Introducing 'al', A New Addition To The Family (We're Firs

[Guest blondealonso]

Hi all,

 

We are first time greyhound owners and first time owners of a rescue dog (purely as he's a retired ex-racer). Wanted to join the forums as it was recommend by a friend who owns a few hounds and seemed like the perfect place to get some healthy advice.

 

 

He's 6 years old, male, and been in a kennel for a long time but has adapted reasonably quickly to moving in with us. For an initial half hour he didn't even bat an eyelid at us but after he had finished exploring he didn't want to leave us alone, happily following us around the house :-)

 

We've got a crate to try crate training although leaving it pretty much up to him where he wants to sleep... we wanted a crate for somewhere where he can go and sleep and feel safe should he want to.... although right now he's crashed out on one of our sofas.

 

Today was the first day we've had him and I get the feeling hes had a little too much excitment and stress. After feeding him his evening meal his stools have been very loose which concerned us at first but we are assured this is due to the move and change in feed. The feed we are giving him is something he has had in the past but the kennels changed from this to something else a few months ago, so i'm guessing his body still needs to adapt.

 

We are currently feeding him a feed with 18% protein with plans to boost his protein with a small amount of cooked meat (or frozen meats) throughout the week.

 

Anyways, just wanted to say hello :-)

 

Chris & Charlie

[Dawnnziggy]

Welcome to Greytalk! I am expecting a new hound soon. This is really typical for a new hound to have loose stools at first. Good luck and welcome from Ohio!

[fsugrad]

Congratulations!!

That's a beautiful brindle boy you've got there!

[MaryJane]

What a handsome boy!

 

As already mentioned, greyhounds can get loose stools if they get stressed and if their food gets changed. Just as long as it doesn't go on too long he should be fine. If the loose stools go for more than 1 week, try adding some rice and cooked hamburger to his food - sometimes that eases his GI system enough that he might firm up.

[AZGreyGirl]

Welcome! Al is a handsome lad -- congratuations on your first Grey! I know the excitement as another first timer learning all the ropes. Enjoy getting to know each other!

[Guest HoundWorks]

Such a handsome fellow! Sounds like he found a good spot to crash on his first day.

[Guest PhillyPups]

Congrats and welcome to GT

 

I have a very soft spot for handsome brindle boys, and Al sure is one. The soft stools should firm up, if after a couple of days they don't, I would take a stool sample to my vet. Betcha can't have just one.

 

He is adjusting, his whole world is quite new. That he is sleeping on the couch alredy is good. I would suggest not touching him until you are sure he is awake (flick of an ear, lifting his head) as in the kennel they are woken up by all the dogs barking and not human touch. It may be very different once he has been there a while and trusts you.

 

I always remember with a new dog, Respect is Granted, Trust is Earned.

 

Good luck, you have a handsome one there.

[Guest MyCody]

Welcome to Greytalk, a wonderful group of people who will try and help with any questions you have. There are some very knowledgeble people in here so feel free to ask.

 

YOu have a very handsome guy there, looking forward to hearing and seeing more of him.

 

[Time4ANap]

What a handsome Irish boy!

[galgrey]

Welcome to GT! Very handsome boy you have there!

[Houndtime]

Welcome from Delaware.

[Guest blondealonso]

Thanks for all the warm welcomes everyone :-)

 

He slept very well on his first night, I was expecting he might soil himself but he's been good as gold! I get up around 6:30am and he was waiting quite patiently at the foot of the stairs (we have a baby gate installed so he can't go upstairs on his own accord). If we find him asleep we'll know not to wake him though :-)

 

Sadly when we picked him up from the rescue he has a cut on the tip of his tail which we're told is called happy tail, due to him wagging his tail so much in the kennels he's caught it on concrete and I think this mornings excitment opened the cut up again. We were quite shocked by the amount of blood sprayed . We have cleaned it and going to wrap it with vetwrap until it scabs over.

 

Just some background info I guess... myself and my partner volunteered a bit at the retired greyhound trust (UK) and walked numerous hounds over a couple of months. We met Al on our first day and he didnt seem very fussed by us, just more looking forward to his walks. On returning visits he was one of the few hounds who recognised us, each time greeting us and jumping up to say hello. We really feel he chose us and really happy we took our time in finding the right greyhound. I think its made life so much easier adapting him to the home environment.

[Potomacpupsmom]

What a handsome brindle boy! Hello and welcome from Maryland.

[Guest LindsaySF]

Welcome! He's handsome. Ah the dreaded happy tail. Many of us here have been through that!

[Guest blondealonso]

Thought a little update as its been just over a week since we adopted Al.

