We Love Them, But.. But!

[MerlinsMum]

Okay, fess up - you love your grey to bits, but there are some things s/he does that drive you nuts! This is a thread for those of us who feel like whining about it I don't mean this to be a negative thread, by the way, more of a way to laugh about it - because, let's face it, it's really not what matters.

 

But catch me on a bad day, and...

 

I'll start. Merlin is my heart dog. I love him with ALL my heart and soul. But there's this one thing he does that drives me nuts. We'll be walking, and at the end of the road I have to decide whether to turn left or right. Guaranteed, every time I want to go left he wants to go right And if the wizard doesn't approve of the way we're going, he acts like a spoiled brat, and for the rest of the way home there will be tension on the leash or he will drag behind me and Sagan. He just won't let it go. I used to get really annoyed, but now I just ignore him, put him on a short leash for a while until he does give up, and then slacken it right away if he catches up and walks by my side. However, if I stop, he turns around, walks off, and just stands there, hoping for the leash to slacken so he can go in the direction HE wants to go in. What's up with that?? He's such a little $%&*!

 

When he started doing this I became worried that it was a medical issue, and that he was dragging behind because he couldn't keep up with me (I like to walk fast) and his younger brother Sagan. But everytime I test this by stopping and going in the direction I think he wants to go in, he's full of beans again

 

Oh! And he eats cat poo! But I love him to bits anyway and can never be mad at him

 

Okay - your turn!

[Yamaha_gurl]

Bella smacks/licks her lips when she sleeps in our bedroom at night.

[tuff]

I've only had my two for a month and there is very little I find annoying them about. EXCEPT: Top has started eating frozen poop in the back yard. I have ordered a stool guard yesterday. He really doesn't like the cold and snow but now that he has discovered poopsicles he is the last one to come back in. Last night he would not come in. I had to go get the box of milk bones and shake it on the deck. At least there is still one thing he likes better than poop.

[JAJ2010]

he turns around, walks off, and just stands there, hoping for the leash to slacken so he can go in the direction HE wants to go in. What's up with that?? He's such a little $%&*!

 

 

:lol Rainy does the same thing! I just give a "Hey! Do you maybe want to rethink this for a minute?" in a sharp voice and she looks ashamed and bounces back over to me

Edited December 22, 2010 by JAJ2010

[BertnLil]

I'm NOT a morning person. Lily will punch me and nit me to get me out of bed. At first I'll be annoyed, but I always end up laughing.

[sarabz]

Bella was interested in something on top of my dresser last night (still can't figure out what it was) so put her front paws up and scratched the heck out of it.

 

Other than that - she refuses to sleep in at all.

She flies off the bed if a foot moves even close to her direction. Even from a sound sleep. Of course this abrupt motion usually causes DH and I to wake up. Her sleeping on the bed priviledges are limited now.

There is fine black hair everywhere. I thought she didn't shed much, but somehow I'm finding hairs in the kitchen (where she doesn't go), the bathroom (which she avoids at all costs because it's the bath location) and in some cookies I baked yesterday :blink

 

I adore her, don't mind the messes and broken/damaged things (heck, that's like living with DH before Bella), but every now and then.....

[Guest Houndstown]

Pre is pretty much a pretty greyhound (not that I'm biased or anything ), but sometimes when we go for long walks and he's not into it, he holds up his paw and fakes and injury. When I try to get him going again he limps on it. I was worried the first time he did this b/c I thought maybe something was wrong, but when we turned around to head for home the "injury" was mysteriously gone. He trots along just fine.

 

The thing is . . . we walk in a circle around our neighborhood. If he'd just keep going we'd be home A LOT sooner than turnng around! Silly dog, can't teach him geometry of a circle, I guess

[Guest KennelMom]

I love them all dearly, but they can have some habits.

 

 

Tater is a serial bed licker. Wouldn't be so bad if it were only dog beds, but she gets on OUR bed and licks creating a huge wet spot....usually right on DH side of the bed by the pillow. When we remember, we block off the bedroom or put a baby gate across the top of the bed.

 

Echo lays on our pillows. I love her, but don't want to put my face where her butt's been laying all day.

 

Primo gets on the bed and pulls the comforter and sheets back so he can lay on the fitted sheet. I always thought he was a dim bulb, but clearly he understands how beds work. Anyhoo...the bed gets dog hair and feet dirt in it so I'm swapping out sheets almost nightly.

