wild, only in feedlots. I think that's what the poster meant.

I totally hear you and agree with you. What you're doing is the best thing under the circumstances. But even that meat, unless you raise your own cattle and kill them yourself (or know the rancher and how he's raising his animals) still comes from horrible feedlots (also usually meaning meat containing antibiotics and hormones) and go to traditional, unkind slaughter facilities. But what can one do? Not have dogs?? There's no perfect and easy solution, it seems. I've been struggling with this since I got my dog.

Where did you get that idea? There are nowhere near enough 4D animals to supply the dog food industry. Meal is meat with moisture removed. A kibble with meat "meal" in it almost always contains more meat than a food with "meat," which includes a huge amount of water. Byproducts are things like organs rather than muscle meat. Nutritious stuff, for the most part. I quote from "Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies", page 156, under "Animal By-Products": "The proteins in pet foods come from a variety of sources that range form human-grade meats, fish, and poultry to all kinds of animal and plant by-products. The meats, fish, or poultry, unless clearly stated otherwise, are usually from dead, diseased, dying, or disabled animals that are not fir for human consumption. Meat, poultry, and fish meals are made form animal tissues. These are leftover parts of animals, not counting meat, referred to as animal by-products, and they include organs, bone, blood, and intestines freed of their contents. By-products can't contain more than 14% of indigestible material, except for amounts that can't be avoided during processing." For me it's the 4D thing more than anything, not so much whether it's nutritious or not. It's the cruelty connected to it. Not that the non-4D animals are treated like our greyhounds are, I'm aware of that. I'm not saying this is 100% rational on my part, but it's important to me...

I'm so disgusted by some of the ingredients that go into most (or all?) kibble: namely "animal by-products" and "meal", which are always (unless stated otherwise) from dead, diseased, downed and disabled animals. I find that too upsetting for words. I've been feeding Tracker TOTW, but just discovered that even though it's considered one of the good kibbles, it still contains various "meals" and "egg products" instead of the real thing. I also feed him Honest Kitchen, which is human grade, so no by-products or meals. I tried raw, but that got too fussy and involved. So my question is: is there any kibble out there that contains human grade meat only, or at the very least absolutely zero by-products and meals?

Not to high jack the thread--I just feel a more precise interpretation in your response of what's going on could change the approach in a more productive way; so rather than saying "testing the boundaries", which interprets the dog's behavior as more proactively aggressive, I would use the words "being confused as to where she stands". This has a much more passive feel to it. Dogs hate nothing more than not knowing what the rules are, which can lead to aggression out of frustration--not because they want to dominate everybody else. Understanding this leads to taking responsibility for our own behavior so we can become clear to the dog what we want it to do, rather than becoming frustrated with the dog (who will be able to sense the frustration and get even more confused), or coming on too strong when all that is needed is clarity. I am NOT saying anybody's frustrated or doing wrong things to this dog--all I'm saying how we phrase things is really important. Actually, I phrased it exactly the way that I meant it ..... I realize that. What I should have written was to suggest to look at the issue from a different angle.

Not to high jack the thread--I just feel a more precise interpretation in your response of what's going on could change the approach in a more productive way; so rather than saying "testing the boundaries", which interprets the dog's behavior as more proactively aggressive, I would use the words "being confused as to where she stands". This has a much more passive feel to it. Dogs hate nothing more than not knowing what the rules are, which can lead to aggression out of frustration--not because they want to dominate everybody else. Understanding this leads to taking responsibility for our own behavior so we can become clear to the dog what we want it to do, rather than becoming frustrated with the dog (who will be able to sense the frustration and get even more confused), or coming on too strong when all that is needed is clarity. I am NOT saying anybody's frustrated or doing wrong things to this dog--all I'm saying how we phrase things is really important.

