krissy

I would strongly urge you to re-consider this thought process. "Alpha theory" was debunked scientifically some time ago, though unfortunately it continues to persist amongst dog owners in large part due to some high profile trainers who have a large audience *cough* Cesar Milan *cough*. It has been shown that dogs are not small wolves. The domestication process had a huge influence on their social structure and they do not form true "packs" and therefore have a much looser hierarchy. Even within true wolf packs, we now know that the rigid pack structure we all think of doesn't really apply. The original studies that came up with pack structure and dominance theory were performed on artificial packs in captivity, not wild packs. Packs in captivity often differ hugely - for one thing resources are more freely available, the animals experience different stressors associated with restricted movement and ability to express normal behaviours, and the packs are often thrown together as opposed to the way natural packs form which is with the offspring of the main breeding pair (they're all related). As a result we really need to not think of our lives with our dogs in terms of a "wolf pack" because that's really not applicable. We are different species, and even if you have multiple dogs they are typically unrelated. There is no need to be "the alpha" or to dominate our pet dogs. What they DO require is structure and consistency. They need to know what the rules of the household are and what the expectations of them are. But we can achieve that through positive reinforcement and consistency in how we address their behaviour. If you're interested, a really good read is "Decoding Your Dog" which is written by a number of Veterinary Behaviourists. They address normal dog behaviour, the correct way to train, and common behaviour concerns. Of course it doesn't replace a trip to a behaviourist if required, but it's a really great book to help people understand what is normal, what is not, and how we should interact with our dogs... all written by people who are truly experts.

Also recommend seeing a behaviourist or well seasoned positive reinforcement trainer for advice. And stop scolding him. What you consider a "reward" or "punishment" does not necessarily align with what the dog perceives to be a reward or punishment, and it's the dog's perception that matters... not the humans. Cowering and escalating to aggression are both indicators that the scolding is likely being perceived as punishment and/or threatening to this dog. You are best to ignore behaviours you don't like and reward the ones you do. If the behaviour is potentially dangerous to the dog he should be redirected using positive methods. If he grabs something out of the trash, throw a handful of really tasty treats on the ground a little ways away from him, and when he drops the item to eat the treats you can slowly reach over and pick it up (keep an eye on the dog to make sure he is completely engaged in his treats and doesn't notice you picking up the item). Give a few more treats afterwards and tell him what a good boy he is.

We tent camp with our greyhounds in the Alberta mountains. Even in the summer it gets COLD at night (about 4C sometimes overnight in August). Kili can be a bit of a grumble puss about her space, but not usually when we're camping because she wants to stay warm. We have 2 sleeping bags that zip together and we squish 2 adults and 2 greyhounds into it so that we can all share body heat and stay warm. I'm also going to buy the Hurtta dog sleeping bag this year to try out. We do long hikes during the day, but so far we have not backpacked so we're always returning to a campsite near town and have our vehicle. I'd like to try backpacking but we just haven't found the time yet. I don't really have any concerns about backpacking with my guys. You just need to think of everything you would need for them. We feed a dehydrated food when we camp (less smell and less weight) so that would be the way to go for backpacking. And make sure you carry appropriate first aid supplies for the dog. I also really want to buy a rescue harness. It's a special harness that allows you to carry your dog like a backpack in the event that they get sick or hurt and can't walk out.

Remember that you have to find something the dog wants in order to teach them. Positive reinforcement training is fabulous, but it's only a reward if the dog finds it rewarding. Most dogs find food and/or toys rewarding, but not all. Some only find certain really high value treats rewarding, whereas others are so food motivated you can train with kibble. Most dogs like real meat morsels for treats... but some dogs prefer carrots, apples, and celery. I had a dog in one of my obedience classes that was super motivated by apples - the owner would come to class and pick an apple off my tree to cut up and use as treats for the class (they were nice apples, not crab apples). Play around with different treat options. Cook up some chicken breast or a steak and cut up into tiny pieces. She only gets this treat for training. Or try toys instead. Loves to shred paper? Her reward could be a piece of tissue paper to destroy. She loves getting up on the bed/couch? You only let her up once she does 1-2 repetitions of whatever the newest thing you're trying to teach is. Be creative. Train just before you feed breakfast/dinner so she's hungry. Keep training short. I usually tell people 5 minutes and under, but for really low motivation dogs I would honestly do 2-3 repetitions and then call it quits. Choose easier behaviours to teach at first. Shaking a paw is probably too hard. Sitting and laying down are too hard. Start with focus/eye contact, or hand touches. Very simple, very short, very fast to do several repetitions and requires no major manipulation or movement from the dog. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sN18pcmDrg

Most of my crates are 30" tall (40-42" long), except for my large male's crate which probably is close to 35" tall. My low-average sized females are perfectly content in this size of crate. They're about 26" at the shoulder, so yes, they do have to duck their heads a little in this height of crate, but they spend almost zero time standing so it really doesn't matter. I wouldn't be horribly impressed with a group that is going to nitpick that much on a minor detail like 2".

