SlinkSlinkSlink

Good tips thanks

Thanks, that's great advice! Now trying it without speaking to him. Still very little progress though :/

Hi all! I've had my hound Slink for a couple of weeks now, and since we have an unfenced yard, we're making it a priority to try to teach him to wait at the front door rather than try to push through. The problem is though that he's not picking up on it, despite me repeating the training dozens of times. What I do is this: 1) Leash up dog, get ready to go out. He'll be right by the front door at this point, excited to go outside. 2) Use my body to manoever him back 3 feet or so from the door, and block him there. 3) Say 'wait' in a low-ish, drawn-out voice,step back slightly for the door and reach for the door handle to begin opening the door. 4) If he starts to move forward, close the door (or stop reaching for the handle), use my body to push him back and repeat. So maybe two or three times we've gotten him to pause for a noticeable fraction of a second when the door is open a crack. I'm taking this as a win when it happens, and saying 'ok go!' and letting him through if he's paused AT ALL. But the vast majority of the time, he just doesn't understand at all what I want. He tries repeatedly to get past me and get to the door when I'm blocking him. Realistically, at this stage I don't think I can expect him to wait every single time we want to go through the door because we'll literally be there all day trying. Also my partner is not as good at being patient and doing this training every time, especially early in the morning when we're taking him out for his morning toilet break first thing. Is the fact that we aren't doing this training every single time going to mean he'll never learn, or will it just mean he learns slower? Does anyone have any tips for working with a dog that just won't wait? All the dog training guides I've read keep saying that this is a thing dogs pick up on really quickly! Well they haven't met my dog haha. I don't know if it's easier to use a sit/lie down and wait combo rather than just having him stand there. We're still teaching him to lie down, but we haven't got that on a cue yet, so getting him to lie down and wait at the door is not something he can do just yet. I'm going to try adding a visual cue instead of just saying 'wait' because he isa very visual dog (even for a sighthound!), but I think the fundamental issue is that he's just not making the connection yet between his movements and the behavior of the door.

Because when he decides to pull, he makes the most awful choking noises even without a lot of pressure. According to the adoption agency, a lot of the greyhounds that came from his racetrack (Macao, China) seem to do that so they were speculating that they were maybe treated in a way that caused damage to their throats.

Thanks for the pic advice! I have a double leash, that I clipped on to his collar and the harness, but I guess the feeling of the harness was so alien to him. I keep hearing that greyhounds do really well with harnesses so fingers crossed he'll get there eventually. I have to say *I* preferred walking him with the harness, at least! Yeah I'd rather it be slightly too loose overall, and just also clip onto his collar for safety, than be too tight and cause him pain/discomfort.

Hi all! A week ago I adopted my first ever dog, an ex-racer called Slink. He is a lovely boy who loves his walks. We've been walking him with the combination martingale collar/leash we were given at the adoption place, but when he sees a cat or a squirrel he has a tendency to pull and make horrible choking sounds (the adoption place think the dogs from his racetrack - the canindrome in Macao, China - may have some throat damage as a lot of them cough). So I got him a Freedom Harness. He was really good at letting me put it on him and fit it, and once we had it on I took him for a short pee-break walk outside our house. Well, obviously it was too much too soon because he wouldn't pee, he started walking slower and slower and then he statued on the very short set of steps to our front door. I tried to coax him up, and walk him back down and around but ended up having to lift his rear end to get him up the steps. He's definitely a very tired boy today, we've both had an exhausting week adjusting and learning about each other which perhaps contributed to the issue. So I have 2 questions: 1) I'd really like to get him used to the harness, but obviously with everything being so new and overwhelming, it was too much for him right now. My plan is to wait a few more days at least before trying it on him again, and then just get him to wear it around the house, starting with a few minutes and working up to maybe an hour of wear, before we try again outside. Does this sound like a sensible plan? 2) I'm concerned about whether I've fitted it correctly. The instructions for the harness were a bit vague, and greyhounds have those wonderfully muscular upper front legs and the main thing I'm worried about is whether the straps that go behind his front legs (the velvety bit) are sitting too far forward and will chafe. But obviously I don't want it to be too loose either. How tight should the different parts of the harness be? (I'd like to attach some pics of the handsome boy wearing it to show you but I'm not sure how to do it - anyone know how?) Thanks guys