FuzzyHounds

I've never had a greyhound so I can't compare, but they really don't seem to shed too much. Kaja has a longer, thicker coat and Potter's is more sparse and wiry, but neither is what I would consider a huge shedder nor was our first Staghound. We'll see if any "spring shedding" happens, but so far so good!

Yes! I was amazed at how many people commented. I love seeing other people's staghounds, too. We had one stag before these two, Keira, and she convinced us that staghounds are the best dogs ever. So we were determined to find another after we lost her at age 11 a couple years ago, but we knew they are pretty rare. So we were thrilled to find our 2 (and now the rescue we got them from gets stags pretty regularly from North Dakota, which is wonderful) and we always love seeing pictures of others!

I just posted a pic on the Greytalk FB page for you...check out my fuzzy girls! I'd love to see a picture of Tesla! I hope your other pups start to enjoy her energy and to play with her...I have that hope for my two as well because, despite being littermates, they aren't really in sync with their play styles. Keep us posted on how Tesla does; I love hearing about other ex coyote hunters enjoying their new lives!

We have 2 staghounds (greyhound/deerhound/sometimes wolfhound mix, bred to hunt coyotes) and had one before these 2. All were failed coyote hunters, one from Iowa, two from North Dakota. All 3 are/were sweet, gentle, wonderful dogs, despite being bred and raised to chase, catch, and kill coyotes. Our first girl had exactly zero prey drive (we completely understand why she failed as a hunter!) and was a calm, bomb-proof sweetheart. Our newest two, who turned four today (we've had them for almost a year) do have a little prey drive but I couldn't imagine them going after a coyote...until one time one ran past our fenced yard at night. Both girls tore down to the end of the yard and pogo-jumped up and down and wouldn't take their eyes off the coyote as it ran away. In general, our 3 really resemble fuzzy greyhounds, in personality as well as looks. We've learned about statuing and roaching and rooing and all that other fun greyhound stuff! Obviously they weren't raised like track greyhounds and our current 2 are a bit timid in new situations, but they do great with other dogs. Kaja likes to play rough--rear up and smash into the other dog with noises that make you think she wants to rip their head off, but really she's just playing. 5 month old bird dogs are her best buds at the dog park! Potter just wants to run and really doesn't get why her sister (they are littermates) wants to play. Both girls are tiny, just over 50 pounds--despite supposedly being part wolfhound--so they're not terribly intimidating even with Kaja's play style. At any rate, I love love love staghounds. I try not to think too much about how they were raised or how they hunt because I think it's pretty brutal, and all 3 of our girls are/were such sweet, loving, gentle dogs and I'm so glad we were able to rescue them and give them the life they deserve! Good luck with your girl! The rescue we got ours from gets quite a few lurchers (greyhounds mixed with scent hounds, as I understand it). They tend to be used for a specific type of hunting race, whereas the staghounds tend to hunt coyotes. I have heard that hunters will also use ex racing greyhounds to hunt coyotes, and I believe our current girls' father was an ex-racer (or had a parent who was). The lurchers we've met from our rescue are cool dogs! Very greyhound looking but, as you say, a little stockier, while the stags tend to be fuzzy, which I think is unbelievably adorable! Here are our two with their birthday toys...

I've been played. This morning, Potter was in the padded recliner where I like to sit when I drink my coffee. I decided to lure her off, so, after setting my coffee and cookie down by the recliner (rookie move, I know) I went downstairs and opened the door to the garage like I was going to the car. Sure enough, Potter came running downstairs...then realized I was faking, ran back upstairs, and I got up the stairs just in time to see her jump back on the recliner--and grab my cookie. So now I'm sitting with Kaja on the couch, the cookie is in the garbage, and Potter seems quite pleased with her comfy recliner perch...

Potter--also known as "Hotter Potter"--is happy to wedge herself between hubby and me on the reclining loveseat, keeping one of each of our legs nice and toasty on those cold Minnesota winter nights. Kaja tries to keep her sister cool by wagging in her face every time they both greet me at the door.

Eve sounds a lot like Potter!

We have 3 year old Staghound littermates. Kaja likes to play with toys in the yard and Potter is the opposite of your Hoku...she carefully brings all toys that are outside back inside--which would be fine, except Kaja is still playing with them! I guess she's more "fun police" than "toy hoarder."...but you're right, hounds are crazy!

Beautiful girls, congrats!

