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Lunges At Other Dogs.


Guest CharlEYp

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Guest CharlEYp

I've reposted this here as i intitially wrote it in introductions and realised in was in the wrong section. (Sorry)

 

Please help.

 

We took Al to a pub yesterday 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 and even let on sniff his butt. But as soon as it went near his head he lunged forward. He’s also done this at other dogs whilst on his walks.

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

 

 

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.)

 

Is this aggressive behavior, or is this greyhound’s way of playing???

I've had two Dobes and a Lab before and they always gave small growls as warnings if they were upset.

 

We keep him muzzled when near other dogs but i'm still concerned. Especially as I’ve never had this before. The Dobermans and Labrador we had from puppies, so they were introduced to lots of different dogs very early as a result this was never an issue.

 

Also we've signed him up to an obedience class which will start in August (it's as soon as they can fit us in.)

Is there anything we can do in the mean time?

 

Thank you for all you help

Charlie

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While it's can be difficult to distinguish play from prey behaviour without seeing the dog in action, it does sound as if your new dog might be a 'high prey' dog. This means that he is seeing the small dogs as something to chase (and possibly kill) rather than a member of his own species.

 

Some dogs which are prey-driven can be trained out of the worst of the behaviour, but none of the really high-prey dogs can ever be trusted to be off-lead with other breeds of dog, cats, wild game or small furries of any kind.

 

I'd ask an experienced person to take a look at his behaviour and give you an opinion. In the meantime, I'd be extremely cautious with other dog breeds. I had a true 'high prey' girl once, and she would have taken on anything not greyhound-shaped (other dogs, cats, rabbits, deer, birds, even horses. She even caught and ate mice).

 

Can you get the people you adopted from to assess him? If it is prey-driven behaviour, there are things you can do to re-train him, but you will always have to be vigilant.

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We have a high prey drive hound. She is better than she was but will never be trusted around non-greys. She is also muzzled at all times in public. We are very careful with her. She is also perfect. :)

 

My point is that others will be better able to assess you hound. But if he does need to be muzzled, it isn't the worst thing in the world.

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Guest CharlEYp

Thanks silverfish & Brandiandwe, sounds like it may be a prey type thing then.

Although he's not fussed by horses as there were a few near the kennels where we adopted him from.

 

The funny thing is they assessed him as "dog friendly" but he's been snappy towards most of the dogs we've had near him.

He nearly got into a fight with a border collie on one walk, which completely shocked me as he was fine with a rottwieler the evening of the day before. (This was the first time i saw this behaviour with him, my partner had seen it with on the morning of the previous day with a pug but i wasn't there for that.)

 

I really hope he can be trained out of it as my sister has a labrador and when she comes to visit i'd like for them to get along.

Also i know its a necessity at the moment but i hate how people avoid him when he has his muzzle on, especially as he loves people and looks really sad when people avoid him.

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There's a big difference between a brief meeting on leash with a strange dog, and a family dog of another breed! So I think there's hope for your sister's dog. My boy behaves in the same manner as yours. It's fine with me--but when I got him, my parents had two English Setters, and if we were going to visit them, my dog was going to HAVE to learn to deal with them.

 

What worked was introducing them outside (not in the house) and George was muzzled. I had to leave his muzzle on for about 6 hours, and when he stopped reacting at all to them, I took it off, and he was fine from that point on. Return visits were no issue. He seemed to understand these were family members--and also that he was in THEIR house!

 

They never played with each other--barely even looked at each other as a matter of fact, but there was no more growling at all.


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Our Robin is an extremely high prey hound. He only likes other greyhounds and whippets. We wouldn't dream of taking him to a dog park. If he's going to spend time with other breeds of dogs (which doesn't happen often), he's muzzled. Better safe than sorry.

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Guest CharlEYp

There's a big difference between a brief meeting on leash with a strange dog, and a family dog of another breed! So I think there's hope for your sister's dog.

 

They never played with each other--barely even looked at each other as a matter of fact, but there was no more growling at all.

 

Thanks GeorgeofNE, this does sound more promising, i'll try introductions with my sister's Lab "Emma" in a neutral ground and see how things go. Although i hope they will play eventually, Emma is quite boistrous however so it's probably going to take a while.

What about using treats to distract them? Would you recommend this or might it foster some jealousy?

 

Our Robin is an extremely high prey hound. He only likes other greyhounds and whippets. We wouldn't dream of taking him to a dog park. If he's going to spend time with other breeds of dogs (which doesn't happen often), he's muzzled. Better safe than sorry.

 

Thanks also fsugard, we have him muzzled if there's a dog nearby now even if it's on a leash, just in case.

He's not happy that we've started putting it on him again so i'm hoping that may also help correct him.

The problem is that we were using the muzzle as a correction if he lunged towards something but with the close call that we had with the Collie it's just not worth the risk. :(

 

Are there any strong distraction techniques we could try?

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If you search for posts from Giselle, she has a video whereby she uses "look at me" to train dogs in these situations. You need to be careful and do this properly though so you are not rewarding for lunging or unwanted behaviour, rather, you are rewarding for "wanted" behaviour such as calmness, or non-lunging behaviour.

