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2 Issues With Newly Adopted


Guest TheLast13

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Guest TheLast13

Hi Everyone,

 

Im on my fourth week with my newly Adopted Grey named Hero. He is about 3 and a half years old and so far has been a saint.

I no longer crate him at night, only during the day. He hasnt messed in the house, chewed on anything that wasnt his or really done anyhting bad. Its actually gone a lot better than I expected.

 

There have been two things happen in the last week that I am a little unsure about, so suggestions would be nice.

 

First, it happened randomly last week, and now happens nightly. He likes to come into my bedroom anywhere between 2:30 and 5:30 am and barks and roos and rubs his head against me and obviously wants to wake me. First time I petted him and he calmed down and a few minutes later left the room. He sleeps in the living room on one of his beds, his choice not mine. He has a bed in the bedroom as well, but chooses the living room. So now when he wakes me, i just wake up, say "NO" and remove him from my bedroom and close the door. He remains quite and goes back to bed until I wake up at about 6am. He doesnt need to potty as I take him out usually at 10pm and when I get up and he rarely will potty when I first take him out in the morning, its like he gets lonely or needs reasurrance. He never whined once at night when we first brought him home even when he was kept in his crate. I know there is a better way for me to handle it, but I dont know where to start.

 

 

Second, he has not shown any signs of aggression, and is starting to like to play with toys,but in the last week if I go to take a toy from him he will growl and snap in the air close to my hand. He doesnt do it with tennis balls or anything that involves me to play with him, he figured out how to play fetch and will drop the ball so i can throw it again, but its only with stuffed toys. I dont know him well enough to know if he will bite or not, so I dont want to risk it. I did some searching on here and say the "drop it" and trying to trade up with him for something else, but trading up is not as immediate as I would like. As I would have to go get a treat or whatever and I lose the moment that I want to grab or remove the toy or whatever it is that he has.

What is curious to me, as its only certain things he does it with. When he has a tennis ball I can grab it from his mouth and he doesnt care.

He hasnt been food agressive and will let me take his food bowl while hes eating.

 

Everyday I see new things in him where he is adopting to his new life and he is always opening up a little more each day and I feel like if I dont deal with these two issues now, they could get worse. The waking me thing isnt too bad and if he just gets energy burts at 4 am, then I will just have to deal with it, but the growling and snapping I dont like.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

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You are not alone. I can't speak to the nighttime behavior, but we've had our boy for just around 6 weeks and on the very first night discovered that he has high-resource guarding issues. He does not guard food, but will guard stuffies when laying down with them in his mouth or on the ground right in front of him (he does not seem to guard whilst standing), and most definitely guards his antler. We can easily trade up with him (he LOVES food), but like you mentioned, we often lose the moment (with the stuffies, not the antler) because he jumps up the instant we go to retrieve the treat to make the trade. It takes practice, but from what I've learned on here, consistent practice trading up will help curb this behavior. Good luck!

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Keep some treats in your pocket.

 

I don't scold for dog waking me up -- I *want* the dog to wake me up if he is ill in the night. Rather, if I'm pretty sure dog doesn't have to go out, etc., I tell dog to go lie down (and, until he knows what that means, guide him matter-of-factly back to his bed or simply ignore him until the alarm goes off or I want to get up).

 

 

 

 

 

ETA: If you do a search in this forum, you can find some procedures for teaching "trading up" with "drop it!" as a regular lesson, outside of the incidents where you're having a problem. That way, you're teaching a regular, rewarded command/behavior that you'll be able to rely on when you don't happen to have a treat :) .

Edited by Batmom

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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Beautiful Grey. Do you think your pup could be cold? My girl doesn't come to my bed or vocalize when she's cold, but she wanders around the bedroom, flops down on her bed, gets up and wanders some more, flops down again, etc., until I wake up and cover her.

 

I know nothing about resource guarding a toy, or anything else 'cause Annie B doesn't care what I do, so I have no suggestions, but you'll read good ideas from those who have had experience.

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Greys at the track usually wake up between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. That's when they have their first turn out and then are usually fed after that. He's waking up at his usual time (for him). He's going to have to get used to a new schedule. At the track he's crated so when he wakes up he probably just lay there quietly until he was let out. Now that he's not in a crate he can come to you. If it is too much of a pain for you to get up and make him go back to his bed, then I would bring out the crate again. There is nothing wrong with a greyhound that sleeps in a crate. I have 3 that prefer to sleep in their crates and they have done it forever. It's the only time they are in it is at night. You can keep some treats in your night stand draw and when he wakes you up, grab one and either put him on his bed in your room or take him back to the living room, treat him and tell him he's a good boy. He'll figure out that this is the behavior you're looking for.

 

As far as the stuffies, that's a high value toy to him and he doesn't want to give it up. Keep a few treats in your pocket, when you want to take the toy offer him a treat. He will drop the toy to get the treat. Praise him. You can use the phrase "drop it" when he releases the toy, treat and praise. He'll get it pretty quick. Remember, these dogs have never had to "share" anything. They were given any treats and food in their crates. It's another in home rule they have to learn.

