Michelin

We went through something similar with our dog too, similar timescale re adoption to behaviour (although fortunately for us, no surgery, poor Gary!!). We had a few more reactions than this but we ended up stopping him coming on the sofa with us and we also now only pet him when he is clearly asking for it. We've had no reactions since. Good luck

Hi Tash, I thought I would add that we have been working on this hard with our dude Mich too. Admittedly with limited success so far but I get the sense Mich is particularly anxious. We found Patricia's short book to not be enough detail for us and also read a book called Be Right Back by Julie Naismith and another by Marlena de Martini Price (although this last one is really for trainers it's still helpful). Julie Naismith also has a Facebook group which is helpful. Mich is currently on fluoxetine too which has helped him previously (although it's not at all been a lifesaver). Good luck!! Hope you have better luck than us 😅

Oh gosh thank you for this lovely message. Exactly what I needed to read. So glad your dude has found a good home. I think you're right that training will help as he will know what we want from him - got to work on that as we have only made progress with wait and recall so far! Thankfully we haven't had a reaction since last Wednesday and we have a trainer coming tomorrow. Fingers crossed it all works out.

Hi @HeyRunDog - thanks so much for commenting. And I know what you mean, we wondered that too. Although, equally, I have read a lot about pack theory being disproven and it's so hard to know what's right! It's tricky though because at least half the time I've actually not been nervous as I've really not expected it - and I have also stuck to my guns and ignored it, whilst keeping my distance, and it's still happening. Thank you for your reassurance about returning him. We are still going to try and work through it first, but it is nice to not be judged. We've tried hard to do right by him.

Hello, We have a usually very lovely but (as with many!) super anxious adoptee called Mich. He has had challenges settling in, including a rather intense fear of his reflection, bad separation anxiety, and reactivity to dogs. We've made some progress, and he has been on fluoxetine for maybe 7 weeks. It seems generally that when he is scared, it results in aggression and it escalates quickly. I have seen lots of posts with people having challenges in these early months and getting tips as well as a bit of moral support and I guess I'm hoping for some of the same! This is a great forum. We have really fallen in love with him and don't want to let him down. Mich has began reacting angrily to me. Not my partner at all. He is usually very affectionate. Seems to be mostly in the evenings although yesterday he did it when I came in from separation training in the morning. It's a mix of growling, leaping, barking, air snapping. Luckily no bites yet. Worryingly he doesn't always growl or bark first but leaps. For now I am spending my evenings upstairs away from him. We can't suss out whether it's space aggression, sleep startle, resource guarding or what. It's happened in a range of circumstances - after he invited me to pet him and then decided no. Sometimes it's when I move - come into a room he's in, enter the house, or come downstairs. In those cases I have been approaching where he is although sometimes at quite a distance. He is still hanging out with me, is excited to walk together, and coming to me for neck scritches sometimes. He's generally a nervous dude though, yawny and liplicky. We are trying to find a behaviourist now to help as we are very keen to work on this. I guess my first question is - anyone encountered anything like this? Our adoption group just said we should return him. My second question is - this is making me worried for if we ever had kids. Admittedly, I think this is at least 3 years away - possibly more. Have people's doggies relaxed during those first few years at all? I can live with being careful around him but this (seemingly) sudden switch flip to aggression is making me nervous. Thanks for reading my short essay 😅😅 am feeling so down about this and would love any advice.

Aw thanks. Mich also watches TV! I wish he'd want to play with himself rather than going for it - but you're right, we'v ejust got to be patient.

Ah thanks for this, that's kind of you to dig around. Reddit is a good shout. Reassuring at least to see other dogs have similar experiences. I wondered whether he had ever seen his reflection. I need to find some success stories...!

Hi, We adopted Mich almost 7 weeks ago, a 2.5 yo retired racer. He's a lovely gentle giant - mostly! Nervous and SA, velcro-y - much like what we've read about most new adoptees. About 2 weeks ago, he started to react hugely to his reflection. To human eyes, it went from 0-100 in about 30 seconds and as he is still new to us and it was me alone I was quite scared - snarling, lunging at the mirror. I know it was wrong of me to be scared, doh, I have probably made it worse. Poor thing must be so scared when he sees it. He is also a bit dog reactive on walks - really staring and keeping an eye on them. We were going to a rec but sometimes dogs are off lead there and I think it was activating his prey drive. There is a badly behaved dog that lives upstairs who we have crossed paths with a couple of times who strains and barks at him and he lost it once and went off back and I think that must have also sparked the fear of Mirror Mich. Frustratingly, it now seems like we didn't realise that we live in a disco ball - glass doors, mirrored wardrobes, white shiny cabinets! We covered everything up but continually miss things - the shower screen, a photo frame that we didn't realise was within sight. As he has been allowed on the sofa with us, we now can't watch TV. In lockdown! On the advice of a behaviourist we have started counter conditioning - with mirrors and dogs on walks. Tricky in a small maisonette as we need distance. I am not sure if we are making progress... It feels like no, although I know its not been long. I would really love to hear if anyone has had any similar experiences with their greyhounds and if they got over it, or even got a bit better, and if anyone has tips! Gosh I would love to watch TV. Right now there is not a lot else going on... Thank you to anyone who replies!! I have googled the heck out of this and it seems we have a pretty extreme situation - feeling a bit alone about it all.

Gosh, I know a little time has passed on this and you've had heaps of validation but I just wanted to say how helpful this was for me to read to identify with how you are (were?) feeling. You seem to have rationalised it really well and are doing everything you can. We adopted Mich on 12 Dec (also UK) and I felt exactly the same. I cried loads in the first week. It was such a surprise to me as we had prepared a lot (I thought) and had a proper rescue dog in the past with their own set of behavioural problems. I do love him now so much and basically rationalised it the exact same way as you. It is useful to have a month in your mind for sure (I did at first!) but hopefully once you get there you will be in love. Our Greyhound Trust was surprisingly unhelpful afterwards with the one issue we asked about. I hope yours is better! Mich was entirely velcro in the way you describe at first. And he almost still is - but now he doesn't cry every time I use the loo, shower. We are at the stage where I can leave him downstairs with a frozen Kong for half an hour before he comes looking at me now. Progress is incredibly slow - I don't really believe in letting him cry too much (each to their own) - but it is there. We do have a bed upstairs in our spare room and started with him in our bedroom and then gently moved him out, foot by foot, into the spare room. Now we have the door open and he can come and check we are here. We are hopeful once he properly settles we might get him downstairs. I found Patricia McConnnell's book didn't give me enough detail to feel confident (neurotic over here) and I really have loved both Julie Naismith's book (she has a really brilliant FB group too) and Malena DeMartini-Price's. They are a bit bigger so go gentle on yourself - nothing has to be solved this instant, or even in a couple of weeks. Good luck, and I hope you are okay!