Talking Greyhound ?/

[Guest IrskasMom]

Just about every Day ,my Friend Ruth and I meet up at the fenced in Ballpark near where we live with our Dogs. I bring my Grand Dogs and my Morty and she brings her Yorkie and her Grey Supoda.Since it is cooler the Boys ( Greys) like to run. Supoda runs and runs and growls and talks and you could think ,he is the badest Guy in Town. My Morty is absolutly petrefied of him and will not run with him.His Mom Ruth is trying to get red of his " Bad " Behavior but we have no clue how to go about it.Is anybody elses Dog doing that or is he just a bad Boy that can't leave his "dirty talk " at Home.

Edited November 18, 2010 by IrskasMom

[TheFullHouse]

It's pretty typical greyhound behavior when the pups are running. I have several who do that. As long as it's all talk and no action I don't interfere but once I see it start to escalate into something more I will stop the play. Dogs who tend to be talkers are usually very competitive by nature. It's also one of the reasons why mine all wear muzzles when out playing and running.

[greysmom]

Sometimes I think Dude would rather talk smack than run. Toni will also growl and sound like Cujo when she runs and plays, which is intimidating for everyone including me. The boys head for the safety of the deck and Cash presses up against my legs.

 

Interesting though, because Cash and Copper, who were the best racers of my four, are nearly totally silent when they run. Dude flunked out of training, and Toni, while not a complete loss, probably wasn't going to race much longer (she broke her hock which ended her career).

[mychip1]

Like Dude's family, JJ, my boy who was the racer, is pretty quiet when he runs and plays. Dustin, my typically shy, sensitive soul who got kicked out of racing after three schooling races, tries to keep up with JJ and makes all sorts of growl noises....JJ does lots of play bowing as well.

 

 

[Guest cyndiandsaoirse]

My Saoirse is just the opposite- she was a champion racer at Wheeling Downs until an injury caused her to be retired, and she has a real sailor's mouth!

Again, if they're with other greys running, muzzles are the best safety- that's why they wear them on the track. I don't think you can train them out of this, it's their nature. Some of them are quietly competitive, and some of them bring the attitude!

Our friends at the dog park actually think it's hysterical, because Saoirse is so quiet and non-dominant the rest of the time, but when she starts running full on, cover your ears....

[greymatters]

This is really interesting. Our Merlin, a racing-school dropout, likes to "talk smack" at our greyhound walks. It seems to happen most often when we first arrive and the dogs are all greeting each other, he gets all growly and weird! He doesn't do this to other dogs (non-greys) at the fenced ballpark where we take him to run, though of course the other dogs aren't running with him. But once he sees a bunch of leashed greyhounds, standing around calmly waiting for their walk to begin, he can't seem to help himself.

 

Fortunately he doesn't keep it up once we all start walking, though he does like to be at the front of the group if possible. He's kind of a stinker, I guess.

[Guest kydie]

I have 2 "talkers" one grey,,, one non-grey,,, I leave it go as long as it is just "trash talk" if one makes a "real" move on one or the other ,, it is stopped if I can't get there fast enough,,, the old female 1/2 chow ends it real quick

Edited November 22, 2010 by kydie

[Guest fandogs]

I find this post kind of interesting..

At the track, if a racer turns his head, instead of looking straight ahead, he can be banned from racing at that track. I think he has to do it 2-3 times.. it's like 3 strikes and you're out. They can try to race somewhere else, but that behavior probably won't change.

If they run, and talk, but DON"T turn their heads, it's not an issue.

It's good for a dog to be competitive at the track.. but not aggressive. Talking is competitive.. turning of heads, is looked upon as aggressive. That is one short step away from attacking. (Stopping that action is what you must do, as soon as they really start to mix it up.) As long as they don't let the behavior escalate, talking shouldn't be an issue.

(BTW, neither of my two talk when running. My boy (semi-spook) was my best racer.)

Edited November 22, 2010 by fandogs

[silverfish]

This is really interesting. Our Merlin, a racing-school dropout, likes to "talk smack" at our greyhound walks. It seems to happen most often when we first arrive and the dogs are all greeting each other, he gets all growly and weird!

 

Fortunately he doesn't keep it up once we all start walking, though he does like to be at the front of the group if possible. He's kind of a stinker, I guess.

 

Sid is like this. When we meet other dogs, even dogs he's met before, he has to grumble at them - he sounds quite ferocious. After the initial growling and posturing, he's absolutely fine and wants to exchange sniffs and so on with them as if nothing had happened. Then if we walk along with them, he pretty much ignores them .. apart from being very interested in any output.

 

He's even like it when we go back to his trainers for his 'holidays'. I bring him into the yard, she lets her dogs out (usually about 8-10 house residents) keeping back any known trouble-makers, and I let Sid off his lead. He will charge forward growling for England, swinging his head around for better effect, fur up along his back, while they mill around him being all happy to see him. After less than a minute, it's all over and he's running around with them as if he'd never left! I have yet to see him snap at anyone, he just has to shout.