12 Month Old?

[Brandiandwe]

Dh and I have been throwing around the idea of number three for some time. I will get a Galgo eventually but right now spending the $6000 to get one over here isn't possible.

 

We have our two girls who are both three. We've managed to settle a lot of the prey drive and leash reactivity issues with a lot of hard work and awesome treats. They now really only react to dogs having a go at them first or to dogs they've had a bad experience with.

 

Dh has his heart set on a brindle male, preferably blue or dark brindle. Given with the first two we took the right dogs and didn't worry about colour, we've been prepared to wait. This is to be 'his' dog as the girls really are mine. So I've been preparing myself for an older boofy brindle boy, laid back, ready for retirement.

 

Our adoption coordinator got in touch with me yesterday. They have a 12 month old brindle male coming in in the next month. He's unsuitable for racing as he's had growth plate issues, though he's been vetted as ok for everything else (ie retirement on our bed and sofa). This is all we've found out about him. We don't know colour other than brindle, he needs to be temperent tested, and vetted again. He also needs to meet the girls and make sure he's submissive enough to fit with Paige (our princess as I'm queen bee). And dh and him have to like each other.

 

But I've got other questions. A 12 month old is a puppy. We got our two at 20 months so a little older. I'm guessing that we can expect puppy behaviour for a couple of years? The girls get a long walk in the morning of 4-6 kms and a shorter one at night with a couple of others for pottying. Will that be enough for a younger dog in general?

Too much for his joints? How long can a 12 month old hold his bladder?

 

Will he be full grown at 12 months? Should we wait a bit before getting him the snip?

 

Growth plates. I'm not sure what the exact issue is or how sound he is. Anything I should be aware of? How will this affect his ability to exercise? Diet? Obviously without details it's impossible to answer but has anyone here dealt with this type of issue?

 

Bonding with dh. I've already informed dh that if we go ahead he needs to be involved. So he'll be helping more with walks, feeding and training. Does hand feeding help with bonding? Walking obviously does, as does training and playing. Anything else?

 

Finally, walking three. Right now I hold two leashes in my left hand and the poo bags in the right. Three leashes make this difficult. So I was thinking a good solid belt to attach leashes to, then holding the leashes in my left hand as well as being attached to me do I can correct and control as needed. Does this sound doable? Paige always needs to be in front, Brandi trots along on a slack leash with occasional diversions to check out peemail and mark. Number three is unknown. What sort of belts do you find work for you?

 

Am I completely insane????

[a_daerr]

Awww, congratulations!

 

I've had Truman since 15-weeks-old, and he's now 20-months-old. My $0.02 is this. The dog you're looking at is probably not going to have the stereotypical "puppy" problems that people usually think of (i.e. housetraining, chewing, jumping, pulling, etc). It's likely that he's grown out of those kinds of things behaviorally. Note: I say "probably" because there's obviously exceptions to every rule. The biggest thing to consider is that a 12-month-old will be VERY immature. He'll also have way more energy than your two girls. There's a good chance he'll be more challenging to train. Even though Truman is almost 2-years-old (and has passed five different obedience classes including his CGC), he is still ridiculously stubborn. While I found it very cool to watch my puppy grow up, the adolescent stage presents its own unique issues. Their hormones are still leveling out, so you can expect some moodiness, behavioral regression, and unpredictable behaviors.

 

It sounds like you have a good environment to add an adolescent if you choose to. Having two adult females who can help train and correct him is a huge advantage. I don't think I would've lasted if I didn't have Henry as my "babysitter."

 

As for neutering, they typically say to wait until a dog is at least a year old. There are certain hormones that regular bone development, so when dogs are spayed or neutered very young, it can sometimes cause growth problems. However, I think you would be fine to neuter him now. In fact, it's better to do it sooner than later, as neutering will help calm him down, plus reduce possible unwanted sexual behaviors like marking and humping.

[Brandiandwe]

He will definitely be neutered as its one of the conditions of adoption with this group. The thing I was worried about was his growth - its tricky trying to do the same thing. Hoping to get some more information soon.

[a_daerr]

Yeah, typically, their bones are done growing by a year. But especially for large breed dogs, the part that ends up taking a long time is "filling out." Truman is 83 pounds, but he's lanky as anything. He looks like an anorexic greyhound, even though he eats a massive amount. I would be more interested to know exactly what kind of problems this boy has related to his growth plates. Have they done x-rays or any procedures to fix them? To my knowledge, bones can grow asymmetrically, causing a limp or inflammation for a period of time. But I would try to get as much information as possible, since he might require (at least one) surgery.

[Brandiandwe]

I gather that he's been registered so they just need to wait for kennel spaces to open up and so on. Then we'll have a better sense of what we've got. From my research it could be anything from an old injury left untreated resulting in deformation to a shortened leg and a limp which could result in arthritic changes elsewhere to a slight out-turning of the foot or just a weakness in the joint.

 

Tbh I don't think it's the first - to be blunt, the dog wouldn't have survived if that was the case. So I suspect that they've tried to fix it and it hasn't worked. Either that or he's been kept as a pet. But I don't think many owners or trainers are that sentimental. Hopefully he'll be sound enough to enjoy life and be a big sook who fits in well with the family.

 

I'm glad you came by! I was hoping you would as your Truman adventures have been a source of a lot of information for me.

[GeorgeofNE]

Most dogs are full grown and sexually mature at 12 months. He would most likely fill out some, but I would not expect him to grow.

 

His bladder capacity is fully mature at that age (although I think it takes some practice no matter what age).

