Will He Ever Accept Her?

[Guest Beernardo]

Hello everybody.

 

I have a male 3 year old neutered greyhound that I adopted 7 months ago. He was the only dog in the house until we got a 10 weeks Old female mini schnauzer to keep him company during his alone times and teach him play a little bit more. We got the idea of this after seeing how he really looks forward to meet other dogs during our walks, but he doesn't like to get sniffed eve though he sniff the others with no problem.

 

The situation now is that every time the puppy comes near him he gets scared like when an elephant sees a mouse. When she gets close to his feet he jumps and moves away quickly with a short run. When she approaches him when is laying on his bed he growls at her without showing teeth. Now this growling thing is something I've never seen him do an worries me a little bit.

 

Does anybody here have had a similar experience bringing a new puppy to the house? I want to think he'll get used to her and ventuly be play buddies once she's bigger and less "scary"? I've been giving him treats when she's moving around his feet to create positive experiences when she's around, and that's helped twice his "fear" when she's close to him. The funny thif is that she's not scared of this giant, she's gets close to her with a lot of security but somehow respects the boundary he has created with the running away and the growling.

[brianamac]

Hmm, I don't exactly have experienced advice, but a similar situation. Boo was around my niece's puppy mini schnauzer (5 months old) who would approach him on his bed and he reacted the same way. Lots of warning growls, and the puppy didn't take the hint. He got more growls and a couple of warning snaps.

I know a lot of people might disagree with this advice, but I would just muzzle the greyhound and let him growl and snap away so the puppy learns. Then you don't have to worry the puppy will be hurt if he gets in the way of a snap, but they grey feels free to express what his boundaries are.

Could be totally wrong, but that is what I would do in order to feel comfortable letting your greyhound express himself around such a small dog that might sustain injury more easily than a larger dog.

10 weeks?! That seems so young. No wonder the puppy is testing boundaries.

[JAJ2010]

Rainy does not like things bumping into her while she is laying down. She used to growl and snark, but years later she just leaps up and gets scared and runs away. I don't think she would do well with a puppy. :-( good luck and keep us posted

[Guest june]

Does the puppy jump on him? I only ask because one of mine does not like puppies and I finally figured out it is because they jump on her. Those little nails can be wicked sharp.

[Finnsliz]

We had a puppy come into our home with 2 female greyhounds. One of them reacted with total acceptance the other put the pup in her place every opportunity she could. There was mild growling and snapping that the puppy was very respectul of. We didn't intervene, because the puppy reacted appropriately and stopped the behaviors that were bothering to the grey. We we didn't leave the puppy alone with the dogs until she was about 9 months old and her relationship in the pack was clearly established.

She has grown up to be super dog and we attribute much of that to her "upbringing" with the greyhounds.

Your puppy is way too young to be harassing a mature dog who is used to his own space. You need to watch the puppy's reactions to the grey's corrections. If the pup is not respectful of those corrections you may have a lot of trouble on your hands. Expose them in short periods and monitor them at all times. It should get better as your puppy matures.

[krissy]

Kili was 8 weeks old when I brought her home. Summit is 7.5 and has been with us for 2 years. He loves other greys and has always been overly tolerant of puppies. However I think he realized this one was staying because he was much less tolerant than expected (which is a good thing). At first he was a bit mopey about her and he certainly does still get jealous because she takes up do much time, but I've never been worried about him hurting her. In the beginning he told her off A LOT. And he is terrifying when he does it. You'd think he was going to kill her, but now that she has learned the rules he rarely needs to tell her off. In fact he even plays bitey face with her now.

[greysmom]

I agree. The best teacher of puppy manners is an adult dog. If you're concerned about the greyhound's bite inhibition, then do muzzle him, but I would let him teach her the dog rules. Do not let the puppy terrorize the adult dog. Give the adult someplace to go that's puppy free, and some time with you where he's the center of attention.

[Guest grey_dreams]

Just wanted to add a different perspective.

 

An adult male greyhound and a puppy female mini schnauzer are different as apples and oranges. If, as you say, you wanted to get someone to keep him company so that he wouldn't be lonely, why didn't you adopt another adult (or slightly younger) male greyhound?

 

Not to say that they can't be friends, and that two male greyhounds might not be friends, but it's just that usually friends are more similar than different.

[JJNg]

Some dogs just don't like puppies. The good thing is that she won't stay a puppy forever, so if he's fine with other adult dogs in general, the chances are he'll be ok with her when she gets older. Using positive reinforcement to create a good association when she's around, like you're doing, will also help him adjust and get over his fear faster. Sounds like he's being very appropriate with his communication, and if she's respecting his signals, I would let them work it out. I also agree with giving him some puppy-free time so he doesn't get too overwhelmed.

