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Hello everyone! Long time reader, first time poster My husband and I adopted Chip (formerly YMe) just over a year ago and have enjoyed having him as our companion (first time greyhound owners). When we first met Chip at the adoption foster home, he was the most happy-go-lucky greyhound we have ever met - running around, wagging his tail, giving kisses and air snapping...etc. Super excited to meet us and it won us over. He was a bit shy settling in and took nicely to lounging his beds around the home while we both worked from home during the pandemic. We've noticed some shifts though in the year we've had him, and wonder what may have happened to change this happy dog into a much more reserved, fearful boy. Because of the pandemic, Chip was really only meeting people outside on our walks. We noticed a few weeks in he gave a slight growl to a neighbor across the road when he was talking with me. The neighbor is a bit awkward, and I feel like he might have been making a lot of prolonged eye contact with Chip - which was a strong move and Chip reacted. I don't blame him. But there have now been several instances where Chip have met men either outside or coming into our home that he has growled or aggressively barked as soon as they got in close range. Interestingly enough, he met my in-laws right after we adopted him and he loves when they visit and has no issue when first meeting them. But other family members met months later are triggering and he reacts to them (if they call his name or make noises Chip will run at them and start barking). I'm not sure if he is resource guarding his "homes" and people, is fearful, or if he just needs a lot of outside meetings before trusting men...women are typically not an issue. Additionally, we started getting some couch resource guarding (growling if my husband approaches him on couch and snarling if trying to move him), so we revoked that right and do some "up" and "off" training commands so that if he does get up there, we have effective ways to remove him from the furniture. He also hasn't been a fan of getting picked up for bath time or being hovered over. I don't blame him, but it is pretty crushing for my husband, who wants to cuddle with his dog. It is just so shocking, because we were the first of a long list to adopt Chip because of his friendly demeanor and easy-going nature. The foster bragged about how he would sleep during nail grooming with her - where as we almost had a bite incident last week with the dremel on his nails (just getting worse each time we trim his nails). I'm trying to incorporate small training steps with everything (rewarding when men pass us in the park, setting the dremel next to him and putting treats near it, got a trainer for separation anxiety and men issues...etc.), but it has been a bit defeating. I don't know if there have been too many big adjustments over the last year (we just moved to a new state and my husband went back into the office for work) that have made him fearful, but I want to do my best to make this a safe and happy home for Chip, my family, and any guests. Hit me with your wisdom and truth! Thank all!

Hey! I adopted a greyhound last week and I've never had a dog before, much less a greyhound! I feel very nervous about getting things wrong and right. Yesterday he was a charming thing that slept all day and didn't make a peep. Today he got up promptly at 7am to pee in my plant pot and has been restless and frustrated all day. He snapped at me a few times (I don't think it was aggressive though) and whined and even barked at me! No idea why, we'd been out plenty of times, he had water and was fed not that long ago. I also give him a LOT of cuddles and attention. He wakes up very early in the morning. When he whines I try to ignore it but I'm hoping not to have too many more pee accidents first thing. I've started feeding him some raw food and he loves it but he also seems totally ravenous after a few hours. When he barked I gave him a half cup of kibble and that calmed him down, but I know I'm not supposed to let him train me into getting what he wants! That being said, he won't empty his kong when I give it to him so he can't be THAT hungry? I love him to bits and I'm very excited to have a greyhound, but I just feel like I must not be getting it right.

