WabiSabi

Thanks to all of you for your suggestions and concern. We must be doing something right. We both got play bows this morning when I let her out for her pre-brekkie constitutional. She took a treat from our hand again too when we were outside. And she came in for brekkie.

Thank you for your kind words. We are both sat here sobbing at the prospect of her going back. It's probably for the best (for her) though.

And yes, I do realise that if you're sensing our desparation, so is our hound.

Yes she went to the bathroom. Putting on a leash means she digs her heels in and doesn't budge under any circumstances. The daily schedule is consistent with the only variation being the time she decides she wants to go out through the open back door. We cannot influence this. We don't want her to be outside in bad weather either. But the only means of getting her in is by carrying her. She doesn't follow a line of treats/food and she refuses to move when on a leash. I am looking for other ideas on a coming in routine as all of the usual measures (suggested in this thread) have been tried and failed. ETA: Aha! She has eventually come in following the food although it was in-out-in-out-in.........out-in before we managed to close the door behind her. It appears her comfort preferences are garden mudbath > safe space bed >>>>>>>>> our living area. And our living area comes between the back door to the garden and her bed. She has returned to the back door hoping to be let out again. We've also put a bed in the living area but she ignores this in the few moments that she's actually in the living area.

Any leash on her and she digs her heels in. And in a new development, she's started barking at passers-by through our garden hedge.

That's what we've done - mixed chopped hotdog sausage and moist kibble from the back door to her den. She hovers at the back door and doesn't come over the threshold. She whines hoping we'll cave in and lob her her treat. Last night, she was out for over 4 hours and it took til midnight before out of desperation, my better half had to lift her to bring her in. ETA: the hotdog sausage was the treat she ate from our hands.

Any tips on how to get her in now? It's 9pm here. She's been out in the garden in the rain for 2 hours but will not come in for food or treats. She is immovable when she has a leash on. She does not respond to gentle cajoling. Strangely, she ate a high-value treat out of our hands earlier whilst in the garden, which was a first. Those same treats aren't enough to get her through the back door, though. I'm out of sight in the living room and my better half is well away from the hound but to no avail.

Thanks again, John.

Heartbreaking, but thank you. I suspect I've done a lot of damage with the lifting and wheelbarrowing. I hope she sees fit to forgive in time.

Thanks both.

I am genuinely grateful for your input John, and thanks for the link. FWIW, we've done our research and know that many greys take a while to acclimatise to their new surroundings. It's just that what we're experiencing seems a little bit more extreme than the usual adaptation problems. We were not expecting her to act like a human or for Stockholm syndrome to kick in. We are aware of dog psychology and how we should not expect them to respond in the same way as a human would. We were told to wheelbarrow her by the adoption agency. It made us feel sick thinking about how it must have made our hound feel. We've tried the gentle tugs on a longer leash but she does not shift. She will not willingly go for a walk. If we put the leash on in the house, she will not come with us outside. If she's in our muddy garden (it's being landscaped at the moment) she will only do anything off the leash. If we put the leash on outside, she will not budge from where she's standing, including to toilet. My jaw is aching from all the lip-licking and yawning I'm doing (I jest but, you know...). I'm not being ungrateful here John - I hope you can see that. I've also got a tendency to write forum posts that come over a bit passive-aggressive (!) but it's not intentional. I can assure you that we've read about and tried the usual tactics to try to encourage her but none of them have worked thus far. If it's just a matter of patience on our part and there are no other techniques we could try, then so be it. We'll continue to be patient, continue to yawn and lick our lips, and I'll stay as much out her sight as possible.

Thanks. That's useful. Yes, we were/are very uncomfomfortable with the manhandling but were advised by the organisation we adopted her from that in the short term, manhandling would be necessary in these circs. Maybe the ideas are different here in the UK rather than the US : ?? We've tried the ignoring and lobbing treats around but most of the time, she's just not interested. It's reassuring though that your shy girls responded to this in the end. I think she's treating us mean to keep us keen

Hi all New hound people with a 2yo adopted hound here, and we're after some advice please. We adopted our female hound 11 days ago (so early days) but we're regressing rather than progressing. Background She was very timid to begin with - she was bred as a racer but didn't take to it so was never raced. She was adopted from a racing kennels where she was allowed out into the hound paddock through the day. When we met her, she was wary of all hoomans except for the kennel owner. She did walk with us on a leash but backed away from praise and affection touching. My wife is at work all day and I work from home. She has a bed in an alcove with a door at one end and a pet gate at the other that are only closed at night or if we go out; separation anxiety is not a problem - attachment anxiety is as you'll see below! Problems We've had problems walking her from the start since she came home with us. She refuses to budge - it's not statuing it's wilful digging her heels in if she's standing and cowering into the corner of her bed if she's there. When we have got her out on a walk, she's OK but a bit scared of cars and wary of other people. Initially, to get her outside to toilet or go on a walk, I had to carry her out or lift her hind legs and wheelbarrow her out. This has made her even more wary of me and she won't come anywhere near me. She is more comfortable around my wife even though she plays "bad cop" sometimes and carries her. (I'm a big bloke so that may have something to do with it). She backs away if either of us try to put a coat on her. Oddly, she'll let us put the collar on her but then she refuses to walk anywhere. As above, it's not statuing and doing the walking around in a circle doesn't shift her. Being firm doesn't work and being soft doen't work. We've got a large, enclosed garden and have managed to get her to go outside via the kitchen door over the last few days , without the leash or coat, unless I'm in the kitchen in which case she hovers or scampers back to her bed. So at least we've solved the toileting issue. The problem now is that she refuses to come back indoors, even for food. My wife had to carry her back in again this morning (I couldn't get near her to pick her up). When presented with her breakfast, she ate it all but whimpered a few times to be let out again (in the mud and pouring rain!) As I type, she's running back and forth between her bed and the kitchen door. If I let her out, I won't be able to get her back inside before I have to go out on errands. She doesn't respond to praise and she doesn't respond to treats (toys, nibbles, peanut butter) as a training tool. She likes the treats if they're just left to try and coax her from her bed. If she's in her bed, she seems happy enough for us to show her affection by stroking her but away from the bed she's wary (understandable - that's her safe space). We have been ignoring her too but this doesn't seem to trouble her. So basically, do any of you wise folk have any ideas on how to start domesticating a hound that doesn't respond to treats, soft toys or praise, and wants to be outdoors all day in all weathers as long as she isn't being walked or wearing any coat? We appreciate that this is early days but we seem to be going backwards and since the usual training tools don't work, we cannot see how to break the cycle of manhandling her to get her to do what we want or what's best for her. Of course, this causes yet more mistrust on her part.