Brandiandwe

I think if you can find the right obedience class it can work wonders. As many here know, I'm working with my obedience group on basic socialisation of my girls to other dog breeds. We spend much time standing in the circle with everyone else working on relaxation, attention on me and appropriate interactions with smaller dogs. This has resulted in both of mine becoming more relaxed and confident, especially my spook Brandi. We're now working on toning down the over-exuberant greetings. Important is that all of the instructors know what I am trying to achieve and support me standing still or walking my dogs while everyone else is proudly demonstrating their 'sit', 'down' and 'stay'.

I also spent a lot f time sitting on the landing halfway up (or down) our stairs the first few days with Brandi. She was desparate to get to and eventually, once we blocked off all of the views through the banisters with blankets, managed them by herself. But the first few days we were also carrying her up and down. Easy for my husband, less so for me (30 kg, 67 lb dog). Now she whizzes up and down very happily, and PK learned off her.

We own the dogs that others wait for at the hound play dates. Young greyhounds who love to run (for about 5 - 10 minutes) get everyone else going. It's even better if there are cattle dogs or collies on the other side of the fence to chase up and down.

I would like to try, but am only just feeling more confident about my sensitive little snowflake's tummy on the dry stuff.... wet might be another step too far.

All true, and I accept that PK will never be entirely trustworthy. However, she's stopped fixating and her reactions are much less now, so we're working towards a goal of walking down the street without fixating or lunging at small dogs. Given six weeks ago we lunged at ALL dogs and she's learned I don't think I'm being overly ambitious. She will never be allowed unleashed near any small dogs (although keeping unleashed small dogs away from her is proving a challenge) and cats, rabbits, chickens and other small creatures will never be safe. To become unmuzzled she needs to be non-reactive to a small fluffy on the other side of a fence so it can be seen but not touched, and then, if that works, unreactive without the fence. I'm hoping this is achieveable, but if it isn't, we're still proud and happy to be her humans. Thanks for the support guys! The walk this morning was better. Met our nemesis - a very reactive JRT not once, but twice. First time, big reaction from the girls. Second time, I saw them coming from further off and the other owner actually put her dog back on leash so there was no reaction until we went past. Strange how brave everyone gets when 20 metres away....

Sigh. Remind me, everyone, that it's sometimes two steps forward and one step back. PK went off to obedience yesterday. It didn't go great, in part because I was shattered and upset at the start because the chief instructor came up and asked me to muzzle her and promised to explain later but that someone had made a complaint. She explained later that she had received an email about 'unmuzzled greyhounds' out in public who must be muzzled at all times by law when out in public. I told her that the law was that,EXCEPT when being shown or at a leashed obedience class. She also asked me if I knew about the recent law changes where my hounds can be assessed to be unmuzzled. And I had to tell her that I knew, that that was one of the reasons we were at obedience (to reduce small dog reactivity and prey drive). She's said that she thought that was the case (and this was confirmed by everyone else at the club), has sent an email back to the complainant and has encouraged me to come back. But during the class we were doing a 'weaving exercise, between other dogs around a circle and asking for attention. PK did great except with two small fluffies (and there were about 6 in the class) which she snapped at, though she moved on when I told her to 'leave it!'. One had done nothing and one moved towards her as she went past. Then later, an unleashed fluffy came up and she snapped at it. Then this morning we met a fluffy off leash and without an owner. Booster barked and became excited, and while I was coping with that, PK zipped past me and pinned it. I guess I'm feeling a bit dispirited, in part because I think PK picked up on my upset yesterday at obedience (because I would NEVER put another dog at risk, because Booster was at obedience last week, when the complaint was made and she behaved imacculately, and because I wasn't breaking the law so was dealing with breed prejudice), and in allowing myself to become upset, I've put PK back a few steps. She's a long was off becoming small dog safe. I'm doing OK really, aren't I?

jjng, everyone else in the class focuses on sit, heel, come etc. More traditional stuff I guess. We focus on a lack of tension and reaction and the stuff we need to do. I've been lucky in how flexible people have been in what I'm hoping to achieve.

We get progressively looser as well. Especially new or eciting walks have resulted in ten bags between the two girls.

Give it a go. I don't think that one approach works for everyone which is why this board is great, with so many different ideas and suggestions. And it is very nice to take a walk without risking a dislocated shoulder or fearing other dogs approaching on leash. Now that the girls recognise dogs as dogs things are much nicer. It might work for Tracker and, if its a reasonably well run class with a good instructor who understands what you goals are then who knows? You might meet some new people and make friends. I've now got one possible friend, a whole lot of people to say hi to, and I'm helping out at the clubs obedience trials in a couple of weeks. Not competing obviously. And my dogs have benefited. Now I'm getting more ambitious. As well as losing that reactivity and redirecting the preydrive, we're going to work on 'sit' and 'down'. We're going to be in class 1 for a very long time..... other dogs may come and go, but the hounds will be there eternally......

