MerseyGrey

He’s called Buddy and we’ve had for him about 2 1/2 years. I do still cruise the Dog’s Trust website in case there are any suitable older girls who might be compatible with Buddy and don’t remember a Rumble but maybe you snapped him up quickly! I’ll be posting LOTS of pictures of him tomorrow because it’s his birthday so be warned!!! 😁

Since you’re in the UK he probably won’t have hookworm as it doesn’t seem to be as prevalent here - but that doesn’t mean he can’t have them, or that he can’t have something else. Coming from the Dog’s Trust also doesn’t mean he won’t have worms. We adopted ours from our local branch in the June and in the October he deposited a foot long tapeworm in the back garden. At the time he was on a three monthly worming regimen with our vet. They pick up all sorts and while I’m sure that he will have been wormed before he came to you, I’m less convinced that he would have had his stools checked to make sure he’s parasite free. If you’re not on a monthly worming regimen it might be an idea to speak to your vet about that. We have tried several different methods for breath freshening including Plaque X (or something similar) and water additives but find there is no substitute for teeth cleaning, which I know you can’t do just yet. In addition to regular brushing, we do use beaphar tooth gel in conjunction with a large rubber tooth brush (which draws some strange looks when we get it out in public) and I’m not overly certain that this is doing anything but Buddy really seems to like it so now it’s just part of his morning routine - and it’s a distraction if we take him to the pub - when we were allowed to go to the pub ☹️. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Beaphar-Tooth-Gel-100-g/dp/B005VD0JXY/ref=sr_1_8?crid=1A04VYULZFAEO&dchild=1&keywords=beaphar+toothpaste+for+dogs&qid=1604494523&sprefix=Beaphar%2Caps%2C183&sr=8-8 https://smile.amazon.co.uk/RUCACIO-Toothbrush-Brushing-Effective-Resistant/dp/B07V4BWZZV/ref=sr_1_3_sspa?crid=2Q634UP5BJ9T6&dchild=1&keywords=dog+toothbrush&qid=1604494851&sprefix=Dog+toothbrush%2Caps%2C181&sr=8-3-spons&psc=1&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyNDRNR1BJWDdZRkZOJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwODM3OTYyMUdNOE5SR1RFTlpGNCZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMjcyNjAwM1NFNTE5NDBOQUoxVCZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2F0ZiZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU= As others have suggested his food is probably not helping matters so if you are switching him to softened kibble when his mouth is healed you might smell a difference. And once you’ve experienced a few greyhound trumps I’m sure that his breath - however it smells - will smell like roses!

As many as you’re willing to post...?

It’s a slightly subdued Hallowe’en for us in the UK since trick or treating has been banned here. The radio station we normally listen to is offering a full moon celebration instead, with lots of moon related songs. We are celebrating with several pints of beer (and there is a bottle of fizzy in the fridge for later. Just in case). Happy hallowe’en everyone! They are just about to play ‘Bad Moon Rising’ so I am going for a kitchen boogie!

My SIL has a golden retriever that chewed the walls of their house, and has eaten credit cards, shoes and sunglasses. Any dog can have its issues!

He’s either a very quick learner or he has definitely done this before. I started the one-hand training saying ‘leave it’ as suggested (I’m keeping it as simple as I can!) and he would look away from my hand when I said ‘leave it’. When he looks away, I treat him straight away. I will progress to the floor treats with a few days’ practice. While I’m certain that Buddy could pick up touch training, I think it might be beyond my capability and attention span so I might leave that for another day but thanks for the suggestion!

Absolutely - I’ve had to wrestle a few bones from him which look like they’ve been cooked. He’s very determined to have them! So this training is overdue. Thanks for the advice

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!