New Owner From Nashville

[tyguy7760]

Hi there everyone.

 

I've been lurking in these threads for the past few months now as we have been considering adopting a greyhound. Well we officially took possession of our first greyhound this past Friday. Her name is Piper and she just turned 5. You can see her info here. http://www.greyhound-data.com/d?d=Once+and+Always

 

She's been great so far. My wife and I have decked her out with a ton of stuff (unfortunately she seems to care less about squeakies so that may have been wasted). Our 7 year old son is already calling her his big sister (yeah don't understand it either) and I don't think our 1 year old daughter knows what to make of it but when Piper's tail wags and it hits her in the face, she thinks it is the funniest thing in the world.

 

She loves her crate but doesn't stay in it too long if we are in the house. She needs to make sure we are still around and where we are supposed to be. We have been bribing her every night to come up stairs and sleep in our room which has been pretty successful. I tested her with her squawker last night for the first time and rewarded her with a moo tube. Those and dentastix seem to be her favorites right now.

 

Just wanted to thank everyone as I have gotten a lot of good information off of this forum in preparation for Piper's arrival. Our family loves her and she is such a sweet girl.

 

Quick question though. We are probably being overprotective parents but last night for the first time, when she came up to our room and laid on her blanket, she was panting like she had just run a marathon. So loud that it kept my wife and I up and we almost texted her foster to see if it was normal. We had never heard her do that previously. She did it for a good 10 minutes or so but then eventually calmed down. Is this normal or is it something we should keep an eye on? We keep the bedroom kind of cool so I don't think she was hot and she hadn't been running around at all. She seemed fine this morning when i let her out and fed her. Any ideas? Thanks

[Houndtime]

First Piper is beautiful. I think she may have been a little anxious. So many new things. So far as the toys go; it takes time. You will see her true personality evolve over the next few months.

[Guest june]

Congratulations! She is a beauty. Houndtime may be right....so many new things can make hem anxious for a while. Have fun watching her as she comes to know and love you.

[galgrey]

Congratulations on your beautiful new girl!

[tyguy7760]

Thanks. We watched her last night and while she panted it wasn't anywhere near as severe as the previous night. So I think it may just have been a one night thing.

 

I do have a few questions if you guys could humor me. I kind of already know the answers but just want to make sure.

 

As far as the squeeky toys, she played with one for a few seconds yesterday then just carried to her crate. Made us laugh because for the past 5 days she has just looked at them like she had absolutely no interest in them. So it's coming along

 

She spends about 85% of her time in her crate away from the family. Now I know it's really early and it usually can take up to a month or two for her to warm up to her family. (plus she has bounced around and been in 3 different homes not including ours in the past 3 months or so) So I know her spending a lot of time in her crate is normal at this juncture. But will she always stay in her crate the majority of the time or will she want to spend more time with us once she gets used to us? Unfortunately, where her crate is now is the only place in the house it can be. It's simply too large for the family room. If several months have passed and she continues to stay in her crate the majority of the time, should we consider storing the crate or is that a No-No.

 

As far as playfulness goes, I assume that will come with time as well. She has played with me a couple of times (well..by played i mean taken a few playful hops in my direction but that usually lasts about 1 minute before she wants to go lay down). We can tell right now she is a very low-key girl which we like.

 

We have been encouraging her to sleep upstairs with us in our room and not in her crate at night. Now once we get her up there she is absolutely fine and doesn't whine or anything. But getting her up there is another matter. We have been bribing her with treats to get her up the stairs and in our room. Is this ok or should we be using another tactic? She comes up the stairs on her own from time to time during the day so I don't think it's a fear of the stairs but I just wanted to make sure we are doing it the right way with bribes

 

Thanks again guys

[ramonaghan]

Hi again!

 

Glad she's official now—congrats! Sounds like things are going well.

As far as squeakies/stuffies go, some dogs really like them, some don't. Sweep prefers stuffies that sort of "grunt" rather than emit high-pitched squeaks (which suits me just fine). It did take Sweep a few weeks to play with them at all, and even now, she's done after a couple of minutes. We keep them in an easily accessible basket and she likes to collect them on her bed and use them as pillows. Maybe Piper's a hoarder too.

 

Crate-wise also sounds similar to Sweep, and I imagine in Piper's situation (being bounced a couple of times), it's even more of a safe haven/sense of consistency for her. We're 10 months in and still have Sweep's up because 1) that's where she sleeps overnight, and 2) that's where she goes during our terrifying Tennessee thunderstorms, but other than that, she's out and about with us. I am sure Piper will get there too in a few weeks. Do you have a bed in the family room (or wherever you spend most time) where she can observe the activity without being in the flow of traffic? Also make sure she has an easy escape route to her crate/a quiet room if she starts feeling overwhelmed. I wouldn't take the crate down unless and until she really doesn't need it or really doesn't like it.

