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I read the paper - a totally reasonable possibility. Just doesn't seem to explain some of what we are experiencing with Hester. And Hester is a real rock solid dog. Nothing insecure about him - not around people, dogs, things, horses, etc. No sucking up, no out of the blue agression, over-reactions, startles, barking - nothing.

Pretty hard to reconcile the above and other similar often repeated sentiments with this from Dennis McKeon as posted in another thread by dmdsmoxie: "One of the most educational aspects of working with large populations or colonies of Greyhounds in racing, is to watch how the pack interacts, and to observe the dynamics of it. Greyhounds have always been pack animals. Not just historically, but in actuality. They have hunted and coursed in packs, and today they race in packs. They are kept with their dams much longer than most, if not all breeds, and they begin their socialization training within their own family units. Within that unit, a pecking order develops. There is usually always a dominant individual, or an “alpha”, and depending upon the size and nature of the litter, there might be both an alpha male and female. Often, they are the play leaders. The others are submissive to them, and to one another, and so-on, down the “chain of command”. The alphas are not always the best athletes or the fastest in the litter, but they do often command a certain degree of supplication. More educational, is when these small packs are introduced to the larger pack of the kennel, either at the track, or on the breeder’s facility. It is simply fascinating to see how they integrate themselves within the pack dynamic and the established hierarchy. Sometimes it can mean trouble, when introducing future colony alphas to current colony alphas, or to one another." I think after weighing the evidence and reading some of the academic literature I will go with Denis's take on the situation. Not only is it born from unsurpassed practical experience with the breed, it seems to explain my dogs behaviour better then other theories. And Denis makes it very clear that I need to watch out for the other alphas just as I suspected, as that is where the problems arise. Hester is what he is by his genetics. I will not train him to be something else. Rather I will manage his environment to keep him safe and happy. FWIW he is doing extremely well with his greetings. Reminding him of my presence during greetings has really helped. And this photo?: It's a photo of one serious alpha Greyhound.

Lactose free yogurt can sometimes address this issue.

I assumed it was just a hemangioma because it appeared so quickly and looked to be nothing more than a scab sitting on top of the skin. It didn't seem to involve the tissue underneath to any extent. Also it appeared more like hemangiomas than hemangiosarcomas in the photo comparison I saw.. The scab fell off a couple of days ago and sure enough the skin underneath looks perfect. No bleeding. Only evidence that there was anything is a tiny spot where the blood must have come from to form the scab in the first place. I'll watch it for any changes but I don't anticipate any.

What is the latest thinking for treating hemangiomas? Hester has one in his armpit. My research shows some vets leave them and others want to cut them out. (My deal with the big fellow is no pain or stress unless truly necessary.)

It's not my little demon. He lives with Hester's girlfriend so he is a regular visitor. Though he does have his sweet moments once he gets to know you:

Please pay close attention to all the precautions that have been suggested. With the right Greyhound things can work out very well. I have a Greyhound that does not tolerate anything but good manners from other dogs. However, he is good buddies with a completely psychotic Chihuahua. This little monster will attack anything or anyone. I have seen it lunge at a passing motorcycle! Because they see each other regularely they have established a fine and respectful relationship. They even run together. Here is a link to a short clip of my Grey running with the little demon: <iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Wv9XpfIihS4?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

