[Playful Biting?]

Thank you for your thoughts and taking the time to help! I have to say that I am quite relieved to hear you validate that these are normal Greyhound play behaviors. We have only had her since last May and have not owned any dog in the past 40 years so I was a little concerned that she was developing a mean streak. There are absolutely no other greyhounds anywhere in our immediate vicinity, unfortunately. Perhaps we would be wise to arrange to go to the dog park ONLY when the other little dog is there who loves her. He is only 18 months old and half her size but a tough little bugger who loves to run and topple with her. When we take her and no other dogs are there at all, she doesn't really run too much and get exercise. We throw balls for her, etc but there's nothing like other dogs to get her wound up. But we need to be smart about this. Thanks again!!

[Playful Biting?]

Hello, I am responding to this conversation which is quite old now but I hope someone can offer advise. Above it is stated "lots of noise and growling and barking, lots of wrestling" describing how greyhounds play. We have a 5 year old female and she not only makes noise, growling and barking but she nips at the other dogs in the dog park. This has become a problem because although we can tell with her wagging tail, etc that she is playing, she has been too rough with most of the dogs. One of the dogs loves the way she plays and when she lays down to rest he goes over and tries to get her up but the majority of them are frightened of her. We used the muzzle on her when this happened but the dog who loves her, treated the muzzle as a new toy and began biting on it and trying to pull it off of her. She is getting a bad reputation in the dog park and she is such a docile sweet girl in every other way. Please let us know what you think.

[Statuing: Waiting It Out Vs. Letting Dog Know Whose Boss]

On 5/23/2019 at 4:43 PM, Time4ANap said:

Petunia loves to walk but as far as we can tell there is no rhyme or reason to why she statues. It can happen at any time during the walk. Sometimes she proceeds to walk after a few minutes of stopping, but sometimes I have had to have my wife bring the car because I can't move her.  She is pretty much a stubborn broodie.  There's a part of me that thinks after walking for a half mile or so that she might have some joint pain, but there were also days when she walked a mile and half without stopping and no sign of anything wrong. She is a great little walker until she statues - then it's a complete unknown as the whether we will make it home or not without calling for the car.  We currently have a second hound staying with us, and she is much better when there is another hound along for the walk. 

I only put the harness on her for the walk or if we are going in the car. She does not need to wear it the rest of the time and usually just has a tag collar on in the house. 

Will probably give it a shot. We have not spent any $$ on her today yet! So a harness is as good a choice as anything  I bought a folding 3 prong cane with seat so I can sit myself down on her freezing escapades. That was good money spent for sure. 

 

[Statuing: Waiting It Out Vs. Letting Dog Know Whose Boss]

1 hour ago, Time4ANap said:

Did you adopt one of our Petunia's puppies? 

Get a harness. The only way you will be able to maintain control of the dog and force her to move will be with a harness. The collar is too risky for an injury.  The 2 Hounds No Pull Freedom Harness is what we use for Petunia. She can plant her feet like they are cemented to the sidewalk. I can still move her using the harness and force her to take steps until she decides to walk willingly. The harness gives you much more control of the dog overall. 

Normally we try a high value treat first - something like dehydrated liver. That treat is only used for this one purpose - to get her to walk. We hold it in front of her and start moving. We hold it just far enough away that she has to follow it, and when we get to a landmark, like the next street sign or next shady spot, we will give her the treat with lots of praise. The process usually has to repeat multiple times to get her to walk.  If she just flat out refuses and nothing works, I take control of the leash right where it meets the control loop of the harness, and only then will I pull her forward to get her moving. Using the harness, there is no strain on her like there would be with a collar. 

I don't think she is Petunia's relation but sounds identical anyway!  Thank you, we had wondered if that would help. Our Molly is 65 pounds with medium neck size for collar. We were actually looking to adopt a girl named Petunia from Southern AZ in Tucson but timing wasn't right. So does Petunia walk without needing to insist on her walking with the harness?  Molly loves walking but all of a sudden will stop dead. No apparent reason that we can see but then, we don't see as well as her.  Do you take the harness off when the walk is over? Molly's collar stays on all the time but didn't know about harnesses. We are so new to this world!!

[Statuing: Waiting It Out Vs. Letting Dog Know Whose Boss]

We adopted a 4  1/2 year old female last Friday. She has been great except for this "Freezing" behavior that is extremely perplexing. We have tried using treats but she doesn't seem to like any dog treats and even little pieces of cooked chicken she didn't care about. She stands perfectly still with all 4 feet glued to the ground for up to 30 minutes. She doesn't seem to see anything around...and it sometimes happens right in our driveway, sometimes just on her walk. No movement when called or coaxed by gentle pushing from behind. We know not to pull on her collar from the front. Helpful hints?