cstallma

This is interesting - I hadn't considered biological factors. You say your dog has improved, as in no more biting issues at all or they've decreased? Thanks for the response!

Wow, thank you all for the information and resources! This has been very helpful and I have a lot to think about. We have slowly come to realize throughout our time with Ragnar and our behaviorists, that positive reinforcement is the most effective training method, especially with creatures as gentle as greyhounds!

Thank you all for the responses! I reached out to our behaviorist so we will see what happens there. She also mentioned scolding the dog is pointless, and buys us nothing, it just always seemed counterintuitive to give the dog treats to distract him from the trash, but the majority of the advice we've received said the same thing. Also I should mention we do dog proof our home - we learned that a loooong time ago! We bought a trash with a butterfly lid as well, but Ragnar knocked it over and broke the lid off the very first day so we now keep it in the pantry where we can close the door. Every now and then when he does get into something (off the counter, or papers, etc.) it's while we are gone, so if we come home and scold him, he doesn't put the scolding and the incident together, since it likely happened a while before we got home. I think this contributes to his confusion and defensiveness when we scold him because he doesn't know why. My husband has since learned this, but my family wasn't aware when they were dog sitting. I have told them to dog proof things, but didn't think to tell them how to scold him after the fact, which is what caused the biting incident. It's hard to ask my family to dog sit when there is a laundry list of instructions to keep him from biting.. Anyway, thank you all again! Very helpful

This sounds very similar to our situation. Ragnar and my husband had some issues at first with establishing who was alpha, and they have both since mellowed out. That's sad to think he might have been punished physically before he came to us . You said your pup mellowed out - I'm wondering if ours will do that within the next couple years. I hope so!

Hi all. I posted once more on this topic, but there are some changes and this post is about something slightly different. My original post can be found here. We adopted our male greyhound, Ragnar, in August 2017. He's now 3 1/2 years old. When we first rescued him, we had issues with what appeared to be resource guarding over toys, furniture, treats, etc. We worked with some animal behavior specialists and Ragnar has improved greatly in these areas. We no longer let him on furniture to avoid the potential of him becoming entitled/possessive, but we have several very comfortable beds for him instead. We implement the "trade up" technique to get him more comfortable with us approaching during mealtimes, when he has a toy, or when he's eating a treat or bone. He has shown great improvement, and the bites we associated with resources guarding originally have seemingly stopped. The issue now is that every now and then, he still randomly bites someone, but it's without warning and doesn't seem to be related to resources. More specifically, if he gets into the trash or something he shouldn't, and you scold him (entirely verbal and even from a distance), he cowers, and if you go near him he may bite you. He did this once with my husband, who approached him with some trash he ripped up, telling him "no." He just did it again with a family member who was dog sitting for us (not in our home). There is no warning growl or look, other than his cowering with his head down. He looks guilty, rather than defensive or aggressive. And when I say "scolding" it's not to be confused with "punishing" so I don't see how his biting could be in defense, unless he's pre-emptively biting, expecting us to hit him or something (no idea where he would get this idea from though). It's literally just someone saying "No" or "bad dog," and if you approach him, he will bite. Anyway, it was very disheartening to hear of the dog sitting incident last week. We thought Ragnar was doing so much better, but it's no longer just an issue with me and my husband when he now bites others outside the home. I don't feel comfortable having my family watch him anymore, and more importantly, my husband and I are about to start a family, and I don't know if I can trust Ragnar around a child when he can become aggressive randomly without warning. If anyone can shed some insight/comments/suggestions/opinions, I'd be greatly appreciative.

