Hello! This is my first post here, but I've read and learned a lot from this great forum. Me and my girlfriend adopted a 2 year old racing greyhound about a month ago. We thought we were well prepared, having read a few books on retired racers, but now we need your help. Our boy is a very sweet and lazy dog (usually you find him in the sofa) that's been eating a drinking well. The problem we got is the walking part. At this moment he does not pee or poo inside anymore, which is great relief. However, after putting on the harness, and going down the elevator (sixth floor) he freezes. He usually gets out of the elevator, but then either just before or after coming through the main door to our apartment building, he wont go anywhere.
We have tried with lures which have been working about a third of the times. We have tried dragging him in the leech a bit, but he just refuses to go and seems a bit cruel (?). It seems like he's scared of the outside world. The solution that's been most effective is when me or my girlfriend gets out of the door and "disappears" for a minute, and then show up again. Usually our dog leaps towards that person which gets him out, but this means we have to be 2 people every walk. When we have managed to get out, he usually walks very good without stopping. However after he's got his business done (which usually happens near the home), he wants to go directly home. When this happens, he freezes when we we're walking another direction than home.
It should also be said that often when there comes another dog walking, or sometimes just a human, he usually gets a bit scared and tries to go away from the dog (which sometimes helps with the walking part if the other dog is coming from the right way).
All this makes the walking part very frustrating, and I feel we have to act now before it turns to a bad habit. Please help!