No one's wasting their breath. I appreciate all the input and it all helps me build my knowledge - the advice gives me another tool to aid in my care of my dog. I have no objection to leashing Hester and getting him to focus on me with treats. I've used this technique to all but eliminate his interest in the rabbits that seem to blast across the path 10 feet in front of us on every walk. The fact remains that this is a dog with countless successful greetings. I was only concerned about the rare greetings where the other dog challenges him. And even those greetings had never escalated to anything other than an exchange of growls, with the dogs always disengaging without incident. It was just that I had never seen Hester back down, it was always the other dog that backed down first until the other day. Brianamac's Boo sounds like he is somewhat less tolerant then Hester. Hester after all will allow puppies to play in between his legs and even jump at his face a bit. Other high energy dogs that follow and jump at Hester usually just receive a quick, sharp growl from Hester, often without him even breaking stride or looking at the other dog. The good weather has brought out a lot of other dogs and just over the last two days Hester has met at least a dozen new ones, two of which were a bit leash reactive. What I discovered was that if I simply call his name just as the greeting begins and maybe once or twice during, Hester is much less "proud" in his approach. For both of the leash reactive dogs the greetings were fine and when the dogs expressed their desire for some space, Hester was a gentleman about it and simply moved on (although he did offer a half-hearted growl to one of them as he departed). He also had the experience of being rushed by 6 or 7 off leash small dogs. It was an assortment of Poodles, West Highlands, a Maltese, etc. - a real mixed bag. A soon as they saw him they went nuts barking and growling. He has always been gentle with small dogs but this situation was completely over the top. Again, I called his name and he was oh so polite. He even had to high step a bit as they ran about his feet and he did give a little growl to the Maltese that was out of control. In a matter of seconds everyone was sniffing noses and taking turns marking various trees and bushes. The lady owner of this pack was quite stunned by his calm demeanor in the face of such mayhem. Perhaps it was my mistake to assume that just because I hadn't seen it, that Hester wasn't capable of de-escalating a situation. Thanks everyone for your input. If I get a chance I'll put together a photo sequence of a greeting with me calling his name. It will be interesting to compare the body language with the photo at the beginning of this thread.

Brianamac that’s excellent info but I am not sure it applies. Perhaps I have not described the situation well enough. Hester is often happy to meet other dogs. He just is usually not the initiator, and when a greeting does occur he seems to demand it be on his terms – him standing proud and the other dog performing a careful, more indirect approach. My only real concern was, having never seen him back down from a dog that didn’t show initial deference, what would happen if he met a dog just like himself? That’s why it was such a pleasure to see him let another dog dictate the terms of a meeting the other day. Maybe he has a lot more social savvy than I have been giving him credit for. Perhaps his grumbles toward dogs that were too hyper, or too direct were necessary and helpful. Just knowing that he is not pathologically compelled to be bossy is a relief. And I can’t lose sight of the fact that Hester has had countless greetings with other dogs that were nothing but happy. What is interesting is that if Hester has a greeting with a dog that does involve some grumbling, subsequent greetings with the same dog are uneventful. As for trying to isolate Hester from potential problems, it would be nearly impossible. The area we live in has a huge dog population - everybody has dogs. We are out together as much as 4 hours per day and run into significant numbers of dogs, many of whom are off leash and free to approach Hester. The fact Hester is mostly off leash seems to be helpful in this regard as he is able to manage the greetings or avoid the other dogs as he sees fit. The most serious disagreements with other dogs including one serious attack have all occurred while Hester was leashed. Of course there is always a risk when you are not attached to your dog, but being attached doesn’t seem ideal in this situation either.

UPDATE. Hester has for the first time today backed away from another dog that has challenged him. He pranced over to greet an gentleman on his driveway and the man's very old and cranky German Sheppard mix took exception with lots of barking a growling. Hester made his usual high head, ears up approach as in the photo, and then offered his own light growls. Then he just tuned away and wandered to the next lawn to sniff and mark while the other dog continued to stared him down and growl. I am thrilled by this development.

I am at the extreme end of things. Hester gets up to 4 hours of walking per day divided into 3 walks. It took a few months to build his endurance up but now he doesn't fade until we hit the two hour mark. I should add that where we live it is never too hot or too cold to walk a Greyhound. If it is a rare hot day (75F or above), and Hester gets hot, he will find some damp, shaded grass and drop into his sphynx position until he cools off. I just sit down and wait until he is ready to resume - usually about 10 minutes. It must be difficult to manage Greyhound exercise in climate extremes.

That's probably my Hester. When he first started walking off leash, he seemed to see the deer as he does other Greys, he wanted to run with them. To make matters worse the deer around here are absolutely fascinated by him and frequently follow us on our walks. It gets a little scary in the fall when the big bucks arrive. I don't think we have ever been on a walk without encountering multiple deer. I have had success in discouraging him from running with the Deer by simply calling his name and giving him a sharp "uh uh" if his ears go up when we see them. The first few times when he didn't respond and lower his ears and head and look away, I gave him a very gentle tap tap on the shoulder to distract him. I think I only reinforced with treats once or twice and now he gets it that the Deer are not his playmates. I find that it is important that I do not react at all to the deer either as if to set the example. Now we regularely pass within just a few feet of deer and he just continues on his way without giving them a second look. He is fairly low prey and is desperate to please his people which makes things easy. Two photos taken on my driveway - this is a daily occurence.

