MerseyGrey

I think this would be a danger to almost any dog who decided to go exploring on their own, it’s just that greyhounds are much quicker if they decide to bolt. In the first couple of weeks of us having ours, a delivery man left the garden gate open, and ours trotted out the back garden and waited patiently by the front door to come back in. So it’s definitely not a case of greyhounds always wanting to escape. Personally I would work on training the kids to ensure the house is secure before thinking about getting any kind of dog.

This all sounds familiar! I think we’ve got the watch me training sussed. We started it by accident and then when someone recommended ‘fiesty fido’ we discovered that we’d done half the training which was a nice surprise. I’m hoping the ‘leave it’ training will come in handy at training him to stop eating his own poop. I can try with the single hand. Hopefully I haven’t confused him too much by using both hands but I’m sure he will sort it out since he’s clearly much smarter than I am.

Hello all, I was wondering if I could have some advice on ‘leave it’ training, which, after two and half years of having Buddy, I have decided to give a go. I’ve read a few things and watched just one short video from AKC. It suggests a low value treat in one hand to tempt him; offer that but keep it closed, and when he looks away from that hand, give him a high value treat from the other hand. I have noticed that instead of really looking away, he very quickly learned just to look to the other hand. I tried alternating the first hand, but he still just looks to the other hand. Does this mean I can introduce the ‘leave it’ command at this point, or do I need to be doing something different? Am I too quick with the high value treat? One of the other resources suggested using just one hand, and when he looks away, give the treat from that hand. Do people find this method more successful? (I might add that I am pretty sure that he knows the ‘leave it’ command already, because when I say it, he snaffles whatever I want him to leave much more quickly. I think that he was in a home for a time before he came to us and often wonder if he already knows all the commands a greyhound should know, but chooses to ignore them. It’s just a feeling I have.)

Sorry about your news

Good luck 🤞

We did a google search for dog fields, as there are usually places where you can hire a field for 1/2 hour or hour if you want to work on his recall training. The difference between the hired field and the dog park is that there will be no distractions at the dog field, and no matter how good his recall is when you’re training him, it may not necessarily apply when there are distractions around. We learnt this the hard way when ours chased and caught someone else’s dog. It’s a horrible feeling to know that our dog, through our misjudgement, could have caused someone else to lose their beloved dog, and then waiting to see if anything was going to happen to our dog because of our choices. My dog doesn’t care that he’s on a lead. It was me that it bothered, but I’ve just come to realise that having him off lead doesn’t need to be the goal and that lead walking is not detrimental to his health or happiness.

Sleep startle is something that lots of people on here have had to deal with, but it’s not a form of aggression. See it more as a defence mechanism - he’s still in a strange place and he’s probably never quite at ease, even if he’s sleeping. If you don’t have a dedicated space for him it’s a good idea to create one if you can. The old saying ‘let sleeping dogs lie’ is all too accurate! We always approach ours with caution, and call out to him to wake him gently when he’s sleeping.

After waking us up at 5.30 GMT, Buddy is sleeping peacefully at our feet (poor boy is sooo tired!) and we are just about to have our third cup of coffee. It’s 8.30am. I’m looking for an appropriate emoji but there doesn’t seem to be one with big bags under the eyes.

I’m sorry for your loss, but thank you so much for sharing those tales, they were lovely! And now I know what to call the playful snapping that my boy also does (and who also tolerates his mummy’s kisses). Sending virtual hugs

Hi, when you brought him home did you take him to the place where you expected him to toilet, and wait there until he did? That’s what lots of places suggest when you first bring your dog home so that he learns what is expected of him when you take him to take place again. Sounds like you need to make him go when he wakes up. I would take him into the garden/yard or as HeyRunDog suggests or walk him within 10-15 minutes after waking up as you will most likely miss his cues to go out, which could be as subtle as walking past the door, or just a glance towards it. Stick with him until he wees or poos. You will need to persevere with this to make it habit. Even if you take him into the garden you are best to wait with him until he does his business and then reward him. He will associate the act with the treat and this will hopefully make things easier. Personally I wouldn’t leave mine in the garden unattended, particularly not for any length of time, and definitely not without access back into the house. With regards to routine, I think it’s possible to get him to associate toilet times with landmarks in his day rather than being at set times, by which I mean, taking him out after waking up, before or straight after feeding, before bed, whenever you put shoes on to leave the house. Other people on here who work shifts will be able to tell you better than me if this works. You might want to look up belly bands, which some people on here recommend for males when they are training them. I haven’t used one but they might save your rugs. A word of warning: there is a fine line between being firm and behaviour which your dog may interpret as punishment. I grew up with German shepherds and bringing a greyhound into the home was an eye opener. They respond really well to positive reinforcement due to their sensitive nature and your reward will be a loving and affectionate dog. It really is worth it and you will get there! Something else you probably know - check that your disinfectant doesn’t have ammonia in it as this smell can make them mark over the area - I don’t think that sounds like the case with you because it doesn’t sound like he’s peeing on the same spot after you’ve cleaned it.