 

His confidence is improving every day, and each day his desire to play is increasing. At first he wasn't interested at all, almost as if he never played before. Now he quite happily chases his ball and chases me around the garden. He roaches often and shows you his belly when stroking behind his ears. Follows us around like a shadow

 

He is showing signs of improved health: His hair is starting to grow back on his hind legs. Where his skin has been broken from laying down on concrete (at the kennels) there are obvious signs of healing, with scabs naturally flaking off (sounds yukky but its great!). He calms down much quicker after his walks, only taking half an hour to an hour to get to normal breathing rates

 

Walks though are and will continue to be wary as hes very trigger happy when it comes to other dogs, especially with breeds he has not met before. We muzzle him for this until his temperment improves and mostly likely will remain this way for a good few months. I'm looking into doggy socialisation / behaviour classes and also will be attending a few local group dog walks.. theres a greyhound specific one in our area which is on the first sunday of every month.

 

Here he is enjoying the British sunshine over the weekend:

 

http://i.imgur.com/yyM8b.jpg

 

And his roaching in my office

 

http://i.imgur.com/HpgVM.jpg

 

(i cant make the image smaller so i've just linked to the image sorry)

Edited July 2, 2012 by blondealonso

[PattyE]

He is so handsome. It sounds like he is adjusting just fine to his new home. Congrats!

[Guest Patton]

Congratulations on your new boy, I agree with everyone, he's quite handsome! I'm also new here and anticipating an adoption in the relatively near future, reading your story is very interesting and gives me a couple ideas of what challenges we may also face. I've met many retired racers over the years but have never really met any that were newly off the track/recent adoptions and some of their behaviours to watch for are of great interest to me. Sounds like he's settling in very nicely to me.

Is he starting to get excited/happy as he anticipates his walks with you yet? I am really hoping to adopt one that will be an eager walker with me and look forward to regular walks.

[schultzlc]

Congratulations on your handsome boy!

[Guest blondealonso]

hehe any time he sees a black belt he gets excited for walks, we use a black collar and then a black chest harness and he goes crazy. We have to take him out into the rear garden to put the harness on because he wags his tail so much and don't want him breaking open his happy tail wound again Even when I put on my belt in the mornings he thinks its time for a walk.

 

I think the most interesting thing is that hes definitely more fond of women than men, although he loves a good cuddle with me he'll much prefer going to my girlfriend when shes home ^^ its a time thing.. just needs to build up that trust, its noticeable if I accidentally make a quick movement he might jump, whereas I havent seen that with my girlfriend yet.

[greytpups]

We adopted 2 females who preferred women initially even though they were around lots of men at the track. I thought perhaps it was because men were louder or had a deep voice or something similar. Brooke is still more wary of men then women.

[Guest VBanGogh]

Congratulations! He is indeed a handsome boy!

[Guest CharlEYp]

Thanks all we're really happy with him.

We took Al to a pub yesturday where he met a few terriers, unfortunately he keeps trying to lunge at them (And a cat but we expected that.)

 

Luckily the other owner was very understanding and we tried several introductions before we called it quits. He allowed the dog closer each time but as soon as it went near his head he lunged forward. I guess he's just a slow learner with this topic as everything else training-wise he's been great.

 

He's great with children and car rides and even "waits" when commanded. Any tips on getting him to accept other dogs?

 

Also we have noticed that he now starts whining at 5am to come in the bedroom and join us. (We try and sleep seperate as i'm asthmatic and need a "clean" room for sleeping.) I've been putting him back in his bed and he seems to then sleep again till 6:30 which is fine as i need to get up for work then. Will he keep doing this? I'm exhausted from the disrupted sleep at the moment and so i'm wondering if anyone had any tips?

[Guest CharlEYp]

p.s. you probably want to know a little about body language before he lunges.

 

He tends to go very still and stare at whatever has caught his interest (the problem is he tends to stare at a lot of things at the moment where he's newly adopted), his tail will be wagging from side to side with the tip slightly up. His ears are up and he's usually panting slightly. He doesn't growl.

 

When he lunges he than bends his front legs and bounces forward whilst snapping. Only then will he make a noise, which is somwhere between a growl and a yelp (that's the best i can describe it.)

 

I've had two Dobes and a Lab before and they always gave small gowls as warnings, we keep him muzzled when near other dogs but i'm still concerncerned.

[Guest blondealonso]

We've booked him in for obedience classes in a group starting in August, gives him a chance to really settle. We don't plan to let him off lead but would like for him to be able to greet other dogs without freaking out. I'm also changing the way I work at home a bit so he has some time on his own and can get used to being on his own.