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SCW

Just Whelped
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Newbie, be gentle

Newbie, be gentle (2/9)

  1. Hello! I posted on here previously and got incredible advice - so i'm back for more! We have recently adopted a stunning greyhound boy. He is the sweetest thing and has absolutely charmed us. He's only been with us a week so it is incredibly early days, but i'd like some advice on socialising with other dogs so that we start on the right foot. When he sees most dogs, he is *very* keen to get over to them. No barking, just pulling (he is usually a loose leash walker!). I'm not sure if this counts as reactive as I honestly can't tell if he's just intrigued and interested. When he sees very small dogs, his prey drive definitely gets triggered and it's a different, more intense, reaction. All but once he has been under threshold and has still been able to be distracted with a treat (although he instantly refocuses on them!). He is obviously also on leash, muzzled, with a harness - so no worries from that perspective. I'd really like to hear some thoughts on what we should do to get him used to other dogs.We see other dogs daily on our walk - will seeing them at a distance help him, or does he need to have some introductions? I don't think he knows they're dogs so i wasn't sure if he needed to get up and smell a few for it to click? Currently we are in lockdown so all training classes are closed and i don't feel comfortable letting him get close to other dogs if I don't know the owner when i can't vouch for him. I have a few friends who have offered up their dogs but none of their dogs are what you'd call calm - I'm not sure if that will do more harm than good? ;-) Are there any other ways to get them used to dogs? I don't want to flood him and overwhelm him! Any advice is so appreciated!
  2. Thank you so much for all of your kind and thoughtful responses. After some hard thinking we have decided to take him back to the adoption group - who have been very good about it, and are viewing it as a 'first foster' situation where they are now more informed about what he needs in a home. We are heartbroken and will take a bit of time to recover before we think about adopting again but we will be back to it! Potentially looking at an adoption group where the hounds go into foster first so that it's more of a known situation. Thank you again :-)
  3. Hello!! I'm really hoping that somebody can help here. We adopted our greyhound a few weeks ago. When we adopted him we spoke about the fact that we were first time dog owners, in a busy suburb and that he would be in close contact with other dogs frequently. Since bringing him home it's clear that he is very reactive to dogs - growling, barking and lunging regardless of whether they are big or small (all dogs we have come across have been well behaved and on leash). He starts reacting when they are really quite far away. We've tried reducing his walks to give him less of a chance to come across dogs at close quarters (currently because of this we are just taking him round the block) I completely understand that this is fear based and he is still settling in. We have been trying counter conditioning by giving him treats when we see a dog coming - if we see the other dog in advance. We decided that we'd like the support of a behaviorist as it's difficult to fully manage interactions in such a busy area and contacted our adoption agency to find out some contacts. They advised us to return him to kennels. We are really surprised by this, but wonder if it's simply the case that reactive dogs shouldn't be in an area that is full to the brim with other dogs at close range, or maybe some dogs just aren't right for first time owners. We feel awful at the moment and don't want to let him down - either by keeping him in an environment where he won't be happy, or giving him up if he could overcome this. This board seems to be a fount of knowledge so i'd really appreciate opinions, experiences etc.
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