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Guest OMGiluvgreys

I have the sweetist 95 lb male, but put ANYTHING small in his sight he will go after it. He just has a very high prey drive.

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My grey has a low prey drive (he lives with 4 cats, and he barely looks at rabbits by the road side). He's 99.9% fine with 99.9% of dogs of all breeds off leash. It's when he's leashed that there is a problem (he lunges and barks). However, that's only when he's being walked alone. When I walk him with a friend and her dogs, and also when dog walkers walk him with their dogs, he never even glances at other people's dogs. I tried "watch me" or showering him with treats whenever we glimpsed a dog when walking alone with him, and some other stuff, and nothing worked. I just avoid getting too close to other dogs when I'm alone with him, and live with it.

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He sounds just like my female. She was seriously high prey (tried to go after everything...burst through the screen door to get a cat, and hopped a fence to chase a horse once). She was alright with dogs about her size (she was small, only about 55 lbs, so dogs about 50+ were okay). The only thing you can really do is work on basics, like staying next to you no matter how delicious or tempting that Maltese might look. Eventually, he'll probably get more accustomed to seeing humans walking "prey" around the sidewalk, but you'll likely not be able to trust him on- or off-leash with fluffy critters.

 

I second the suggestion for "look at me" training. That'll help a lot if it's done correctly.

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Just a couple points...

 

I wouldn't recommend using the muzzle as a form of correction. Dogs should be comfortable and have a good association with wearing their muzzle. It should be use as a safety precaution, not punishment.

 

When introducing to family dogs (or other dogs), I'd suggest going on a walk together, perhaps starting with at least a couple people between the dogs, as well as some extra distance if he seems tense or too focused on the other dog. Don't allow face-to-face greetings until the dogs seem more relaxed in each other's company. And once you get to the point of trying a face-to-face intro on leash, do your best to keep the leashes slack, as leash tension can trigger a reaction. Even if the dogs are sniffing noses politely, don't allow it to go on too long as some dogs may become overwhelmed after a couple seconds. Use your voice and attention to interrupt, call the dogs away, and praise for appropriate behavior.

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Guest PhillyPups

 

 

 

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.

 

 

Also we've signed him up to an obedience class which will start in August (it's as soon as they can fit us in.)

Is there anything we can do in the mean time?

 

Thank you for all you help

Charlie

 

That is definitely his sign. The very still intent stare, the tail going side to side with the tip slightly up. He is a hunter, it is in his genes, it it awesome to watch, but the outcome usually is not so pleasant. In the hunt, noises will scare away the prey.

 

Obedience class will help you learn to work with him. I would never trust him loose with small moving bodies of fluff,

 

I have all high prey hounds here, they are AWESOME dogs, but I do not have cats or smaller animals here. Good luck with him, he is probably the biggest love you will ever find.

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Guest CharlEYp

Thanks all,

We started trying "watch me" with him last night and he seemed very interested in the sausage meat.

 

He didn't lunge at any of the dogs this time but we kept him close and muzzled as a precaution when they walked by.

He did however keep staring and only actually focused fully on me nce the dog had passed.

 

I'm hoping the fact that he didn't lunge forward is a good sign, that he's starting to understand that there are other dogs and that if he ignores tham he'll get a nice treat.

Will keep you all posted as to his progress.

 

i really appreciate all the support and advice, thank you.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest dblgreys

I have 2 Greyhounds. My husband an I adopted them about a month ago. They are brother and sister who are 2 years old. Our girl does great. Or boy on the other hand is proving to be more difficult. He does not want to listen we have a hard time getting him to pay attention (Even with treats) he doesn't seem all that interested in anything (treats or Toys) and doesn't care to play. The only things we can find that he is interested in is feeding time, trying to chase the cats and rabbits that run around the neighborhood (Which we do not let him do) and our daily walks. Recently he met 2 very small dogs ( cat size) He was fine wagging his tail and non aggressive. So I thought I would introduce him to my mother's dog who is a springer spaniel. That went badly he got extremely aggressive and the spaniel didn't do anything to deserve it. everyone is fine but I got the crap scared out of me and so did the spaniel. We do a lot of family oriented things and I would love to take both my dogs there. My sister also has 2 coon hounds a black and tan and a walker who are rather large dogs which he has not met. My sister and I are very close. I would like to see all the dogs in my family get along. He has also recently started getting agressive with his sister for no reason. I am thinking maybe muzzles for our greys are the way to go. Any other sugestions would be appreciated. If we have to we will just have to leave them at home but I would like to be able to take them everywhere I can and now I am afraid to take him anywhere except for our walks around town but even then I am nervous of how he will react when he sees a dog in the distance since the incident with the spaniel.(he is already working hard in trying to slip his collar and lead so he can give chase.)

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Hi dblgreys, welcome to GreyTalk. I see you've posted this same message in a couple different older threads. You'll probably get more responses if you start a New Topic of your own.

 

Just a couple questions first...how did you try to introduce your boy to your mother's springer spaniel? Can you describe some of the situations where he's gotten aggressive with his sister? You might want to copy and past your first post into a new topic, and answer these questions there. A lot of people don't necessarily go back and read older threads.

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Ollie (whippet), Gracie (whippet x), & Terra (whippet) + Just Saying + Just Alice

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