Jules

Thank you everyone, sorry I only just saw these replies, as I wasn't notified for some reason. Even since I wrote this post just over 10 days ago, he's definitely chilled out some more, although still jumpy on walks, but I feel like he's making progress. So yes I feel like patience and time is all we need now, fingers crossed and we'll get there, thank you for the reassurance, and that book looks really interesting too, as the lead walking is the main thing we're struggling with now. He's fast asleep by my feet as I write this, which is the most relaxed I've seen him yet, sleeping with his eyes open, so that's gotta be a good sign!

Hi everyone, I suppose I'm just looking for some reassurance really. We adopted this lovely boy 5 days ago, so extremely early days I know. He's been so sweet and gentle and well behaved, and lovely with my two little girls. He's just so nervous, and I want to try and do what we can to make things easier for him. I feel like it's getting worse rather than better! Over the last couple of days, he's become terrified of going into the utility room to eat- we thought he may be scared of his reflection in the bin, so we removed that! He eventually does, but with much coaxing, and it means he's not drinking enough so I've been bringing the water bowl to him and he laps it up! He's also extremely jumpy on walks, and now on going into our garden (which he wasn't so much before), nothing bad has happened as far as I know in our garden, we usually take him out on the leash, and stay with him as he's been getting used to it. On walks, I stupidly let him get close to another dog breed without a muzzle on, and he nipped the other dog- totally my fault, as he's not used to them yet, and I've learnt my lesson, but I'd love for him to be less anxious around other breeds especially as my mother-in-law has two small dogs. Trying to give him as much space as possible, and not disturb him in his bed etc. I've considered crating, but he's never known a crate and I'm worried this will just heighten his anxiety. Thanks so much for reading this far, any words or wisdom and/or reassurance from experienced grey owners (which I am not!) much welcome!

Thank you again everyone for your encouragement and great advice. So lovely to hear about all your (not so young) greyhounds and how great they are doing! We went to meet Ziggy again with our girls, took him for a walk (he wanted to go on another after we finished!), and all going well, will be bringing him home in 3 weeks. We’ve all fallen in love with him so fingers crossed it all goes to plan!

Thanks so much for your really helpful responses. Definitely has reassured us and I think we're going to go for it, once the kids have met him and checked all ok! Some really helpful advice too- this is a fantastic group!

We are considering adopting a 6 year old retired greyhound. We’ve never had a dog, let alone a greyhound, and are trying to make sure we’re considering all eventualities. We have two (human) girls already 🙂, aged 3 and 7, and the greyhound centre have taken this into account. We really loved this 6 year old boy - I suppose my only worry is his age- considering we have two young children- will he still be energetic enough to keep up with us?! We’re not SUPER active, but We love the outdoors, go for days/afternoons out at weekends which may involve a a few miles Gentle walking/roaming. I know greyhounds are already lazy by nature so will a 6 year old be ok do you reckon? Thanks so much in advance!