Fear Of Other Dogs

[Guest Funkypaws]

Snoop is an almost five month old greyhound puppy who we adopted nearly a month ago. She's a sweet natured, gentle, playful girl who so far has been clever & trainable, but I'm having some problems walking her. The problem is other dogs - they really frighten her. Not just dogs that we see either, sometimes it's just dogs that bark behind their fences (as dogs will do) or dogs we hear in the distance. . She is enrolled in puppy class, and we went to our first lesson last week. Snoop was so timid & shy around the other dogs that she had to wear the "yellow bandana " letting others know she needs her space. She spent much of the first lesson sitting next to a wall behind my legs just watching, the rest of it at the outer edges of the group avoiding all the other puppies, although she is quite friendly & playful with people. I'd love to walk her & it's of course very important for her, but when she hears, sees or even senses another dog, she'll freeze (statue) and will not move until we turn for home. This could be 100 metres room where we started! And the worst thing is, she'll remember the direction she sensed the "scary dog" last time & want to go I another direction - I'm running out of directions to go from my house!!

 

I have all the patience in the world for her, I'm not asking how to rush her through this, just wondering if there is anything I can do that will make her feel more confident and also anything I shouldn't do? I generally just wait a bit & see if I can tempt her along, but once another dog has spooked her, we have to go home.

 

Btw, she's not really what I'd call an anxious dog in general, she doesn't startle to loud noises or get frightened of the vacuum cleaner - it's almost like she is a dog with a phobia of other dogs!!!

[macoduck]

Do you know anyone with an adult greyhound who could walk with you and Snoop?

 

Is there a location that you could drive to that would not have lots of barky dogs on your walk?

 

Have you tried the "look at me" command to distract her from reacting to barky dogs, rewarding with a treat?

 

When she freezes, try walk in the opposite direction, then turn around and continue on your forward route.

[bradymom]

Walks with other greyhounds, whippets, sighthounds would help her out. They will help build her confidence on her walks, kinda showing Snoop the way.

 

Other breeds might work also but they really need to be calm dogs.

 

Debbie

[Guest Funkypaws]

I have seen a couple walking greyhounds around sometimes - I've been keeping my eye out for them for ages! I live in the suburbs - don't think it's worth driving around on the off chance that I come across an area with no dogs! The dogs that worry her are all behind fences, just normal pet dogs such as you find in any area! The worst thing is, her fear makes it worse - ie, when a dog barks, instead of just walking briskly on, she freezes & so the dog behind the fence continues to bark because she hasn't moved on! I feel for her I really do!

 

I think I've found a temporary solution - it seems walking with other members of the family make it better for now, when she freezes, they walk ahead & call her & she moves on more quickly. I guess we will just do this until she gets used to other dogs (I hope she does get used to them!) Obedience club does seem to have a lot of very calm lovely dogs, but as you can imagine, they also have a lot of boisterous rambunctious dogs, so I'll seek out calm dogs for her next week & see how we go.

 

Thanks for the suggestions! Greyhounds are such sensitive souls aren't they?

[scullysmum]

I think I've found a temporary solution - it seems walking with other members of the family make it better for now, when she freezes, they walk ahead & call her & she moves on more quickly. I guess we will just do this until she gets used to other dogs (I hope she does get used to them!) Obedience club does seem to have a lot of very calm lovely dogs, but as you can imagine, they also have a lot of boisterous rambunctious dogs, so I'll seek out calm dogs for her next week & see how we go.

Thanks for the suggestions! Greyhounds are such sensitive souls aren't they?

Enlisting the help of family members is a great idea as it means she will also build a bond with them and gain confidence in her new family/pack.....she really just needs to learn that she doesn't have to deal with all the things that scare her in her environment all by herself, that is what you are there for. This is why teaching her to focus on you when she is scared of something is such a good idea, it means that with time she will automatically look to you for solace, rather than shutting down or trying to get away.

 

Unfortunately as you adopted her as an older puppy, she is clearly past the "wide eyed wonderment" stage that young pups seem to go through, where they seem to be able to cope with all that is thrown their way. This is why socialisation is so vital at an early age (6-8 weeks usually) because they are just little sponges at that age, a few months later they all seem to go through a timid stage and I think this is where she is right now. Be a confident leader, be happy and upbeat when she's scared, don't mollycoddle her too much. Her confidence will grow.

 

Keep us posted with progress (pictures are always welcome too:) )

[Fruitycake]

You don't list your location, but there may be retired racing greyhound groups in your area that may have group walks or may have members that are willing to meet you to do a walk with your pup. I know that seeing greyhounds when we are out-and-about is exciting (at least for us) and have had people pull over and talk to us if they currently have or have had or even are interested in greyhounds. Since yours is young, you may not be seeing this yet (they go through odd growth spurts where different body parts grow at different rates and they can be all over the map so aren't necessarily immediately recognizable as a greyhound).

 

I know that even though our Monty came to our house at 1.5 years, he really developed a lot of confidence from being in a group of similar dogs, so we would regularly walk with a greyhound group. Now, he really likes people and doesn't give other dogs the time of day after a quick sniff.

 

If you can't regularly walk with other dogs who might boost her confidence, you may also want to work on teaching her that merely being with you outside is good. Bring really tasty treats and when ever there is a noise that makes her look toward the source, see if you can give her a treat for looking back at you. If she won't do that, see if you can just give her treats when she's outside with you at all. (Monty didn't like walks and would not take any treats when outside, so this may be beyond your dog at this time. Now he shows off his two tricks (target and lie) anywhere and everywhere if there might be any sort of treat in the offing!)