Hello. My wife and I recently adopted a 2 year old male greyhound about 6 weeks ago. Overall he has been settling in really great and seems comfortable and at ease most of the time. However, I am seeking advice whether there's anything we can be doing to help him not be so fearful or timid when meeting new people, particularly while in our home. Overall he is inherently shy and typically won't let strangers pet him. Even if he's met someone before it doesn't seem to matter. However, I wouldn't describe him as excessively fearful either - just guarded. He'll approach and sniff, but from a distance and on his own terms. Sometimes (not always) we can entice him to accept treats from a stranger, but that show of goodwill never parlays into him allowing them to pet him. My wife is a singing teacher who works from home and she teaches anywhere from 2 to 10 students in our living room per day. Part of the reason we became interested in greyhounds as a breed in the first place is because they aren't known as incessant barkers and they're typically used to being handled by strangers due to the kennel environment - both traits that are essential given my wife's line of work. Luckily, the singing and loud sounds don't seem to phase him at all. The first two weeks in our home he hardly payed any attention to the students, I think because at that point in his adjusting to our home there was very little differentiation to him between his relationship to them versus to us. The following two weeks we were essentially snowed in together, so no students came to the house and during that period is when he truly became acquainted with us and began to bond to us. However, since my wife began teaching again about a week ago he has growled, barked, and sometimes lunged at her students on several occasions. Again, he didn't pay any attention to them at all for two weeks at first so we had thought that he was comfortable with guests at the house. But now that he is comfortable with the house and with us he seems to perceive visitors as a threat. Now we are wondering what to do, especially if we can't get it under control soon. We can't afford to sacrifice my wife's livelihood for the dog. Ever since he began acting out I have tried to carefully oversee and observe all of his introductions/interactions with the students. All of the students have been very gentle, non-threatening, and respectful in how they approach him. In fact, he never starts out the gate barking or posturing aggressively. Typically, he'll come over in an innocuously curious fashion at first just to see who has arrived, and then after 10-30 seconds he'll suddenly bark aggressively and assume a defensive (and aggressive, from the student's perspective) posture without warning. Clearly, for some reason or another he is fearful of them in that moment even though they haven't done anything to warrant that response. After we intervene he calms down and pretty much doesn't pay them any mind for the remainder of their lesson. Overall it's a pretty minor interaction, and if you have prior experience with dogs it's pretty easy to recognize that he's not acting purely out of aggression and that there's no need to be fearful. However, my wife has no prior dog experience, and it's clearly a rattling experience for her students as well. Plus, he's a big boy, which in itself can be intimidating. Also, although I discourage it, lately he's started following them around afterward out of curiosity to the point of being uncomfortably close in some cases. I'm sure this is very intimidating for the students, and if it led to another outburst that would be very bad. My primary question is are there any exercises or training we can be doing to accelerate the process of him becoming comfortable with strangers in our home (and in general)? I'm sure that in a few more weeks/months he'll naturally acclimate to the parade of strangers in our home, but I don't think we can afford to keep up the "I'm really sorry, I don't know why he did that" response for much longer. Also, I have been working from home as well during the entire time since we adopted him. So not only have I been around to oversee his interactions with students, but I've been primarily responsible for his needs throughout the day and he spends most of the day following me around. However, I go back to work exactly a week from today, and if there's anything we can be doing between now and then to make him less fearful of strangers it would really help give me peace of mind. Given my wife's overall inexperience with dogs I worry about something happening while I am gone. Clearly the obvious solution is to crate him up whenever company is here, but I really don't see that being a long term solution given the large number of people we have over during any given week. However, perhaps in the short term that would possibly help to get him accustomed to the frequent visitations and perhaps reduce any associated stress he may be feeling? Any advice is much appreciated. Thanks! - Derrick -

My grey barks and whines at 5:30am (if not earlier) every single day. It is becoming a bit of a problem, as the only way I can get her to stop peeing in the house at night is to take her out at 11pm or later, so I'm not getting enough sleep. She doesn't need to go out at 5:30 - I let her out and 9 times out of 10 she goes out and comes straight back in again. She just wants us all up out of bed so we can take her out for a walk. With winter approaching, it is going to be worse as we need to wait until it is light in the mornings. If she isn't barking at us, she is barking at our other dog to wake up. Anyone got any tips on how to teach her to be patient? Has anyone cracked this? (And yes, I realise we have a diva on our hands).