Judy, mom to Darth Vader, Bandita, And Angel

Forever in our hearts, DeeYoGee, Dani, Emmy, Andy, Heart, Saint, Valentino, Arrow, Gee, Bebe, Jilly Bean, Bullitt, Pistol, Junior, Sammie, Joey, Gizmo, Do Bee

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Guest TheLast13

Greys at the track usually wake up between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. That's when they have their first turn out and then are usually fed after that. He's waking up at his usual time (for him). He's going to have to get used to a new schedule. At the track he's crated so when he wakes up he probably just lay there quietly until he was let out. Now that he's not in a crate he can come to you. If it is too much of a pain for you to get up and make him go back to his bed, then I would bring out the crate again. There is nothing wrong with a greyhound that sleeps in a crate. I have 3 that prefer to sleep in their crates and they have done it forever. It's the only time they are in it is at night. You can keep some treats in your night stand draw and when he wakes you up, grab one and either put him on his bed in your room or take him back to the living room, treat him and tell him he's a good boy. He'll figure out that this is the behavior you're looking for.

 

As far as the stuffies, that's a high value toy to him and he doesn't want to give it up. Keep a few treats in your pocket, when you want to take the toy offer him a treat. He will drop the toy to get the treat. Praise him. You can use the phrase "drop it" when he releases the toy, treat and praise. He'll get it pretty quick. Remember, these dogs have never had to "share" anything. They were given any treats and food in their crates. It's another in home rule they have to learn.

 

That makes a lot of sense actually. Thank you.

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Guest karilynn

Greys at the track usually wake up between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m. That's when they have their first turn out and then are usually fed after that. He's waking up at his usual time (for him). He's going to have to get used to a new schedule. At the track he's crated so when he wakes up he probably just lay there quietly until he was let out. Now that he's not in a crate he can come to you. If it is too much of a pain for you to get up and make him go back to his bed, then I would bring out the crate again. There is nothing wrong with a greyhound that sleeps in a crate. I have 3 that prefer to sleep in their crates and they have done it forever. It's the only time they are in it is at night. You can keep some treats in your night stand draw and when he wakes you up, grab one and either put him on his bed in your room or take him back to the living room, treat him and tell him he's a good boy. He'll figure out that this is the behavior you're looking for.

 

As far as the stuffies, that's a high value toy to him and he doesn't want to give it up. Keep a few treats in your pocket, when you want to take the toy offer him a treat. He will drop the toy to get the treat. Praise him. You can use the phrase "drop it" when he releases the toy, treat and praise. He'll get it pretty quick. Remember, these dogs have never had to "share" anything. They were given any treats and food in their crates. It's another in home rule they have to learn.

 

This is great advice and I was going to also recommend a crate. My boy loooooooves his crate. He loves it so much that he sleeps in there, with the door open, and often spends a lot of time in there willingly. He's started using it less and less as time goes on, but he still likes it a lot. I made the mistake of taking it away too soon, thinking that A. he didn't need it and B. it's big, bulky, and a bit if an eyesore. (lol) but he really was lost without it and started doing a similar thing where he would wake me up in the night, like he was confused and didn't know what to do. I don't lock him in his crate at night, but I close my bedroom door and he stays in his crate until we get up.

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He's resource guarding because the stuffies are high value to him.

 

How I have handled resource guarders is to pick up their toys and only let them have them when I am around to supervise. This way, I am ready with treats on hand to play 'trade up'. If you are consistent and patient, eventually you will no longer need the treats because your boy will understand that you being near his toys is a good thing. That said, I'd still reinforce the behaviour by randomly treating when near him and his toys, even if the behaviour seems controlled since it never hurts to remind your pup of his initial training. :) Once he seems to be doing better, you can leave the toys down and assess from there.

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Guest mom2hounds

Welcome to Greytalk. The advice above should work with Hero. I remember him from the GAO site. Don't hesitate to call Linda or Susan with any issues. They are always willing to help. Hero's issues are not unusual. Forti is still an early riser. She lets us sleep in to 7 am sometimes, but she is usually up by 6 am.

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I had the same problem with certain training issues because I don't have pockets (usually wear skirts), and therefore never have treats on me.

I got great advice from other GT people on how to 'trade up' for food, so I practice it anytime he has something, even things he is allowed to play with. This gives me the opportunity to go get treats and let him continue playing. I can then trade, and offer the toy back a couple minutes later.

It has helped immensely with situations where he actually has something he isn't supposed to have.

siggie_zpse3afb243.jpg

 

Bri and Mike with Boo Radley (Williejohnwalker), Bubba (Carlos Danger), and the feline friends foes, Loois and Amir

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First off, Hero is absolutely stunning! Wow.

 

I believe you have received some good advice here. For the resource guarding, trade up is what you have to do and our sweet boy Charlie did this when we first got him. It was quite easy to do and worked very well.

Kyle with Stewie ('Super C Ledoux, Super C Sampson x Sing It Blondie) and forever missing my three angels, Jack ('Roy Jack', Greys Flambeau x Miss Cobblepot) and Charlie ('CTR Midas Touch', Leo's Midas x Hallo Argentina) and Shelby ('Shari's Hooty', Flying Viper x Shari Carusi) running free across the bridge.

Gus an coinnich sinn a'rithist my boys and little girl.

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