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Good morning everyone! My husband and I are looking to adopt our first dog, a greyhound!!! We are so excited about it!!! Though, there is one point we need to figure out before we dive into the process. We have two wonderful (and crazy) 7 months old kitties at home. My husband and I are both work so we are gone about 9 hours everyday. We do not want to crate the dog all day long, and I do not want anything bad happening to my kittens. We also know that the association we want to adopt from cat test all their dogs. So my questions to you are: Is there any danger in letting the dog muzzled and free inside our house all day with our kitties? Or should I crate him during the day and leave him free (but muzzled) during nights? The last thing we want is to put the lives of our kittens in danger! Thank you

Hi, I'm new to greytalk. I'm not new to greyhound owning but I need some help. I got my first greyhound Kif almost 2 years ago, and another one, Dexter, a month after that. Cat and bunny friendly. Yes you read that. I've had a great experience overall with learning greyhound body language and training and enjoying the companionship of the first two. First (Kif) was about 1.5 yrs when adopted after 2 weeks in a foster home, was shy for a long time, but he came out of his shell. He's still reserved overall but he's a content confident guy and a happy dog. Second one was 2.5 yrs when adopted, just 2 days off the track, and was/is a happy boy, more dog-like from the start. Neither are barkers, neither really play with toys except to carry one around now and then and give it a shake. All soft toys still intact since the start. They are now 3 and 4 years old. Not big chewers. Good companions and cuddlers and listen very well but I can't really remember how things went at the start, I'm a little hazy. Agh I'm too young to have a memory this bad! I started using a bark buster trainer within the first few weeks of getting Kif and also hired her for Dexter. I can't remember how long I let them get acclimated before starting training. She only had to come over a few times and my husband and I took it from there (well mostly me...). Both are very well adjusted, sweet, mellow dogs. Well trained. They listen well and behave politely. (No sitting though, I don't bother and I don't care - they do everything else I've taught them and they lie down on command.) Kif just took a while to stop averting his gaze and be confident. Dexter can still be a little stubborn and act like a nitwit if he knows he did something naughty but that's incredibly rare (basically digging in the backyard is the thing and only happens a few times a year). Both of them are tail wagging, head up, look you in the face, happy, confident, and sweet. Both were house trained or got it right away. I really didn't have to DO much of anything. Dexter doesn't give much indication but he will hold it unless it's diarrhea (don't blame him) and I didn't know it, but that's only happened two times in two years. Kif's only problem was poo eating, but I determined that was only if either of them ate anything peanut butter flavor anything so all peanut butter is off limits. I started the process of getting them registered as therapy dogs but found we had a chronic hook infestation and that's just.... ongoing. Just found a less expensive treatment and I'm going to just try to get a negative sample and then start up again with it. That's not the point of this post, anyway! Introduce third greyhound Sisko. Adopted from the same rescue as the first two. Over 1.5 years old, even bigger than the first two (first 2 are just shy of 80 lb and healthy weight -- this one was 80 lb and severely undernourished, will prob top out around 90lb). So, he's incredibly thin. Like hip bones stuck up an inch at first and between foster mom and me they're only 1/2 inch tall now but he's still very thin. They all eat the same high quality food and he was eating it at foster moms so no food adjustment there. Foster mom was a barkbuster trainer. I am hoping to take what I learned from the first 2 and not have to hire the trainer for this one, since I had to spend a lot of extra money on Hurricane Irma prep and house/fence repair. Sisko's last race was 8/31, he was with his foster family at least 2 weeks, and I adopted him 1 week ago. He has -0- confidence, and when we saw him online