That is so funny. Our neighbor recently got two very pretty brown and white free range bunnies. They have this habit of lounging in full view on the front lawn. Thankfully there's a low picket fence around it. Tracker's eye balls popped out when he first laid eyes on them. Initially he'd lunge towards the fence, and STARE. The bunnies have the nerve to be completely unimpressed. They won't move at all (Tracker's three feet away!!). Then he'd bark. Nothing doin'. I swear these things are suicidal. Sometimes they go under the fence and sit in the ditch by the side of the road, and I'm terrified I'll not see them and they'll end up in Tracker's gullet. By now, after a week or so of this, with the bunnies just laughing at him, he's pretty much given up on them and walks by pretty steadily, but he still HAS to bark at least once, just to voice his opinion. The bunnies just shrug.

What's a bolshie cat? As in Bolsheviks? Or is that some Aussie word?? Maybe it's enough when one dog witnesses the other being maimed to learn the lesson... Oh, Tracker. Same old. I kind of gave up on un-training him, to be honest. There are no obedience classes taking place any time soon where I live. It would be best to have 20 to 30 unknown, completely non-reactive dogs lined up to sashay past him, so he can really "get" it; since that's extremely hard to come by, I decided to live with it. I just avoid situations where he could run into other dogs, which is pretty easy. And he's never reactive when he's walked in a small group of other dogs and meets non group dogs--so I have a dog walker walk him occasionally, to have him be with other dogs AND to encounter non group dogs w/o getting bent out of shape. I'm convinced that if I had another grey/dog he'd never as much as look at other dogs. Thanks for asking! Paige has improved, it sounds like--that's great!

The only thing I can think of that may change something is your dogs coming across a cat that will stick her claws into their noses. Tracker lives with 4 cats, so this has happened to him in the house a few times. He learned quickly to generalize and assume all cats are insane. He barely looks at strange cats outside, because he's worried they might kill him.

I don't want to rain on your parade, and I hope my dog is in the minority, but he's not overcome his fear of our 4 cats in 2 years, and most likely never will. He won't get near HIS water bowl as long as the cats are drinking out of it or are sitting near it, pleading with me to make them go away (which I do), and he'll NEVER try to watch a movie with us in the TV room ever again, because once or twice he got whacked in the nose when he came into the room and didn't notice one of the cats in the dim light. We feel bad for him, but he seems fine with it now. One major difference might be that your dog hasn't gotten whacked, whereas mine certainly associates felines with a lot of pain--he even "avoids" strange cats on walks, meaning he'll keep walking even though his prey instinct is yelling at him "kill! kill!"... so yours still has a good chance of getting over it.

When I first got Tracker (first dog ever) I focussed (nervously) on the other dogs we encountered, as well, just to learn to read them and to figure out whether they meant trouble or not. After a while, I got a pretty good idea from a distance quickly, and could shift over to focussing on Tracker's behavior. Maybe that's what's going on with OP, too.

My grey is reactive when on leash, not with every dog, but often enough. I chalk his growling and barking up to his going over threshold. Nothing can reach him then, not even a porter house steak in front of his nose. When he's below threshold, I can easily lead him along and away. He's my first dog, so I have no comparison; I imagine there are dogs that pass threshold far more easily than others, and what triggers Tracker may not faze your dog at all. So your/his success at this event tomorrow probably will be influenced by your dog's threshold level. I just know Tracker would be miserable and so far above threshold the entire time he could never calm down. He would consider this whole thing a miserable afternoon and associate "tons of dogs" with something to be avoided. I would maybe take your dog, stay on the periphery, watch him closely as to where he's at with his threshold and move closer/farther away as needed. Physiologically speaking, he can't hear you when he's above threshold, and he can't learn, because that part of his brain is inaccessible then. But he may be fine. The only concern I would have is the fact that you said you can't keep an eye on him the whole time. That could spell trouble.