Beautiful boy! And he looks like he's very much enjoying himself. For me, it's a risk/reward analysis. I have two 3-year-old Staghound littermates (failed coyote hunters). One of them looks and acts just like a fuzzy greyhound--she LOVES to sprint at the dog park, including bounding into the woods and dashing along narrow trails through the brush. Yes, sometimes she ends up with a scuff or a scrape (she has the typical greyhound thin skin), and a stitch or two might be in her future--but the joy she shows when she's running makes that minor risk acceptable to me. I compare her running to my sports; I've done a variety of sports over the years, and sometimes I've gotten injured--but the joy of the sports has always made the injuries worth it. I guess it's looking at the tradeoff between his enjoyment of running and the level of risk he's taking, and making the decision based on that...

If he's going out several times a day and isn't having potty accidents in the house, maybe he doesn't need to go out any more often. I know that once I went back to work after the summer (I'm a teacher and my husband works from home) my girls stopped going out in the middle of the day. I take them out at 6 am and my husband is home all day but he says they never want to go out...they wait until I get home, even if it's not until 5:00. So if he's happily going out some times, and not having accidents, I'd say don't worry about him. He sounds like a good boy!

It sounds like he's scared of the noises outside? I have one like that--but as with yours, she resists getting up off her bed to come outside but once she's at the door she's fine. We've used various "tricks" to get her to the door without forcing her. Sometimes we open the garage door so she thinks we're going in the car (which she loves), sometimes we take her sister out and just wait outside until Potter comes to the door, we've taken her out different doors, sometimes now (she's getting a lot better) food even works--it didn't before. More info about what he does would help us give better advice. Do you walk him, or does he just go out into the yard? What times of day will he willingly go out? You said morning, and then 10:30 at night? Maybe he knows these are times when it's quiet outside. How does he feel about going in the car? Have you done any obedience training with him? Hopefully a little more info will lead to some more good ideas!

I'm interested in this, too, because my 3-year-old staghound littermate girls Kaja and Potter do this too. They were together at the coyote hunter who bred them until they were almost 3, then they were rescued. We adopted one and then the other was a bounce and we got her 4 months later--so they were together their whole lives except for 4 months (and we've had them together almost 3 months). Shortly after getting Potter, the second one, we fenced in part of our yard. Kaja wants to play in the yard and tries to get Potter going, but Potter usually shuts her down (and sometimes returns any toys we've brought out to the house). On the other hand, Potter loves to run at the dog park and I can tell she wants to get Kaja to run with her--but Kaja would rather saunter and sniff. Obviously they know each other well and generally get along great, but sometimes they do get kind of loud in the yard when Kaja wants to play and Potter doesn't, and I always wonder if I should let them go or intervene. Last night Potter did actually run and play a bit at last turn out, though, so maybe they're starting to figure it out. I'm glad that I read here about how loudly they can play, though, because when they do play they can sound kind of alarming!

We have 3-year-old staghound littermates Kaja and Potter. Their background is that they were bred and raised by a coyote hunter; they lived in outdoor runs with dog houses, with their parents and brother. Last fall they and their brother were put up for free on a Craigslist-type publication when the owner realized they were poor hunters. A local greyhound rescue scooped them up. They went to an emergency foster for a couple months--they were quite underweight--then to the rescue kennel. We got Kaja in early March, then Potter in July (she was a bounce). Kaja is the one I'm writing about. She housebroke easily--in fact, after a couple of first-day accidents she's been perfect (I suspect most of the housebreaking took place at the emergency foster) and has a bladder of steel. But...every so often--she's done it maybe 6-7 times in the almost 7 months we've had her--she pees the bed (her dog bed and, just now, a couch.) The last time she did it was in July, so there's usually at least a month between incidents (so I don't think it's medical). I've actually seen her do it once--she'll be doing what we call "DiggyDiggyWump", where she digs and circles on her bed and then curls into a ball and flumps down...except instead of curling into a ball she squats and pees! I don't know what she would do after she pees because the one time I saw her I of course interrupted her and took her outside. It almost seems like a brain fart--or perhaps, brain pee--like she just forgets what she's doing. As I said, she's otherwise perfectly housebroken. It doesn't have anything to do with her sister's arrival, because all but 2 of her incidents occurred before Potter got here. I'm not sure if there's anything to be done--I really can't ban her from dog beds and couches, there's not enough x-pens in the world, and then I'd also be blocking Potter, who is innocent (although she has her own infrequent potty issues related to "I already have soft poo today and now I just heard thunder.") I've only caught her in the act once; I suspect it mostly happens overnight. If anyone has an idea I'd love to hear it, but I'd also like to know if anyone else's hounds does this. We've got good couch covers and washable beds and it's pretty infrequent so we just deal with it, but bed-peeing will make Kaja very unattractive to potential dog-sitters next summer (the ones we know all take the dogs to their own homes). Here's the culprit in drier times (that's my mom's little dogs' bed; trust me, her own beds are the right size!)