and contacted the rescue to adopt it turned out he needed to be with other greys anyway - super separation anxiety to the point he would not eat if not around other dogs. Tested cat and bun friendly. (Not testing more bun stuff here at home until he gets better settled in and he leaves the bun alone in his cage.) . Also hook positive and he had 1 round of treatment and is about to start round 2 but his stools are relatively solid only a little soft. Could also be attributed to anxiety. He is more puppyish, he chews on squeaker toys. He almost NEVER wags his tail, his head is always down, he almost always averts his gaze, and he's still learning everything from his name, to being a house pet, to some basic manners by copying the other dogs when I give commands (stay, come, go to bed, time to eat, outside, and go potty, and heeling on walks are the basic ones I'm starting with). I have someone else walk the first 2 dogs and I train Sisko alongside or behind them to be a good walker. So anyway - I brought him home, short walk to eliminate, then he met my boys (accepted immediately), did the house explore, took out back for a yard explore, etc. The foster mom told me he hates getting his paws wet in grass and pooped on her pool deck sometimes. I don't have a pool deck. She suggested giving him 45 minutes to do his business outside. He will only pee outside thankfully, but poop is another story. He paces when he wants out, but most the time goes to the back door now. But then.... sometimes he will poop within about 10 minutes but if not 10 minutes then not at all, not 30 and not 45 minutes. So, the first few nights he pooped early in the AM (5, 6) in the house, but he whined or barked and I got up and let them out and he recently did 1 morning poop indoors again. Most of the time in the morning I'd say it's good now. However if we go away even for 45 minutes he will poop in the house, even if I give ample time to relieve himself before we leave. We removed crates before the third came home, and foster mom said Sisko was not crated at all the last week of fostering. She would leave in AM for work, come home at lunch to let him and the other dogs out, back to work and home late afternoon I'm assuming? No indoor accidents. Just pool deck accidents. So far he has had an indoor poop accident 100% of the time we left, which is anywhere from 45 mins to 2.5 hours. We only heard him bark a little when we left and then he stopped. I put on a specific playlist of music when I leave so he learns mom leaves when this music plays but she always comes back (it worked for my first two boys). Foster mom said when he was crated, he never went in his crate. We pulled out a crate again. I'm going to try using it overnight tonight and keep my boys in a big room with their usual beds/water bowls with some gates. I don't know how this will go. I'm also trying not to be harsh and just be very positive. He's much more treat motivated than my first two. I'm trying to reward him with LOTS of praise when he goes out and goes potty especially. I have not done much one-on-one training with him since it's been one week and he's just learning the ropes of being a pet. I'd love some helpful advice. I'll answer any questions. My husband works 9-5. Usually I would be working three 12's overnight but I'm on medical leave and now full-time grad school which is all online for the first year so I'm here all the time except errands, gym, or to go out for a brief evening. But the poop thing... ugh. I do eliminate temptations (trash/chewable items within reach/bathroom doors/toilet lids closed etc.) so that we can work on being positive and rewarding positive behavior. The only thing I corrected for "bad" behavior until today was really counter sniffing (sniffing equals thinking equals stealing). I don't make a big deal out of leaving OR returning home. I read some of the other posts about people's new greyhound behavior problems to get an idea. I'd love some advice. Also previously all I did was show him his poo and sternly NO or Bahh (it's a barkbuster thing for your correction). P.S. I like and respect barkbusters a lot. Their methods are humane and worked well for my other greys and my adoption agency highly recommended them for greyhounds. I do not try to teach him stuff if he's in frozen mode because I know he's not learning when that happens. Sorry for the novel. Thanks everybody! Sarah

