stevevt
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Posts posted by stevevt
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2. Mine was pretty similar, but probably to a lesser degree. I put him in his crate whenever I was cooking or eating. Eventually, it was the crate with the door open and him not popping out. Then, it wasn't too long before he didn't need to be in the crate. Now he's really great about not begging for food past the first sad-eye check-in, at which he always gets a "not for you" and then he picks a bed to lay down on.
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I'm really happy to hear to that he's settling in nicely. Congrats!
Like HeyRunDog says, you might have a temporary setback here or there, but don't let that stop you from enjoying the time you're spending with your amazing new hound.
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I think the crate might be a good idea. That's the thing, though, it's just likely and not a sure thing. But trying it does make sense based on you saying he seems overwhelmed with the space.
He'll settle down and learn the ropes if you continue to be patient with him and firm when needed. It's just a question of how long it'll take, not whether it'll happen. As you note, he's a young hound so he's going to have a lot of extra energy to burn compared with how he'll be in a year or so.
If he's nibbling on furniture or walls, etc., maybe try spraying his likely targets with bitter apple. I did that with EQ, and provided him with some chew toys, and it was a night-and-day turnaround. I also suggest using a muzzle if you need to leave him alone and you think it'll help.
My overall suggestion is not to start thinking big picture WHAT HAVE WE DONE thoughts until he's had more of a chance to settle in and you start to see some of his true personality come out. It's very, very early right now.
Have fun and good luck! This group is a great place to bounce ideas, so I also recommend you keep doing that as things go along.
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Spring-loaded self-closing door hinge? Or would that not work with your son?
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If it's practical, you might try temporarily using a longer leash. I also suggest varying the places you are walking -- especially in terms of how close you are to the road and other noises, covered areas vs. open, dark corners vs. light. You might find some variable he prefers. Once the proverbial floodgate is open, you can work toward being comfortable on the shorter lead, in all kinds of places, doing it more quickly, etc.
You should also be ready to praise (including a high-value treat, if that's his thing) when he does potty on the leash.
He'll eventually get the idea. The fact that you were willing to be out for 2.5 hours is actually a great sign in terms of the patience you are bringing to this endeavor.
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What do you think would happen if you both took him out, but you left the walking party on your own toward the end of the walk? It might take a few tries before Samson could handle that, or maybe he'd be fine because he's already on his way back home. Then, the idea is you'd slowly do the disappearing trick earlier and earlier -- not every time, but on random occasions. The second-to-last level would be you both take him out the door but you immediately go off in another direction. Once this was comfortable, you could then move to random times where your partner took him alone -- maybe with you pretending to get ready for the walk as if you were tagging along.
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It's hard to suggest a plan without knowing what's happening. Can you stay up and watch or set up a camera so you can see what's going on? It's at least possible your Galga is moving to the couch on her own, your new guest takes the vacant bed, and there's no drama.
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4 hours ago, Tiahn said:
I'm just really hoping that his behavior this morning was a once off and isn't something he thinks is acceptable behavior.
10 hours ago, Tiahn said:I moved closer to Max and moved him away by the handle on his harness and he immediately growled and snapped at me
When you grabbed his harness, did you do it from behind in a way that might have startled him? In other words, did he see you coming?
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I'd only use treats when I'm seeing the behavior I want to see, as opposed to change the anxiety level in and of itself.
I agree that confidence with your dog will be helpful, and you should also try to physically position yourself between your dog and the other dog. When your dog starts to learn that you are in charge of these interactions and you won't let anything bad happen, you should start to see some improvement. Of course, all dogs are different and the degree of improvement and how far you'll get will vary.
There are lots of Youtube videos on this topic that should be useful.
If things don't improve (no matter how slowly and incrementally), consider using a dog behaviorist.
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3 hours ago, Dani said:
Sorry it wasn’t clear. In good weather she walks normally but when it’s raining she will walk out, maybe 20 steps, then stop dead and refuse to move. She has a coat. I just don’t know what to do, she’s had no real exercise for 2 days now and the rain isn’t forecast to stop any time soon.
Some stuff to try:
- no coat and holding an umbrella over her. [The problem could be she doesn't like the feel of the coat. It's something she could get used to, though.]
- if her coat has a neck portion that can roll back, do that. [The problem could be she doesn't like the sound of the coat up near or against her ears.]
- use the coat as usual, go 15 steps, turn and walk the other way, then turn back around when you can anticipate the next time she'll stop; then, repeat [She's in a groove with the stopping behavior.]
- praise, praise, praise, whenever you get the right behavior (heading out the door, moving in the right direction, exhibiting calm/not worried body language)
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Are you saying that she won't go out in the rain? Or that, now that it rained and she was out in it a small bit, she no longer wants to go out whether it's raining or not?
If it's the first one, try a raincoat or even holding an umbrella over her. My guy wouldn't go out in the rain when I first got him, or at least he wouldn't do his business, but I got him a raincoat and he was fine. Now he's comfortable enough to be out in the rain without the coat if the rain isn't too heavy.
