Teaching Your Greyhound To Share

[Guest emma]

Hello ,

so I was wondering, since the ex-racers were not used to share anything, like bed or food etc, how do you train them so they are not possessive?

So they would share their bed if you wanted them to, so they don't think that couch is theirs (like other poster mentioned), so that you can take food, toy or anything from them if you need to etc...

How do you train them right from the beginning? (after you bring them home)

 

This also brings me to one other question, how to make sure they won't react by growling, snapping etc if they are woken up? I mean I have no intention to not let my dog rest, but in case I need them to wake up, or I want to pet them and so on. How to teach them to not feel threatened when they are resting and something is happening around them.

I don't know if I explained it clearly , I hope you understand what I mean.

 

I look forward to read all your ideas and also experiences with your hounds

 

 

Thank you

[Guest PhillyPups]

I give all of mine adjustment time. They do get it, just patience and time. I do not allow anything worse than a growl or a quick bark, eventually they settle in. I do not want to have them think, (as Kathleen Gilley said) that their name is Bad Dog.

[Guest emma]

I do not want to have them think, (as Kathleen Gilley said) that their name is Bad Dog.

 

Oh of course not, I meant teaching with positive reinforcement. So they know it is alright and that it's fun to share

[revamp]

Fortunately my grey settled into the life as a housedog (with kids, with cats, and with another dog) like he was raised in it his entire life. All of my research and reading, all of my prep work so that I could confidently prepare for and handle sleep aggression, resource (food/toy/space) aggression, diarrhea, gas, and a greyhound not knowing how to "play" ended up being wasted time, so to speak (any knowledge gained on any subject is never a true waste of time, but you catch my drift).

 

Rocky bonked his head on the sliding glass door a couple times when he first arrived with the adoption team. I quickly slapped a couple strips of blue masking tape on the door and that has been the extent of my "interventions" with my retired racer.

 

Do you have a dog you are having trouble with, or are you just trying to be prepared like I was?

[Yamaha_gurl]

how to make sure they won't react by growling, snapping etc if they are woken up?

 

When we first adopted Bella I assumed she would have sleep agression (I did so much research on greyhounds!), so when she was sleeping in her bed, I would toss soft toys in her direction...that way she would get use to being woken up. I thought this would be perfect, when I did it, she would just raise her head and look at me like "what on earth is wrong with you?!" She had NO sleep agression at all!

[Guest emma]

Fortunately my grey settled into the life as a housedog (with kids, with cats, and with another dog) like he was raised in it his entire life. All of my research and reading, all of my prep work so that I could confidently prepare for and handle sleep aggression, resource (food/toy/space) aggression, diarrhea, gas, and a greyhound not knowing how to "play" ended up being wasted time, so to speak (any knowledge gained on any subject is never a true waste of time, but you catch my drift).

 

Rocky bonked his head on the sliding glass door a couple times when he first arrived with the adoption team. I quickly slapped a couple strips of blue masking tape on the door and that has been the extent of my "interventions" with my retired racer.

 

Do you have a dog you are having trouble with, or are you just trying to be prepared like I was?

 

Well I hope I'll be lucky as you are

I'm trying to be prepared, we are adopting this late spring/ early summer and I always try to be prepared for everything

 

 

when I did it, she would just raise her head and look at me like "what on earth is wrong with you?!" She had NO sleep agression at all!

 

 

:lol

[Guest 302Crew]

I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one doing endless amounts of reading in preparation for our boy to come home.

 

I spend so much time here reading...and learning. It's been awesome. The amount of information available from this forum is incredible.

 

[Yamaha_gurl]

I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one doing endless amounts of reading in preparation for our boy to come home.

 

I spend so much time here reading...and learning. It's been awesome. The amount of information available from this forum is incredible.

 

 

Some get the good ones that have no issues whatso ever, BUT be ready for when the honey moom is over. Some greyhounds are perfect angels when they come off the track, then months later it's like a light goes off and they think to themselves "Mom loves me no matter what...that garbage can sure would look better knocked over"

[Time4ANap]

Rocket has some sleep / space aggression when he's sleeping. We have a couple ofrules that MUST be followed at all time to avoid injury to us or Rocket.

 

1. No petting unless he's standing up. He is not a snuggler. We usually let him approach us when he wants pets (which is all the time).

2. We ALWAYS call lhis name several times if we need to wake him up. Although it;s rare to need to do this, just because a Greyhound's eyes are open does nt mean they are awake. Many sleep with their eyes open.

3. No touching or bending over him when he's on his bed. PERIOD.

4. if approaching his bed when he's sleeping. I always talk towarn him that I;m there. Even if I;m throwing a blanket on him in the middle of the night, I say something to avoid startling him.