Thanks all for the feedback. Greysmom - my husband definitely does not trust the dog as of right now, so that's something we will have to either work on or make that decision to move on altogether. I agree that I don't think it's aggressive behavior although there are times when it happens without warning signs - but perhaps because of what you said, that he skips the warning signals now and just goes straight to the bite. If we had a generally aggressive dog, this would actually much easier, but it's confusing when he can be so sweet and lovable but then capable of biting us in particular scenarios. NewGrey2017 - thanks for the commiseration. It's definitely not easy to deal with. We have stopped letting Ragnar on furniture (which reduces opportunities for biting incidents), started lingering around his bowl during feeding time (throwing treats in) for longer periods of time and in closer range (worked up in small increments), and we've tried the "trade up" technique, which seems to work, but he also gets VERY distracted by the treats I'm trying to trade up for, so it's seems way too easy and kindof defeats the purpose of the training I'm trying to do. He's shown improvement with all of these things, but every now and then he will growl when we play tug of war, or when you try to move him over or scoot his dog bed, and he air snapped at my husband the other day for trying to take his water bowl away (our behaviorists said the fact he ONLY air snapped is an improvement). My husband is just worried that behavior will always exist and he could snap and bite someone at any time, despite the progress he's been showing. Our trainers were certified animal behaviorists with PHDs and almost 20 years of experience. Their tools and information was ALL positive-based, and they made the focus on "gentle" training to accommodate the gentle greyhound breed. We were not aware before that greyhounds can't really be trained the same way as other dogs. My husband's father is a trainer, but he works with military and police dogs (German Shepards, etc.) and these breeds do NOT respond to the same type of training, which our behaviorists informed us of. After the latest incident with the air snapping over the water bowl, our behaviorists mentioned Ragnar and my husband probably still have some damage to their relationship. My husband is the "discipliner" and when we first started seeing this behavior, we naturally responded with negative punishment - we know NOW that this was not the right way to respond, but it has left tension in their relationship, which is probably why the dog only snaps at my husband now and looks to me for protection - there are some trust issues I think.

Hi all, This is my first post on this site - and first of all, let me say I'm so grateful a site like this exists! Here is a brief (kinda) breakdown of our issues: My husband and I rescued our greyhound, Ragnar, in August of 2017, at which time he had just turned 2. We both grew up with big dogs, but neither of us had ever owned a greyhound before. Let me start by saying Ragnar is the sweetest dog - everyone who meets him says the same thing. He will stand next to you getting pet for as long as you'll let him, give kisses, and is all around just playful and sweet with strangers and friendly with other dogs. He does get a little worked up over small kids, but more in a playful way, and doesn't realize how big and heavy he is compared to little children. So we avoid these situations and have kept him muzzled around kids just in case. So shortly after we adopted Ragnar, he started exhibiting some aggression with food, toys, and furniture to the point where he has bitten me and my husband, and his father in law who was staying in our home and making commands toward Ragnar. If we gave him something highly prized, like a bone, for example, and went to try to take it away, he'd start growling and probably bite if we proceeded. If we went near his food bowl while he was eating, he would pause and start growling. The few times he's actually bitten has been mostly over furniture. He used to be allowed on the couch (we decided no more couch access and got him a big, comfy bed instead) and we'd tell him to get off so a human could sit down, and if tried to physically move him off, he'd bite. My husband said he bit him once just by telling him to get off- I don't know if he was approaching him or what triggered the dog at that point. Anyway, we've tried a variety of things and had behavior specialists come over recently to give us some training tools. We've tried implementing the practice of approaching his food bowl with treats, trading toys for treats, etc. There has been some improvement. However, my husband is still very doubtful that the dog can improve and doesn't want a dog in our home that will bite people (however, it seems to only be with those very familiar with Ragnar and not really strangers). My husband thinks the dog is aggressive, and that we shouldn't have to accommodate the dog's behavior by keeping him away from kids, putting his muzzle on, or dog-proofing the house. He wants to get rid of the dog and ultimately get a "normal" dog who doesn't have these issues. I tell him other dogs are going to have other issues, or very possibly the same issues, but he doesn't believe me. Anyway, the point of my whole post is to ask if any of you have experienced similar issues and if you think these behaviors are normal or at least something we can and/or should work around? We do want to start a family within the next year or so, so obviously that factors in to all this. I'm just having a hard time imagining giving up this sweet dog, who I feel attached to now like a child. I understand some dogs, especially greyhounds, have their comfort zones, so sometimes you have to accommodate that (i.e., don't get in a sleeping greyhound's face), but I'm wondering if this is crossing the line into something dangerous, and I am too attached to the dog to see that? Please tell me what your thoughts on this!! Sorry for the long post! I just wanted to give as much detail as I could to give you guys the full story. Thanks so much!