Thank you, this is the clarification I was looking for. I get confused when others without the background attempt to parrot this info and end up denying the existence of dominance outright. As it happens I don't train my hound (he just follows me around) so dominance or any other theory would simply not apply as there is no attempt at any behaviour modification. And although he displays only dominant behaviours in every "social relationship" with every dog that has ever approached him, I promise I will never describe his personality as dominant. Sorry to the OP for the thread hijack. Keep us updated on how your pups are getting along. (And debates are fun.)

That sounds exactly like a description of dominance and submissiveness. Give it any term you care to but it comes to the same thing. Status in dogs? It can only be about who gets to eat first, mate first, etc. or like you say access to resource. Interesting... we always deny dominance theory and then go on to describe dominant and submissive behaviours and call it something else. All I can take from all of this is that dogs are so variable that they each seem to have their own way of relating to their surroundings.

I keep seeing this repeated but no one ever goes on to explain why one dog will consistenty do as they please while their companion dog will either happily or unhappily accept it. And there are other dogs that regardless of situation seem to tuck their tails, sit, or throw themselves on the ground and expose their bellies. I get that wolf pack hierarchy does not apply to dogs, but the consistent patern of some dogs always taking an assertive confident role in social interactions while some others consistently adopt a more careful and deferential attitude suggest that these behaviours are far from random or situational. Indeed it would seem that some of these creatures have an instinct driven concern regarding their status relative to another in terms of their survival. To the OP, the muzzles are the way to go - you have a new member so expect some sorting out.

How is Rocket doing? Please remember that many Greyhounds simply cannot spend the night with their people out of their sight. You have started with him in your room so it will probably stay that way - that's good IMO. Another thing to be aware of is that some Greyhounds cannot tolerate being locked in a crate if they cannot see their people. He may be fine when you are present, but if he shows any signs of freaking out in the crate when you are absent, get him out of their quick and find another solution. Ditto what everyone says about the walks. I would walk him as much as he is physically able to handle. It eliminates so many potential problems.

That's why I reposted this topic, I finally had a photo with which to work. And actually there is lot's of new advice and different perspectives. The advice to avoid these situations is not applicable. We will constantly run into other dogs, and if Hester isn't off leash there will certainly be many other dogs that will be and who will have unrestrained access to him. I do like your advice with using food for positive association and I have tried it (only to end up surounded by "hungry" dogs). I will try it again though. Of course no one is snarky then. Perhaps as a first time dog owner I am worrying more then the situation merits and I can accept this as a minor issue in the big picture. After all, he has dozens of greeting every week that are completely uneventful and happy. I just do want him to ever be the bully.

These are all good perspectives. I do watch closely and call Hester to me if I suspect a problem confrontation. In the situation with the Viszla I did intervene because the Viszla persisted in trying to play with Hester, jumping toward his face, etc. Hester gave the odd growl but was mostly ignoring the Viszla. I just took the Viszla by the harness and walked him back his owners. He was a very sweet fellow, just a ball of hyped up energy that Hester found annoying. Greetings like the photo are always the result of dogs approaching Hester. He rarely initiates greetings unless it is another Grey. As the other dogs approach Hester stops what he is doing and marches forward with ears up, etc. If the approaching dog turns away Hester relaxes and both dogs sniff each other. After a short meeting Hester sometimes will give off a little growl asking the other dog to move on. If the other dog does not respond Hester will escalate the growling a little and then the other dogs almost always comply. I then interviene if they do not leave him alone. There have been hundreds of meetings like this without any serious outcome. One psycho Warmareiner has on a few occasions stalked Hester, bluffed a friendly greeting, and then jumped in to grab a quick hump. Hester's reactions seem appropriate: growl, bark, maybe a snap during one of these episodes. He always seems measured in his response, very much in control of himself. It is actually kind of funny, this particular Warmareiner is like a doggy pervert. I appreciate the warnings and I will keep watching.