Good point, Greysmom! DH comes the door to greet me when I come home (he works from home). It is cute, I must say--my whole family waiting for me when i come in the door but he's not skilled at doggie interventions nor really interested in "having to do something" with the dogs when I come home. So I guess for now, it's just "enjoy the little nutballs"--they really are doing well, and you're right, it's fun to see them excited (plus that "garage door obsession" of Potter's does come in handy--after a thunderstormy night last night I couldn't get her to go out for morning potty...until I opened the garage door and then she just couldn't resist running to the door and I was able to get her out. So maybe I don't want to counter-condition that behavior after all...

Thanks for the thoughts! BatterseaBrindl, good point! I do need to keep things in perspective; our last 2 dogs (and DH's only 2 dogs) were very mellow "only" dogs, so we had 20 years of "oh hi you're home, let me open one eye in greeting" to compare our current two to. Our girls really aren't that rambunctious, but DH is convinced they're going to kill themselves/each other (and Potter's bloody knee didn't help). In reality, though, they do stop quickly and to some extent I need to relax (and convince DH to relax). Kightfam, good thoughts! I think that's a good approach if things get more out of hand (I think that's what I'm also worried about--that they're going to egg each other on to more and more crazy behavior). And thanks for the kind thoughts--they're such sweeties, and for the most part are doing so well...I just want to do everything I can to help them be happy dogs!

A question about my pups (sort of SA but maybe not really?): I have 3 year old staghound littermates. They were together their whole lives except for 4 months after they each got adopted; then Potter bounced and we got her. They get along great--a little sisterly snark when someone gets too rough playing, but in general they share furniture, don't resource guard food, etc. Kaja had very mild SA at first (mostly whining when DH, who works at home, went downstairs and she was too afraid to follow.) I'm a teacher; we got Kaja in March and by the end of the school year she was totally fine with my leaving routine, was fine with the 2 of us leaving together, and no longer followed DH around the house. Enter Potter in July. Her first house was too noisy for her and she was scared all the time. At our house, she's had some difficulty getting off her bed to go outside, but we've worked around it and she's doing great. We have made a great effort to never force or her to go out (never put the leash on her and made her come out, or carried her out like her former owners had to). She is so passive and submissive that I think forcing her would have really set her back. So we used tricks--take her sister out, rustle a cheese wrapper, etc, all of which were successful at various times; the one sure-fire method to get her off her couch, though, was to open the overhead garage door. This always brings her flying to the door to the garage, at which point she happily goes out if we attach her leash. We haven't had to use the garage door trick in a month or so, but her garage door enthusiasm--probably combined with a little SA--has taken on a life of it's own. I went back to school two weeks ago. I did a little alone training with the girls but didn't think they needed much; Kaja was already good and Potter seemed pretty calm. They usually do OK with my leaving routine in the mornings (DH is home but in bed at this time). But, any other time we open the garage door (coming home or leaving, even if one of us is home), the little nutballs go crazy--for a minute or so. Thundering up and down the stairs, flinging stuffies, sometime snarking at each other when they jump on the same couch. It truly only lasts a minute or less--when I come home (when DH is home with them) I can hear them yodeling as I get out of my car--by the time I get inside the frenzy is over and they trot upstairs and jump on the couch. I think Potter's garage door excitement combines with anxiety about leaving/excitement about arriving and they wind each other up. And even though it's short, it's dangerous--Potter already whacked her knee on something and got a small cut. So, I need to chill the nutballs out. I don't want to crate Potter when we leave, even though she was crated at her former owner--I'm afraid that if we have to insist she go in, we will hugely set back her progress on trusting us about going outside. So...counter condition the garage door? How? Block them from racing up and down the stairs (if we got an x-pen we could do this)? Separate them into different adjoining rooms (x-pen again) when we leave? If we get a 4-foot x-pen (they're 50 lbs, small girls) are they likely to try to jump it and, if successful, might they then try to jump our 4 foot fence (though they are always supervised outside)? (Oh, and Potter has had a couple potty accidents when left alone, so maybe another vote for confinement)? Should we do alone training in general? Other thoughts? Sorry--I'm a special ed teacher/behavior analyst and over-thinking is my game! Here's the nutballs, chilled out and sharing someone else's bed... Thanks for any ideas!

