Problems With Non Greyhound Dogs

[Guest SophieandJake]

Hi all, I'm new to the forum (and to greyhound ownership) and hope that you can give me some advice.

 

I adopted Jake about a month and half ago, he is just over six and was racing up until the end of last year. He is a lovely boy, is learning commands really quickly and is generally a joy to own. However he has problem with non-greyhound dogs and i was hoping to take him on holiday with my sisters labrador in June, which does seem likely at the moment, but I was hoping you all had some ideas so that I can at least get him to tolerate Monty.

 

From the first day I got him when we were walking in the park if other dogs run up to him off lead he would snap and bark at them (he is muzzeled and on lead), this appeared to be fear to me and quite understandable considering he'd never seen another non-greyhound dog before I got him. He is fine with other greyhounds but any other breeds is an issue. I have been taking him to training classes so he can be in a controlled environment with other breeds and spoken to a behaviourist,who suggested parallel walking him and decreasing the distance. I have been parallel walking him with friends dogs (beagle, spaniel and labrador) and he will now walk nicely next to them and has become more tolerant with the distance he will react decreasing from about 2 m at first to 0.5 m.

 

However, he has recently started stalking other dogs (especially large breeds where they are moving away from him) he has done this with my friends dogs if they move in front of him while we are walking,he will stalk them and lung forward suddenly and snap at them, and try to jump on their back end, and if he has the opportunity will try to run them down (he got through the fence of the enclosed dog walking area where i was running him muzzled offlead and went after a boxer on the other side of the field, he ran at it, there was lots of snapping and running the other dog in circles).

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[JohnF]

Hi, and congrats on adopting a Grey. I think you have to take your time over this and do a lot of that parallel walking plus rewarding of good behaviour. It sounds more like dominance than prey-drive so you're in with a good chance of making progress.

Read Turid Rugass's short article on Calming Signals http://www.canis.no/rugaas/onearticle.php?artid=1. It should help you read your dogs intentions and those of the other dogs; you can even send a dog Calming Signals yourself.

 

I once needed to send a Grey back over prey drive on smaller dogs. She would keep her eye on them real steady and I never let her off the lead in their presence because of it. The Rescue people thought it better to rehome again before full bonding had taken place and they also knew better the kind of home she needed which, within a week, she found because she was a very people friendly dog.

 

I urge you to contact and listen carefully to what your rescue group say about this behaviour.

[inugrey]

I'm very impressed with the work you have done so far with Jake.

 

Can you explain his stalking behavior in more detail? Is it done off lead only or does he do it on lead?

 

I ask because I wonder if a nice walk with Monty and a chance for each dog to sniff the other from behind and then walk in parallel might be enough for the relationship to move to living in the same household pretty easily.

[Guest SophieandJake]

Hi, it's on lead, as i don't get a chance to let him off safely much. He'll watch them very fixedly, ears up, body posture very upright. with my friends beagle, he was in front of jake moving away, we'd had a good response to the parallel walking with the two so when Jake showed 'interest' i thought he might want to smell the beagle and let him walk up behind the beagle, (he did this slowly with the same upright posture), next thing i know he's jumped on the beagles back end and tried to bite him, the other dog gave him a warning nip and bark and jake cried and hid behind me. every time i've tried to get him to sniff other dogs he lungs at them.

 

same thing happened with my sisters dog Monty, we took them out together yesterday and it was Jakes behaviour with him that caused me to ask here for help. Again they parallel walked fine, and even got on ok with the labrador off lead and jake on lead (with one warning snap from Jake when Monty ran up into his space). Jake was watching Monty run about and my sister suggested that maybe he'd like to run with monty as we were in a safe area I let Jake off lead. He straight away ran Monty down and started circling him around snapping at him and tried to knock him over. after that he went back on lead and watched Monty a lot and lunged at his rear end a couple of times.

[GeorgeofNE]

You may have a "breed snob" like I do. I've had George for four years, and he is still extremely weird around non Greyhounds.

 

My parents had English Setters, and the only way to visit them was to get George to deal with their dogs--what we did was that we introduced them in the yard (not the house) and they were loose, and George was on leash and muzzled. The English Setters were just fine with George (mellow dogs all around) and he was just a bit growly. So I let him loose, but kept the muzzle on.

 

After a while, we went in the house. George seemed to understand that he was on THEIR turf. I took the muzzle off after about an hour. He snapped at one of the dogs when it walked to close to him, so the muzzle went back on.

 

After a few more hours, I could see he was relaxed, so I took it off. He was fine with them from then on, and every time we went back. He still doesn't like other breeds--but he sort of "got" that those dogs were family and he had to behave.

[Guest Giselle]

Unfortunately, this sounds like a classic case of dog-reactivity. To nix the behavior, we'll have to focus on changing the underlying emotions driving them. It's likely due to fear, anxiety, and/or excitement. So, we need to teach him to be focused and calm.

 

Who is your behaviorist? Dog reactivity is a serious problem, and you really have to find someone who has a solid background in animal behavior and in the psychology behind learning. The way you described it, the "parallel walking" exercise doesn't sound like it's explicitly changing the underlying emotions driving his behavior. In other words, I don't think it targets the core of your pup's issue. Effective exercises work on increasing the dog's focus on you, thereby increasing his ability to be calm in stressful situations.

 

Because reactivity is such a serious issue, I wouldn't feel totally comfortable telling you that you can fix it on your own. A good behaviorist is worth his/her weight in gold. However, for now, I would avoid situations that cause his reactive behavior and work on impulse control exercises. A good foundation, for now, would be to teach: 1) automatic Sits (if your grey doesn't sit comfortably, ask for a Down) 2) a reliable "Come" that is immediately followed by an automatic Sit. This is how it should look in the end:

http://drsophiayin.com/resources/video_full/come_when_called

 

When a dog can focus like this, only then would I feel comfortable releasing him to sniff a dog, much less play with another dog.