Feefee147

Ahhh the excitement of a new dog! CONGRATULATIONS! My boyfriend and I are a couple of months ahead of you - had our first grey for three months now. Believe me when I say you probably have a fair few more of those moments to come yet. It's amazing how sensitive these bags of lovely bones are. My grey still statues here and there, leaps out of his skin sometimes and is still nervous on walks. The one thing I have learnt is not to agonise over it..... so really don't stress! People weren't kidding when they said greys take a LONG time to adjust. The leaping excitement when he sees us if we've been out, throwing a squeaky ball at us whilst his ears bounce around and tentatively putting his head on my lap all (hopefully) affirm he's slowly settling, trusting and happy. But it's taken a while. It sounds as though you're doing a brilliant job with Rhea so you're probably starting to see little changes too. Slow and steady, and don't feel bad if she panics over something completely arbitrary - which she will. Have fun!

Ha! I hear you! 😂

Haha sounds as though Buddy is training you well!

Ahhh so staring is a normal greyhound thing? I've never know a dog to be so quiet and just look intently at whatever he wants, or stare at me if he has decided it is dinner time. Good to know that's a breed characteristic! I'm getting used to it but any other dog would bark, whine loudly, paw..... We ask him if he wants to go to the toilet and he either follows us to the garden and goes, or lays down and sighs. So I think he grasps the word. I think all the comments have hit the nail on the head - we need to buck up our routine ideas a bit. Thank you :-)

Sounds like Samson I think we've got a fairly set schedule now, but he does seem to need the odd adhoc toilet trip. So maybe we do need to be a bit better with our timings. I love the idea of a dog door. He's a big lad though so I'm not sure that's an option, sadly.

So we're three months tomorrow since our lovely big boy came to live with us. He's doing brilliantly and (slowly) mastering some commands. He's been superb with toilet training but.... (there's always a 'but'!) he doesn't actually ask to go. He knows where to go, trots to the door, goes in the garden and waits cheerily for a treat for his endeavours. All great. However, he doesn't actually ask. He just quietly waits by the door. Obviously if my partner or I spot him heading downstairs to the garden door its fine, but if we don't notice he does wait and then eventually leave a puddle by the door (rare but has happened). We're pretty vigilant but occasionally if we're working in separate rooms we assume the other has got it covered. I blame us rather than the dog, of course. He's not vocal at all - barked only a handful of times since we got him. He does whine when the doorbell goes so maybe I could use that somehow. I've also seen people saying they have put a bell by the door.... not sure I've got any hope of getting him to ring a bell :-) Any good suggestions? Thank you Fee

That sounds horribly stressful. I can't believe you weren't given a muzzle when he arrived! Our chap (we've had him just under three months) is always muzzled outdoors - as he is an ex racer we were told to do this when we fostered and then adopted him. He is 90% VERY shy but if a small fluff ball comes along he shows interest and swings toward them. We've got a nice light comfy muzzle and can easily pass treats to him through it. You can't control other dogs coming up to him, but you can control what he does about it. If you do want to keep him (although it sounds like you've got the ball rolling on rehoming) a muzzle REALLY helps, believe me. You can walk him without constantly having to scan and worry, and give him time to learn some new behaviours. It's slow progress with these lovely creatures but worth it. I've been working on 'leave it' and it is starting to sink in. Now, even if he fixates on a squirrel (probably the MOST exciting thing in the world to him! He'd go through fire to get one) he will begrudgingly turn and come with me. He did once boop a little Daschund with his muzzle so I do make sure I've got a tight hold on the lead when a little one comes near, but I find with a muzzled dog people are a little wary and keep their small dogs away anyway (which isn't always helpful with socialising!) It all takes time and if you're hoping to find a reason to keep him - a muzzle makes walking so much easier and pleasant, genuinely much less stressful. Good luck with whatever you choose to do! Fix

I've bought a kong and some peanut butter - great suggestion :-)

Thank you! Great healthy treat suggestions so I'll give them a go. Popcorn is a very random one, I've definitely not seen that suggested anywhere. "I tried to teach him ‘down’ earlier with a piece of gammon. He looked at where I was pointing, looked back at me, bed, then back at me as if to say ’are you for real?’. We got there after a few minutes" - that sounds EXACTLY like Samson! He clearly knows what "down" means and will do a bit of indignant pacing, looking at me shuffles before doing so (as long as the treat is 'good' enough). It does make me chuckle ;-) Wow 37kg is a very big chap! I'm finding the downside of big lads, especially the inquisitive ones, is the ability to reach a lot higher and further than I anticipated. Samson does now seem to be aware that reaching things in the kitchen is a no no, but it took a few cheese wrapper wrestling sessions before I realised quite how high he can get. I will keep going with the muzzle - thank you. My only concern with that is because he was attacked a few months ago he is still wary of other dogs. And with the muzzle other owners tend to completely avoid us assuming he's aggressive. Not so good when trying to socialise a shy dog. But I'd rather take it slowly and keep everyone safe when I'm not sure of his reactions, especially around little 'uns. The squeaky hedgehog has been ordered and I'll see if Samson takes to it - thank you so much for the suggestion!!

