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Is He Bored?


Guest Lygracilux

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Guest Lygracilux

During the work week, the daily routine goes like this.

 

7:45am I get up, let Fusion out to potty and do some zoomies if he wants. We go inside, he gets breakfast then goes and lays down on the couch. I usually give him a kong with something tasty before I leave at 8:30am. My mother works from home, so she lets him out when he needs to go. But most of the time he sleeps from the time I am gone until about 3:30 when she physically has to wake him up to bring him out with her doggie. After that he sleeps and wanders until I get home at 5:30. Then he is pretty much awake for the rest of the night, until about 11:30pm when we go to bed. I go for a nice walk with him, try and do a little obedience training, try to play with him in the yard. But sometimes he doesnt want to do anything even when Im home. Just lay on the couch.

 

I feel like he's bored. Like Im not stimulating him enough? Not giving him enough exercise?

Or is he just content with being super lazy? Hes only 2 so you'd think hed have a little more energy and motivation. Maybe Im wrong haha.

Opinions?

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When I got my greyhound and joined grey talk this was the first topic I started because I felt exactly how you do! I know others will tell you the same thing but thats pretty much just Fusion being a greyhound :)

 

I'll quote a response I got from another member that helped me see that behavior like Fusions and my Aidans is not out the norm:

 

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

POSTED BY OPointyDog:

Sounds pretty normal to me. I used to feel terrible about leaving my dogs alone all day while I was at work, until I stayed home with them a few times and realized they sleep all day, everyday.

Here's a typical work day schedule at our place:

7:30am dogs fed

8am 30 minute walk

8:45 I leave for work

8:46-5:59 Dogs sleep, people work/commute

6pm Return from work, feed dogs dinner

6:30 Dogs walked 30-40 min

7:30ish Dogs get a kong while I cook dinner

Zoe then lays down on her bed and naps, and Mika will play with toys, do his zoomies or be a pest wanting petting until I relent

9ish dogs go out into the yard. Zoe zooms around with her ball (even if it's dark), Mika stands on the deck wanting to come in

9ish Snacktime (tiny bit of kibble, wet food, and calming biscuits for Mika; meds for Zoe)

9:01 - as soon as snacktime is done, both of them conk out and go to sleep

12:30 am - last call in the back yard before bed - Zoe has to be forced out, and I follow them around to make sure they both pee. They go out on leashes so nobody catches critters in the dark.

We are extremely lucky that neither of them bothers us in the morning. They just sleep and wait for us to get up.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Here is also the link to the thread I started awhile ago that is full of great responses and suggestions: http://forum.greytalk.com/index.php/topic/309265-is-he-bored/?hl=bored

As far as my Aidans day go goes its pretty much like this on days that me and my husband both work.

7:00am Wake up and whine for breakfast

8:00am Go for morning walkies (usually about 30 mins)

8:30-12pm Get a treat and lay around while mom cleans house and gets ready for work, and occasional chasing of the cat! :shakefinger (potty breaks before mom leaves at 12)

12pm-5pm Sleep until daddy gets home from work (or till 3 if moms works morning shift that day)

5:30pm eat dinner

6:30pm go on evening walkies with mom

7:00pm-around 10:30 go between napping, following mom around the house, and bugging dad while he tries to eat dinner.

11:00pm night night time

​I hope that some of this information will help you for more at easy with Fusion! :)

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Guest Lygracilux

Thank you AidansMom! Too funny we posted the same exact thread.

 

I just feel bad cause hes soooooo lazy. I thought part of it was my not doing enough to keep him stimulated.

But hes always happy and wagging his tail when he does finally get off the couch, so I dont think hes depressed or anything.

Of course I heard Grey's are known to sleep "all day", but I didnt think it meant literally ALL DAY. :hehe

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He's still new and getting used to his new life. He sounds like a perfectly normal content greyhound. I'm home all day with my 3 and they get more walks than Fusion, but inside the house, they spend most of their time sleeping or laying on their bed.

Jan with precious pups Emmy (Stormin J Flag) and Simon (Nitro Si) and Abbey Field.  Missing my angels: Bailey Buffetbobleclair 11/11/98-17/12/09; Ben Task Rapid Wave 5/5/02-2/11/15; Brooke Glo's Destroyer 7/09/06-21/06/16 and Katie Crazykatiebug 12/11/06 -21/08/21. My blog about grief The reality is that you will grieve forever. You will not get over the loss of a loved one; you will learn to live with it. You will rebuild yourself around the loss you have suffered. You will be whole again but you will never be the same. Nor should you be the same, nor would you want to. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross

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I think Fusion routine is "normal" ;)

sometimes there's exception to the greyhound laziness, like my little Abbey...

here's Otis and Abbey routines:

 

Otis routine:

6:15am wake up

7:00am Walk

7:30 breakfast

7:45am I leave home

7:45am to 5:30pm: Otis sleep

5:30pm I come home

6pm walk

7:00pm supper

10:10 pm night night time, last pee in the yard

Abbey routine (she does not know that she is a greyhound!) We film her several time to check on her in the first months...