We have recently adopted Toby, a 2.5yr old retired grey from the Greyhound Adoption Program in South Australia. He was part of the TAFE program (veterinary course) and was therefore fostered for around 10 weeks with two different families before coming to live with us. He has been green collared, whereby they test the dog with other dogs, small dogs, cats, hugging, removing food etc. He passed and showed no sign of aggressive/reactive behaviour. This was in April. Since he has been with us (just over three weeks now) he has been very reactive to other dogs when we go on walks. Barking, growling, and if they are close (5-10meters) jumping and lunging. We told the GAP crew and they weren't sure why he was doing this. They told us to bring him back so that they could see his behaviour. He did the same with them as with us, but after 20mins of carrying on, he actually sniffed butts with the other dog and had a little walk together. Since then he is still reactive to other dogs on our walk, even other greys. Can we train this behaviour out of him? I really want to be able to walk him without other dog owners giving me dirty looks. He also seems to have developed separation anxiety (again when we adopted him he apparently didn't have this problem). We both have the luxury of working at home, but when we did both leave to get coffee (10 mins max) he was barking and whining the whole time, and he urinated inside. He is very good at night, sleeps in the lounge room on his own bed until 7am. He is also very good in the car. I've left him in there for 15-20mins (with the window open of course, and it's winter in Aus, so not too hot) and no problems. He isn't very good at stay, if I move out of eye shot he just follows me. Otherwise, he is such a great dog. He is really affectionate with people, has a goofy personality with heaps of energy and loves belly rubs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I've had my greyhound for going on 3 years now. When I first adopted him, he was crated while I was gone. He was crated for a few months. He never seemed to love his crate, but I was always advised to keep him crated. Then I received complaints that he cried all day. After this, I transitioned him out of the crate, and he seemed to relax while home alone. I was able to leave at any time and he'd just sleep on his bed, or the couch. He was very comfortable. About 6 months ago, I moved into a new apartment. I didn't even bother with the crate as he had been out of it for months at that point. When I first moved, he would cry when I left even though we were doing the exact same routine. I'd walk him, come back inside for about 10 minutes and ignore him while I did other stuff, then give a kong and leave. He settled in quickly and we got to the point where I could leave and he wouldn't cry. I believe it took about a week until he calmed down when alone. I could even leave at odd times like late at night, and he would be un-phased. I would come home and he would be sleeping in his bed. While in this apartment, I believe Ziggy was very independent. He knew my schedule and he was given a lot of alone time while I was at work and the gym. I think he enjoyed having the full apartment to himself. I would come home and he would be passed out in my bed and sleepily greet me, and then go back to sleep. Overall, he was just a quiet, lazy greyhound who was fine being alone. Now, I moved into another new apartment this past weekend. Following the same exact routines, he cries all day long when he's alone. My boyfriends work schedule allows him to be home mid-day, so Ziggy has much more company than he used to. Which I thought would be great for him. However, he just seems more anxious when he's alone now. Our morning routine is like this: 5am I wake up and shower. For the first few days, Zig would wake up and follow me to the bathroom. Now, he has remained in his bed sleeping, so progress there! 6am Feed Ziggy breakfast 6-6:30 my boyfriend is still sleeping, I'm getting ready in the bathroom, Zig is by himself sleeping on the couch. 6:30 I take Zig on a 2 mile walk/jog 7:15 I leave. My boyfriend gets ready, Zig sleeps on the couch Around 8 my bf leaves and Zig cries nonstop I come home at 11 and do another 2 mile walk/jog BF comes home around 12 Every time one of us comes home, we hear Ziggy yelping and crying. It seems as if he does it the whole time we're gone. My boyfriend said that he waited down the hall and heard Zig crying for 15 minutes nonstop. He then went inside and Zig immediately stopped crying and then got on the couch and fell asleep. It seems as if Ziggy just doesn't want to be alone. Even though when we're home, Zig does his own thing a lot of the time. I've tried increasing his walks and tiring him out. He's up to 5, 30 minute walks a day. He is uninterested in his kongs. As soon as we leave you can hear him run to the door and just start crying even though he has a kong of peanut butter. I've left the tv on like he'd been used to. He has his same beds and toys and blankets. Nothing has changed except for the apartment. Over the past few months (before the recent move), we have been trying to increase his independence while we're home. Before, I used to let him sleep in my bed with me. Now he knows to sleep in his bed right next to mine. He used to be my lap dog, but I was reading about increasing independence and not flooding him with attention while I'm home. Now, we reward him for laying by himself, or for staying put if we're up moving about. Is it just a matter of time before he realizes that this is his new home and we will always come back? Or is there a bigger issue I'm not seeing? He isn't destructive or going to the bathroom or anything bad like that -- just non stop crying and barking. It's only been a few days, but I'm wondering what I should do to fix this problem soon. I know there are tons of threads on this topic, and I feel like I've tried everything! Any advice on treating separation anxiety following a new move? He was such a quiet and relaxed dog before! And he seems happy and comfortable in the new place while we're home. Even roaching on his bed and passing out so easily and being his normal self. It's just total distress when we leave! Help please!

Hello! We adopted our 2.5-year old greyhound about 3 months ago. He’s the perfect dog for us and we love him dearly. Unfortunately, we’re dealing with some stubborn barking when we leave (no destructive behavior or house training issues). This problem didn’t start until after about a month in – the first month, he was very quiet when we left for work or if we went out at night. We could leave him for the full workday with no problems. He would sleep for the whole day in his crate (we have a nanny cam on him that records noise and movement). About a month in, we noticed he started barking a bit in the morning; within a week the barking had escalated to on and off all day – and we got several complaints from neighbors. Once we realized this was an issue, we took several steps to address the issue (and have communicated kindly and generously with our neighbors that we are working to fix the noise). Here’s what we’ve done: · Took him to the vet to rule out medical issues since the barking was sudden (he has low neutrophil levels for a greyhound but nothing else, we’ll get him rechecked soon as advised by vet to see if that’s just his base level) · Got him a DAP collar · Re-done alone training. We leave and come back slowly increasing our time, and always take away his Kong on our return. Sometimes we can successfully reach one hour this way. · Increased his morning walks to 1.5 hours (about 5 miles). These go from 6:30-8 a.m., and we leave him around 8:30 a.m. · Hired a dog walker who takes him on a 20-minute walk around noon (he also gets an after work walk of 30-40 minutes around 5:30 each day). · Got him a Kong wobbler to play with in addition to his frozen Kong full of kibble mixed with rotating very special treats (he gets a second Kong when the dog walker leaves) · Tried calming treats (first Composure; now switched to Nature’s Calming Moments) · Tried leaving different types of music/TV on (no effect so we stopped) · Put the shades down (this helped – we think the sun gets in his eyes otherwise!) · Got a Xanax prescription from our vet (made him super goofy and maybe even louder so we didn't try that again) · Left him out of his crate a couple times (no destruction, but was just as loud or louder, barked by the door, seemed a bit “lost” so we recrated him) · Leave our worn clothes with him From our work, we’ve definitely seen an improvement. We’re pretty consistently down to about 20 minutes of barking/crying or less in the morning (always begins after he finishes his Kongs) and about 5-10 minutes after the dog walker leaves. BUT – and it’s a big but – sometime he’ll totally relapse. About one day every week, he’ll go back to barking on and off for a couple hours. Nothing as bad as he used to, but he is very loud and we can tell some of our neighbors are losing patience. We can’t leave him at night because his noise is unpredictable, and if he has a bad night and we can’t get home soon enough, the complaints roll in. Plus, we’d really like to reduce his regular morning barking of 20 minutes or so (although we think it's impractical to expect him to be completely silent!). Our vet said he would be a bad candidate for long-term anxiety meds because he’s generally a very confident dog. Our rescue group suggested at first that this is less of an “anxious” barking than a “bratty” barking – he wants us to come home to play and he’s going through his acting out period. Apparently, he was the “kennel favorite” at the track and very spoiled, got lots of out of crate time and attention. He is a super social and people-loving dog. He almost never makes a peep when we’re home. Basically, we’re wondering if anyone has ideas about whether we just need to wait it out – do we think that his progress will continue and his bad days will go away? Or do we need to change what we’re doing and try something else? Specifically, we’re wondering if we need to reconsider medication. He does show some signs of anxiety like panting and yawning during his barking periods. Exercise seems to be the thing that really helps him – he does particularly great if he gets a 2-hour walk or a chance to run with other greys. But unfortunately, it’s tough to fit in that much exercise before work! It’s so encouraging to see his progress, but heartbreaking to watch him relapse into crying and barking – and extremely stressful with our neighbor situation. Also, we cannot get another dog because of our lease. Thank you for any insight!