[a_daerr]

It's a little strange that your resident grey is acting scared of the puppy... And I do agree that 10 weeks is too soon. Puppies who are taken away from their mothers and littermates too soon sometimes have issues knowing how to respectfully act toward adult dogs. If the greyhound is correcting the puppy appropriately, then yeah, I'd let it happen. But if your grey isn't "correcting" and merely acting out of stress, then that requires a more intense training program.

 

ETA: We brought Truman home at 15-weeks, and Henry was great for showing him the rules. They're best friends now.

Edited January 6, 2013 by a_daerr

[Guest Beernardo]

First of all sorry for the typos, it is product of auto correct and sloppy writing

 

....and that's helped reduce his "fear" when she's close to him. The funny thing is that she's not scared of this giant, she gets close to him with a lot of security...

 

 

I couldn't get another greyhound because I'm limited with space and budget, besides, I don't think they need to be of the same breed to get along, I mean, we are humans and we make good company to a dog, even more another dog even though they are not of the same breed. But I do definitely think greyhounds get along with each other almost instantly when it comes to playtime.

 

10 weeks is not too soon for a puppy to be taken away from the mother. It can be done after the 8th week, but the more the better.

 

I muzzled him for a couple of times the first two days but then I saw that he wasn't showing any teeth, so I figured those were just warnings level 1, and the puppy (Frida) gets the message and keeps her distance and continues to explore some other things.

 

Frida doesn't jumps on him, Stannis growled only when she came close to his back legs area whille laying down, when he's standing up he doesn't growls, he just moves away quickly. Frida stays in her kennel like 80% of the time because of the house training, the kennel is at 3' away from Stannis' bed, so both of them get to relax close but with a barrier. Frida is not annoying, only whines when is time to eat or "go out", I think Stannis have been showing here to be a greyhound

 

I'm still doing some training which involves giving stannis food when Frida is close to his legs, making them eat together (I haven't noticed aggression from Stannis there, even when Frida's have been able to snatch a little bit of his food before I correct her, Stannis didn't even care) and walking Stannis while holding Frida inside his bag very close to him. Today my wife couldn't make it for our morning walk and there I was, a 6'6" 32 year old guy walking a Greyhound Paris Hilton style holding a doggy bag, but I didn't care because I think it is really helping, Frida can now get closer to him without being annoying and Stannis seems more relaxed, she even was able to touch Stannis's tail gently without getting a reaction from him but a look, they also can touch noses gently without a problem. Basically everytime something good happens to Stannis, I make sure Frida is around so he can associate her with good things happening.

 

I really think Stannis was playing the father role because he was barking at the workers that were fixing my roof, I haven't seen Stannis bark at anybody before, only when asking for attention.

 

 

Thanks everybody for taking your time to share your experiences and advice. I hope Stannis and Frida's case is the same as the cases you've shared where they get along at the end.

[Guest grey_dreams]

Frida stays in her kennel like 80% of the time because of the house training,

 

Hoping that's an exaggeration and that the puppy isn't really crated for 80% of the time If she is crated a long time, her energy will be very high and then she will be annoying to Stannis. She needs a lot more exercise. As they say, a tired puppy is a good puppy

[JJNg]

Actually, I thought having a puppy crated 80% of the time sounds about right for the first few days of housetraining. Also remember that this is a 10-wk old pup who's going to be sleeping a lot. Getting a bit technical here, but depending on whether you're talking about waking hours or the entire day, being crated 80% of the time would mean the puppy is out and about somewhere around 3-5 hours during the day. If this is all supervised, interactive playtime, that should be plenty. And whenever the puppy can't be directly supervised, the crate is one of the best ways to prevent accidents and keep her from getting into trouble.

[Guest Beernardo]

It's not an exaggeration. She's only 10 weeks old so she still sleeps a lot and whenever we leave her out is for the potty training and some playing, We are reducing the crate time now and she now sleeps on her bed outside her crate in our living room with us watching her. She doesn't whines or make a mess when she's in the crate, so I think we are doing good so far.

 

The relationship keeps getting better with small steps, today Stannis was laying on his bed and she was approaching him getting on his bed slowly, like testing the waters, she was able to smell Stannis' neck while Stannis was smelling her bottom, then she tried to snuggle against him to sleep but Stannis got I don't know what and stood up abruptly, nothing serious. They now spend more time in the patio close to each other and Frida seems to understand Stannis's boundaries, so far they only touch noses every now and then. I think it is getting better.

 

Thanks everybody for your opinions.

[a_daerr]

Just wanted to add that maybe walking them together would be a good bonding experience.

Your greyhound may be having confusion understanding she's actually a dog because she's so small and you're carrying her in a purse.

[Guest Beernardo]

Yeah maybe at the beginning he thought it was a living toy. I've been waiting for the first vaccinations round to finish before I let her sniff the streets.