Alfie2020

Thank you. I am trying to be responsible by coming on here for advice BEFORE anyone has got bitten.

Thank you

I asked for advice and am happy to take it. What I am NOT happy to take is people telling me my son is at fault. As you said, when your Sheba bit your niece you were at fault. I would be happy to accept responsibility in the same way, and I have come on here asking for advice BEFORE anyone has been bitten because I am trying to be responsible.

A genuine thank you for your response. I will look into what you've recommended.

Thanks for the suggestion. I had just been reading about the important role of feeding and walking in hierarchy, and was wondering if my son being involved in the feeding at least might be beneficial?

I came here for the advice of your experienced group. It is the attitude of the original responder I have an issue with. My son loves Alfie and is an innocent in all of this, as is Alfie. When the first words of help I get on here are "the ten year old was wrong. Period" he can stick it. He can say I'm wrong in my parenting or pet care, but my son is blameless and his judgemental attitude stinks. Thank you for your more measured response on the importance of respecting Alfie's bed, resource guarding and trading up.

I wasn't asking for help with sleep startle. I mentioned that only as background. We are well aware of sleep startle and why that happened, and leaving Alfie when he's sleeping was the first rule on the board. I was asking for help with growling at my child, once when he was in the vicinity of Alfie who was awake and watching us. I say again I asked for advice because I want to do what's best by all parties. If somebody comes out of the blocks not even addressing my question but telling me that my 10 year old son is the problem I owe them no respect at all.

Just to clarify, we got Alfie from a national greyhound rescue charity after explaining our family circumstances and that we also had young nieces and nephews. Alfie was suggested to us as an easy going hound who should be good with children. As first time greyhound owners we obviously sought a lot of advice from the provider and others. I gave lots of backround in my original post, but was mostly querying our reaction to new behaviour from Alfie - having growled at the 10 year old on one occassion (somewhat undestandably) when he was on his bed with his ball, and on an occasion when he was just in the vicinity. Our reaction has been to move his two beds permanently into the corner of rooms so that he felt more secure - we had sometimes had one bed more in the middle of the room so that it was in front of the patio doors, and as I said this is where he was when he growled. We have also suggested being more aware of his space and positive reinforcement by giving him biscuits if fussing him on his bed. Thanks to the constructive and sympathetic replies that have said we need to be respectful of Alfies space. As I hope is clear, I posted asking for advice on what we're doing because I want to do the best for all members of this family, especially Alfie. I hope it's also understandable that I would get defensive when the first reply I get as a new member ignores most of what I've posted and says that my 10 year old son is completely at fault. I suggest that although they may know greyhounds, Don has sod all understanding of people and should stay off the boards.

Thanks for the advice around the crate. However, our 10 year old most definitely WAS NOT IN THE WRONG. If there was disagreement between Alfie and our child it would have been our fault NOT HIS. I'm aware that there is obviously something that Alfie is communicating, and that we want to make him happy and respect his boundaries. That is why we are reaching out to others with experience. However, I will not have our child blamed for loving Alfie, especially as for all his life he has respected dogs and asked before approaching them. I also am uncomfortable with the idea that it is out of bounds for us to approach Alfie under any circumstances when he is on his bed, although as I've said we are trying to figure out how we can reach accommodation with him, and would never knowingly approach him while he's sleeping. I especially resent this high handed statement when this comes from someone who's dog was quarantined by an Animal Control Officer for biting.

Hi all, Just after some advice / opinions on what we're doing. We adopted our first greyhound - 5 year old Alfie - from a rescue centre in the UK about 6 months ago. He's settled in really well and done himself proud with how he's adapted. We've talked a lot about how he has a slightly different relationship with each of us in the house. We both work at home but my wife spends more time with him than me, but he's more likely to look to play and do zoomies in the back garden if I'm around. And he's bonded very well and been very tolerant with our 10 year old human, who lets him out in the morning and gives him biscuits, and lies with him and give him cuddles regularly. We had one instance of Alfie snarling at me early days when I tried to get him to drop a toy so I could throw it for him. After that we looked for advice online and from an experienced greyhound owner, and we ended up rotating his toys so he didn't get too possessive of individual ones, and I respected his space more while he's chewing one. A couple of weeks ago he had his first instance of sleep startle when he was sleeping in his bed in the middle of the the floor and our 10 year old went in for a cuddle before checking he was fully awake. Jake was shocked but Alfie was very contrite and they made friends again straight away. Then in the last few days Alfie was on his bed in the middle of the room chewing his ball and growled when the 10 year old came for a cuddle. Obviously this is a bit understandable, but he hadn't done it in the 6 months previous. At the time we had a lot going on, and we told Alfie NO and sent him out into the back garden. Then two days ago again he was lay on his bed in the middle of the living room and he growled when our boy moved anywhere near him, without even coming towards him. This time we just told him NO and then ignored him for a while. Obviously we don't want the (human) boy to be worried or scared around Alfie, or loose the relationship they've got. But we also realise that Alfie is telling us he's not happy about something, so we're trying to fix this. What we've done so far is moved his two beds into the corner of the rooms so that they feel more secure to Alfie. We've also made sure that our 10 year old gives Alfie plenty of warning if he's on his bed when he goes to stroke him, and has taken a biscuit with him if he's going to get down on the floor with him. What I'd like to ask from people with more experience from us is if they can spot anything with what we're doing that could cause us real problems, or if there's any suggestions for us. Thanks in advance for any help Tom