5. We do not attampt to snuggle with him. He isnlt a snuggler, and does not like feeling like he's trapped into a space.

 

Don't take this info the wrong way. We still have one of the friedliest Momma and Daddy's boys on the planet. He loves the kids in the neighborhood and never met a person he didn't like. There are just a few little quirks to deal with, and it's hard to remember when he wasn't here.

 

 

[Guest emma]

I'm happy to know that I'm not the only one doing endless amounts of reading in preparation for our boy to come home.

 

I spend so much time here reading...and learning. It's been awesome. The amount of information available from this forum is incredible.

 

 

 

yeah and sometimes I read this forum even though I know I should study cause I'm just so excited that we are going to have a new furrbaby

Edited February 7, 2012 by emma

[Guest emma]

Don't take this info the wrong way. We still have one of the friedliest Momma and Daddy's boys on the planet. He loves the kids in the neighborhood and never met a person he didn't like. There are just a few little quirks to deal with, and it's hard to remember when he wasn't here.

 

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Understand that the reason for these issues is mainly a trust issue. They dont know who you are, or why you are doing things. The more of a bond you have with your hound, the more trust will blossom, the less issues you will have with any of the aforementioned "issues". My Bart is a very good example of this. First time I gave him a nice juicy raw bone to eat (at 2 months of him being in my house - MISTAKE), he didnt take too kindly to my attempted removal of his prize. Years later, I give him and my other hounds raw bones every few weeks, when I open his crate, he instantly drops his bone and waits for me to remove the bone before leaving his crate.

 

It really is a matter of trust, something you have to earn from your hound.

 

Chad

[kudzu]

I found this stuff went faster when I made an effort to keep a sharp eye out for anything approaching the behavior I wanted & immediately rewarded it. Soleil had this attitude of "what's mine is mine & what's yours is ours." He was happy to share what another dog had but didn't want to share what was given to him. Little greedy boy. So I would start doling out treats & tried to reward him before his mouth got near another dog's. If he reached forward to grab what I was giving another I would block him. The second he moved his head back away I would reward him. Initially it seemed like an impossible dream that he would ever learn to share but he is so food motivated that he caught on quick that when he reached for something he actually had less chance of getting it. Along with this simple, yet sometimes difficult, approached we played a few games that helped.

 

Again I started doling out treats. Venus was never pushy & Luna had already learned to share, mostly , so they would just sit & wait as I handed a treat to one & a treat to another. If Sol was reaching forward he lost his turn. If he didn't reach forward, or initially if he didn't reach as far as usual, he got a treat. Again, he soon figured out that reaching forward only resulted in the hand with the treat withdrawing from his reach.

 

Using the info from here http://sue-eh.ca/page24/page26/styled/ I worked on "Zen". (scroll down the page to find it) Again, he learned that to get a treat he had to not reach for the treat. In fact, he learned to actually move away from the treat.

 

We played the name game. With the dogs gathered I was again doling out treats. This time I called a dog's name & gave that dog a treat. A dog who was being pushy would find I has suddenly completely forgotten his name. "Why the heck doesn't she say my name?!" If he started to act less pushy I would suddenly remember his name. Can't remember who initially suggested this game to me or the original purpose but have found it helps my dogs' learn their names, pay attention when I say their names, learn patience & self control.

 

My dogs also learn to "Go Mat" which means find your mat & lay down on it. Used in context of training sessions they have learned, admittedly with varying degrees of success, to remain on their mat while I work with another dog. If they get up I just sent them back to their mat. Dogs who remain on their mats will find treats randomly fly through the air & land on their mats. Well, usually it lands on the mat, My aim is terrible.

 

No doubt others have many more suggestions but these are the things I can think of right now.

 

ETA: Why do I think all of the above involving food will help with what you mentioned? I can't really answer why it helps with sharing other things. Someone else mentioned bonding & trust. That may have a lot to do with it.

Edited February 7, 2012 by kudzu

[GeorgeofNE]

The sleep aggression is easy--just make sure you clap, or speak the dog's name loudly enough ot wake it up BEFORE you try to pet him or her. As to teaching the dog to share--use the "trade" method at first. Like Chad, I nearly lost a hand when I first tried to take a bone away from my dog. Then I realized if I simply handed him a dog biscuit, he'd happily drop the bone.

 

Now that we've been together for a while, he'd let me take it, but as Chad said, it takes time and trust.

[greysmom]

"Sharing" is a particularly human behavior. The behaviors you are asking about are all instinctual, for the most part, and really can't be "taught" away. As was mentioned, most of them are issues of trust and respect, and the humans in the equation need to understand that it needs to be earned both ways.

