Grey With Multiple Foster Homes Now Developing Fear Of Walking

[Guest chestersmum]

Hi everyone,

My partner and I adopted a beautiful 5 year old brindle ex-racer named Chester 3 weeks ago now, and we are completely in love with him. However we are getting quite worried, as he is gradually getting more and more fearful of going on his walks with us. He has been in 2, possibly 3 foster homes before us, and has always been with other dogs. When we first got him, the first few days were great as he was very confident going for walks around the neighbourhood. He showed interest in other dogs but was never keen to get to know them any better than a sniff. Now, we struggle to get him to go more than a few meters out of our home to relieve himself on some days. He refuses to even walk past another dog when he sees one coming towards him, we generally have to give everything a very wide berth. We live in an apartment, so need to be able to take him out for exercise and toilet.

 

I know that the adjustment period can be a long road, and that patience is going to be the only way to get him relaxed and confident again, but I just want to know if this has happened to anyone else? The confident reverting to fearful thing. We don't pull him and try to use confident, happy tones when encouraging him. We haven't found any treats that he is eager to take when outside yet, but are going to try cheese tonight. If we turn around and just let him come straight back home, is that rewarding bad behaviour or is that what we should be doing? We would really appreciate any advice that you would be able to share, we just want our little guy to be happy!

Thank you

Edited March 2, 2014 by chestersmum

[Guest grey_dreams]

He may be anxious to go for a walk because of the environment in your neighborhood. Is it in a busy city area? Lots of traffic? Lots of noise?

[scullysmum]

Often when dogs arrive in a new home everything seems to be fine for a short while and then it all seems to unravel. It is quite possibly a case of what ethologists call "frozen watchfullness". This seems to be because the dog's stress levels are so high in the early days that they kind of "shut down" to begin with just as a way of coping, then as they start to relax their true level of anxiety starts to show. I experienced this with my last Greyhound and the way I dealt with it was by just taking very small steps, if she only could manage to walk a few hundred yards down the street then that is what we would do, as many times a day as possible, plus avoiding other dogs whenever possible (she displayed extreme fear aggression towards other dogs), I took tasty treats with me to reward her and like your dog sometimes she was too stressed to eat them but it served as a good gauge of how she was coping. After a few weeks she started to relax and accept that I was going to do my utmost to prevent anything unpleasant happening to her.

Sorry I did use paragraphs when I typed this reply but that is how it came out!

[Batmom]

How often do you take him out? And how far do you try to go?

 

Dunno if this applies to your pup, but when my angel Joseph came home, he wanted to go out, do his business quickly, and get back inside to where he felt safe. As in, he'd pee about 20 steps from the house and immediately turn back around and make a beeline for the door. He had no interest in going further afield -- his brain was too full to take it all in. After a month or two he got more interested in walks, being out in the yard to play, etc.

[sobesmom]

I agree that it's VERY normal for a new grey to act "normal" for a while - then just when you think you won the lottery and got "the easiest greyhound EVER" - they develop quirks. I call it "Honeymoon's over". Scullysmum's explanation is much more scientific but it's the same thing. (I am glad to hear that my theory isn't crackpot and is actually backed by science) .

 

Try short, upbeat happy walks. Go out, be-bob down the street, be-bop back and PRAISE! Turn around and get back in when it's still YOUR idea! (That way you're not rewarding or validating fear behavior).

 

If you're wondering - your dog will not suffer from lack of exercise. Yes, I believe in exercise. But issues first. Strong legs later. You can always up your indoor exercise to compensate because exercise really does help behavior in a new dog.

 

Get through this quirk - and there will probably be another one. Just address them one at a time. Don't panic. You're doing great - hang in there!

[Guest chestersmum]

This all sounds like Chester! We do live in a busy area, and he sometimes gets spooked by the activity, sometimes not. He's definitely just wanting to go out to do his business and then come back, with varying degrees of distance from the front door. I will try taking him out more often, as he does get so excited at the thought of exercise. We take him out two or three times a day. Also, cheese turned out to be a great motivator, but then when my fiancé took him out the next night with cheese he must have been too stressed because he didn't want it! So we will stick with cheese and just keep trying. I feel so much better though knowing that this is normal! We're letting him sniff and explore at his own pace around the apartment complex, but we do have encourage him not to pee on the no dogs on the grass signs! He seems to find the most embarrassing places to poo too, but I'll put that down to him wanting to strengthen our characters

 

We have organised a play date tomorrow with another couple of greys that he lived with for a year, I'm hoping this will give him a bit of joy. We love the little guy so much(he's not actually that little, but still), we hate the thought of him being sad. He's getting more and more affectionate though so that must be a good sign.

 

Thank you all for your responses, I can feel the greyhound love!

[Batmom]

He sounds like a good boy who just needs some time to kick back, relax, and stay close to home . One day he'll surprise you and not want to go home when you want. You're doing a great job.