Help With The Greyhounds And A New Puppy (Non Grey)

[Guest Flysmom]

I would love to get some advice and input from you all!

 

My husband had his dream come true tonight and got a little pug puppy. Sigh! I have to admit I am not a pug person but oh well. She is 8 weeks old.

 

We took the Greyhounds with us to meet her, they both had muzzles on just in case. They seemed not interested in her, some sniffing and that was it.

 

Once we made it home, I took the muzzles off and they ignored her in the beginning. I was sitting with them on their beds to pet them and to be able to stop any unwanted behaviour. Maxi (Pug) hopped on Ponchos pillow and he started to growl, deep-long-mean. My husband immediately picked her up and I distracted Poncho, I made the mistake and said 'Hey' instead of 'No'. I understand that she was on his pillow and he probably just wanted to tell her to stay the he77 away from him. Cisco did the same to her. Both boys seemed pretty tense. They relaxed however when she was sitting on my husband on the couch.

 

In my head I have a 'game plan'... * we will not leave them alone together in the next few weeks - constant supervision.

* keep her off their beds - how I am going to manage this I don't know yet...

* seperate potty breaks in the yard.

* if I am in the house but I have to clean I will babygate her in the bathroom where she still

will be able to see me and the boys and vice versa.

* feed her away from the boys.

* while my husband pays attention to Maxi I will pay extra attention to Cisco and Poncho.

* keep her from using the boys as a chew toy.

 

What else can I do to help Cisco and Poncho with the transition? What should we watch out for? Should they wear muzzles in the beginning? We have a cat and both boys are fine with her, they are also fine with other dogs.

I know we just had her for a few hours now and the situation is still very, very new but I want to avoid the puppy getting hurt or worse. We even - already - talked about the possiblity that if they cannot get used to each other that we would have to bring her back (we are not people who would make a decision like this lightely, but like I wrote before we would do it before she would get hurt or killed)

 

I would appreciate any advice or input you could give me!

[Guest Shana]

Muzzles for the first few weeks for sure. You NEVER know what could happen and it only takes a blink of an eye. The puppy is so small they could do serious damage in a fraction of a second. Everyone needs to figure out each other's boundries.

It is very new, and it will take some time. But I think with diligence and understanding you will be able to get things worked out and everyone will tolerate each other at the very least

[Guest PhillyPups]

Congrats. Muzzles will help. Puppies can be annoying to older dogs, so some down time, keeping puppy away from the greys will help Cisco and Poncho relax too. A crate for the puppy will help with down time.

 

It is an adult dogs nature to grumble at a puppy to teach them the finer points in life like: stay off my bed; my tail is not a chew toy; I don't want to play now; no you cannot attack my head while I am sleeping, etc. If they are not showing teeth, just grumbling, they are communicating.

 

Can you start the puppy with muzzle training too?

 

Also, just a friendly reminder, some greyhounds are not small animal tolerant at all, so if you attend greyhound events, puppy may cause some greyhounds prey drive to kick in, so for the safety of all, better the puppy left at home.

 

Good luck and enjoy.

[Guest Flysmom]

Thank you for the input!

 

Morning one: who knew that puppy poop can stink like this... My 4year old left me a trail from one room to the other... Glad we have tile floor.

Poncho does not want to be in the same room she is in. He sees her he gets up and leaves to go to my bedroom, that is ok, my room his his safe haven! We let him leave and don't force him to interact with her.

Cisco sniffed her and she was allowed to sniff his paws - that is all she can reach... I stood next to Cisco petting him while she sniffed. Also watched just in case she wanted to use his tail as a chew toy.

Right now she is in her kennel sleeping and the boys and I are about to go for a walk.

 

I understand the muzzles, but will they not associate the muzzles with her and then would start to regard the muzzles as 'bad'? right now the muzzles mean we go for a car ride. I cannot muzzle her unless I could find a really, really small flat muzzle.

 

We would never take her, even when grown to a Greyhound event - we would not want anything happen to her or a Greyhound!

[maggiespet]

We muzzled Maggie and used an x-pen as a playpen for our mutt puppy. Maggie has a high prey drive and until Sam was 25-30#, I just couldn't take a chance. X-pen and crate were very helpful for transitioning puppy into our family. And I agree with Pat - growling is just an adult dog's way of teaching. And as long as your greys are muzzled, I wouldn't scold them for growling. The puppy has got to learn how to get along with the greys and you can't teach him that - they have to. It will be quite an adventure!!!!! Congratulations and have fun!!!

[Guest KennelMom]

IMO, 8 weeks is too young to be away from mom. She is going to miss some very important social lessons that she would have gotten from her momma and brothers/sisters. But, that's water under the bridge I suppose. Fortunately, you have greyhounds who DID have the chance to grow up as dogs should and can help teach her manners.