 

And, finally, bribery is an excellent dog training tool, so I don't think there's anything wrong with how you're approaching the stairs if that's working for you and she's not showing signs of stress about it. Very encouraging that she's already doing them on her own sometimes!

 

She'll come around...just be as consistent as possible. Dogs thrive with a routine, and it'll help ease her anxiety to know what to expect and when. Soon enough she'll realize that she's finally home for good, and you'll be amazed at how much her personality comes out.

Edited September 18, 2013 by ramonaghan

[tyguy7760]

Thanks again Ramonaghan.

 

I figured all of this will just take time. Unfortunately, with a 1 year old, we have a ton of baby gates up. So the family room is always closed off when we are in there. We always let her out when she is down there and is standing by the gate and if we hear her come down the stairs we always let her in. But right now her preference is the crate. She seems to be a very low energy dog so she spends a lot of her down time in the crate in the front room. But with a 1 and 7 year old in the house, I don't exactly blame her. I wish I had a crate sometimes that I could escape to. Hopefully though she will start to like us a bit more and feel safe and want to spend time with us. Her foster didn't use crates so she may just be excited to have one back after so long.

 

We took your advice and we have made our first appointment for monday with Dr. Macherey (probably butchered that) at grassmere. We just wanted to go ahead and start that and get her first visit in.

 

Oh and by the way...I gave her her first moo tube a couple of days ago....she went NUTS. loved it. I don't think she had ever had one or had ever been given much of those sorts of things.

 

Last question...how in the world do I put an image in my signature? I tried to edit my signature in my profile settings but I don't see an option to attach an image unless it's already on the web (which it isn't) or uploading it to the gallery (which apparently this technology is beyond me because I can't figure out how). Thanks

[ramonaghan]

Ah, totally makes sense that you'd have baby gates everywhere (and hey, when the kid outgrows them, you can still use them for the dog—score!). Piper will definitely grow to like and trust you more; you'll start to notice tiny changes and then one day realize how far you've come. My husband and I spent many early days saying, "This dog hates us/is totally bored here/is so hard to read" and now she's like a completely different dog (well, she's probably still bored sometimes). She has always slept 18-20 hours a day, but when she's awake, she's much more engaged and expressive than in those first few weeks, and she's a roaching fool. You might see Piper perk up with cooler temps too; Sweep, despite coming from Florida, wilts in the heat but goes bananas when it's chilly out.

 

You didn't butcher Macherey at all, but I bet that's why so many people call her Dr. Carol. That is great that you're seeing her, and she can give you some insight into the panting incident (my vote's just anxiety too, FWIW). Glad the moo tube was such a success! Dr. Macherey will approve of that for sure.

 

Signature: you have to upload a pic to a hosting site (I think most here, including me, use Photobucket), resize it to a max of 500x150 and make sure it's less than 15 KB, copy the IMG link (on the righthand side of the page if you're using Photobucket), and paste it into the signature field in your profile settings. Hope that makes sense; if not, there are more detailed instrux in the Technical forum. For the avatar, you have to post 50 times or donate to Greytalk for that option to be available in your profile settings. In either case, you submit a ticket with the pic attached and a moderator will resize it and set it as your avatar for you.

[fsugrad]

Hi and welcome from Gainesville, FL!

Congratulations on adopting Piper; she is beautiful!

I always tell people that a newly adopted greyhound's personality is like a rose, and it blooms petal by petal. Wait til 6-12 months from now and you will not believe all the changes you will have seen in Piper as she comes out of her shell and adjusts to the retired life! Oh, and feel free to share lots of Piper pics with us!

[tyguy7760]

Thanks again everyone.

 

We can already tell she is starting to buddy up to us a little more. She spent a small amount of time out of her crate with us last night and is coming for more pets here and there. Small signs but encouraging. Thanks again.

[Yamaha_gurl]

Congrats! She is beautiful

[Guest undergreysspell]

Congratulations on your beautiful girl! ♡

[tyguy7760]

Just had to share with everyone. I got home from my second job last night (i teach math on thursday nights) at about 10:30 P.M. and normally everyone is in bed by then. Last night though my wife was still up watching TV while the kids were in bed. I went into the living room to look at the crate because I figured that is where Piper was. I heard jingling (her tags) and I looked up and there she was up stairs already looking at me as to say "Why are you guys not in bed yet. I'm up here waiting on you" ... I had to laugh. Looks like bribery is indeed working.

[ramonaghan]

Smart girl!