I adopted 3.5-year-old Tanner a little more than a month ago, and he's been such a great addition to our family. I think he's figured out that he's now in his forever home because just last week he started barking. It's a tail-wagging playful bark, but it's a little intimidating nonetheless and I'm not sure what he needs. He's usually been walked, potty-ed and played with. Anyone else dealing with random bouts of barking? I try to keep my cool when he does it and not react with barking back at him!

Please help. I've made a big mistake and I don't know how to fix it. I went on holiday and put my dogs into a pet hotel. It's a family hotel that we have a good experience with but it was the first time for my dogs. They're very close so I thought that being together would make it easier for them to adapt to a new environment. One of them was fine but my greyhound (3 years old) was suffering bad separation anxiety and he barely ate and he did nothing but lie on the floor, which resulted in him having bad sores all over his body (as greyhounds have very thin skin) and he lost a lot of weight. He looked terrible when I picked him up. The first night he was back home he barely left my side and was extremely clingy. I felt so guilty and so sorry for him that I let him sleep on my bed against my better judgement. And of course since then he only wants to sleep on my bed and throws a tantrum if I don't allow him. The problem is that I have a baby sleeping in my room as well so I can't let him bark and whine and bang on the door etc. What can I do to get things back to normal? (i.e. getting him to sleep in his own bed & helping to get his confidence back) Is it possible that getting him a crate might help? Thank you for reading!

Hello All! Cyrus has been adjusting to life here pretty well. Everyone tells me how handsome and well behaved he is and I feel like such a proud mom Nothing new to report on Mac front, but no news is good news. A really strange thing has happened tonight though. Around 10:30-11pm tonight Cyrus goes into his crate to lay down and I head upstairs for a second. We've been playing crate games and he's gotten pretty comfortable hanging out in there on his own terms, so this isn't the strange part. I make it too the top of the landing and I all of a sudden hear sounds that honestly give me flashbacks to when he attacked Mac, until I remember Mac has made zero attempts past our two gate system. Cyrus is growling and barking and running around our living room frantically. He wasn't in his crate long enough to fall asleep and be startled out of a dream. I watch him from behind the baby gate at the bottom of the stairs just in case he redirects his aggression. I'm terrified at this point as he has never shown any signs of aggression to us, but he starts pacing laps through our kitchen and living room searching and growling. After maybe a minute he settles and walks over to sniff me on the stairs and goes to lay down on the sofa. I'd called our adoption coordinator in the meantime and he thought maybe he just had some pent up energy and wanted to run zoomies in the backyard or he was bitten by a tick..There was no indication that this was play related. I go over and sit across from him on the other sofa and all of a sudden I see him lift his lips and sort of make a face like he's going to howl, but he growls and jump off the sofa. He doesn't make any attempt at me just paces the room frantically. At this point I'm sitting on the back of the sofa clutching a pillow as I'm sure my dog is about to eat me. He runs a lap and jumps in a chair and very pointedly starts growling at the window, then sniffing under the sofa I'm on with his entire head under the sofa, two things that he has NEVER shown interest in. Maybe its a rodent? I check the floor and don't see anything. I call his name and he settles down on his bed. I walk to the backdoor to see if maybe he really did need to go out, as when he was pacing he started lifting his tail. About an hour earlier he'd done all his business on a walk and has never had problems in the house. I reconsider after realizing I wouldn't be able to really monitor our black dog in the dark so I come back in the living room and he's fine. He comes over to me from his bed and licks my hand and goes back in his crate like everything is fine. He isn't limping or bleeding so I go back upstairs for what I originally planned. The next hour goes by without occurrence. My BF comes home and I'm telling him what happened when Cy jumps out of his crate and starts growling at the window again. My BF calls him over and pets him and Cyrus seems fine and lays on his bed. He starts making faces like he needs to vomit and I'm thinking maybe he's had something in this throat and it's been distressing him, but nothing comes out and he settles back down. He isn't showing any other signs of distress at this point and calms down to the point of sleeping in his crate. I decide to sleep downstairs to watch him. He's been fine going back and forth between his crate and bed without issue, until just now when he got up in a start again and barked at the window. It's now 6am and the sun is coming up. What in the world is happening? I can't for the life of me figure this out and he's not showing any other physical signs of distress other than jumping up in a start ever so often to bark and growl at the same window and pace. I've considered a number of possibilities. Toothache? A tick? Panic attack? Is our house haunted? Is the government performing low frequency testing nearby and it's being directed into one specific window? He isn't directing any aggression to either of us and he settles down and sleeps with no problem in-between the outbursts. Cyrus never barks and never really moves with any haste towards anything. Nothing has changed in this room, the house, his diet and we've spent almost every waking moment together while I've been on vacation the last few days. I'm pretty worried about him As I finish this he's roaching on the sofa like no big deal. At least one of us can live without worry...