I'm glad it's not just me struggling with training :-) It's wonderful having a dog, rather than the usual fosters that I had to tearily wave off.....even if he is the size of a miniature horse! It's very heartwarming seeing him begin to relax and trust. Ten weeks in and I couldn't imagine my life without him.

Superb advice! I have been doing the same. He's too big to drag along and pulling him around would just make him more fearful and not solve the problem. I've found letting him choose the route has really made a difference and we can now walk cheerily without any freezing up. And if I do need to dictate the route he listens and obliges. Thank you!!

Ah thank you. I'm trying to stick to soft patches as suggested so hopefully that will help. :-)

Thank you! His feet seem to be getting getting a bit tougher, but he still comes home with sore, pink pads. Baby steps....

Hi everyone, I'm probably saying what all new greyhound owners say - so apologies for that! I've had my lovely big lad Samson for 10 weeks now. He is an ex-racer who was rehomed but unfortunately attacked by the new owner's greyhound, and so came to me for fostering a few days later with a large stitched up gash on his face. Poor chap. Not the best start to his non-racing life. I foster for a local charity (jack Russells, staffs, terriers) and he was foster no.7. A forever home with prospective new owners fell through after several meets (He's 36kgs and pretty big - they decided they wanted a smaller dog) and my little heart just couldn't deal with waving another dog off, particularly this gorgeous big meek chap, so I decided to adopt him myself. I know greyhounds are VERY different to other dogs but until he came along I didn't know quite how much. He was very introverted, nervous and statued a lot initially. He's come a long way with walking outdoors and can now walk past another dog without panicking, trying to go in the opposite direction and dandruffing everywhere (where does it all magically come from!), but still has quite mixed reactions - he either looks away and ignores other dogs completely with no friendly signals, OR if it is a small fluffy dog moves towards it very quickly! I am lead walking with muzzle several times a day. He's also gradually discovered a delightful love for squeaky balls so we head to an enclosed dog play area a few times a week so he can chase around after a ball. His feet still get quite sore though when he's charging around, poor thing. I was curious as to muzzling and if owners continue to use them all the time? Or should I be doing more to socialise him (difficult during coronavirus times!) and aiming to be able to walk him safely without a muzzle in time. Indoors he is becoming a real sweetie. He's still pensive with excessive or overzealous stroking and playing, but does tail waggle and run around like a lunatic if I have been out. That said, he gets very excited and then looks surprised at his own reactions :-) He has learned "down" - took a lot longer just to train this basic command than for any other dog. He can also manage "wait". "Come" is sporadic. That's as much as I have managed and all are carried out only if a treat is forthcoming. He's such a lovely gentle chap that "no" is rarely necessary. But I would like to do more training with him just to bond and engage. He sleeps a lot, of course, and seems to spend his days snoozing close by (he will settle in another room but prefers to come and lie down in whichever room I am in) and waiting for food. I've never known a dog so food obsessed, but on the plus side he isn't fussy - he will eat ABSOLUTELY anything. I'm feeding twice a day and giving treats for training, but aside from that I'm hoping the regular food routines will mean he becomes slightly less food obsessed (but I'm doubtful!). As I am training and engaging with him I am worried about his weight. I know that ex-racers tend to fill out a bit. He's not overweight at all and I'm keeping an eye on it, but does anyone have any good training treat suggestions that are healthy instead of the usual shop bought treats? And lastly are there any good tips for games, playtime and keeping him stimulated? He's gradually started enjoying to play so I'm trying different toys and games to see which get him interested. Obviously, being a snoozy grey, he's not keen on prolonged periods of play. But it would be nice to find different things to try so that when he does want to interact we have plenty of fun things to do. Any hints and tips gratefully appreciated! Fee

I’m sure this is a well trodden topic (so to speak) so I’m sorry if I’m going over old ground! I have an adopted ex racer (charity volunteer foster that I ended up keeping as I just couldn’t bear to let him go!). He’s been with me 8 weeks and is doing well, starting to play and come out of his shell. He absolutely loves bounding around after a ball. However, whenever he runs around he ends up with bloody feet. My garden is mainly wooden decking and (horrified) I though he was getting splinters, even though I couldn’t find any. So I switched to a nearby safe and enclosed dog park (grass, path, nothing unusual) and he’s still charging around coming back with sore pads and scrapes. Help! Any tried and tested solutions out there?

Ours was the same - 5 yo Ex racer timid chap who had no idea how to interact or play. Any fuss or touching and he would statue. We’ve now had him 8 weeks and he charges around after a squeaky ball, throws his toys around and wags his tail madly if we’ve been out (even for 10 minutes). Its very slow progress, compared to other breeds, but a lot of patience and super gentle interaction (and lots of positive treats) has brought him out of his shell. Slow and gentle ..... she’ll start to learn to live a little 😁