Brandiandwe

We have a high prey drive hound. She is better than she was but will never be trusted around non-greys. She is also muzzled at all times in public. We are very careful with her. She is also perfect. My point is that others will be better able to assess you hound. But if he does need to be muzzled, it isn't the worst thing in the world.

I'm now brushing every night. Paige is a little angel and just looks resigned. Brandi loves the taste of the toothpaste and tries to chew the brush while I'm trying to brush. Not easy. But better than running away. Dh was most upset when he saw their toothbrush put in its own holder beside ours. They'll still need a dental though, to undo damage done before they came to us, but it can wait a little longer.

I've got nothing to add, except to say that I'm so sorry you're going through this. You've really gone beyond what most people would do, and you'll make the right decision for everyone concerned. Hugs.

Our two get 1.5 to 2 hours of exercise a day, and at least an hour of that is a 4 - 5 km walk, or maybe a bit longer. They are both 2.5. They love it, and can easily go longer if we want. They also still have the energy for zoomies afterwards. But I've noticed a definite upswing of energy in winter. Just build them up gradually.

I have 2 greys that I got when they were just shy of 2 years old. They're now 2.5. Lots of energy! We're currently on a road trip for my work and, although they've not had as much exercise as they normally would, are both sacked out in my room at the b&b. They don't seem bored, more just resigned that this is the programme for the night. Don't worry. You're doing fine.

I also found some socks designed explicitly for greyhounds and poodles which give some extra grip. We don't need them, but for the future perhaps? Unfortunately, I'm in Australia, so not much help.

Both of my girls will go on concrete, sometimes in preference to grass nearby. I don't like it because it splashes, and they are the only dog breed I';ve seen who will do this. It's happening less now but I put it down to the kennelling they had.

Both of my girls have had cuts. One took about 3 weeks to heal entirely, the other only happened last Friday so we're just starting out. We found that they just heal slow on the legs because both of mine took so much skin off when they did it. Things that help are bandaging for a couple of days, and then using an antiseptic spray which is a bitterant. It tastes bad and stops them licking for a while.

Oh dear gosh, you've just described me to a T. I honestly didn't even like dogs at one point, thought "all dogs smell, pee everywhere and bite" Me too. My husband teases me about it, but I remind him that he's the one who insisted no dogs in the house, on the furniture or in bed with us. And then sleeps in on the weekends with bo0th of them roaching beside him. And is the one who tucks them in at night to make sure they don't get cold.

And then in the first year..... :-) Congratulations! Have fun with her. Don't be suprised if you turn into one of 'those' dog people who think nothing of buying numerous jackets, collars and 'things' for your dog, shops obsessively for the right treats and does more research on the dog's diet than your own.

And maybe try handfeeding her? When my girl won't eat, feeding her by hand is sometimes the only way to get her going.

We've got 'leave it', it just sometimes we don't use it until he cat is running. But I've been improving my situational awareness and being careful. It's getting better - they apparently walked past the rabbits the other day with only a minimum of attempts to eat them. I'm away right now and the girls have been in kennels for a few days. I'll be picking them up this afternoon/ evening and can't wait. Paige apparently hasn't been eating much, which we expected, so I need to get her home and fatten her up.

We have had our two for nearly eight months. We muzzle whenever we are not home - I think they'd be fine but it's just safer and avoids the chewing. Separate food, same water. We are careful as pk is more dominating and vocal. She is also more energetic in play. Brandi prefers to join us on the couch. We also have to watch for pk bullying Brandi with toys. Both are allowed on tbd furniture but no growling is allowed especially if I am paying attention to one of them. I need to be shared. Otherwise, Brandi was very worried when pk arrived. She needed lots oc reassurance that we still loved her. Just to add: we've never crated and our two knew each other before coming home. So our experience might be different. But bringing home number two was the best thing we ever did!

Ours literally disappeared overnight. It was there, Paige arrived, DH and I went out for a couple of hours the enxt day and came back to two happily sleeping hounds. However, our two had gone through fostering together and so knew each other. It was really just a matter of becoming re-acquainted, and now they're very closely bonded. So the settling in period will be longer. Best thing we ever did.

Outside as soon as I get home (no excitement when dh is home), calmness, no aggressive or loud reprimands, and time. Ours has settled down a lot but it took months.

