[How do you know your hounds love you?]

Love reading these replies

[How do you know your hounds love you?]

For those that have had your dogs for along time or have owned many in the past, what are some signs to you that you are special to your dog?

[Spook greyhound]

My dog is not a spook but your post is so incredibly sweet. Thank you for your insight, it's definitely going to help me in the future if I ever have a chance to meet or take care of one.

[Timid hound and confident cat!]

9 minutes ago, greysmom said:

Give it a try, as it sounds like you have a cat tolerant dog.  BUT you have to *make sure* the cat doesn't bully the dog.  Just because the cat is smaller doesn't mean it can't behave properly with a housemate.  It has to learn new rules and behaviors as well.  So keep a squirt bottle handy for when the cat gets uppity or tries to be mean to the dog.

If you wouldn't allow your dog to behave that way, you shouldn't allow your cat to behave that way.

Thanks, I haven't even thought of the fact that my cat may be trying to bully the dog! I've never had to punish her ever so it didn't even cross my mind. 

 

Thanks for the little confidence boost! 

[Timid hound and confident cat!]

Hi, I've had my 2 year old hound for half a year now, and upon meeting my 10 year old cat, he got a nice swat to the face, and a claw to the butt to let him know who is boss in the house.

I've had them separated with the dog upstairs and the cat downstairs (go figure right? haha) and they've been great with baby gates up. My dog tries to avoid the gates and when the cat is in sight he tries to run away or doesn't make eye contact.

At this point I'm fairly confident that they will get along in time, but I'm not really sure how to go about the next step, and I definitely don't want to rush things and move backwards. I've opened the gate and have the cat come upstairs, she will look around the room and even lie down in the same room as the dog, the dog pays no attention and has even fallen back asleep.

I'm afraid that my cat will think the dog sleeping is an opening and she will go at him for some free shots if she's feeling cheeky. Generally she is pretty low key, she's never bitten or scratched me once.

Should I just let them be under supervision and keep pushing the envelope farther? Or would I make better progress by getting them in a smaller more controlled space  with escape routes for each to properly say hi to each other?

[Tell me about your daily schedule please!]

9 hours ago, Remolacha said:

I just wanted add, this morning it was cold so *I* refused to go for our walk until it warmed up a bit  I knew she could go out into the yard if she needed to pee. She didn’t, so it was from around 5 yesterday afternoon until around 8 this morning between pees 

I’m used long times between outs, especially overnight, but this was, I think, a new record for my dogs!

This gives me some peace of mind whenever I worry about the 8-9 hour mark

[Helpful, if You are Considering a Greyhound :)]

Thanks  Love your videos - and also love that we are in the same state! 

[Sleeping together in the bed - will this be a problem in the future?]

My boy has settled in quite nicely now 4 months in, he's been sleeping in the bed with me about a month in after I got him, and it's never been a problem. He moves when asked and has never been startled awake by me, and I've never been awoken by him through the night.

 

It almost seems a bit too easy. I've been known to move a lot during sleep and I'm not sure if I've nudged him or rolled on him while asleep but if I did it hasn't seemed to bother him as of yet. I'm fairly large (~180 lbs) so if I roll on him the wrong way it'll definitely be bad. If he hasn't been startled as of yet, can I assume that he will be alright from here on out?

[Greyhound with awful coordination? Ran into me.]

my 2 year old goofy guy runs into me all the time. he also has a bad habit over stretching with his paws on your feet so his nails dig in.. not pleasant haha

[Sudden Aggressive]

On 10/9/2020 at 12:51 PM, Time4ANap said:

A vet check is the first priority.  Your dog may be in pain or have some blood related value that is off and causing odd behavior. 

If that's not it, there has to be some triggering event or the dog is testing boundaries.  For now, no furniture privileges and petting only takes place when the dog is standing up and comes to the person for pets as a safety measure. Use the OFF command when he gets on the furniture. If he doesn't know it, you are going to have to teach it.  He may be trying to claim the furniture as his space. 

Do dogs randomly start testing boundaries? Not in the same topic as OP but my dog has been a complete angel but it's been three months. Should I anticipate something like this happening?

[collar,should you take it off ?]

The collar stays on all day for my dog, then off when I go to sleep to give him a break.. Then right back on in the morning

[Is it common for some greys to have little to no prey drive?]