Love how he's figured out how to do zoomies in the tiny puddle!

Good questions--the hike was only a mile to a mile and a half, and it was about 55 degrees, so I don't think she was overheated/overtired.... She was completely fine until she crawled in and got stuck...but it sounds like she's not the only one who reacts to stress like this!

Update: The kitty didn't end up coming to the cabin (little brat ran and hid when my sister got out the cat carrier so she stayed home with the older cats), so no worries about the bedroom. Potter has done fabulously (it's her second cabin trip)--and every time I put my shoes on to take the girls for a walk she runs to the door and bounces around until I put her leash on. Huge improvement over her reluctance to get out of bed at home!

Kaja (3 year old staghound, we've had her for 6 months) had a weird behavior today. We're at the cabin with her and littermate Potter, and they're doing great, having fun on walks and adjusting well to a different house. Both are pretty timid/passive girls. So today DH and I took them in the car to a place to hike. After the hike, we went to put them in the car, a Subaru Outback with the back seat down, a "hammock" clipped to the front headrests, and a foam mattress pad and fabric couch cover for padding in the back. Instead of jumping in through the back seat door, as usual (we had a bike on a bike rack so couldn't open the hatch), Kaja crawled into the back seat floor, under the hammock. She crawled all the way in--and then got stuck. We had a bike pump and some jackets on the floor, and it was like she couldn't figure out how to get out. I got in the other side, unclipped the hammock and folded it back, and then flipped up the back seat back. Now I'm sitting on the back seat and Kaja is on the floor--but she still couldn't/wouldn't move. I ended up lifting her hind end and then front end onto the seat with me (she's very passive about being handled so I knew I could do this safely.) And then, she...well, I don't really know what word to use. It was like she just completely shut down. Legs limp, lying on the seat, put her head on my lap and closed her eyes. I could not get her to react/respond at all. We drove about 5 miles and stopped for food; I stepped out of the car for a minute and she did pick her head up, but when I got back in the car she put her head back on my lap. Even a piece of pepperoni held right under her nose got no reaction. It was really weird. No panting, shaking, etc., but she was definitely not acting normal. Since she had crawled in so slowly I knew she hadn't hurt herself, so it must have been just a stress reaction. When we got back to the cabin 15 minutes and i opened the door she stood up and jumped out and was completely normal. Actually, it reminds me of her first day at our house--on the couch, head on Dh's lap, calm but also "shut down" (wouldn't get off the couch, eat treats, etc.) I guess that's just how she deals with stress? Anyone else have a weird little houndie like this?

dmdsmoxie, thanks! My girls definitely sound like omegas, not spooks! They're not racers but their upbringing (they were together with their brother until they were surrendered at age 3) is much more similar to a track greyhound's dog socialization than to that of a pet dog who is adopted at 8 weeks. Fascinating stuff!

We used it for our previous staghound Keira for her whole life, and have been feeding it to our current two (6 months and one month). May try switching after this batch is done, but Keira always did well on it. How strongly is it tied to DCM? It's not grain free...