 

My personal feeling is, if I get bit by my own dog, then *I* did something wrong - NOT the dog.

 

If you want to remove something that the dog values highly - their food bowl, high value treats, a stuffy - you should do the "trade up" action. Offer something of higher value. When the dog leaves the original item for the new one, pick up the original item. If you do obedience training, you can also teach a "leave it" or "drop it" command.

 

As far as sleep aggression goes, not every dog has it. And they can have it to varying degrees and severity. Our first greyhound was extremely sleep aggressive - she drew blood on both me and my DH before we wised up. She never got any better no matter how much we worked with her. She was a sweet darling girl as long as she was awake. But she became Cujo if startled from sleeping anywhere. We learned to NEVER EVER approach her within the 'teeth zone" unless she was wide awake. We would call her name and sometimes toss something on her to make sure. This became such an ingrained habit that we automatically do it with all our dogs.

 

Several subsequent dogs have also had sleep startle issues. Though they have gradually over many months become less and less, as their familiarity and trust increased, until it really isn't an issue anymore.

 

 

[JJNg]

Understand that the reason for these issues is mainly a trust issue. They dont know who you are, or why you are doing things. The more of a bond you have with your hound, the more trust will blossom, the less issues you will have with any of the aforementioned "issues".

Lots of other excellent advice here, but IMO, Chad's point about trust is the bottom line. During the early days when you're first getting to know your hound, you can start to earn his trust by showing him that you will respect his boundaries and not push him beyond what he can handle. Once that bond and trust grow, the rest will come a lot easier, sometimes even automatically.

[Guest emma]

thank you for the sleeping aggression insights

 

Also, I agree, trust is very important, but I also think that some kind of training should be done right from the beginning so then it's not too late, cause waiting for complete trust to be build gradually, that can take a long time and the dog can acquire bad habits regarding possessiveness?

 

thanks Kudzu, the training you mentioned sounds interesting

 

I guess showing who is the alpha is one way to help, but for example our dog which we had since she was a puppy, we trained her from the beginning by taking things and then returning it back to her so she learned to share and wasn't possessive. But as Chad and GeorgeofNE pointed out, I would be a bit afraid to take something from an adult grey who is not accustomed to share...the trade technique could help I think

 

But I always thought that if a dogs growl on you because they eg don't want to get off the couch or they don't want you to take something from them, they challenge your authority...which they should not. So I kind of wanted to deal with it early on

Edited February 8, 2012 by emma

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Ok, the "alpha" thing...

 

Basic animal behavior 101:

 

Greyhounds are NOT like any "dog" you have raised in your home. Dogs raised by humans in a home are basically human surrogates. We teach them how to interact based on OUR standards, not canine standards. Because of this we mess them up in a few ways, first we do not allow growling of any kind, secondly we expect them to do exactly what we say, when we say it.

 

Greyhounds were raised in a PACK environment, as such they speak canine language. This includes subtle body language (such as licking of lips, darting eyes, muscle twitches, tail levels), it also includes growling. Growling is a very effective form of communication. The problem with society is that they view any growling as a prelude to an attack. To most of society growling=biting. This is NOT true in any way shape or form with a greyhound. So a hound that has been raised in a pack, with a pack, speaks canine language. The steps of communicating anxiety typically are:

1) body language (licking of lips, darting eyes, muscle twitches, tail level-may be tucked, whale eye-looking sidways at you with a wide open eye)

2) low growl

3) more pronounced growl (raising of lip, baring of teeth)

4) air snapping

5) fight or flight decision

So, from a logical standpoint, what happens of you take away numbers 2 & 3 out of the equation, and totally ignore 1? You have a dog that "appears" to be vicious because it went from "normal happy" to air snapping or biting. This is why society thinks that growling is bad, they don't see the subtle body changes and remove all growling communication.

 

If your greyhound growls at you, you need to realize WHY he growled at you. If he is growling because he is being possessive of a piece of furniture, or a bone, then you need to deal with that situation in one manner (trade). If he is growling at you because you invaded his "safety" area, then YOU are at fault. You cannot expect a greyhound to simply accept you doing anytyhing you want. It has never been a pet, doesnt know the rules and doesnt speak your language. He doesnt know if you are going to eat him, or pet him. Give them a break and try to communicate on their level, things work out much better that way.

 

This whole "authority" thing I believe stems from the above issues of society not wanting to understand their animals and removing the natural way hounds communicate. If you understand your hound, there wont be as many issues where the hound "challenges" you, you will have more of a partnership with mutual respect.

 

Here are a few ways to help with the "leadership" role that are non-confrontational (if you are concerned with this):

1) hand-feed every meal (do this for the first month or so your hound lives with you). It establishes on an instinctual level that you are the "leader" because every ounce of food comes directly from you.

