Adding Nongreyhound Puppy

[Guest never_enough]

I am looking for advice from those of you experienced in introducing a new puppy into a home of multiple greyhounds. Has anyone had success or would I be better off avoiding a potentially risky situation. My greyhounds are a 5 year old female and an 8 year old male who get along very well. My female is the alpha dog. Both were adopted as "cat safe" and lived 2 years with a senior toy dog, but the female was very aggressive with a senior female greyhound who came into our home as a foster. The aggression was demonstrated while running together off leash. We now know that she needs to be muzzled in running situations with dogs other than our single male. We are considering adding a 3rd dog, and would like to have another large breed puppy. We have talked with a couple people who have both greyhounds and other sight hounds, but their greyhounds were not retired racers. I would appreciate hearing about experiences with mixing x-racers with other breeds, and x-racers with a puppy, and would welcome advice before I make any grave mistakes and put any of the dogs in question at risk. Thanks.

[GreyPoopon]

I can't address your first question from experience because the poodles were here first. As for the second, the greys and the poodles do not usually play together, even when out in the yard at the same time. The Core Four (Perry, Minnie, Betsy, Edie) are out together, but play with me (retrieving). If Edie takes off and runs laps, Minnie now sits in front of me for treats--a behaviour we developed because I was worried about her nipping at Edie while chasing her (I didn't want to muzzle her because then she couldn't pick up her ball).

 

I won't add a puppy of any breed to this crew because I don't want to deal with the management of a houseful of older girls (10 and 11) in the presence of a little monkey. But it is just that: a management issue. If you're willing to supervise constantly, intervene when necessary, and crate the puppy the rest of the time, it can be done.

 

Several GTers have added puppies to an existing crew. I'm sure some of them will stop by and tell you about it.

[dobelvr]

I added a 4 month old male dobie puppy to my pack back in July. At that time I had a 14 1/2 year old female bouvier/rott mix and two male greys. The oldest grey turned 9 in August and the younger just turned 5 in November. It requires supervision. My old girl quickly let him know she was boss and he mostly left her alone. She went to the bridge in October. The boys also let him know regularly if he gets too rambunctious. The younger grey will play with him but not as much as the pup would like. We also have cats who mostly avoid the dogs. It really depends on the dogs. I've always had a mix of ages and breeds and been able to make it work but it requires work and lots of it.  

[Guest GryffinSong]

I think it really depends on the dogs, but given your female's history with another girl in the house, perhaps you should adopt a non-dominant male? Good luck!

[Guest Ashleigh]

I'm a little the opposite, but bringing my greyhound into a home with 2 cats and a chihuahua has been fine. I still don't leave them unsupervised, only because the greyhound has nipped in a cat's face and has chased the chihuahua and couple of times. I think it's going to take some patience and time for the greyhound to recognize the chihuahua as another dog. In the past, when bringing a new puppy into a home with adult dogs, it's always been fine too. The older dogs are sometimes careful around something so small and almost help to raise them. They are pack animals, so as long as they recognize the puppy as another dog, I don't see a problem.

 

Remember...usually if you're nervous, your dogs can sense it and become nervous as well. I am new to owning a greyhound, but they can't be too different from every other breed out there. Usually dogs mix well with the same energy level as they are. I have noticed the greys tend to get jealous, so try to give equal attention!

[Guest never_enough]

Thanks everyone for your input on my query about bringing a puppy into my household of adult greyhounds. Sounds like it can be done so long as I am prepared for the increased challenge and vigilance. Will definitely ponder this along with the suggestion of considering a nondominant male as the preferred addition. Thanks again.

[Guest EllaTheGreyt]

After having Ella for about 6 months, we knew we wanted another dog. We brought Norma, a 1/2 French Bulldog 1/2 Pug, into the house on Mother's Day, and they have been inseperable ever since! We were VERY nervous since Norma was little, but Ella instantly acted motherly towards her, cleaning her all the time, laying by her, etc. Ella will give her the "I've had enough" bark once in a while, and Norma just leaves her alone. We just recently added a kitten to the mix after putting our old man to sleep, and I am still amazed at how gentle Ella is.

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

I added a 3 months old greyhound pup to our home last january and everything went pretty smoothly. we had a few growling incidents with the broodie but she never drew blood when she scruffed the pup. the worst thing we had to deal with was the pup chasing after the older 2 and chewing on their legs until they bled, they never hurt her but they did give some warning growls and knocked her over.

It really depends on how your dogs do with pups, my male is small dog reactive and he is ok with small breed pups until the age of about 7-10 months then he gets crabby he understands they are babies and wont hurt them.

maybe do a test run with another pup and see how it goes... supervised of course.

[Guest widowcali]

Brighid the Wonder Puppy was 7 weeks old when she came home. Cali and Widow were both 7, turning 8. Cali is a bit snarky, Widow just wants to be left alone. Constant supervision is the key. I also had granny day care. Bri would go to granny's house every day and play with her skin cousins while I was at work. Then she would be, somewhat, tired when I brought her home. There were, and still are, a few correction instances where Bri is bouncing off the walls and lands on one of the greys. Some snapping or a low growl, and she comes running to mommy to soothe her hurt feelings.

 

One thing you want to do is let the older dogs have some quiet time, away from the puppy. That seemed to work with me. Also, never leaving the puppy alone with the greyhounds until the greys get used to puppy. I also feed seperate. Bri gets fed in the kitchen, the greys get fed in a different room. And I keep them seperate until everyone is done eating. So far we are all surviving. The cats get a little annoyed, so do the greys, because Bri always wants to play with them. She is 10 months old now, and still in one piece. So I think we have been successful.

[Guest kydie]

In my pack of 4 the grey was last, all are different breeds,large dogs, 3 male 1 female (alpha) the grey(non dominate male) gets along fine, no issues, but the orginal pack play together, he perfers to watch, or play alone,the other 3 came as pups through the years, (as some older dogs moved on to the bridge), and were accepted by the pack, as they came, when the grey came I supervised "him" heavily, now I leave the house with all 4 a full run of the house, I think it will depend on your "orginal" pack and your ability to control acceptence of the new pup Good Luck