I take Chad's point about the sweeping arc, but, sometimes on sidewalks and roads that isn't possible. So, we walked past each other (D = dog and O = owner) like this: D.O.O.D moving in opposite directions and with the dogs at heel and doing 'look at me'. A split second pause and both dogs saw each other and we kept moving. Assuming no reaction, next time it was O.D.D.O still with 'look at me', as we got closer, the dogs who had already been able to sniff at each pother, went past each other and then circled around to sniff the butts. But attention was on the owners until both dogs were past each other. I wouldn't try this with most of the dogs we meet out on our walks, but it was still good to know. Meanwhile, this morning we met two dogs who have caused big reactions in the past and had to walk away only once before I had a nice chat with the owner. Sadly, the unleashed yappers were out this morning on the oval as well, but PK ignored them and Brandi was treated to a session of equick random direction changes and circles until she relaxed. Only took a couple of minutes and there was no lunging or barking, just straining and one attempt to take off.

My obedience classes have involved doing very little 'obedience' work in terms of 'tricks' (sitting, down, heel, etc). Obviously all of these are important toools to have but neither of mine are especially food motivated and they get boed after three repetitions. Instead my classes have consisted of just hanging out in the class, letting my girls see and socialise with other dogs (at a distance then closer), and working on coping mechanisms. So, if my dog starts to react, we take a quick walk away from the action (about 10 - 20 metres), go in a few small circles until she relaxes (for either of them), walk back to the class and reward the continued relaxation. Then I reward, reward, reward relaxation. Others reward 'sit', I reward a quick glance at a barking lunging dog then attention back to me. We've worked on 'watch me', and recall, but mostly it's just been socialising in a controlled environment and also building a closer relationship. I've had a different instructor each week, some I've liked, some not so much, but the magic trick is just looking for changes in behaviour then rewarding. Hopefully, we'll start moving onto focussed training on 'sit' and 'down' but really its worth going along just for the exposure to other dogs and developing alternative behaviours. However, we all have different goals in terms of obedience training. Mine right now is to have less reactive more relaxed dogs with prey drive refocused towards other more appropriate targets. Of course it could all go pear shaped tomorrow.

We've been working hard recently on managing PKs high prey drive and both brandi and PKs reactivity to other dogs. PK has been going to mixed breed obedience classes and Brandi started yesterday. PK made a strong start at obedience, attempting to attack two small fluffies on our way from the car park to registration. The head trainer wandered over, and welcomed me, complimenting me on PKs condition and saying that I was definitely in the right place. The first class was about training the humans so we all sat/ stood in a circle and listened to some basic dog training stuff. PK found herself in fairly close proximity to a large group of dogs and began withdrawing away from me, into the centre of the circle to try to see everything. In so doing, she boxed herself between a rottweiler, a white shepherd and a golden retriever and began going into meltdown. So we went for a little walk to settle down before returning to the group. This time she lay down with her back to everything and began fixating on a small poodle. So we went for several more walks. At the end we walked out, avoiding all small dogs. Second week, we went back and she was entirely different. She ignored all small dogs, socialised appropriately with the bigger dogs who had scared her last time and actually made friends with an American Staffy cross called Dexter (he looks like a Dexter too!). Week three, she worked beside some small fluffies and shared a water bowl with a JRT. Meanwhile at home, she has become much more more relaxed on walks and much less interested in other dogs. Sadly, Brandi took up that particular baton with gusto. Brandi's first day at obedience was less exciting. After disciplining Dexter for being a bit too familiar with several warning growls and a snap, I was told not to worry that she was learning appropriate socialisinsation. I pointed out that she was actually apprppriately socialised: several warnings and he didn't get the message until the snap, at which point he backed off and they worked happily side by side from then on. She demonstrated the appropriate way to socialise and meet a dog on leash with a rotty and ignored all the other dogs unless encouraged to interact. Then, this morning, it all came together on our walk. We were out early so it was dark. A small dog rushed out barking ferociously crossing the road and charging at us. The girls stopped, placed themselves between me and the dog and watched it relaxed. It took a couple of minutes until I could attract the owners attention and ask them to call their dog back, at which point it went and the girls walked on. No reaction at all. Then later, we met two very ill-mannered labs. They were luncging and pulling at their leashes and we were meeting head on. So we crossed the road, while they carried on. The girls sped up, but did nothing else. No lunging, barking, snarling or challening. I'm so proud of them both!

Whoop! Whoop!!