As far as the hiking goes, I think it entirely depends on her energy level. Each dog is different. My hound is 5, too, and even when he was 3 there was no way I could ever have taken him hiking. He poops out after 40 minutes, and if it's warm out, like 61 and sunshine, he just crawls. I would just see how it goes; once Elowyn is more comfortable on walks, you'll know what her energy levels will be on average. Tracker said he would consider hiking ONLY if we took his sofa with him.

Probably the best way to get him to back off when you need/want him to back off is by ignoring him and his whimpering. It's hard to do at first and not give in, but usually dogs catch on pretty fast. Or teach him to go lie on his pad/sofa/whatever on command.

Dang, if that hound had opposable thumbs he could finally start expressing himself properly! I'll work on getting some footage.

Tracker, who lives on his sofa, goes over to his nearby pad occasionally (which consists of two separate layers with a towel on top), which is where he always eats his bully sticks and frozen canned dog food filled marrow bones. He proceeds to muss the top layer up to his liking, including nudging the towel around the same way he does when he buries a bone in the yard, kind of like a rooting pig (no offense). Once he's satisfied with the "sculpture" he's created, he walks away and goes to sleep on the sofa. This amuses me to no end. Does anybody have a scientific explanation for this behavior? He rarely sleeps on his sculpture--the fun seems to be in creating it. Maybe there's my answer.

One thing that nobody's addressed so far is that you wrote this has been a recent thing (last two months). How long have you had her? Did she go out ok before? If so, what may have changed? Could this be medical (doesn't sound like it, but...)? Behavioral? At any rate, there could be an explanation other than stubbornness, is all I'm saying.

Just to clarify: Bear is not growing up with us in our house. He's growing up with his owners in his own house, but both homes are only ca 50 yards apart. I run into Bear with Tracker maybe every other day, but this seems close enough to growing up "with" Tracker in the way he gets besides himself with joy when meeting Tracker. I just heard Pyrs can sometimes turn even on their own litter mates as they reach adolescence, but maybe that's more the case with still unneutered individuals. Yes, they're HUGE!!

I'm posting this here because some of you have Pyrs and Greys and also because I myself have zero experience with puppies in general. We share our property with another couple that brought home a Great Pyrenees puppy in January. His name is Bear. He's now exactly 6 months old, and has been neutered. He's almost 65lbs to Tracker's 73. He and Tracker get along fine, as a matter of fact, Tracker couldn't be more indulgent with Bear. Bear will be all over him when they meet, and do all the puppy behaviors like licking, jumping up, trying to get to Tracker's muzzle. When we let them off leash in our fenced in field, Tracker goes off on his own, does his zoomies, and is ready to leave, and Bear is soooo disappointed that Tracker has zero interest in playing with him. Tracker will generally just stand there and get his face out of the way. He has truly had the patience of a saint, so far. No problems. I'd like to keep it that way. My question: from what I understand, some Pyrs can get pretty intense as they mature, once their guarding instincts and strong will kick in. He's 6 months now. Is there anything that could come without warning from either side? For example, might Tracker feel soon that Bear is less of a puppy now and more of a force to be reckoned with and has to be put in his place? Might Bear soon think who's this light weight anyways and btw this is MY property?! I know this depends to some degree on their respective temperaments. But are there any guidelines? I am a bit concerned that Tracker might just loose it one day or Bear might become more challenging and then what? I imagine it could all be over with a quick growl and that's that, new rules established. But I don't want to think later "had I only been better prepared for this". And I don't want to live on my own property with two dogs who loathe each other.

What would be the biggest concern for me is his lunging twice at a child. That could be serious trouble. I also would not take him back to the dog park any time soon, until you were able to really assess and address what's going on. The prey drive as such can be reasonably managed (as in not exposing him to small dogs, whenever possible), I imagine. As to "normal"? I think it varies greatly from one individual to the next. My grey doesn't even look at cats we encounter on our walks. I also wonder about the adoption agency and their description of your grey. There are far more experienced forum members than me who will chime in.