 

Hanna barks in the middle of the night if the place she wants to sleep isn't available. She's blind so we typically give her greater latitude than the other dogs in most things, but this is particularly annoying. Most nights we crate her and the other early morning rise-and-whiners: Lucas, Matt and Primo (who all apparently think breakfast should be served at 5am. )

 

Hole digging. This started this year, though dirt eating is not uncommon for some dogs in the winter. They are digging holes right along the path to the kennel building though! Guilty: Wuzho, Bucky, Scout, Haley, Matt. I'm going to break my ankle one of these days...I can't wait for spring.

 

...I'm sure I'll think of more as the day goes on...

[Guest BlingDogs]

I think I made a mistake when I named Dory. She should've been 'Shadow'. It's her most endearing trait- She's attatched to me at the hip (guess where she is right now). It's not annoying until you try to brush her teeth, which I like to do lying down, and she keeps trying to get up and follow you

[Guest avadogner]

I feel what your saying. I love my houndies to pieces but I've become slaves to them. My new boy Augie is a submissive male and our senoir girl Ava is a space aggressive dominant female. Ava is my sweetheart but she is protective of me and has had some issues adjusting to havivng a new brother. My super sweet girl has turned into a bully:angry: . Augie (who is 90 lbs vs Avas 52lbs) cries all the time for anything he wants and sometimes nothing but attention.I am constantly going to the den and finding Ava in Augie's bed. Augie's too submissive to even try to lay in Ava's bed. Instead of goinng to one of the other 5 dog beds in our home, Augies comes crying to me to make her get up. He is my BIG TATTLE TELLER!He can cry for 20 minutes straight over nothing. Augie also has terrible gas on days when we have to leave the dogs alone for a couple hours. He will come to whatever room we are in and do a "drive by". He farts then leaves us to choke to death. It' really stinky! Our vet said he gets gassy from stress as part of his seperation anxiety. I love my babies but they aren't perfect. Let's not even discuss the poopsicle eating.

-ava and augie's mum

ps. My dogs are night people like me which is okay until I want to go to sleep at 2 or 3 am and they want to go out (not together of course because that would be too easy) every 15 minutes. So spend the hours of 1 am to 4 am being awoken but barking for me to either come play, rub their bellies, scritch their ears or let them out to potty and hunt for frozen poop pops. No mattter how well we scoop the yard, they still find some to munch on.

Edited December 22, 2010 by avadogner

[BootsyCollins]

Bootsy has so many annoying traits, I can't even begin to list them all. Of course, those are all endearing traits on other days.

 

Short list - he NEEDS to be in direct contact with your skin at all times, but especially when you first walk in the door and have full hands and are trying to say hello to your 2 year old son. He is obsessed with food. Obsessed. Take note of his ability to locate and open a tin can of sardines that is also wrapped in plastic, whilst leaking sardine juice all over his bed and making the house reek. If he is laying quietly and you make eye contact or clear your throat, he JUMPS UP so you can pet him. I better stop now.

[Guest Sweetreba]

Reba is my poopsicle eater (has to be frozen solid). She is my chow hound and ate 13 xmas cookies (of course had to be the ones with Reeses cups). Called vet, not in. Called E-Vet, gave me no. of national poison control who charges $65 for consult fee. Before doing that called the kennel. Linda laughed and said for a girl her size she would have had to eat 3 lbs of choc. and its the dark that is worse. Reba was fine. I was scared, p-s--d, and wanted to laugh all at once. Plus both dogs are shoe and boot hoarders, I am tripping on shoes and boots all over the house. Even if I put them away, they manage to find some somewhere.

[winnie]

Celeste - Ah, miss "Cotton Ears". Her hearing has been checked by the vet. There is nothing wrong there - she just likes to do her own thing.

 

Bonny - Our "barking greyhound". She knows how to bark and does it often. She is friendly and likes other people and dogs. The barking is more "come play with me" than aggression. Still, she is a BIG girl (tall - 82 lbs.) and tends to intimidate our neighbors as a result of this.

 

Darcy - Oh, "Cujo". Darcy has food/space aggression with her greyhound sisters. She has never attacked them, but will growl and bear her teeth.

 

Faye - She also sleeps in our bed on our pillows. Yup, I lay my head where my dog rests her ass.