Per my adoption groups advice, I've always crated my greyhound when nobody is home. However, I am thinking about transitioning him out of the crate, and would like some advice! He's always been crated because we also have a cat. At first, he really seemed to like his crate, but now he's not. Lately I've had to lure him to get in his crate, so I think it may be a sign he's more comfortable in the apartment rather than his once safe-haven crate. In addition, I just received a noise complaint about him crying/barking during the day when he's alone. I'm wondering if I transition him out of the crate, the barking/crying will stop. Anybody have experience with this? He is completely uninterested in the cat, so I'm not worried there. I'm more worried about what trouble he could get into when alone. I know it's not completely the same, but there are times when I'll leave and my sister will be home with my dog, and she'll stay in her room and leave him by himself for hours and all he does is sleep on the couch. This is a good sign of what he'll do when the apartment is actually empty, right? I'm really hoping that the crying and barking is just his desire to be left outside of the crate. Does this sound like it could be the solution to the barking/crying? Any advice for making this transition? Thanks!

Hello! I've had my greyhound, Ziggy, for about 9 months now. I've always been crating him while I leave the house because that's what my adoption group, and other greyhound owners have always told me to do. Ziggy is fine in his crate -- When I leave for work he walks right in it and curls up with his toys. When I come home, he knows to remain calm and quiet for about five minutes while I ignore him before I let him out. However, when I leave at a random time, like if I go out to dinner, or leave for the gym, I walk him in his crate and he's hesitant. He doesn't want to go in, and then he'll start barking and crying. Is this because he's uncomfortable with me leaving at a time other than our normal routine? Any advice to keep him calm and quiet here? Oh also, I should mention, if Ziggy's been crated a lot that day, I'll try not to leave and crate him any longer. If I know I have plans that night, I always stay home with him all day so he doesn't get crated for a long time. I really want to get him out of the crate entirely, but I've been hesitant because of advice from my adoption group. Also, we live with a cat. Ziggy could care less about the cat, but the cat is terrified of Zig, and will hiss and growl at him. For this reason, I've kept Zig crated. I was wondering if I could keep him out of his crate, but still in my bedroom (where is crate is kept) and just leave the door shut. Any insight as to why he barks and cries when I leave at a weird time, or any advice to help him stop would be appreciated! Also, any advice to transition him out of the crate. Like I said, I'd love to keep him in my bedroom (this is where he has all of his toys, beds, food/water, so I know he's comfortable there) until I can trust him and the cat together. Thanks for the advice!

Hi everyone! Need some advice again, you have never steered me wrong. I have had Gardenia (3 yr old retired racer, mild-mannered) for almost a year now. I am now looking to adopt another one (for her, as a playmate), but we are having some issues. When she first showed up at my door last September, she came with another greyhound (the adoptees wanted to see which one took to me better) and she was fine with that other dog. She seemed to enjoy the company of this dog and was even "sad" when they left (she was hanging out by the front door for hours). However, I have noticed that now she really does not like being around other dogs. I have not been able to get her to play with other dogs, as she just wants to pounce, chase (lol), or be "cranky" (as we like to call it) around other dogs. I generally keep her away from other dogs and avoid the dog park when other dogs are there. She shows her teeth, barks, gets snappy, and generally just does not like when other dogs approach her, but she never bites (I pull her away because I am scared of this happening although she has never done it, even when given the chance). Is there an explanation for this behavior? Do you believe she will ever get over this if we get another greyhound? She was obviously okay at a certain point with other greyhounds. I am wondering if anyone else had this problem and how they got over it. Does it just take some time/conditioning? Me and my fiancé are willing to put in the work to get the dogs to get along, but I want to know how to get to that point. Also, when taking her out for a walk, she always seems VERY interested in other dogs. She never barks or snarls, just looks and wags her tail. However, when they approach her, especially in a quick manner (mostly when THEY are off the leash), she starts to show her teeth and snarl. We took her for a long walk the other day and we came across an unleashed dog. The dog did not approach Gardenia (as most tend to do) and after a while she actually ended up approaching the other dog with NO issues. Is this just a territory or insecurity thing? I am really hoping this is something that can be overcome as we really want her to have fun with another dog. It's not just for us, it's mainly for her to have a companion. Thank you in advance for all your comments and suggestions.