Check up the Facebook site then and I'll try to tee up a meeting and run for this Sunday. There are also quite a few other hounds in the inner city so fb might also let you connect with them.

Tried and failed - you can't use the system yet. Mods, hoping its ok to include those links. Here's the info I had in my message: Hi nickyb, Good luck weith your girl's girl! We've got two hounds, one high prey and the other who has learned the behaviour. Both went through an adoption programme which assessed them for aggression, and we've had no problems with aggression towards humans, but they did give us some valuable insights into their personalities, and have continued to be a wealth of information and support to us. The behaviouralist they recommended is Both ends of the leash. http://www.bothendsoftheleash.org/ We haven't used them ourselves - we've been working with Paige ourselves and seeing gradual improvement, but this might also be the way forward. We go to Baulkham Hills Veterinary Hospital http://www.baulkhamhillsvet.com.au/ We adopted through Greyhounds As Pet which is through www.thedogs.com.au via the 'ownership' tab. They might also be able to point you in the right direction and offer some support. At the very least, they might be able to offer you an assessment of your pup. There's also Greyhound Adoption Programme - you want to be in touch with the one run by Denise. It's a different group, but they are also very thorough in terms of checking out greys and might also be able to help. I don't know where you are located - Sydney or elsewhere. If you're in Sydney, a group of us on the greyhounds as pets facebook page try to get together regularly to run our dogs at St Ives dog park (a bit of a hike but fully fenced and worth the trip). Otherwise, there's also a group there in the Illawarra who you could make contact with.

Sending through a PM with info about Sydney based behaviouralists who have worked with greyhounds and also the adoption programme I went through who have behaviouralists and vets on board. Also info about my vets who are pretty good with greys as well. I'd put a hold on moving in with the cat though. Not a good idea just yet.

As a matter of curiousity, which adoption programme turned the dog down? I live in Sydney, and am in close contact with our programme who do turn dogs down they deem unsuitable as pets, usually for good reason. This isn't based on age, as a rather cute puppy has recently come in, but on temperament. So aggression, towards other dogs, excessively high prey drive, or aggression towards people, would all be reasons to knock the dog back. (please don't post about the rights and wrongs of this. Greyhound adoption here is small and resources are limited.) They are also quite keen to help and have contacts who might be helpful. It might be something about resource guarding, the hound still settling in or whatever, others here will have suggestions, but pm me if you're local and want some local contacts.

I don't have galgos and have been fortunate in my two hounds, but I do agree that it takes time. We got our two hounds 8 months ago now. It has taken that long for one of them to start 'softening' as we call it. Last weekend, for the first time, she lay on the bed with us beoth and enjoyed some attention - beofre she would always get off. Time and patience....

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. The eyeball pop is hilarious isn't it? Like Paige when she saw a chicken for the first time. I swear she had eyes on stalks!

The neighbourhood bunnies are a whole different kettle of fish. Someone near us has them as pets. Big, fat, juicy, tender, succulent, fluffy bunnies (in Australia - why?????). They let them out to graze on their front lawn from time to time. The girls have seen them only three times, but now remember the house, and pull towards it on walks. Then they walk along very very slowly trying to hide behind the very small shrubs and suddenly leaping into the air to try to catch sight of the bunnies (who are safely in their hutches in the back garden).

We've got two, 2 year old girls we've had for 7/8 months now. Brandi just failed her green-collar assessment and Paige will never pass it. Brandi is still a might, but Paige simply won't. She is bred to run and hunt and that's what she will always try to do. We actually had her assessed yesterday with a fluffy when Booster had been done. She was described as 'opportunistic' by the vet and the behaviouralist there. She seems fine with the fluffy until you relax and she thinks you aren't looking, then just flips a switch and goes for it. Not suitable to be de-muzzled. :-) They're our first hounds, and are a little bit of a handful, but very well loved regardless!

It doesnt matter if your hound is "cat workable" and even lives with cats. Cats outside are prey, plain and simple. So I guess the answer is, keep working on distraction for cats at a distance and try to be aware of potential hiding places cats may be lurking? That's fine if that's the answer, and I'm doing that anyway, but I wondered if there were any other strategies.

Hmmm. So I need a nice bolshie cat? Or two cats to deal with two hounds? Tricky! How is Tracker getting on? I've been wondering.