Thanks for this Giselle, it really helps to explain things. Not that I was equating dog behaviour to that of Wolves but having the different basis for behaviour (hint vs scavenge) explained is enlightening. I watch Hester closely and he does often exhibit many calming signals, sniffing, looking away, ignoring. But any dog that takes the face on approach to him or is exhibiting the wrong energy level gets the puffed up Hester treatment. Maybe he knows who is trouble before I do. Maybe the other dogs just don't understand Greyhound "language. I would just like to see him once back down and show appeasement to a dog that has confronted him. I can always distract him or take control of these situations but I'd like to see him accept these dogs as non threatening.

I think that "no dogs" sign refers to the private property behind the sign. That beach is available to dogs. And no it's is not fenced. I notice you are in Pittsburgh. Where Hester lives is a very different sort of place. There are many places here where it is quite safe even without fences. Very little traffic in most areas and what their is just crawls along. I used to live in a city of 6 million. This is a different existence. Don't worry about Hester. He is very safe and well protected. Oh and regarding Wolves, someone in town here has one as a pet. I haven't seen it in a year but it blew my mind to see them walking it through their neighbourhood. The poor creature seemed quite timid.

I don't think the Vizsla was truly scared - just a bit scared. Enough to offer some "appeasement" behaviours. As for the Wolves, this is interesting as in my own observation of Wolves in their natural habitat there seemed to be a clear social hierarchy. Mostly as it related to access to food. At the bottom were some female members of the pack that were all but denied any food at all. One in particular was bitten on the rump and chased off. At the top were the breeding pair that ate first and only allowed certain others to eat at the same time. And for those others it was more of a snatch a leg and run off as opposed to lingering over the kill - a White Tailed Deer. Dominance? submission? appeasement? Impossible to for me to say. But there sure seemed to be some sort of hierarchy, at least while I was observing. Interestingly today Hester encountered literally dozens of dogs of every imaginable breed and temperment and he never felt the need assert his presence. At times he was in very close proximity to 6 or more dogs. He just marched along, ignoring nearly all the dogs with only the occasional quick sniff. He never even raised his ears and didn't warn off dogs that were a bit more intense in their investigation of him. A perfect gentleman. Nothing else was different. As usual he just follows me, sniffing everything and as usual this is all off leash. Go figure.

Hester has been with us for 18 months. He is 7 years old and this is him. Yes we are coming to realize he is very "alpha". It is the puppy type wiggly energy that brings the negative reaction, as well as dogs that he ignores but who persist in investigating him. Also any other dog that assumes an upright or confrontational posture is an issue. And he has never backed down - not ever! This frightens me. Fortunately he has won all these "stand-offs" thus far. Interestingly for small yappy dogs he either just runs by them or is very sweet and gentle I guess because he does not view them as a challenge. He will even allow very young puppies to run underneath him and play between his legs. I wish I could reduce his obsession with social order and decorum.

The photo below says it all. When Hester does greet another dog (he completely ignores most) he assumes a very upright, chest out, ears up posture. Most dogs while very eager to interact with him are often frightened into submission. Dogs that do not submit (maybe one in 20 or 30) will be greeted with rather scary growling and some deep woofs. Can I alter this behaviour with training? In the photo the Vishla was a bit too face on and energetic in his approach and Hester has already given a gentle warning growl. The Vishla is starting to submit and eventually turns his head away and lowers himself to a crawl. After this the usual bum sniffing took place. Then the Vishla wanted to play but Hester would have none of this. This is my magnificent fellow's one great character flaw and I wish I could get him to relax and not take these situations so seriously. It simply is not fair to other dogs that just want to play.

If you walk your Greyhound in the area where you live after several months they will learn "their territory". Whether they track their way home by scent or by noticing landmarks with their eyesight won't matter. The problem is not all Greyhounds have it in them to do this and you will never know what yours is capable of until they are out on their own and at that point it may be too late. Best to keep an eye on the door and make sure the ID collar is always on. As time goes by you may learn that your dog is not at risk to wander off. Some just don't.

Once Yurtie learns the routine you will be surprised with how he will cooperate with your schedule. My boy even understands when there is no walk happening and will completely empty himself in the yard. If he is expecting a walk he will refuse to pee in the yard. Just be patient. Also I would avoid persisting with the treats once he gets things going in the direction you want.