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Newish Grey Spooked At Son-In-Law- & He Will Be Around For A While


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annie, our new grey, moved into our house the first week in feb,she is 2.5yrs old. we have seen great strides in her development, she was initially pretty fearful of her new environment. but with lots of walks,playing soccer, catching tennis balls and frisbee, obedience training(our local school has a sensitive director who works well with rescues), another grey who she adores and lots of tlc was looking pretty stable until.....

 

my daughter and her husband arrived. ignacio, is tall(6'1"- the rest of us under 5'6") and has a deep voice and heavy spanish accent(from spain). he's a real animal lover, felix our other grey goes CRAZY playing soccer with him, jogging and rough-housing. felix yodells and smiles at ignacio all the time and lies on-top of him when ever possible. our late gal emily also adored ignacio.

 

ignacio and marisa(my daughter) will be in and out using the ny area as their home base as they travel to spain and various music festivals this summer. annie is totally freaked out, she runs to our bedroom and hides when he is in the house. we finally got her up on the deck and she joined us in wine and cheese- ate morsels of cheese and bread from ignacio's lap- yippee. but she will instincually hide from him and not return inside when he is in the house.i have to leash her up and lure her in with a treat, she freezes at the door as soon as she hears him. the kids w will be in and out all summer(that's basically when we get to see the kids- they live in south beach w/ new world symphony). the sound of the cello and viola have freaked her out as well- they both practice for hrs. a day.

 

i have asked both to ignore her and to have high quality treats for when she comes up to them and reward annie. even felix greeting ignacio in his vivacious manner is too much for her. we are waiting to see how she does at class this week with the change. in the past she has been FANTASTIC, as the school director says,"the smartest greyhound she has met."

 

any suggestions besides just giving her space and time?

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I had similar issues with my current Grey, please see the introductory text in her photo gallery http://www.pbase.com/johnfr/peggy Also try to ensure that Annie has a run-thru 'escape route' in any room where the person she is fearful of is, you can also put a 'safe' person between her and him. I really do think you may get somewhere if he can be shown how to use Calming Signals.

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Does she react any differently to Ignacio if he uses a different tone or volume of voice? Does she wear any strong cologne?

 

Freshy (Droopys Fresh), NoAh the podenco orito, Rita the podenco maneta, Howie the portuguese podengo maneto
Angels:  Lila, the podenco, Mr X aka Denali, Lulu the podenco andaluz, Hada the podenco maneta, Georgie Girl (UMR Cordella),  Charlie the iggy,  Mazy (CBR Crazy Girl), Potato, my mystery ibizan girl, Allen (M's Pretty Boy), Percy (Fast But True), Mikey (Doray's Patuti), Pudge le mutt, Tessa the iggy, Possum (Apostle), Gracie (Dusty Lady), Harold (Slatex Harold), "Cousin" Simon our step-iggy, Little Dude the iggy ,Bandit (Bb Blue Jay), Niña the galgo, Wally (Allen Hogg), Thane (Pog Mo Thoine), Oliver (JJ Special Agent), Comet, & Rosie our original mutt.

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Does she react any differently to Ignacio if he uses a different tone or volume of voice? Does she wear any strong cologne?

 

he doesn't wear any colonge but i will say that his tonal values(now that i think about it) are very different than ours. especially if he speaks in spanish or on the phone. but he speaks to the dogs in a soft sweet voice, he is really playful with them, especially felix. ignacio is is really trying,he took dried liver w/ him so when we all returned from dinner he gave the dogs treats- when they were near him, he didn't go up to them(my request- let her do it). upon return tonightfelix went ballistc(as usual) loving him to death- howling, yodeling- bringing him toys galore, annie froze but watched standing next to me as i gently rubbed her in a calming fashion.

 

trust me, d.h. and i make noise, i vacuume daily and she walks past lots of trucks and buses when we are out. she goes to "the garage"flea market on 25th st, nyc and never blinks an eye at the noise or volume in the city or inside the grungy packed garages.

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Sounds to me like you're doing all the right things, it's just going to take time. As long as he doesn't try and force himself on her, which it sounds like he isn't, I think she'll come around.

Judy, mom to Darth Vader, Bandita, And Angel

Forever in our hearts, DeeYoGee, Dani, Emmy, Andy, Heart, Saint, Valentino, Arrow, Gee, Bebe, Jilly Bean, Bullitt, Pistol, Junior, Sammie, Joey, Gizmo, Do Bee

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Time, him ignoring her, maybe nice treats and some walks as part of a group. Tell Ignacio not to feel bad. My angel Zema was extremely leery of my tall, deep-voiced dad for @ 6 months. He pretty much ignored her -- didn't even do the nice treats part! -- and suddenly one day he was her best friend in all the world.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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glad to hear that i am barking up the right tree. i am getting ready for work and have left a zip-lock bag of dog treats taped high on the back door so the ignacio will be ready to reward her just incase she goes up to him when he returns :confetti

 

time shall tell.

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