[a_daerr]

Hahahaha, me too! The younger ones are a lot of fun. A year old is a good age. If you said you were thinking about a 6 month old greyhound though, I would've said, "Yes, you are crazy... Head for the hills!" Not to jinx it or anything, but is there a picture of this boy anywhere? I'd love to see what he looks like.

 

Also, I wanted to tell you I had the pleasure of meeting Christine from Houndworks in person at GIG. She and her fiance, as well as her two pups are very lovely. Dexter did NOT like Truman though! It was quite comical. Did you order any new collars from her lately?

[cleptogrey]

as to house breaking, if you do it right there should be no problems. yes, he's in the middle of adolescence so training will be a challenge, but do it! he's at a perfect age to recieve instructions and formal training. you won't really know the difference since you weren't trying to train him at 6 months. exercise, exercise and a strict program of positive habits and behavior will be your best friend. as to growth platelets, speak w/ your vet and find out what he knows. i will say felix didn't stop growing for quite some time. more than the one year mark. go for it, enjoy and have fun! do check out some local obedience programs.

[TheFullHouse]

Bullitt came to us at 18 months and was very much a puppy. He chewed my lamp cords in half (they weren't plugged in thank the good lord) but that was about it. He never chewed the furniture, walls etc. and really didn't have any potty issues, he caught right on. What he did need was someone to play with because he loved to play and my dogs were older which is the reason why we adopted Pistol, so he would have someone to play with.

[greysmom]

My Lilly is 20 months old, the same as Truman, and we've had her since 11 weeks. My initial take would be that he's not suitable for racing because of a physical problem. Here at least, most puppies are just beginning their training at 1 year-18 months, so he was likely evaluated and found wanting for whatever reason.

 

"Growth Plates" could involve uneven growth or shortness of bone - could be anything really - so you won't know for sure until you see him (or get further info). This will likely NOT preclude him from being a good pet. He *may* have some issues in the future, but he may not. He's really too young to know. Lilly went through periods where her back end or front end was taller than the other, but she's pretty square now.

 

I second what Judy and Alicia said about having another dog for the puppy to play with and teach them manners. We would have literally been run ragged without Whiskey here. He would playplayplayplay with Lilly until she dropped! And a tired puppy is a good puppy! So you may want to evaluate your existing dogs to see how you think they will react to the non-stop annoyance of a puppy. Lilly could pester the bark off a stump, so the other dogs should have a good amount of patience! You can expect puppy-type behavior until the dog is probably about 4 years old, though it does decrease with time.

 

As far as training goes, I've really never had a dog "get it" as fast as Lilly did. Once or twice through a behavior and she was nearly perfect. My biggest problem was finding a motivator as she's not really into food or treats. You will want to walk him separately, at least at first, until he learns some leash manners. Then walking three should be no problem. I'd don't use a special harness or belt for walking though some people do.

 

Lilly could easily go through the night way before she was a year old, and now can "last" the same as my other adults.

 

Greyhound puppies are A LOT of fun! I'd do it again in a heartbeat. But make sure you're up for the time commitment.

[mom2four]

I can give you our experience with our Tosca, whom we got as a 4 month old puppy. She acts more like a regular dog than a Greyhound. She was a wild one until about age 3 when she started settling down, even with obedience training. Having another willing Grey/dog to play with would be a good thing!

[Guest TBSFlame]

I preadopted my little baby girl thinking I would watch her race. lol. She came home at 18 months and has never ran a race. She was and still is playful at 5. Is different than the racers. I have a friend that raised an opps pup and Riley and Josie still puppy play at 5 and 6. They are not like the racers who can get competitive. I loved having her and she was the most fun and still is fun. She is always ready to play.

[Brandiandwe]

Thank you all! Our two girls are both 3 and we've had them since they were 20 months old. Neither of them raced, and both are still pretty energetic. Paige is boss dog, and I think she'd be OK with a puppy. She doesn't tolerate rudeness but loves to play. Brandi doesn't like the rough play - she prefers to tip and run, whereas Paige enjoys wrestling and bitey face games. Hopefully between the two of them, we'd find a happy medium. We've got a good obedience club that I'm a member of, various dog parks which I can access without other dogs, I've got a fairly flexible schedule, and surely one young dog can't be as hard as two?

 

No pictures available yet Alicia. The system is that the trainers/ owners put the application forms in then go onto a waiting list. When a space opens up, the dogs are collected, assessed, vetted, desexed and put into either a foster home or into a prison rehab programme. All the information comes from the paperwork, so no-one has even seen him yet! Very exciting.

 

I actually emailed Christine yesterday so I'll be ordering a couple of collars soon. I'm thinking about the girls' spring wardrobe, as we move into autumn and winter here. And I'll also have to start thinking about a third set of collars suitable for a young man. Maybe.

Edited May 2, 2013 by Brandiandwe

[sobesmom]

LOL! Good luck to you and have FUN! For me - NO WAY!!!! The youngest grey I've had in my house (2 adpotees, 14 fosters) - was a 24 month old - and I said NEVER AGAIN! Of course, that turned out to be the ONLY foster I ever failed with - my Diana. And she's been a crazy lab-puppy with stripes most of her life! If we start fostering again - I'd be hard-pressed to take anybody under 4 years old! LOL!

 

Sounds like you have a young, energetic grey house - you'll do GREYT!!!

[Brandiandwe]

Bad news today. The owners are going to try to break him in and race him. This probably means he'll break down sooner or later. Poor boy! Poor us! Have to let dh know.

[a_daerr]

Awww, I'm sorry.