 

I was sitting with them on their beds to pet them and to be able to stop any unwanted behaviour. Maxi (Pug) hopped on Ponchos pillow and he started to growl, deep-long-mean

 

Your dog behaved exactly as he should have. You can muzzle if you want, which can definitely help prevent an injury but I think it's important for the puppy to have interactions like these with other dogs. That's how they learn what to do and what not to do. If they are corrected for doing what's normal dog behavior, then they are going to grow to dislike the puppy very quickly.

 

As our puppy has gotten older (she was born here last July), our adults will not tolerate behavior from her that they would when she was much younger. They've done a great job raising her!

 

eta: I have a video of Hoochie Mama giving a correction to one of her pups...you might be surprised how "rough" it can seem. Puppies are pretty hardy...yes, they are babies, but it's SO important they get socialization and learn boundaries and limitations during those formative early months. I'll see if I can find the video and upload it to youtube...

Edited March 19, 2010 by KennelMom

[Charlies_Dad]

Congrats on the new puppy! From one Pug owner to another, I'll tell you how our boys get along with Angie (Pug). Pugs are known to want to be with someone, they are people dogs first and will want to sit on you or beside you. They will also want to do this with your Greys if they do not have a human to be with. Angie does sit with our boys on their beds usually only in the morning hours. She does have her place on the couch but at times just wants to curl up beside her big brothers. They generally will be okay with that however there have been times when they have growled at her and we move her right away. The boys are saying enough is enough so we intervene just in case. Most times when she is on their beds with them, she'll get kicked off and eventually she'll realize that it's more comfortable sleeping alone on the couch than getting kicked all the time. For you, having a Pug puppy means a little more work as our Angie was 5 when we adopted Charlie our first Grey. I would definitely recommend muzzles when you leave the house if the Pug and your Greys are together. We do this just in case.

 

Here are some pics of our boys and Angie hanging together:

 

Bum warmer for Jack.

 

Pillow for Charlie

 

Pillow for Charlie II

 

Taking on her bro Charlie

 

In Jack's face on his bed

 

Getting paw'ed by Jack

 

Trying her best to stay on Jack's bed

 

Putting up with Jack's legs

Edited March 19, 2010 by Charlies_Dad

[Guest lasharp1209]

Those photos are adorable. I love it. Every home is different, I always wanted my grey to snuggle with my cats because I just think it's so darn cute, but at this point it's just not going to happen and I'm accepting that

[Guest zoolaine]

Love that last photo!. I know it took Briley about 3-4 months before he would have anything to do with Zali when she was a puppy. If we went into the tv room he would go to the bedroom. We would go to bed he would go to the living room. But one day they started playing and have been good friends since. I don't have little dogs but I do remember hearing that you shouldn't always scoop up little dogs when there is a confrontation with other dogs. Picking them up brings them above the other dogs and they said that can lead to the "little dog syndrome" where a little dog is mean and snarky to bigger dogs.

Puppies by their very nature are quite annoying to older dogs and I agree that there is going to be some growling to teach manners. Muzzles are a good idea to keep everyone safe.

[Guest lanielovesgreys]

Sol hated Laika when she was a puppy. He was such a good boy and always gave her warning growls. She respect it, and learned how to understand what he was telling her. It's diffrent because a pug puppy is so small and easily hurt, but I agree with KennelMom in that it's key that the puppy learns how the big dogs warn her.

[Guest trevdog]

Even greyhound puppies can be annoying to older greys. Your boy was doing what any adult dog should do, telling puppy to respect his space. Definitely don't leave them alone together unless supervised until the pug is much older.

Edited March 19, 2010 by trevdog

[Guest PhillyPups]

Baby gates are also good safety tools. Puppy on one side, greys on the other. They see each other, no one is alone, but greys can have their peace too, as puppys can annoy the crap outta them.

 

Good luck, enjoy.

 

Judy (JillysFullHouse) has a muzzle for JillyBean (JRT), and she wears it for the grey's safety. :rofl

Edited March 19, 2010 by PhillyPups

[Guest Flysmom]

Thank you for the advice and the pictures! I showed the pics to my husband tonight and he fell in love with all 3 dogs...

 

We had a pretty **ty day today - starting with my sons puke trail after after she pooped in the office. Poncho then cracked his dew claw and was bleeding all over the floor - looked like a crime scene. I took the poor guy to the vet and they fixed him, however when the cut his other claws they cut one into the quik and it started to bleed again when we came home... I really love cleaning floors...

 

Cisco and Poncho now wear muzzles in the house when Maxi is on the loose. Cisco is a bit more patient with her - she attempted to use his paw as a chew toy, which I discouraged but in the end he growled and I removed her. Poncho is a different story - he was in the yard (muzzled) and she followed me and came within a few feet of him and he jumped up, barking and going inside. What does that mean? To me it seems that he really wants nothing to do with her at all! I am not pushing her on him, as a matter of fact I try to keep her away from him as much as I can. Could it be her smell? They bathed her in something that reeks of babypowder. Geag!!