[FiveRoooooers]

Segugio sleeps as close to me as possible, with his head across my neck. Ack Ack Ack. But I love it. Except for wake-up time when he frantically stirs and steps on my face to get up. I don't know where he thinks he is going in such a hurry Try explaining those bruises at work ...

[Charlies_Dad]

Charlie and Shelby are poop eaters!!! Drive me nuts even when I am diligent and picking everything up which we do multiple times a day. Even worse is when DW lets the pups out while I am cleaning up because I cannot catch one Greyhound, let alone two doing what they should not be doing!

 

Jack on the other hand is a true angel...absolutely no issues. Yes, none.

[Guest TBSFlame]

I have 5 hounds and 4 of them want to be lap dogs. If Memmie doesn't get the position next to me on the sofa she stands and barks until she gets her way. She is a spoiled brat.

[Guest Duke]

He hogs the bed! I want him to sleep with me especially on the cold nights but inevitably I wake up at the edge of the bed and then he is impossible to move and sometimes there are aggression issues. Even if I get in bed before him and position myself with the most room, I don’t know how he dose it but he ends up with the majority of space!

 

 

 

Thanks that felt good to vent.

 

 

 

 

[Maddiesmom]

Ahh, Maddie where do I begin. She eats things out of waste baskets if I forget to close doors, she eats poop if I am not fast enough to aim the squirt gun at her if I catch her during it. and My Barking greyhound. She was the only grey not barking in the kennel when I was there looking to adopt, little did I know. She barks when she is bored, when I am on the phone with 1 of 3 people, or when she has to go outside even it is is 130am or something in that area of the night.

 

But I love her.

[Guest Fluffy]

Ooh love this thread! Badger has been a perfect first dog...MOSTLY. Except i think they slipped me a kangaroo cross-breed. When he gets excited, he starts bouncing up and down - not jumping, like on people, but just making these little "popcorn" jumps up and down. Which is cute, until he comes down on your foot, or conks the top of his head into your elbow, or makes you trip over the nylabone...

 

He's also got a stubborn streak a mile wide. He knows exactly what "touch" (the door, before he's allowed out) and "sit" mean, but he'll only do it if he feels like it. The rest of the time, he'll just stare at you, then at the door, then at you, like, "Come on, woman. Get over it. Not getting any younger, here!"

[OwnedBySummer]

These postings are FUN to read! I don't really have much to complain about myself, though. Summer is a wonderful first greyhound, although she's not my first dog. But she does have a quirk! She is fully housetrained YET whenever I go to visit my mother (who is 86)... and we decide to go out for lunch, leaving Summer behind... she will PEE on her Grandma's carpet! I will take her to go pee before we leave and we aren't gone for all that long. Yet still she pees. I think she's giving us a virtual hand gesture, myself. And it's not that she's uncomfortable there -- she roaches on Grandma's couch within minutes of arriving! But of all people to pick on -- she has to pee at GRANDMA's! Last week, I gave up and bought a crate and stored it at Grandma's. I can't have any more of this embarrassing peeing or Grandma won't let us visit!

 

And the dope hasn't figured out how to run in the snow yet, she's now twice strained her hind leg.

Edited December 22, 2010 by OwnedBySummer

[Guest NahlaGreys2]

 

Hanna barks in the middle of the night if the place she wants to sleep isn't available. She's blind so we typically give her greater latitude than the other dogs in most things, but this is particularly annoying. Most nights we crate her and the other early morning rise-and-whiners: Lucas, Matt and Primo (who all apparently think breakfast should be served at 5am. )

 

YES! Kota often does this - however, the sneak that she is started by coming into whatever room I'm in at the time and acts like she wants out. So out they both go ... and who's first in the door and headed for the previously occupied bed? Yup - Kota! These days if they've just been out, she gets a "You just went out and there are 3 unoccupied beds - find one"

 

Annie I've never had to muzzle in the yard but Kota was a totally different story, poopguard was ordered almost immediately.

 

For a VERY short while, I tried letting them on the bed. Just not enough room for 2 greyhounds, 1 person and up to 3 cats - especially when 1 of 2 greys are sprawlers. So Kota quickly learned to dislike the bed. Annie kept trying but I eventually had to banish her as she liked to curl up against my back and dig that bony shoulder between my own shoulder blades

 

2am potty breaks? Meh - I'm used to them by now. Not to mention, I'd rather they get me up at 1-2am where I can still get another 3 or 4 hours sleep before the alarm goes off - rather than getting whined at 5 min before the alarm goes off.