I've never had a greyhound who does this. When I take Parker for a ride, he barks nearly the whole time. He's been the only dog in the vehicle when we go places and we don't just go to the vet office (meaning he's gone for short rides somewhere positive - and he received food). Could it be his anxiety? Any suggestions? Someday we'd possibly like to take him to Dewey but can't endure 6 hours of barking dog!

We got Baxter about a month ago and he seems to be settling in well except for the fact that he whines and barks almost every night now. At first he'd only whine at night when he had to go (one night he had diarrhea) but the other nights when he whine my mother would take him out and nothing. It's getting to the point where we're losing sleep. Sometimes my mother has to go sleep on the couch. We tried leaving a light on and the tv even but nothing works. We even reprimand him sometimes but that only works for a while. I don't know what to do. He doesn't do stairs so he can't sleep with us and if we let him out he pulls things off shelves or bites the knobs off drawers. Anyone have any tips?

So this is more behavioral but I'm curious if anyone has any experience with this. We find that Lupin barks about 5-6 times a week for a couple minutes at a time. We knew he would, being a galgo, and it doesn't bother us, but the circumstances when he barks are a little odd to us. It's almost always right after he wakes up and there never seems to be a reason. He will wake up from what appears to be a dead sleep and run into another room then start barking. We used to think that he heard something, but it has happened on several occasions where absolutely nothing (that we could hear) changed. We keep our window shades closed at night so he can't see out of them, and he doesn't seem to have a target that he is barking AT. Is it possible he is waking up from bad dreams or nervous that he fell asleep in a room we weren't and thinks he's alone? Again, it's not something that we need to fix, just something that we are curious about. He is adapting QUITE well

On June 10th, I adopted a sweet female grey named Lois. At first she was fine with everyone in my family which includes my grandparents, parents, and four sisters ages 16,11, and 5. But as time has passed, she has started to snarl and bark every time my smallest sister gets near her. The first few days, I didn't hear a bark or a snarl and now it was three separate times today. I am really confused with what to do because some posters say that being aggressive toward my grey could cause her to be more aggressive toward my sister. I really don't want anything to happen to my sister and it hurts her feelings when she is just trying to be sweet and Lois freaks out. Do you think this behavior can be fixed or will it continue? If need be, I have until Tuesday to take her back to the retired racing home that I got her from for my sister's safety. What should I do?

HI, all well me and my partner have ended up with 2 greyhounds, We have never had greyhounds, but have had lots of other animal and strays that need a home due to neglect, health or saving them from being put down. This is the case with the greyhounds we first got Polo on Sunday, being told that if a home wasn't found he was being put down on the Monday. We couldn't say no, how anyone can put a healthy animal down is beyond me. When we went to pick him up there was another one more there, but he was meant to been taken if though the other person had let them down a couple of times. Any way Wednesday phone call Mario was going to get put down that day if he wasn't taken. So the first night we ended up spending the night with polo (Sunday) as he would not settle and keep crying out. Managed to get him with the use of the radio not being turned off to settle at night, but at 4am he stirs and well wants out and attention. Then we added Mario in at first we had, this is my bed issues, but we worked that out and the help of muzzles. The share the same room and of course, being such short notice for both a few hour info before we hadn't gotten kennels for them this does not seem an issue but now we have the both of them at bout 2am and 4am and some time 6am which we our up for they start barking not 100%sure which one but the greyhounds don't bark... Is a lie in our house. i know its early days, but any advice on calming this would be appreciated we can't separate the dog due to the fact we have 5 cats as well, as I said look after any animals that need it why we get the call if an animal in trouble. Mario Polo

My computer's been down so I've been kinda scarce around here lately, but I have a bit of an issue that's been building for awhile now. If you want you can just skip to the end, but otherwise bear with me. So Dane has become more comfortable here, he's become stupidly protective of the house/his territory. He gets really riled up on our walks around the neighborhood when he sees other dogs (though I don't blame him because a LOT of them are really rude in dog language+the number of "beware of dog" signs around is unreal....). At our training classes and the dog park, he's lovely. Completely calm to indifferent. We even passed the CGC! (Step one in our service dog training). However, the real concern is that he has taken exception to anyone being around the house. On our way back from a walk the other day, we rounded the corner and Dane started barking his head off at some little old lady. We just passed the CGC, Dane! Come on!! Fortunately he calmed down fairly quickly and she was very patient and understanding. Inside the house, however, we have a bigger problem. He loves to bark at our guests. I've tried making it very apparent that they are welcome here, by formally shaking their hand or actually inviting them inside at the front door, but it doesn't seem to make a difference. He barks his head off at guests/workmen/deliverymen/family members. Like my aunt and uncle? Who come over on a regular basis? He still barks his head off. (I had them let him out a couple times once, and he barked the whole time apparently. Again, over at their house? He's a total angel.) A different aunt is staying with us for X-mas, and while the barking has lessened, he still barks at her, and occasionally lets out the strangest growls I've ever heard a dog make. (It's a weird rolling... engine-like sound I guess? Or maybe 'circular throat purring/growling' It's bizzare.) She got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night and he barked his head off again. I guess this isn't "new" new behavior, but he definitely didn't do this a few months ago. To sum up: How can I get my dog to relax in our house and realize that the humans are the ones who decide who is and is not welcome in the home? What's the best way to counter-condition this behavior (humanely) without teaching him to stop communicating at all? I don't want to accidentally train him to be silently aggressive. (Although I don't THINK he'd bite anyone... I don't know. We've got a pretty close bond now, and he's probably also super-protective of me.) He's so, so, so good away from home. He's normally such a mellow, calm guy, but we've only been together 5-6 months. What if his behavior gets even more porotective to the point of aggression? I know this is an unusual problem in greyhounds, but I'm just not sure how to proceed here. When I mentioned it to my trainer some weeks ago, she wasn't too concerned about it, and she thought it was a plus, but now I'm not sure. I think it's gotten more intense. It's definitely more aggravating if nothing else!

