JustJamAA

This is probably totally irrelevant but it just made me think of a dog I met at the vets. It was a border collie, according to his owners he reacts really badly to ill people. They were telling me that he growls like crazy at a person on their street who has cancer. He was completely fine with them but one day the dog just started growling at him/her. The person was then diagnosed with cancer. They started to notice a pattern. Now they know if someone is ill just from the way their dog reacts to them! I think you were right to let her go. I would suspect something had happened on a walk and just in practical terms you'd always feel uneasy if you kept her on, worrying your dog might go for her, worrying she was doing something off camera etc and it's not worth the worry. But it could be that she just smelled funny - maybe she was smelling like another dog she walked that yours does not like or she's wearing a perfume that the dog has a bad connection with etc. Could be entirely innocent but like I said, not worth the worry.

My lad does this. His stupid goofy face, makes me laugh. I haven't quite worked out why, I thought maybe anxiety but he does it when he's chilled out. I think it's just one of them things!

We aren't going to bounce her. She's a very loving dog. I think she just growls in her sleep. She did it to my other dog who clambered onto her bed. She was fine and we were watching her. She was drifting off and my other dog moved and she growled. He didn't do anything and she just fell back to sleep. Yeah, I think it is sleep startle - just not sure if we're reacting the right way. Thanks for responding though. Just wanted to check that telling her to get down when she does that is the right thing to do.

I was walking my two exceptionally well behaved Grey's through the to the car after a walk. I make the point of exceptionally well behaved because in that instance they were doing nothing wrong, tongues lolling, happy and happily tired dogs after a nice walk, not paying any notice to anything particularly, just walking like any other dog. They were wearing their muzzles as they often do. A man, about 28yrs or so, nudges his girlfriend and loudly enough that I know he wanted us to hear he said; look at those dogs, dobermans them, vicious dogs, look they have to wear muzzles. Vicious dogs. All I can think is - what an idiot! Take no notice. That lady, like this man has no significance in your life ;-)

Hi, just wanted to check in on a behaviour we've experienced a couple of times. One of our greyhounds (no medical problems) has just recently started to get on the sofa with us. She usually prefers her own space when she's sleeping. But she loves a snuggle and is super affectionate but after a while she will start viciously growling. What we think is happening is that she's fallen asleep, forgotten where she is, and then woken up with someone in her space, and probably forgets it's us. Now I know that you shouldn't tell off growling but in this scenario she's chosen to get in our space - when she has an excellent dog bed (which she loves) and the option of another sofa. So my feeling is, 'no we're not going to jump off 'our' sofa heeding a warning to back off because she's started growling. So everytime it's happened we tell her sternly to 'get down'. And she does. Is this the right thing to do though? I understand that you shouldn't tell a dog off for growling because the growl is a warning and if she growled at me when i went up to her bed, I would back off because that's her bed. But when she's in our space - and this is the sofa that my husband and I always sit on, I feel it's right to say - 'you get down then'. We don't say anything other than 'get down now'. Would you mostly agree that, that is the right approach? Or is it detrimental? She isn't in pain and doesn't have any medical issues. Thanks!