Greysmom, thanks so much for your insight. I find your comparison of spooks to kids with autism fascinating (I've always wondered if something similar to autism ever shows up in animals). With that said (and I may just be in denial!), I really don't think my girls are spooks. I'll give you my assessment of them, and let me know what you think... Kaja: Kaja seems to me like a girl with a shy personality who was severely under-socialized.The girls were bred by a coyote hunter and grew up in an outdoor kennel in North Dakota; my guess is they didn't get out much! When she first got in our house, Kaja jumped up on our couch and made it her safe place. She really didn't leave, except for potty breaks, for a couple weeks. But...after I once put her leash on and gently tugged to get her going, she happily jumped off to go outside every time it was potty time, and even learned the verbal "let's go outside and go potty" within a few days and would jump down when she heard it. I fed and watered her on the couch at first because she wouldn't come off to eat--but she wasn't scared on the couch, no shaking or panting, and she was happy to have us sit with her. In fact (not knowing any better), my husband sat down on the other end of her couch the first night we had her--and she scooted closer to him and plopped her head on his lap. She's still hesitant with new people and situations, but we've taken her to some greyhound events with success...we use the "pat, step, pat, step" approach to get her in, then she plops on her bed and calmly observes the goings-on. She does not seems nervous and is not overly submissive...she's just cautious and under-experienced. With us, she's a happy tail-wagger who loves pets and likes to get silly playing with stuffies, and who definitely feels secure with us. Potter: Potter is actually much more outgoing than Kaja. If you were to ring our doorbell she'd be right there to greet you, tail wagging and asking for pets. She fully explored our house as soon as she came in, going into rooms that Kaja still doesn't go in. But she's sound sensitive (fireworks, thunderstorms, gunshots, etc.). I think she was just in the wrong place--a busy house with little kids near an airport and neighbors who mowed the grass, plowed snow, etc. I think she just got more and more stressed with not having extended time between sounds stresses, until she just shut down. Interestingly, her first mom was a vet tech and often took Potter to work; she said any time she dressed for work Potter would jump up and follow her to the door (as opposed to being frozen in her bed when it was time to go out to potty). At home now, Potter loves pets, dinner, and running at the dog park. At the dog park, she likes to stop and sniff, then run past us, stop, and check in with us to make sure of where we are. When she's not "stuck" she's highly food motivated. Truly, her only issues are the sound sensitivity (she finds a safe place to hide during storms and goes to sleep), and the getting stuck when it's time to go out. Since we do have ways to get her up that don't stress her, it's not a time-critical issue and so I think I'll just work verrrryyyy sloooowly on getting her off her bed to take a treat, no strings attached. I appreciate your thoughts on meds, and I'm certainly not opposed to them. Potter was actually on fluoxetine when we got her; her mom was going to take her off though because it hadn't made a difference. We talked to our vet and she told us to taper to a half dose for about 3 weeks and then if there was no negative change, to stop the med. We did that and saw no change. We're certainly open to a different med if we see a need , though! Anyway, I am certainly glad that my work experience has given me a problem-solving mindset and some behavioral analysis skills, because it's sure come in handy with my girls. And I"m so glad I found greytalk--I have learned soooo much from you guys!!! I hope I'm generally on the right track!

Thanks for the ideas! I kind of like the crate idea--she was crated at her old house and often sleeps in her open crate here, although we've never shut her in it--but I doubt we'll have room for it in the car. I think (and I just told my hubby) that our focus this weekend needs to be on avoiding a situation where we stress Potter out by telling her to get off the bed--and if that means she sleeps with us, so be it. Won't be a problem when we get home since we baby gate them out of the bedroom, and the number one goal is to help Potter continue with her progress in feeling confident, even if we lose a little sleep. In fact, thinking about Potter in general, I almost think I need to do a sort of opposite of NILF with her--an "Everything in Life is Free." It seems like, when I do try to use treats--even, and perhaps especially, high-value treats--I feel like she shuts down, because maybe she's learned, in the past, that treats are associated with an attempt to get her to do something scary. It's funny, her sister feels this way about "coaxing voice"--it shuts her down. She responds great, when facing a scary new doorway or something, to a little quiet petting and then having us take a small step towards the scary thing. Then she follows, we tell her how brave she is, repeat, and eventually she's through the scary doorway. But try to coax her? No way! That signals to her that something scary is about to happen. We just haven't figured out a similar strategy that works with Potter...and I do think that the ptsd comment was on the mark. Kaja is just generally timid; Potter has some trauma around one particular thing, for whatever reason, and that plus her general submissive nature causes her to freeze when she feels pressured to do something. I think I need to break her association of "treats equals scary things"...maybe I need to start by just randomly giving her yummy treats, so she realizes they aren't always a signal that someone's trying to get her outside. Then maybe move to a super simple behavior like "watch me?" I think Potter needs to learn that fun stuff happens when treats are around, not scary stuff (which means I have to put on hold my plans to work on desensitizing her to thunder...I think she'd learn that treats equal bad scary noises rather than that scary noises bring good stuff. Her fear is stronger than the reinforcing value of the treats at this point). I should warn you--I'm a special ed teacher and behavior analyst, and I've had dogs all my life, but I haven't done any formal/at a class dog training since the early '90's and I think strategies have evolved a lot and in a good direction since then. So I probably know just enough to be dangerous! Let me know if I'm not on the right track here. (and greysmom, I appreciate the suggestion about the canine behaviorist--lord knows I'm a believer in behaviorism!--but the budget doesn't allow for that at the moment and I really do feel that Potter is doing well and making progress, so I'm trying to come up with a plan myself if I can). Thanks!