Hi fellow members, My girlfriend and I are new adopters of Sam, a 3 year old ex-racer, who we have had for almost 2 months now. Things are overall going very well with Sam. He has an extremely calm temperament (exactly what we wanted), he is getting along well with our cat (after cat de-training), and he is nothing less than an angel when we are around. HOWEVER, when we are not around, he tends to panic. We both work 9-5 jobs so Sam is alone for most of the day. We always leave a kong before leaving and the radio on, he can go a few hours without saying a word, and then he can begin vocalizing for 2-3 hours straight (often times we get home and hear him vocalizing from the hallway). He has been crated since day 1. We were told to give Sam barely any attention when he first arrived and that's exactly what we did. We read a lot about alone training and did everything we read (including some of the great tips in this forum!). We tried leaving him alone uncrated (as this was a suggestion), and taped him while we were gone, he continuously paces and howls and vocalizes more than when he is outside the crate. So we keep him crated as he is overall calmer. Luckily, he does not display any destructive behaviour (no accidents yet). Since we live in a condo, we are beginning to be worried about the disturbances he is making, and after this much time, it does not seem to be improving. We continue to do some alone training, but we are still not seeing improvement... Any insight and expertise you can give us would be extremely appreciated. Thanks in advance

Please help because my husband and I cannot keep going without sleep. We brought Gable home almost two weeks ago (BTW - he is doing MUCH better with the cats, a previous help request). Obviously little sleep the first couple of nights. Then he settled in and would sleep until about 4, which is ok since we both leave early for work. However since about last Thursday he has been waking up earlier and earlier (3 am, and most recently 1:40 am) and has been skipping the whining and going right to the barking - which is LOUD. There may be a trigger. He started PT for a broken leg and my husband and I have been having him come out of the crate to get his leg rubbed and ligaments stretched at night. (He is still staying crated most of the time as he earns our trust with the cats.) We have been doing the treatment on the bed, which he enjoys sprawling on and loves the contact. Have we created a monster by starting to do this? We have a new momeory foam bed that will now be the new location for the massage. Any recommendations to undo the early early early morning wake-up calls? Today I went and laid on the couch to be a presence but not interact, until about 3:45 when I told him NO! and to LAY DOWN! Which he did, momentarily. Also, anyone have any good luck with any herbal rememdies to chill out their dog and encourage sleep through the night? Should we be increasing the out of the crate time and get more energy out of him before bed (without irritating his leg more)? Maybe his bed in the bedroom, which would kick the cats out temporarily - they sleep next to me each night. Crate is too big to lug all over the house and Gable gets whiny when he is in the crate and the cats walk by. Maybe a nightlight? The room is quite dark. I just want to be able to sleep until 4 am when the cats normally get me up! PLEASE!! Thanks Sandy and the now very chill Gable, since we are up and arounf

So we feed our greyhound once in the morning and the evening. He's started barking in the morning around the time we'd feed him. This is at 6 a.m. before our apartment complex's noise curfew is lifted. This bothers me not only because I like the little last bit of sleep I'm getting but also because if I feed him, which I was planning to do soon, he may see it as a reward for barking. Something I do not want. How do I discourage this behavior?