An extra hour in bed is overrated anyway. I’m looking forward to spending an extra hour in the rooms I have been spending all my extra hours in this year.

Lovely photos and such a dapper dog!

I don’t have any experience of separation anxiety so someone might put me straight on this, but I would leave the curtains/blinds open. Greyhounds love to watch what is going on and it’s the next best thing to be in the midst of what’s going on. Mine will go to the window frequently just to watch the world go by. This might be contrary to the information in the book you have, in which case, ignore me!

There was a study done recently which concluded that dogs do not like to cuddle, but they tolerate it because they know that humans do. Nobody sent this memo to Buddy. He likes to corner you into a space that you can’t escape from and wedge his head under your armpit. He frequently does this when I go to the loo. I suppose I should just learn to close the door after me.

The advice above is sound. We adopted our boy at 7 1/2, and there was a three year black hole between retiring and him coming to us. He hasn’t ever shown resource guarding, but does have sleep startle and is reactive to other dogs. ‘Feisty Fido’ was recommended to us - it’s a short book and very easy to train him to ignore other dogs. That was probably about a year ago, and now he interacts well with most dogs (although he is still overwhelmed when dogs run at him, or if there are a few dogs milling around him). Generally when he passes a dog he is polite and then looks to us for a treat. We found by accident that he generally reacted better to other dogs when he wasn’t wearing his muzzle, but it was almost a year before we routinely stopped using a muzzle, and this isn’t something I would recommend until you get you to know yours a bit better. Sleep startle - yes, just avoid touching or stepping over her when she’s sleeping. We’ve found that Buddy is much worse for sleep startle when he’s tired and if there are strangers in the house - unfortunately these two things normally go hand in hand because he is a nosey devil and refuses to sleep in case he misses something! Good luck!

These are great photos, and they look like they are having so much fun!

That is just what I would have said. It took about 18 months for ours to take himself off to a bed in another room but I took it as him being happy to be on his own, which meant he felt safe and confident. It was a momentous day!

Use long thin treats. You can hold them until your dog grabs them. Have a second one ready for the inevitable occasional fail. I’ve no experience of the muzzle you linked, but it looks a bit like it might slip off a greyhound’s tiny head. No one references a greyhound in the reviews (you can do a search just above the ‘questions’ section) so I would stick with the basket muzzle unless you want to be a pioneer!

Do you always leave the house by the same door when you go for a walk? Could you try having your partner leave the house by a different door? Or you could try driving to a favourite walking place and wait in the car while your partner walks Samson. I don’t have any experience of this behaviour although I do know that they are creatures of habit, and sometimes an alteration in their usual routine can break patterns for them. I’m sure you’re right that your partner and Sampson have bonded. But does he ever feed Samson? That might help to strengthen the bond even more and might help you out a bit more. I have a clingy boy as well but he will at least walk with my husband!

I make it fresh for every meal but you can make it in advance. I give two dry tablespoons (then rehydrated) per meal. The guidance for a large dog (44-88lbs) is 1-2 tbsp daily, so I have probably been giving Buddy too much! Thanks for getting me to check!

😂😂😂 there is another thread...’things you wished you been told when you got a greyhound’ and these would fit very nicely in there! It sounds like Ally is settling right in

Happy birthday Sweep! You’re a golden oldie! 😘😘

We’ve had some success with using ‘Feisty Fido’. It allowed us to train Buddy enough to distract him if another dog approaches him for a sniff. Occasionally, a Buddy may also join in the sniffing but generally he just stands and waits for the other dog to move away. It works less well if more than one dog approaches him, and hardly works at all if the dog is excited or runs at him. Having said that, we normally warn the other owner that Buddy may snap if their dog is too familiar with him and we prefer not to let him mix with other dogs - the training we gave just buys us a bit more time if we can’t avoid the other dog. He does behave differently with other greyhounds, and lurchers that have a greyhound face. He doesn’t like most herding dogs and can’t stand bully breeds - and this includes lurchers with faces like Staffies. He has been attacked twice by these types of dogs since we have had him so I don’t blame him. Good luck! I wish ours was a bit more laid back with other dogs but I definitely think that with Buddy it’s a part of his personality and we can’t train the grumpy old man out of him.

Buddy came to us with a claw that was growing upwards (not a dew claw) which he caught in his first week with us, and then again almost a year later. The second time he must have all but broken it off, and he must have knocked it again as we took him to the vet as it bled freely (initially we hadn’t noticed that he must have damaged it as there was not blood, but he was limping). If you take him to the vet, they may try and detach it if they think it won’t be too painful. They may just leave it, give Ally pain meds and see if it will fall off itself +/- some help from Ally. These were our two options and went with the second - Buddy must have lost his eventually when he was scratching after a wee or poo, without a peep from him. If you decide not to take him to the vet, you will need to keep an eye on him for signs of infection. If he’s limping he might need some pain relief, and visiting the vet might give you a bit more peace of mind. However I suspect they will not offer you much more.

I also agree. Let Jack dictate the pace while he’s settling in and until he works out that you are his protector. When he is confident with you things will change