We're lucky. Our local dog club has a reasonable joining fee then it's $2 ground fee per dog each day. I think that's reasonable. Given all we do there is hang out with other dogs and work on prey drive and reactivity, I think we do OK. Sitting isn't really PKs thing - we ain't gonna win any awards there!!! Interesting about the barking. PK doesn't usually bark when she's fixated. Instead, there's staring fixedly, tension throughout the body followed by shaking, foaming at the mouth then a high pitched whine. She would have the throat out in a hearbeat in that state. The barking happens when she isn't fixated but she is reacting to the other dog, whether because it's barking or bouncing around or it wants to play, looks threatening or is otherwise non-greyhound. Well done with the cat! For the other, I guess you can't control everything and do need to keep on experimenting. I know my dogs continue to react to dogs which have reacted to them in the past. So even if the others dogs now go past quietly, my girls remember them and give them a darn good barking, much to my frustration. Lots of circles, changes of direction and working on relaxation. But you can't control everything either. There is no textbook to how each walk will go and how each dog will react to the other. I've found that sometimes tightening up increases the reactivity, but this isn't consistent. I wouldn't mind the desire to play so much. It's more the other desires which bother me.

To be fair, she was running with a big male who was definitely challenging her (she's used to being in charge), and there was a kelpie pup on the other side of the fence. A minute after that shot was taken, her and her boyfriend were cuddling in the sun together.

I'm late in posting these. We adopted Brandi (the brindle, aka Booster or Brandi-Boo or The Supermodel) and Paige (aka P.K.) in November last year. They're both just two (within the last month), and never raced. They both apparently trialled, but were deemed unsuitable. Excellent news for us! Went through fostering together, but were initially adopted separately. Brandi had SA and so PK came home. And here we are! Now we finally have some cute photos to share of the girls. So, GT, meet Brandi and PK. (Hoping the pictures work!

Your welcome. I'd be interested to know what more experienced owners think as well. This is just based on my own experiences of both high level fixation (does yours foam at the mouth as well? Always a special moment!) and reactivity, but I can tell you that it has gotten better for me. I did have to treat the two issues separately, and I have two greys both of which are reactive, but they are both improving. As I also said up thread, obedience classes have helped.

To me, this sounds like a prey drive thing and not an aggression thing. Although the training is similar, the causes are different. I was told that I needed to be careful of what and when I treated post-fixation. If you do it after she's fixated, then she's taught that fixation and then looking at you means a treat = fixation is acceptable. So you need to get attention back on you, get her to work a bit (I find walking in tight circles rather than sitting, but sitting would also work), hound relaxes then treat, because this teaches her that fixation = hard work but relaxation and ignoring small fluffies = treat. I'm not sure if this is entirely accurate but it does seem to have worked. The fixation is also different to reactivity to other barking dogs, which I'm till working on. There, reaction also = work, relaxation means we can continue with our walk and a treat. This is where 'watch me' works. So lots of circles and changes of direction, abrupt stops, anything to focus the attention back on me and make it clear that I'm in charge and in control of the situation. It's working well with PK and starting to work with Brandi too.

In future, and for others, we've recently discovered that Vegemite does wonders for getting hounds to eat and to take tablets. Very strong smelling and tasting, lots of vitamin B, just not too much.

It's a stinker here today - our girls are suffering even inside. Something I did think of though might be some vegemite in ice-cubes. Mine adore it and it might help trigger her to drink.

With the fixation thing, it is possible to eventually control it. We're still working on it with our high prey drive PK. What has helped is taking her to a mixed breed obedience class where she has realised that small fluffies are dogs too. I've been taking her there a bit tired and the first week she basically freaked out. Before class had started she had lunged at two small fluffies, and she fixated on a small poodle as well. She also went into complete shut down when she ended up surrounded by other big dogs. Now she doesn't fixate (as much) on our walks, and at obedience she ignores the small fluffies. If she now does fixate, she is quick to come back to me. What has changed is that I've become more confident dealing with her, that I'm starting to trust her reactions and understand when they're coming, and she is trusting me more. But she is high prey and will always have that fixation thing in her.

We don't have a potty area, but if you're looking for a surface, other than the brilliant suggestions above, it might also be worth looking into what horse people use for arena surfaces with good drainage.

It depends.... ours struggle even going for walks in the heat. Over about 25 degrees C then our walks are severely truncated and we try to stay indoors. We couldn't leave ours outside because of this. Having said that, I believe that some kennels are outside or have outside runs and as long as there is adequate shelter, it might be OK. We prefer to keep our two inside, and also block off the main bedroom where they like to sleep on the hottest days because it's upstairs and the top of the house is like an oven. We also leave the ceiling fan on all the time and make sure they have access to water kept in the coolest parts of the house.

I'm not really familiar with submissive urination; is that when they eliminate when they're scared or excited? If so, that doesn't seem to be the case, but I'm definitely no expert. That's the one. We would get it after we came home. Huge excitement, calming down, five minutes later, bang. If we didn't get her outside she'd do it again. Same thing if we were watching something loud on TV.... It probably isn't, of course, but I thought I'd throw it out there.

We also muzzle our two when we're out. It has stopped the chewing. The other thing I do when we're going out off-schedule is take the two of them out on a SUPER long walk. They come home dragging their feet and knackered. This means that they don't have the energy to get up to much when we're out. I'm guessing you already do a lot of exercise with your two, but this is what has really helped us turn the corner.