Some background: We've had Mika now for about 6 months, and have had very few problems with him. He was a double-bounce and had been in three foster homes and two homes before we got him. He's smart and his last foster mom was pretty good about laying out the rules. Mostly he's a good boy, but he's got a couple issues. When he is unsupervised, he has to be crated. Really this is for his own protection, since he is SUPER destructive. Most of the time he is fine, but occasionally he finds things and chews them up and very often ingests them. We tell people his middle name is "dietary indiscretion." He's like a lab in a greyhound suit. I don't think this is anxiety related, since he's done it before with us sitting in the same room. It's amazing how quickly he can rip open a toy and eat the stuffing, squeaker, and sometimes the toy itself. We have very limited toy options for him now, sadly. He also rips up pillows, cushions, blankets, dog beds, dog pads, rugs... You get the idea. I think he enjoys it! His crate is downstairs, alongside our other grey's crate. We can't have him upstairs with us because he is not trustworthy with our cats, and quite frankly, they need a refuge from him. He's always been happy in his crate, and sometimes goes in there on his own. He doesn't fuss or cry when we leave, and until now, he's almost always been fine in there at night. The new problem: Occasionally in the past he has whined in his crate when we've gone to bed. It's happened maybe 4 or 5 times in the 6 months we've had him. One time he had diarrhea, and another time was a bad reaction to tramadaol. I usually wait until he's quiet, and then take him outside on a short lead to make sure he doesn't need to pee or poop. No petting, no cookies, just a quick outside, since I don't want to reward him. Sometimes he continues to whine, and we ignore him and it stops. This happened on Wednesday - he cried for awhile, I took him out, he cried for awhile, and then cried and howled for awhile (maybe 15 minutes), and then finally stopped. No problems on Thursday or Friday. Not a peep. Last night (Saturday), the same thing happened again. We went to bed late (as we often do) around 1AM and the whining started at 1:15. I took him out again, and he did nothing outside. I put him in his crate, and the whining escalated to howling. I took him out again, and this time he peed. Back in the crate, then more whining. Then howling. Then full-on barking. We figured he would tire himself out eventually, but he barked almost non-stop for 45 minutes. I came down to check on him, and he was standing in his crate, wide-eyed and panting. We tried turning the light on for him. More barking. Finally, around 3:15, I gave up and came downstairs to sleep on the couch. He could see me from his crate. He stopped barking but would break into whining, so I finally just let him out. He flopped down on a dog bed and went to sleep within 90 seconds. I know I shouldn't reward his barking/crying/whining with attention or by letting him out, but two hours of barking was really more than we could handle. Today I am exhausted and not sure what to do if it happens again. We need sleep! And I'm concerned the neighbors will complain, eventually... I've thought about muzzling him and leaving him out of the crate, but quite frankly, he's pretty destructive with the muzzle. He rubs on things violently. There's a spot on the outside of our house where he's rubbed the paint off trying to get his muzzle off. Inside, he knocks things off shelves, scratches and dents walls and scrapes furniture trying to get it off. Suggestions? Thoughts? Help?

Hi all, It's always something over here with these two fawn goofs, little girl is finally getting over her allergy attacks and now we've got a boy with too much to say in the evenings. Every night, when DH and I sit down for dinner (usually late, around 8pm), Ferris barks. I've been training him to "go to bed," so I tried asking him to do this and I'll toss him a treat. He stays there quietly for maybe 30 seconds, then it's back to barking. If we ignore him, he gets up off the bed and stands right next to us to bark more. The "go to bed" training has become almost a game for him where he will run to his bed, lay down nicely, I toss a treat, he waits a bit, then gets up to bark bark bark - and repeat... He doesn't do this any other time, quiet during breakfast and lunch, in fact he doesn't make noise much at all otherwise. Each night when we're eating though, it's the same routine. If I get up in the moments he's quiet and pet him on his bed, he roaches and loves the attention, but then my dinner gets cold In the grand scheme of things, it's not a huge deal, I suppose - but we live in a condo and I don't want to start making my neighbors angry! Would love any ideas... FYI: They get their dinner around 6 and then a short potty walk. DH gets home from work to much fanfare around 7:30-8. Last trip outside is around 9:30-10. He's not hungry or needing to go out. It's not medical - just had his annual check and no other issues... T And of course, a couple recent pics, cause he's darn cute even when he's a troublemaker

Hello. My family adopted an almost 4 year old greyhound close to three months ago. It has been an adventure to say the least! Here’s the rundown of the biggest problem at the moment… At night he’s waking me up crying and barking. We bought a crate and had been putting him in that at night but he now it has become a problem as he gets very upset during the night, even has tried to bite his way out of the cage and getting his jaw stuck. For several days we tried having him upstairs with us. The first night we baby gated him into our Master bathroom, which worked out well. Night two he wanted nothing to do with the bathroom so we let him in our bedroom and put him in a crate that was right next to the bed. He also was very upset in the crate even with it next to our bed. We tried letting him out of the crate and baby gated the entrance to our bedroom but it took him a long time to settle down. The next few nights were even worse so we ended up putting him back down in the family room. We do not crate him at this point, although his crate is available to him, which he will lay in from time to time. The only catch with him being back in the family room is that we cannot let him out immediately before going up to bed at night (10 pm). We have to let him out early enough (around 9-9:15 pm) that when he comes back in he can lay down, settle in and then fall asleep while the tv is still on before us going up for the night. When we go to shut off the tv we put the radio on for him. If we don't let him settle we're faced with him whining, barking, etc. until we come back down. With all this said, he is still waking me up 1-3 times in the night. Each time he barks he is up and standing by the gate to be let out. Only once did I come down to find him laying down just looking for someone to be near him. He typically eats dinner between 6-7 pm and then has treats at 8-8:30 or so. I also try to limit his water after dinner. Any suggestions on how to phase out these night time outings? I know he can hold it since he's home alone while we are at work and is not having accidents. Thanks for any help you can provide.