6:15am wake up

7:00am Walk

7:30 breakfast

7:45am I leave home

7:45am to 5:30pm: Abbey plays with her 3 kongs, try to empty the trashcan, try to get her paws on anything we left laying aound, she sleeps maybe 2-3 hours total (many little naps)

5:30pm I come home

6pm walk

7:00pm supper

7 to 8pm she plays with her kongs and stuffies

8 to 10pm watch tv with us

10:00 pm night night time, last pee in the yard

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Our first greyhound, Tuffy: You will always be there with us my angel!
Tuffy greyhound-data
Otis greyhound-data Abbey greyhound-data
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I'm sure he wouldn't complain if you gave him more to do. ;) These guys benefit from mental stimulation like any other dog. You could try playing games with him in the evening. A treat dispensing toy might be a really fun thing for him. I really like the bob-a-lot, but the trick 'n treat ball (make sure you get the large) is also fun. Or train some tricks just for fun. Or play other games with him. Patricia McConnell & Karen London wrote a really nice book on playing with your dog: Play Together, Stay Together. I can't really do it easily in my condo anymore with 3 dogs, but I used to play hide and seek with Neyla. I also played games iwth her food so rather than feeding her a meal in a bowl, I would portion it out into several smaller containers and then hide them throughout the house so she had to "hunt" for it, which she loved.

 

Any of these things that you do together will help you two bond together. Certainly can't hurt, and you might both have fun in the process. :)

Edited by NeylasMom

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Jen, CPDT-KA with Zuri, lab in a greyhound suit, Violet, formerly known as Faith, Skye, the permanent puppy, Cisco, resident cat, and my baby girl Neyla, forever in my heart

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OMG, if I had a nickel for every topic with the question "Is he/she bored" in it!

 

No is the short answer.

 

He's a dog, not a person. You can't expect him to need the kind of mental stimulation a child needs, and Greyhounds are well known couch potatoes.


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Guest Lygracilux

OMG, if I had a nickel for every topic with the question "Is he/she bored" in it!

 

No is the short answer.

 

He's a dog, not a person. You can't expect him to need the kind of mental stimulation a child needs, and Greyhounds are well known couch potatoes.

 

Just because hes a dog does not mean anything.

I grew up with a beagles and a husky. If they didnt have an extreme amount of physical and mental stimulation theyd tear the house up. I dont have a child and never mentioned one? so I wouldnt know what they need. However since you brought it up-My friend has a lovely daughter and the husky I had needed WAY more stimulation in every aspect of his life than her little 2 year old to keep him happy. Same with one of my in-laws Doberman. Hes a tornado if not let out once an hr to race around the yard.

All dogs are different, (and people) and not having a greyhound before and having to deal with the complete opposite-it is like a complete 180. i wanted to make sure hes happy. It just amazes me how much of a couch potato he really is :P

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Lots of dogs can get through life with relatively little to do. I feel strongly, however, that just because they CAN doesn't mean they SHOULD. My dogs absolutely love all the extra stimulation they get, and I believe their lives are much richer for it. But if I'm too busy or tired one day... it's not like they rip the house apart. Again, they can get by with a mundane day, but that doesn't mean they should on a day to day basis.

 

I highly recommend signing up for obedience classes once a week and practicing at home a little bit every day. We do some sort of training pretty much daily. The dogs get so excited every time I head down to the basement where our training room is. They zoom ahead of me on the stairs and stand at the bottom spinning.

 

I'm sure your boy lives a happy life. But he probably would enjoy having more to do as well if you were to offer. :)

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I leave for work at 8.15. I had a dog walker coming in to Jimmy at around 12.30 for the first few months after I got him. Then she started leaving me messages that he wouldn't get out of bed. So I left some really tasty treats, which worked two or three times. Then he just went back to sleep even with the treats around. So we both agreed that I was wasting my money and she stopped coming. Now he is home alone until I get home at 5.30. He gets up for me, as I feed him as soon as I get home, but then it's straight back to bed. If I have an early finish and get home too early for dinner he just looks up from his bed with a wag of the tail, but there he stays. He has about a 45 minute walk in the morning and evening and has lots of zoomies on his walks, so I have given up worrying, as he has plenty of energy when he wants. He is just a sleepy dog. Oh and he won't go to the bathroom in the garden, so sometimes goes 12 hours between pees.

He doesn't play, either with toys or with me, so it's difficult to give extra stimulation. I think some greys are just so laid back that they are happy just to be on their bed!!!

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When I read your topic title I assumed I'd read a thread that an active grey (yes, there are some) wasn't getting enough exercise and/or mental stimulation and was chewing up the baseboards and shredding the blinds. That happens. In that case I'd say - yes - the dog is bored and needs more to do.

 

In your case - nope. He's fine. Lazy, but fine. Bored dogs get into trouble. They amuse themselves in ways their owners don't like.

That said, although laziness is a "normal" greyhound trait, it isn't always a good one. They need to be encouraged to exercise their bodies and minds just like we do. It sounds like you're doing a great job taking him for walks, obedience and play. You might want to switch it up to get him more interested. Try a lure pole, or a puzzle toy, or going to a fenced park to play greyhound fetch on a weekend.

 

I think your dog is FINE. But it might be fun to try to get him to play more.

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