I'm a huge proponent of mental stimulation. Just because a dog is okay with doing nothing, doesn't mean they wouldn't enjoy doing something. Sure, a really high strung dog will be nuissance or may be destructive if not given enough to do, but just because a dog is good and well behaved doesn't mean they aren't bored. My kids are very good and very well behaved, but they are so happy to have things to do. Puzzle toys are a great option for dogs that are food motivated - even my bunnies enjoy their treat balls. Training is great too for mental wellness, and also helps build a relationship with a new pup. My basement is our training space and the dogs just fly down there any time I head down the stairs. They're very disappointed when they find I'm just down there to do laundry or grab something out of storage.

I would suggest a consult with a veterinary behaviourist and consider starting medications sooner than later. In addition you'll of course need to work on alone training and other behaviour modification (the behaviourist can help you with this). The poor girl sounds very upset. You don't need to ignore her 24/7. She needs comfort and to be loved. You cannot reward fear, and in addition she's already very upset about being left alone so getting more attached is unlikely to make things worse. If anything, learning to trust you guys is probably helpful in the long term. If she can stay with her foster family who are home all day while you guys are at work that would be helpful. While working through separation anxiety we ideally don't want to leave the dog alone long enough that it gets upset. We want the training process to be very slow and not produce anxiety. Understandably it is not always possible to not leave them alone, but if you have an option I would use it, even if it's just a couple days a week.

Play the "It's Your Choice" game. The idea basically is to teach the dog that just because there is food (or a toy) on offer, doesn't mean they automatically get it. The food has to be offered to them. Also helps with the panic of dropping a pill or some other item that the dog shouldn't eat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-ywdZzduoU

My dogs would be happy to eat every minute or every day if allowed. They are always hopeful when I stand up that it's either dinner time, snack time, or training time. Kili would happily surf counters all the time if allowed. Having a food motivated hound is a blessing - it makes for a very trainable dog who is lots of fun to work with and who is likely to always be willing to work. Try giving him an outlet to earn his food and snacks - puzzle toys, training, etc.

Has she had an ultrasound? Non-invasive, no anesthetic required. Won't tell you if she has ulcers specifically... may tell you if she has gastritis, but will rule out a lot of other serious concerns that bloodwork doesn't pick up.

For dogs that give up too easily and need to build some resilience, or dogs that don't understand the concept of offering behaviours and "trying", I really like 100 Things With A Box. It can be a little bit of a difficult one to get started on for some of the retired racers... I find a lot of them are not especially curious (but again, this is something that we can encourage and build) so it sometimes takes a bit of extra creativity and patience. As you will see in the video, the idea is to provide no instruction. We're not luring or asking for a behaviour. We're just letting them offer behaviours with the box and any interaction with the box earns them a reward. It encourages them to keep trying because the rate of reinforcement is very high. Now, with the racers I do find that in the beginning that I sometimes have to encourage them to investigate the box just to get them going. Sometimes I even have to throw treats in and around the box to get them going to the box, and then once they eat all the treats and go back to look for more then I can start the exercise for real. Box exercise is at the end of this video. The other exercises are certainly useful as well. The set of 3 is what I use for lesson number one in my basic obedience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sN18pcmDrg

I'm so sorry for your loss. Rocket is and will forever be a fan favourite here at Greytalk. It is so sad to see the "original pack" of dogs that were here when I first started coming to this site crossing over the bridge. Run free big boy.

I WISH this was my problem. I bought my dogs a large, yellow vest-harness with velcro message tabs that say "DO NOT DISTRACT" and "DO NOT PET" all over it to try to get people to stop being idiots about dogs in public. Although my dogs are friendly, I still don't appreciate people walking up to my dogs and petting them without asking. I'm not sure what possesses people to wheel their toddlers in strollers up to a dog they are face height with and encourage them to pet said dogs without getting permission from the owner. I wish people thought my dogs were scary.

So sorry for your loss. Run free, Ellie....

We've fostered a number of dogs off the track and have never had significant trouble training them to use the stairs. If that's the only way in/out they pick it up out of necessity a lot faster than dogs who don't absolutely have to do the stairs. When we first got into greyhound we lived in a basement apartment, so our very first foster had to learn to do the stairs at least 3 times per day to get in and out. It meant budgeting a bit of extra time every time we wanted to take him out at first, but he learned to do those stairs like a pro within a week. Lots of treats and gentle persistence were involved. Since then we've fostered a number of greyhounds. Fortunately, the house we were in when we did that had fewer stairs since it was a bungalow, but they still had to do about 4 or 5. They also had to learn to do the stairs to the basement if they wanted in on the training fun with my dogs. Our current house is also a bungalow, but is raised so has about 8 stairs to get to the front door. We haven't been fostering recently, but no doubt the dogs would figure it out just fine!

The OP has already explicitly stated several times that they are working WITH their adoption group on this rehoming process. I don't think it's necessary for everyone to keep telling them to send the dog back to the group. I think a lot of folks probably didn't read all of the posts and maybe haven't seen the responses from the OP, but it's not that long of a thread so we really should. If the group is aware and working with them on the issue, then there's no need for the dog to be stressed unnecessarily by going back to a kennel environment. As long as the group is aware of what his issues and concerns are, potential adopters will probably get a better sense of him in his home environment than in a kennel environment. It doesn't sound like the OP is rehoming this dog all on her own.