Edited December 22, 2010 by NahlaGreys2

[Remolacha]

In reverse order, newest to oldest (because the newest may develop more quirks later!)

 

Sallie is a very good dog, except she is a major barker. Her professional name was Speak Volumes, and does she ever live up to it Her bark is loud and high pitched, and she has taught Molly to bark

 

Molly (now a barker, see above) is a whiner. A MAJOR whiner. It can be very annoying when she is either whinning for something she is not going to get (and we both know it) or for something that I have no clue what she wants. If she wants anything, and is not just whinning to hear herself whine She is also a Princess, with a stubborn streak a mile wide.

 

Fletcher. Issue Boy. Barks at anyone (including neighbors) who walk down "his" street. Hates non-greyhounds, strange dogs in his 'hood (including some greyhounds) Has the attention span of a dying gnat. Decided a couple of years ago that getting in the shower was not safe for me, so everytime I get in the shower, he tries to stop me I could go on...

 

I love each and everyone of them with all my heart, and most of the time all of the above just makes me laugh

[Guest Fluffy]

She is fully housetrained YET whenever I go to visit my mother (who is 86)... and we decide to go out for lunch, leaving Summer behind... she will PEE on her Grandma's carpet! I will take her to go pee before we leave and we aren't gone for all that long. Yet still she pees. I think she's giving us a virtual hand gesture, myself.

Oh god, it's not just Badger who does this? My potty-training angel, who knows to ask when he needs out and has never in his life had an accident in my house, will be hanging out with me at my parents' house, stand up, stroll to the other room, and just cheerfully pee on the carpet! Usually it's after I've refused to sit in the room he wants me to sit in, or if I made him stay in his crate while we had dinner. A big ol' doggy "eff you"!

[Guest NJgrey]

Ellie will open doors to get to food if she knows it's in there. Yesterday she ate a box of godiva chocolates and I had to induce vomiting to get them up, then of course clean up the 9 piles of chocolaty dog puke, then pick the strawberry ganache from between her toes, all the while getting intermittent dog-puke kisses when I REALLY don't want them. This morning she went into the spare bedroom to steal and eat fish food, and we think drink water from the fish tank - even though she has a full bowl of water exactly where it always is!

 

She's the sweetest thing ever and we love her to death but the way she gets into stuff drives me nuts.

 

p.s. I know it's out fault for leaving stuff "out", but really, who expects the dog to push through doors and jump on tables to get stuff? I guess we should now

[MerlinsMum]

My goodness, people getting punched awake finding fur in cookies being woken up by barking in the dead of night hounded (pun intended) for breakfast in the wee hours of the morning , sleeping where their hounds' butts lie , oh my... I thought this thread would probably bring forth some interesting stories but let me tell you, I have been shrieking with laughter reading your posts!

 

I can definitely relate to the sight of houndies nesting on the human bed until they're lying on the fitted sheet with their butts right where I put my head. I give them that "Ugh, is that really necessary?" look, but damn it, I am such a sucker for how cute they look among the blankets in such a well-organized (not really ) nest, I don't have the heart to move them. Sigh.

 

he turns around, walks off, and just stands there, hoping for the leash to slacken so he can go in the direction HE wants to go in. What's up with that?? He's such a little $%&*!

Rainy does the same thing! I just give a "Hey! Do you maybe want to rethink this for a minute?" in a sharp voice and she looks ashamed and bounces back over to me

 

Maybe you can have her talk to Merlin for me. The wizard doesn't "do" ashamed EVER.

 

Tater is a serial bed licker. Wouldn't be so bad if it were only dog beds, but she gets on OUR bed and licks creating a huge wet spot....usually right on DH side of the bed by the pillow.

 

 

Hey, it could be worse! She could be doing it on your side of the bed Merlin does this a lot. It's really rather disgusting. Luckily he mostly does it on his bed, although sometimes he'll do it on the couch.

 

Christie, Bootsy clearly has amazing (not so hidden) talents if he can get through several layers and open a can of sardines without a cut or anything

 

Sagan has to be right next to me, in front of me (if I'm about to walk somewhere) or behind me (if I'm closing the fridge door) at all times

 

Wow, seriously too many good stories to comment on.