I will buy a babygate tomorrow, that way she can be confined in my sons bathroom that is close to the livingroom, while I am gone now during the day I put her in her crate and take the muzzles off.

I might not be helping the situation since I am really stressed with other things going on right now and I am sure Cisco and Poncho are picking up on the stress.

 

 

@Kennelmom: I agree, 8 weeks is way too young to be separated from the mom and if my brain would work right now like it is supposed too I would have stopped the puppy coming home. However in the end we might be the best thing that happened to her - if one of the local Hillbillies would have gotten her she would have been kept outside or dumped in the local kill shelter in a few days because she would not be 100% housebroken.

[GeorgeofNE]

I'm not seeing any notes about what your HUSBAND is doing to work this out with HIS puppy that you didn't want???

[Guest widowcali]

When I brought home Brighid the wonder puppy, she was 7 weeks old. Cali and Widow did the sniffing and nudging at the kennel, but nothing else. When I brought her home, I followed some simple steps.

 

1 - never, never, never, never, never left them alone. I was in the same room as the puppy and the greys.

2 - To give the greys some break time, Bri went to granny day care on my workdays. This had an added benefit of exhausting the puppy as my nephews and niece were also at granny day care.

3 - worked hard at teaching "space" to Bri. She stayed away from the girls beds when they were on them, stayed away from other doggy food bowls, and was not let up on the furniture until she earned it.

4 - When she overstepped her bounds and the girls snarked at her, I didn't scold I just scooped up puppy and took her to the other end of the house.

 

Now that Bri is 1 year, 1 month, and 20 days old, she has learned when to leave her sisters alone. And if she doesn't, they will snark at her. She has learned how to play and has learned socialization with the other dogs. Having the greys actually helped with housetraining also. Bri learned by watching her uncle and her sisters that you do potty outside, not inside. So she was housebroken by 4 months old. I still supervise playtime, but Bri has learned that she has to play gently with her sisters (not normal rough and tumble because of the tissue paper skin, but she can race and play tug of war). I also did a lot of rewarding. When girls let Bri sleep next to them, they got a treat. When girls let Bri sniff them or something, they got a treat. They eventually learned that letting the obnoxous brat near them was not a bad thing because they would get a cookie.

[Guest Flysmom]

I'm not seeing any notes about what your HUSBAND is doing to work this out with HIS puppy that you didn't want???

 

He takes her out every hour when he is at home to go pee and poo, he feeds her and bought her food and he is the snuggle guy... I also kicked him out of bed at 6:15 Saturday morning after I took her outside and she wanted to use me as a chew toy. He actually got up and took care of her. However he is too non chalant when it comes to muzzles - while I put the muzzles on.

[Guest Flysmom]

When I brought home Brighid the wonder puppy, she was 7 weeks old. Cali and Widow did the sniffing and nudging at the kennel, but nothing else. When I brought her home, I followed some simple steps.

 

1 - never, never, never, never, never left them alone. I was in the same room as the puppy and the greys.

2 - To give the greys some break time, Bri went to granny day care on my workdays. This had an added benefit of exhausting the puppy as my nephews and niece were also at granny day care.

3 - worked hard at teaching "space" to Bri. She stayed away from the girls beds when they were on them, stayed away from other doggy food bowls, and was not let up on the furniture until she earned it.

4 - When she overstepped her bounds and the girls snarked at her, I didn't scold I just scooped up puppy and took her to the other end of the house.

 

Now that Bri is 1 year, 1 month, and 20 days old, she has learned when to leave her sisters alone. And if she doesn't, they will snark at her. She has learned how to play and has learned socialization with the other dogs. Having the greys actually helped with housetraining also. Bri learned by watching her uncle and her sisters that you do potty outside, not inside. So she was housebroken by 4 months old. I still supervise playtime, but Bri has learned that she has to play gently with her sisters (not normal rough and tumble because of the tissue paper skin, but she can race and play tug of war). I also did a lot of rewarding. When girls let Bri sleep next to them, they got a treat. When girls let Bri sniff them or something, they got a treat. They eventually learned that letting the obnoxous brat near them was not a bad thing because they would get a cookie.

 

Thank you!I can do 3 of your 4 steps, I wait for my sons to come home from school to tire her out.

Cisco is getting more relaxed (still with muzzle) and Poncho even comes in the same room now... They have to adjust to her just like I have to adjust to her. I am working with her on the boundaries and hopefull when she is bigger the dogs will see that she is a dog and not a weird black thing. Now, the cat is a different story. No fear of Greyhounds, came out from hiding on the first day we brought the boys home but she is hiding since we brought the little creeper home.

I have to work on the rewards, right now I do a'verbal' good boy.

Why, oh why did I do this?

Cisco is getting more r

Thank'