Context: we've had our greyhound Maisie (almost 3yo) for right at a year. About a month ago, we purchased our first home and moved in. Before that we lived in an apartment. In the apartment, Maisie never had a problem in her crate. In fact, she preferred to be in there when we were gone. She did sleep in the crate at first but after about six months it was no longer necessary. The crate has been in our bedroom in both the apartment and the house. Now in the house, it's clear she has anxiety in the crate. Often times we will come back after a few hours and the tray (under the beds) will be pushed out and there are other clear signs she has been nervous. It takes extreme coaxing to get her into the crate in the first place. We've even tried leaving music or the tv going and it still seems she gets nervous. The crate is not in a drafty area. We are not against leaving her out, but when we've tried to do that she has peed on our rug. My husband works from home so she is never crated all day, only for shorter periods of time. Any suggestions? We've even wondered if getting a second greyhound would alleviate her stress, but we know that comes with its own set of issues....

Hi All, I've received tons of help in the past when posting questions, so I thought this would be a great place to start in regards to a recent issue we've been experiencing with King. We've had King for about 4 months now and while he's never been in love with the idea of going in his crate when we leave for work for the day (he's crated from 730-330 M-F), he very quickly adapted to his little space while Cory & I were at work and behaved quite nicely while we were gone (we watch him via a webcam while at work). There was little-no barking, no accidents, and pretty much just a whole lot of sleep. He would act out here and there when we would crate him for an hour or two on the weekends if we went to dinner or ran errands, but since it was outside of his normal schedule we didn't think much of it (this meant a little barking when we left until he settled). Unfortunately, within the past 3-4 weeks, he's been having a much harder time in the crate. He now shreds any blanket or pad we put in there, bites on the metal, and even barks for hours on end. I thought maybe he had outgrown his crate and maybe would do better confined to an open room instead, so we tried that for a few hours last week. He knocked over a small kitchen table, pulled jackets off of the wall, peed on a wall etc. Because of that instance, we went back to crating him, but due to the mess we find when we get home (shredded blankets, he somehow manages to push all shavings out of the crate etc), we realize he's not doing so hot in the crate either. He even had an accident (pee) today. I'm calling this late-onset separation anxiety, but not quite sure what to do about it. Do we just whole-heartedly commit to no-crating and let him take a week or two to adjust? Or continue crating? We want to do what's best for him, but are completely unsure of what that might be at this point. any help is appreciated!

Hi all. I'm Mike. I'm planning on adopting 2 hounds in the next couple months. I'm researching how to prevent separation anxiety. I came across this website: http://www.greyhoundwelfare.org/resourceDet.php?resourceCategoryKey=27 It says it's easier to prevent separation anxiety than to cure it. The website suggests crating the dog, anytime the dog isn't eating, drinking, walking or training, for two weeks. After two weeks, one should gradually increase the dogs free time. What do you all think about this type of acclimation to home life? Does it seem sound? Is it too much crating? I really want to set the dogs up for success. I don't want them to develop separation anxiety. I really couldn't deal with it. Would this kind of thing work if I adopted two dogs at once? Should I walk them separately? Would that help prevent separation anxiety or would it increase the chances? On that note, is it advisable to adopt 2 dogs at the same time or should I adopt them a week or two apart? I'm planning on getting two because I think one would be lonely. Just yesterday, it occurred to me that if I adopted two dogs that weren't comfortable with stairs, I'd have a very difficult time getting them in and out of the house. I've never taught one dog to traverse a staircase, two might be much more difficult. I suppose I could tie one's leash to a railing, while I got the other up or down the staircase. I appreciate any advice pertaining to prevention separation anxiety. Thank you.

I've had Bronto since August 2013 and he's been so great. For the first couple weeks we had him, we would make sure we put him in his crate whenever we left the house, just to be safe, but since then he's been able to roam the house all the time. He's never shown any signs of separation anxiety - no messes in the house, no destruction, nothing. He just sleeps from what we can tell. We've had maybe a handful of days where he'd be left at home for 8-10 hours, and still he's been fine. Additionally, he's been fine not pooping/peeing for up to 12-14 hrs on a pretty regular basis (overnight). (He'd rather eat first thing in the morning than walk, and would rather go to bed at night than another walk - we've tested this out.) On Monday I'm starting full-time work for the first time since we've adopted Bronto. This work requires me to leave him at home for 12 hrs every day (6am to 6pm) 5 days a week. I plan to walk him at 5am then walk him immediately when I get home at 6pm. My question is: despite all his good behavior and no signs of separation anxiety, should I consider crating him while I'm at work, at least for the first few weeks to get him used to me being away? Or should I just let him be as he's been for the past 6 months? He likes his crate - in fact, he's sleeping in it now. But I also know he really likes sleeping in our bed when we're not here. I wouldn't mind crating him for his own good, but I also don't want to crate him if there's really no need to. Would love to here some opinions from more experienced greyhound owners out there! This is our first pet, so any insight is welcomed! Thanks!

Our new greyhound has become very clingy. We made the mistake of showering her with attention and letting her sleep in our bed. Now I think it may be turning into SA. She whines a lot when we leave her in the crate, even when we are in a different room. It makes me sad because I want to pet her all the time if she whines. But I know that makes it worse. How should we go about treating her? We have only had her for 4 days. We live in a small apartment also, so it's hard to keep our distance. I have read in a few books that you are supposed to ignore them and show "tough love". Practically what does this look like? Even now I am in my bedroom with the baby gate up, and she is in the family room whining because she can't get to me. It's a bit stressful because starting next week we really need to get her on a schedule where she can be in her crate while we are at work. Any ideas, stories, or suggestions? Thanks!!