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Plateialumitar

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Everything posted by Plateialumitar

  1. You will probably find that if you crack one trick, you will suddenly find your grey more receptive to learning other things in general as they will understand the process. My guy learnt "sit down" (he actually lies down, but we call it a sit) as his first trick and that took quite a long while because I was using two things to teach him: I was saying sit down when he was standing on the couch and moved into a sit on his own to settle near me then praising heavily and fussing him, and I was actively training him by leading him under a chair with a treat so he had to lie down to reach it (and saying sit down as he did so), then clicking the clicker and giving him the treat. The clicker is an important part of establishing the fact you're training them. Once we'd got that one trick down, he picked up "paw" in literally about 2 or 3 sessions. I then also went for the low hanging fruit and taught him to "turn around" (which he does all the time anyway while pacing) which I now use to get him to wipe his paws in the utility room.
  2. Out of interest, when she statues, have you tried walking in different directions and seeing if she magically starts following you? Since you say you're concerned about getting quite a long way and then her statuing, it makes me wonder if she's like my dog when I first got him, and just feels quite strongly about wanting to investigate a different direction than the route you're following. Zephyr won't try and pull me to where he wants to go, he'll just stop stock still and look at me and refuse to be moved forward. Starting to walk in different directions will sometimes allow me to figure out where he wants to go, but he gives no indication of which way it is. I do have a harness for him now as he still occasionally does it (fancies crossing the street instead of continuing on the side we're on for example), and it's helpful to have one with a handle that you can use to lift them slightly and walk forward like you're carrying a luggage bag. His freezing has got a lot better with more familiarity with the area, and I vary the routes I go as much as I can.
  3. Your routine sounds like just about perfect for a grey. The shredded carpet probably was a combination of boredom and anxiety, but not your fault. When we first took Zephyr home, he would be totally fine for weeks at a time, lulling us into a false sense of security, then suddenly pinch an item he'd shown no interest in and destroy it. We managed to avoid that in future by leaving him with a kong stuffed with peanut butter hidden inside a cardboard box (whatever we had to hand that day: Amazon box, old cereal box etc). That way he had to work a bit to get it out and would sometimes direct his attention onto ripping the box apart after he had eaten the peanut butter. I think ripping things up is a stress reliever for some dogs. Like yours, Zeph has never really shown any interest in toys apart from little flashes where he'll briefly interact and then lose interest. The only play I do manage with him is a sort of quick movement thing we do which I learned from him. He'd sometimes get on the sofa with me and react to any movement I made very excitedly, and I learned how to mimic what he was doing to keep it going. You sort of freeze, then suddenly move, I sometimes try to mimic the huffs he'd make while doing it too. But even that lasts like 2 mins and then nope, that's it, I'm done. I should note that despite solving his occasional destruction, Zeph will never be safe around paper based products Books are best kept well away from him.
  4. Apologies if this has been covered somewhere else in the thread, but thought I'd mention that you might want to try changing to a different food to reduce her energy (anxiety feeds off spare energy). It won't be a silver bullet, but can really help reduce destructive energy. Our 2.5 year old boy has been really close to the poster child for a relaxed confident grey, but nevertheless there were times early on when he'd suddenly decide to take something that wasn't his and munch it to pieces. He was noticeably hyper on certain kibbles, sometimes being on the go and throwing toys around until 11pm. I'm not sure if it was the protein content or protein type specifically, but regardless the one we've found he's best on is Pooch and Mutt Calm and Relaxed, which surprisingly does exactly what it says on the tin. Won't stop him whining when he knows it's coming up to time for walkies of course, but it has made him sleep later in the mornings and zonk out earlier in the evenings. I think the brand and product I'm feeding is quite possibly UK only, so depending on where you are, you might have to shop around to see what's available and experiment. Thankfully our boy has never gone for furniture or the door frame, but we do leave him with cardboard now in addition to his long just incase he fancies a chew on something while we're gone.
  5. Seconding what Ellen said about exercise. I adopted a 2 year old boy at the start of this year, and I admit I bought into what I had read everywhere about how lazy greyhounds are, and wasn't fully prepared for how much pep a 2 year old has compared to an older dog. Our boy does exceedingly well overall, it has to be said. He's just very playful and I remain convinced he NEEDS to run on a semi regular basis to let off steam. Walking is great, but there he gets ants in his pants that are only solved through some zoomies in the garden. I've altered his diet and seen a little improvement (he definitely gets hyper on James Wellbeloved), but there is a baseline of energy that he won't fall below until he's had a proper dash about and he can be quite a pest when he hasn't had it.
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