Thanks racindog - your post actually made me cry. I was doubting myself into thinking, maybe I'm not the right owner for them, but your post gave me a lift and a renewed boost in confidence seeing the positives that did come from the situation xx Yesterday I went back today to see if I could find the owner of the spaniels, he wasn't there unfortunately, but a lady who was also there at the time, and saw it all unfold, she said she felt so sorry for me, there was a lot of support, and no one was blaming me for the incident. I was so grateful to hear that. It wasn't actually a dog park, we don't really have them in the UK, it was just a normal park, like an open grassy field that we were walking through. Anyway, she did say the Spaniel was completely fine. He had no marks at all, and she walked off home. She said from her view, all the dogs rounded on that spaniel because of the noise she was making. Obviously i'm sure if I had a slow motion video I could see all the things that went wrong, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. I wasn't prepared because they'd never given me reason to think they would do that - or so I had thought.....actually they gave me loads of signs but I misread them. She did say, it came out of nowhere, it was just a split second thing. So we all misinterpreted the signs. Your right in that he did let me open his mouth and he didn't draw blood and that really is something. Still trust is broken with them around dogs, so they will always be wearing muzzles from now on. I have learnt a couple of things. I have learnt my dogs won't bite me, even at a high arousal state. I know I need to somehow find them an opportunity to run free and burn off more energy - walks are just not cutting it, they want to run, they want to get to high speed's. My dogs aren't the lazy coach potatoes I'm seeing everywhere else. They sleep, and they love to lounge on the sofa when we're at home, but they are ready to go, they want to play, they are fit, they are eager and they are anything but lazy. They sleep the amount they need to - around 18/19hours a day but that still leaves 5-6 hours worth of energy to burn. They aren't lazy dogs. They're lazier than a border collie, but they aren't lazy. If that makes sense? I also learnt, I won't judge people as harshly as I used to when I came across incidents where a dog bite. I am a sensible lady. My husband is sensible. We're responsible dog owners. Our dogs are loved and cared for. Over christmas with my nephews and nieces, we were beyond diligent. I've spent the last 6 months introducing them to little dogs, being in a home and living a pet life. I came from a dog family, I grew up with dogs. I don't walk my dogs irresponsibly. But this still happened to me. It's so easy to judge people as a bystander, so easy to watch a youtube video and say - look at all those warning signs - the owner is an idiot. But those videos, they take out the human factor. Easy to assess a situation when you're not involved in it. They don't provide the watcher with the sensory overload that the human is going through as well. We can't see our dogs faces when we're walking them, and sometimes it's easy to confuse one signal for another. I confused prey drive with play, the excitement the posturing, the fact my dogs had been around these dogs before and all had been fine. I knew my dogs were getting excited and with that there was some frustration because they were on a lead. I knew that and I felt that, but I still confused the signs. I knew I couldn't stay because of that, but more because I was thinking - poor buggers, not fair they can't run. I was not thinking this is dangerous! Not anticipated how fast it could escalate. I went from 'I'm going to have to go, my dogs are getting a bit overly excited' - to my dog now has a spaniel in it's mouth - and that happened in an instant. So i had misread all the other signs while we were walking into that park and the worse sign that I missed, the calm fixed stare. I read this article: http://greyhoundequality.org/care_article1.html Due to the nature of prey drive and predatory aggression, signs may be misinterpreted as play. They include, but are not limited to: - Dog becoming excited & difficult to distract - I thought they needed more training - Shaking, trembling, fixed stare - I had confused with anxiety - May be unable to take their eyes off the small dog - i had confused with interest - Neck arched, tail up, stiff stance - thought this was excitement and being alert - Trying to encourage the small dog to move; the greyhound may be rough with the small dog e.g. placing a paw on it, bunting with its nose over the neck or abdomen - The dog may vocalise if it is thwarted from obtaining access to its intended target - I thought the whining was, 'I want to play' Up until the behaviorist pointed out 'prey drive' as being the cause, I hadn't really explored that topic. Greyhounds will chase a squirrel and you won't be able to catch him, so keep him on a lead, was what I was told, so it's what I did. I read everything I could get my hands on about body language and none of the above came up until I googled, Understanding greyhound prey drive - which is a pretty specific search term. My searches before were - dog - body language, can you see what I mean? I just didn't know what I needed to know. Like a quiz show, it's easy when you know the answers. Those points there should come as standard in a leaflet when you're adopting a greyhound. Had someone said to me, be careful when you see this sort of body language and don't necessarily confuse it with them being anxious or excited, from day one I would have been switched on to it. Is that my fault? Yes and no. I did so much reading before we brought the dogs home, but I was reading stuff like 'the other end of the leash' and how to understand your dogs body language, and training positively. I wasn't willfully ignorant, I just hadn't come across probably the single most important points to look for as a greyhound owner, what prey drive looks like before the chase I know now and I will be better prepared in the future. Yesterday on our walk I couldn't believe how many times they had locked eyes on a moving object ahead. I'm really glad the spaniel appears to be uninjured, and this was the warning point for me to be switched on to the right body language in my dogs. Thanks all for your responses. I have learnt a lot the last couple of days, luckily no one was injured, including myself. I realized when I stuck my hand in his mouth that I could well be bitten but actually I was more concerned for the spaniel than my own hand. It's testament to my grey's own temperament that they didn't and also a reflection of the respect and bond that exists between us. I will work with the behaviorist because I need to be demonstrating that I'm taking this very very seriously. I think a key part of training might be 'watch me', where I can refocus their attention on to me before their arousal levels get too high.