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For the stairs, try keeping the leash on and go up next to him. Not to control him or force him except maybe a small bit, but more to give him confidence. You can also try finding a small set of stairs (3 or 4 steps) and starting the training there.
He's brand new, so I'll suggest that just because he doesn't like treats now doesn't mean he won't like them eventually. or even soon.
Besides the crate, you can also put a muzzle on when he's in a situation where he might want to chew things he shouldn't.
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petimeds.com and pet-i-supply.com appear to be the same company as petsupplyexpress.com. (A quick whois lookup confirms this.) I've seen some of this buggy behavior on petsupplyexpress.com, but it was temporary and only lasted a couple days for me.
If you're not using Chrome as your browser, try that. Or, try a different device (phone/tablet/laptop/desktop).
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Does she always jump in when lured by a high value treat? If so, keep using it but slowly reduce the quantity. You should also try to switch to rewarding her for jumping in without showing the treat (i.e., no longer luring). The next step would be to to randomly (and I really mean randomly here) reward her for jumping in. Then, eventually, you can work on completely eliminating the reward.
I'm still working on all of this with EQ, but I consider it a victory that I no longer have to lift him into the car.
It should help if you're able to be super patient, which isn't always possible when you're trying to get a car trip going. So, set aside some times when you are able to wait things out. I found that if I waited long enough, EQ would almost always jump in on his own eventually. The usual training suggestions apply here: Don't give the command more than once (so you're not training her that the cue is you saying it over and over), give rewards for every step in the right direction, don't give attention for the wrong behavior, etc.
If all this fails, you might consider putting a treat in the car ahead of time and just pointing it out to get her to jump in. Make the car a place where amazing treats might just happen on their own, and Bette might be motivated to check if the Treat Fairy has left any presents just in case.
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Why do you feel that muzzling will make him worse? I think you should try it. If he's kept from this chewing behavior, he might be calmer and happier.
EDIT: He seems to have a wide range of chewing interests, but you might also consider spraying bitter apple or similar on his preferred targets. That's worked for me, but I feel like yours might just chew other things.
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Chewy appears to have the second one in stock.
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His first night at pinball league.
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50 minutes ago, LBass said:
Welcome to the wonderful world of Greyhounds! Aren't you glad he noticed the fan but wasn't freaked out by it?
Definitely. He's really laid back about pretty much everything.
25 minutes ago, FiveRoooooers said:ps, are you calling him EQ?
Yes. EQ is his official name. It's short for Equuleus, a constellation name that means "Little Horse" in Latin. He doesn't know his name yet, but we're getting there.
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I just got my boy EQ Sunday. He's generally quirk free (and amazing in every way), so when a quirk popped up yesterday it stood out.
My living room ceiling fan has been on continuously since EQ arrived. I turned it off last night as we were getting ready to leave. Not only did he notice the fan not moving right away, but he kept looking at the fan and then me and then the fan, 5 times or so. All the while, he had a not-previously-seen worried expression on his face. "I think the ceiling's broken," he seemed to be saying. I thanked him for noticing, and we headed out.
This is a dog who barely reacts to new and weird noises, my comings and goings, etc., so I was happy to have a small glimpse of something that could fit in this part of the forum.
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2 minutes ago, dmdsmoxie said:
Steve,
WW Machu Pichu ran 73 races between Dubuque, Wheeling and Southland. He only ran one M race at Dubuque and that was his very first race. Dubuque is a seasonal track that usually closes in October so I think that is why he one had one race there. At Wheeling he ran 10 M races before he finally won. His racing style, of breaking slow and having a good finish isn't the style for Wheeling where you really need to be near the front at the turn to have a chance to win. Plus, Wheeling is our second best track so a lot of good dogs there.
The decision was made to move him to Southland our best track. However, Southland had the chance to be a better fit for his style of racing as their sprint distance is 583 yards as opposed to Wheeling's that is 548 yards.
At Southland he bounced back and forth between the sprint distance and their 660 yard 3/8ths course. He never excelled at either distance, but his closing ability when he fired was outstanding going from near the back of the pack to winning in the stretch. His problem was he didn't fire that often and was a nice C/D dog.
Dick
Thanks for this info! Quick turnaround, too!
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Hi Dick, I just got Ww Machu Pichu a couple days ago and would love a style/performance summary.
Thanks!
-Steve
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I'll add:
Make sure you're cleaning any accident spots with an enzyme-based cleaner. The first one could be an upset stomach, and the ones after that could be a "this appears to be a good spot to go" problem.
Disappointing visit to the Nature Center
in Cute and Funny things Greyhounds do
Posted
Went to Tractor Supply with EQ the other day to pick up a bag of his food. He loves TS because he gets attention and, most importantly, a treat at check out.
They were out of his food, so we left and he didn't get his treat. Took him a while to get over it, poor guy.