Hello and welcome to the sighthound world! Sounds like you have some great options available to you. Where is this whippet coming to you from? Directly from the owner or was is given to a rescue group who is now adopting it to you? My recommendation potentially hinges on this information. If the whippet is coming from an adoption group (ideally has been in a foster home) then you may be getting a great dog that is already used to a home environment (doesn't need to be taught the stairs, how to jump into a vehicle, etc) which could be a huge benefit to you. However, the fact that you say the previous owner was 80 concerns me a little because it may mean the dog hasn't been left at home alone much and might struggle with separation anxiety (flip side is if it's been in a foster home they may have already tested this out and found that the dog is totally fine). Even a small, female greyhound is difficult to carry around if not mobile. My girls are both just under 60 lbs but I have a hard time picking them up and carrying them because greyhounds are very long and tall and it's just awkward. If mobility is a significant concern for your I'd probably favour the smaller breed. Either breed should be able to do an 8-9 hr work day with no issues. Honestly, if the whippet can be vetted well and doesn't have separation anxiety issues then I'd probably go with that. The greyhound adoption group will pair you up the best they can, and hopefully they work with foster homes, but you likely still have a large breed do that needs to be taught the stairs and how to get into a vehicle. But of course, I have 3 greyhounds so I mean, all other factors and requirements aside I'd say get a greyhound. ha ha.

It depends on why the dog is on a low fat diet. Most typically it's for pancreatitis, in which case omega oils can be helpful for some (anti-inflammatory), however I always recommend people pick up a pure omega supplement as opposed to a fish oil... and introduce it slowly while monitoring for flare ups. I'd recommend you speak to your veterinarian about what your dog can and can't have.

I hope your daughter is okay! A bite is very scary, even when we know it was technically our "fault". But we're all human, sometimes we do something without thinking because at that moment we're overtaken by concern or panic. I KNOW I shouldn't jump into a raging river to save a drowning dog... but I'm not guaranteeing I wouldn't if it was my own dog because... panic! That said, removing items that dogs perceived as edible is always a potential, especially with a newer dog that you don't know that well and who doesn't know you that well. But it is also really important/beneficial that a dog allows its humans to take things away that might be dangerous. Although resource guarding may be a normal/appropriate response for a dog, that doesn't necessarily mean we should just accept it at face value without trying to alter it. And especially with your dog, I think it'll be really important to have skills and techniques to do that since it appears he doesn't have particularly good bite inhibition since he broke skin badly enough that your daughter needed medical attention. When it comes to dog bites there are two important distinctions... there's the liklihood that a dog will bite, and then there's bite inhibition. The worst combination of course is a dog that is more likely to bite and also has bad bite inhibition. Unfortunately, I don't think there's much you can do about the bite inhibition now. That's something that is generally learned before 4 months of age. What you CAN work on is your dog's likelihood of biting. I'd find a good, positive reinforcement trainer to work with on trading up. It's basically teaching the dog to trade a low value item for a higher value one, and then working up towards trading the highest value item for a slightly lower value one. Teaching a leave it and a drop cue will also be super helpful. I'd recommend doing this under the supervision of a good trainer/behaviourist for safety since your dog doesn't have great bite inhibition.

I've found that my youngsters usually learn an off switch somewhere around 2 years old (this is a partially trained behaviour worked on since they arrive home at 8 weeks), but don't actually truly calm down of their own accord until after 3.

Probably the hat. Many dogs do not like hats or other partial head/face coverings. Kili is very wary of BF if he comes into the house with his motorcycle gear on (usually he takes off his helmet and jacket outside, so it is rare for the dogs to see him all decked out) but as soon as he opens his visor and talks she recognizes him. Your dog is still pretty new and doesn't know everyone that well yet. Next time if there's an issue like this, have the "offender" (in this case FIL) ignore the dog and periodically throw treats in his direction without making eye contact or talking to the dog.

ALT is an enzyme that is released with liver cells die. The normal range reflects a normal, expected amount of cell turnover. Elevated levels indicate that higher numbers of liver cells are dying.

I'm just curious why this test was run if there was no murmur heard? This is typically a test we run when we are concerned about heart disease specifically... it's not part of regular routine testing. So if there was some other reason for concern for heart disease (clinical signs like coughing, exercise intolerance, etc), despite there being no murmur I'd still follow up with an echo to be safe. Though I wouldn't be surprised if this test is higher in greyhounds because it is looking at heart muscle stress, and since greyhounds tend to have larger hearts it might follow that they might have slightly higher values. Here's a link I found of a study from OSU confirming that healthy greyhounds do tend to have higher proBNP values: http://www.mcphail.ca/Greyhound_Archives/Library/Medical/Plasma_NT-proBNP.pdf

This also amused me endlessly.

Try different dog beds until you find one she really, really likes. Any time she tries to climb into your bed in the middle of the night, tell her to go back to her own bed