Hi, Sorry long post, I'm pretty emotional. Something awful happened today in the park. My 2 greyhounds (5yrs old, ex-racers, adopted) attacked another dog - a spaniel medium sized dog. In the park was 4 adults and 6 dogs. Mine were both on the lead, 3 were off lead, another on a lead. These are dogs mine have met before. My dogs have never done this before, or given me any reason to think they would do this. The only reason I keep them on lead is because they have no recall, they haven't shown any aggression like that before. We approached the park and I waved to the group. I could see my dogs were excited, but they are often excited seeing other dogs. I went over to the circle of adults to say hello. Dogs came over, lots of sniffing and general excitement. At one point, my male greyhound growled at one of the spaniels, but the spaniel ran off and I said to the group, 'think he's getting a bit overwhelmed, better head off' - it was chaotic - with dogs bouncing around everywhere. My dogs were getting bouncy and excited and possibly frustrated that they were on a lead, so I knew we couldn't stay. The spaniel was yapping, a real high pitched bark. I said goodbye and was turning to leave (all the while I've still got my dogs on the lead) when ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. My male grey had got the yapping spaniel in its mouth and pinned to the floor. I didn't see exactly what had happened, it was just one minute I'm saying good bye, the next minute my dog has its mouth round this other dog and is shaking it. My other grey then went in. There were people, dogs, tangled leads, the spaniel was screaming, the other off lead dogs were trying to get involved and my dogs refusing to let go. I literally pulled open my dogs mouth with my bare hands. He released and I dragged him back. The owner of the spaniel had my female grey by the back of her harness in the air. Once untangled, I dragged them back from the other dogs, they were still pulling, whining, lunging but I was stood far enough back, as everyone tried to get their dogs back on their leads. I was saying, 'is your dog ok, is your dog ok' - while the owner and another lady was checking the dog over. The man shouted back, I think so, yes, doesn't seem to be any blood. She's ok. They just had her pinned. Then he said, she's a drama queen probably sounded worse than it was. He was being nice..... it was bad. I said, do you want my number in case, he said, no it was ok - it's still frantic at this point, I'm still trying to restrain my dogs, still lots of barking and dogs pulling - as I see this guy quite a lot on walks, I said, 'ok let me know I've got to get them out of here'. I marched them all the way home. I've immediately called my vet, to tell them and to tell them to call me if a spaniel turns up. I also got a number of a behaviorist. I went through what happened with her, she's said - doesn't sound like they (my dogs) were scared, doesn't sound like they were playing - if they were shaking the dog - that's prey drive and it's dangerous and not an awful lot that can be done, she said it's easier to train fear aggressive dogs than dogs with a high prey drive, but there are some things we can do to lessen arousal. We're organizing an appointment to have her over. I'm just in a state about it. How can I ever, ever trust them again? This has never happened before. They are always great with other dogs. I'm always telling people how friendly they are. They were playing with a Jack Russell puppy the other day. They'll always be muzzled from now on for the rest of their lives. I don't 100% know if the other dog was injured. I wish I'd stayed around to take his number, I just want to know she's ok properly. After he'd taken her home and fully inspected her. I feel awful. I don't know what caused it, or where it came from or why. I can't even look at my dogs right now. I marched them home and put them in the kitchen. I let them out an hour ago in case they needed the toilet. I know they probably have no idea what they've done wrong but they attacked another dog, I can't very well bring them home, give them a treat and say goodboy like I normally would after a walk - so I put them where there beds are, made sure they have water, and closed the door, and other than letting them out for a pee, I've given them no interaction. i just don't know where to go or what to do from here. I'm devastated and so ashamed about it. I love my dogs, but I cannot have this. If I was the owner of the Spaniel, I'd be calling the dog warden, which who knows he may get home and very well decide to do. I'd be furious if two dogs twice the size of mine grabbed my dog, pinned it down and started shaking it. The only saving grace is they didn't appear to draw blood. There was no bite wound, who knows he might get home and discover something, but between him and the other lady, they couldn't see any marks on this dog. This is a terrible thing to have happened and I just don’t understand why, or where we go. The trainer won’t be able to come for another couple of weeks. What would you do in my shoes?

thanks for your responses! They sound great. Yes she gets plenty of walks and physical activity overall, although at the moment she's got a poorly paw, so she's on bed rest - hence why trying to keep her entertained but still rested in the house. thanks

Hey, My female 4 year old Grey: 1) gets bored very easily 2) has a very low attention span 3) but also, 'gives up' easily 4) is very food motivated My husband says she's just a total diva, haha. Any bordom breaker / brain train games you can think of that might suit her? thanks!

Build the bond and trust with your dog before starting training, and especially crate training. Building trust means not fussing over the dog, being consistent, matter of fact but kind and most importantly letting the dog come to you. By all means buy a crate, by all means have a bed and a duvet in there and by all means toss treats in there - but I wouldn't recommend any training to leave the dog for a period of time alone and locked inside, until the dog has learnt to trust you. Give it a couple of weeks of just getting to know each other before any training.

awwwww this is lovely! I must have two of the worst behaved greyhounds then! haha. Mine are into EVERYTHING. We cannot put a single thing down without it being stolen - shoes, tissues, food, hairbrushes, remote controls, you name it, if they can get their mouth round it, it's going in their bed - and when I take the object away, my girl looks at me and SIGHS! She sighs at me, like a teenager with attitude! haha It's very funny. It's like she's saying - ooooooohhhhhhh but that's not fair. They are complete loons and they're into everything, no corner left unturn. It's adorable and very funny but we certainly have to be on the ball at all times. And begging.....man they have rampaged through the house on the sound of the fridge opening. I swear ours aren't greys - someone got them confused! haha. (just kidding). They're amazing.

On balance is it more cost effective to feed this type of diet? i am interested to try it

Is it possible he could have been having a bad dream? Or was only half awake and didn't realise it was Lulu? But yeah I'd look for pain first,

thanks! that's so helpful! and to ask another daft question - what portion size do you give? Mine are 30kg. How many grams of this would you give per meal? (they are fed twice a day - 12 hours a part). You think your retired vet made the wrong diagnosis with giardiasis? What do you think it was? How long should a dog be on the chicken and rice diet? I'm guessing they miss out on nutrients long term. Dog diet is my biggest area for improvement/learning curve!

Some good ideas here - it would be great if our girl just decided to do the stairs! These are indoor stairs. The party idea sounds pretty good too! We'll figure out how to do that. I will keep you posted if we manage to get anywhere with this! thanks