2) walks (on leash of course)

3) basic obedience training

 

If you notice, my previous post about trust will actually deal with each and every point here.

 

You can lead by fear, or you can lead by respect.

Edited February 8, 2012 by Greyt_dog_lover

[kudzu]

You can lead by fear, or you can lead by respect.

And fear is one of the most likely ways to get bitten.

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

Like the others have said most of these "issues" are a matter of trust, which comes with time. Some dogs will always be sleep-aggressive, that's just the way some are.

 

You mentioned couch guarding, and I didn't see much addressing it. My grey decided to become possessive of the couch after we'd had her for about eight months. She's a good dog and had learned to trust us by this time, but she was pushing boundaries. When she got snotty over the couch we made her get off and lay on her dog bed instead. Two times we kept her off the couches for a week. Now she'll let us sit with her although she does grumble sometimes if we move and annoy her, then she'll get off on her own.

 

I've had my grey nearly two years now. I know she loves and respects me. I can mess with her while she's asleep, I can roll her over while she's laying down, and I can even hover over her and kiss her face while she's laying down. If I had tried any of those things in the first six months after adopting her, I would have lost my face, and deserved it too. With training, positive reinforcement and bonding I have been able to reach this level with my dog.

 

Don't borrow trouble. The beauty of greys is that they are wonderful, easygoing dogs. Don't train them not to growl, and train humans to listen if the dog is growling.

[Guest emma]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Probably you didn't mean it in a wrong way, when reading something it is hard to feel the tone of speech, but it sounded a little bit like you were saying that I want to lead by fear which is in no way truth. I also didn't say that growling of any kind is bad.

I have to say that in my opinion healthy sense of authority is important, especialy if the dog is on dominant side. I have some experience with training dominant dogs.

 

Thank you for the ideas, I will implement the "trade"

[kudzu]

Thanks for the suggestions.

Probably you didn't mean it in a wrong way, when reading something it is hard to feel the tone of speech, but it sounded a little bit like you were saying that I want to lead by fear which is in no way truth. I also didn't say that growling of any kind is bad.

I have to say that in my opinion healthy sense of authority is important, especialy if the dog is on dominant side. I have some experience with training dominant dogs.

 

Thank you for the ideas, I will implement the "trade"

I think you phrased that response quite well. Do not believe anyone was implying you were going to lead through fear, at least I certainly was not. The "alpha" issue does tend to touch off some of us though simply because it is frequently associated with methods that can indeed produce fear or intimidation. So warnings against that often get tacked on even if the OP, you in this case, was not intending to use force based methods.

 

A healthy sense of authority is something I think is what is achieved when one leads by respect. So again it sounds like you are on the right track. Good luck.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Emma, I was not implying anything with my post. I am one of those people here that post exactly what I mean. I do this, because as you said, it is very difficult to feel "tone of speech". I write what I mean, nothing more, nothing less.

 

As Kudzu mentioned, when you post things such as "challenge to your authority" and "alpha", it does set off red flags to a lot of people here. I also went through the description the way I did because a lot of people that have raised dogs in their house have preconceived notions of how all canines should react to humans. I just wanted to try to show you a bit of "why" greyhounds react differently, and how it actually is better than the way we raise our own dogs most of the time.

 

Just for the record, it is VERY rare that you will find a greyhound that would fit into the category of "dominant". They have been bred for many generations to be docile, they just dont have it in them. I have yet to find a greyhound that will not respond to me when I simply raise my voice, they are sensitive. A lot of time people mistake fear (statuing) with stubborness. Be on the lookout for that.

 

Chad

Edited February 8, 2012 by Greyt_dog_lover

[Guest emma]

Thanks Jayne and Kutzu and all the others. It seems I'm overthinking it (I tend to do that a lot )

I guess I was worried that if I would not start from the begining, my pupwould get the idea that everything is allowed. But I realize now that it will all come gradually and I agree, respect and trust is what is important

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I guess I was worried that if I would not start from the begining, my pupwould get the idea that everything is allowed. But I realize now that it will all come gradually and I agree, respect and trust is what is important

 

It's an understandable worry. It is important to set boundaries early, say you don't want the dog on the couch ever, it's easier to never allow it than to get them to stay off after allowing it for a couple months.

 

I definitely agree with the poster above who mentioned hand feeding. I did that for the first month and it really helped Jayne bond to me. I also used dinner time as time to work on obedience training. I was able to get her to stay, target, and wait within weeks. Not only was it fun to learn how smart my new dog really was, it helped us to bond and how to communicate with each other more effectively.