Maybe I've spoke too soon! Today in our closed yard, for the first time in 2 months, Starry became hyper aware of a squirrel in our backyard and instantly went from laying down chewing on his chew toy to bolting at the squirrel at full speed, it was quite shocking to see since he's ignored just about every critter since I've got him. Now I definitely see how the switch can get turned on at any moment. Still terrified of the cat though!

[So, Sully (on his lead) got hold of a small dog who was off lead while out walking :-(]

When I'm walking Starry, I'm always ready to get in between him and anything that's coming at him quickly. However Starry is more of a shy kind of dog and isn't aggressive towards other dogs, so I wouldn't be too concerned of him hurting me. 

 

I always try to have him feel he's safe, and it's worked so far with more curious dogs that will go in his face

[How much exercise?]

On 8/13/2020 at 9:18 PM, NeuroticGrey said:

Here's the deal - I've had my first greyhound, my sweet weirdo, Twyla, for nearly 3 months. She's settled in while she often has a long face (haha - that's a joke), she seems pretty satisfied. I'm perplexed about her exercise needs. I take her for a long walk in the morning, usually about 45 minutes. We do a potty break and lunch and again after dinner. I'm prepared to take her for another long walk in the evening, but she's scared of the dark and the various dicks who race their motorcycles around our neighborhood. She'll reluctantly go out and pee and wants to get straight back inside. Several times a week we hit a park and/or a dog park at early hours when nobody else is there. Once in a while we meet up with other greys. Occasionally, she throws her Kong balls around and plays indoors. Is this... really enough exercise for my elite athlete? I find myself oddly stressed about it. I stew about it. How much exercise do your dogs need? Should I be giving her more? Or is this ok? The question I'm always hung up on is... IS SHE HAPPY????

Can I just say I'm sorry for the unsavory motorcyclists that live around you  I have a sportbike and I always keep my bike quiet when I am passing people with dogs or children.

 

For my grey, he gets out in the morning for about 5 mins to pee, and heads back inside to let me sleep for a bit more before work. Then he will eat breakfast and promptly sleep while I work. I can check in on him at lunch after 5 hours and let him in our fenced yard, sometimes he gets the zoomies but other times he will just have a little pee/poo, some sniffs and be happy to go back inside. Other times I'll take him for a walk in the afternoon, and he'll be content. Back to work, then home after another 5 hours, I repeat what I did at lunch, sometimes a pee/poo here too. Then at night around 10:30PM, I take him out one more time for 5-10 minutes for a quick walk around the neighborhood, he usually knows it's time to pee because I give him a treat occasionally for the last pee of the night for a quick turnout.

 

All in all, he really only starting doing zoomies/sprints in circles in the yard maybe 2-3 times a week, otherwise he is super lazy and doesn't really want to do anything other than lay down and relax haha. I think it varies dog to dog, my guy is pretty much happy to go outside anytime and won't complain, but also won't destroy the house if I don't have enough time to take him out for walks and only have time to let him in the yard.

[Is it common for some greys to have little to no prey drive?]

1 minute ago, greysmom said:

Yes.  It's highly likely he was sent to adoption because he "would not chase."   If you look at his races, his comments might actually say something like that.

He's probably fine with the cat.  Especially if she'll stand up for herself.  If you're still concerned over his reaction, have him wear his muzzle.  Make sure your kitty has several easy exit points from every room, just in case, and a quiet place to retreat to if she wants some alone time.

Thank you so much for the reassurance! I hope they will get along in the future, I really do. 

 

Allow me to pay my dog tax

 

[Is it common for some greys to have little to no prey drive?]

I've had my 2 year old retired Greyhound now for 3 months, and from what I've seen, he's just not interested in chasing other animals at all. It's quite odd, we are trying to get him used to our 10 year old cat who is very sweet with humans, never seen her scratch or hiss once in 4 years, and he is terrified of her. To be fair, on our first try she went right at him to and clawed him in the butt, but now they've been seperated via baby gate for a month with seperate halves of the house and he is comfortable around all areas even with the cat in sight and right up to the gate. 

On walks, he will see multiple rabbits, birds, and squirrels and he kind of stares at them and then continues on walking. He is really skittish around hyperactive dogs that will bark at sight, much better with calmer dogs regardless of size, never seen him get aggressive.

 

Is this quite typical of a Greyhound that has retired early? I'm just not sure what to do because when I try to do some research, it's flooded with high prey drive hounds and not much with shy and calm ones. 

 

Thanks for your time!