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Small Dog Is Aggressive, Should We Avoid Greyhounds?


Guest Red

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We have smaller dogs. We took one to meet several greyhounds and he kept lunging at them. Does that mean my dreams of having a greyhound are impossible? Our dog acted the same way towards our new puppy for a day or two and now they play all the time. I now realize that the aggressive dog needs training, but is there hope? I don't want a greyhound or our little dogs to be unhappy or unsafe.

 

Thanks!

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Guest Scouts_mom

A little dog lunging at a bigger dog is an accident waiting to happen. Either the little one will bite and injure the other dog, or/and the big dog will attempt to defend itself and hurt the little dog. You cannot judge how your dog would react to another dog by it's reaction to a puppy--dogs instinctively recognize puppies and treat them differently than they treat adult dogs. Frankly I would never let my greys be around any dog that lunges at them. They would be likely to try to protect themselves (and me) by growling, running away or attacking your dog. And while your dog is at fault, they would be blamed as they are bigger. At the very minimum a grey would be miserable being forced to live with such a badly behaved dog.

 

Your little dog needs to learn some manners before you bring another dog into your home. It may be that he was not adequately socialized with other dogs when he was a pup. You should be able to correct the behavior now, but It will take time, commitment and money on your part to teach the dog. I would recommend you find a good dog behaviorist to guide you. Only when this behavior is stopped should you consider bring a greyhound, or any other adult dog into your home.

 

Sorry to be so negative, but I have had too much experience with badly behaved dogs to be optimistic about your situation.

Edited by Scouts_mom
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Save for prey-drive issues, I think most dogs can be trained to co-exist. That being said, there's a reason your little guy is lunging, and it's probably fear. I'd definitely spend some time working on socialization with your current dog- preferably in a controlled setting, like an obedience class with various sizes and breeds. Whenever his behavior is calm, predictable, and safe (whether it be weeks, months, or a year in the future) then it will be the right time to consider greyhound adoption. :)

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Save for prey-drive issues, I think most dogs can be trained to co-exist. That being said, there's a reason your little guy is lunging, and it's probably fear. I'd definitely spend some time working on socialization with your current dog- preferably in a controlled setting, like an obedience class with various sizes and breeds. Whenever his behavior is calm, predictable, and safe (whether it be weeks, months, or a year in the future) then it will be the right time to consider greyhound adoption. :)

 

My first thought was fear as well. A lot of the little dogs who come to PRH to meet greys react this way at first, which is understandable as they're being forced to meet a giant dog in a strange environment that's full of strange smells. Some continue lunging and growling without making contact - just acting tough, I think, to keep the Big Scary One away - for quite a while. When we do intros between greys and little dogs, the grey is muzzled and on a leash. The little dog often starts out in his owner's arms (but held low, so that the grey can get a good sniff in without jumping up), then after the houndie has a chance to sniff and realize "Oh hey, that's a dog", the little dog goes down on the ground (also on leash). At this point, most of the little dogs start alternating between growling and whimpering because there's a giant muzzled pointy-nosed beast trying to sniff them :lol Sometimes all you can hope for is the greyhound's indifference, not your dog's acceptance. It takes time. It's not impossible to adopt to these homes, it just takes the PERFECT greyhound, so you may have to wait a while until the right one comes in. In the meantime, work on socializing your pup. The obedience class suggestion is great. If you have a friend or neighbor with a big dog (or at least bigger than your little dog) who he hasn't met yet (and who is CALM and well trained), try enlisting your friend's help. Have them near each other, but not too close. Work on redirecting his attention with a "Look at me". It might be slow progress, but it'll happen eventually. The good news is that he does live with another dog, so you know already that he's perfectly capable of coexisting - he just needs a bit of training :)

 

If it makes you feel better, we had an adoption recently where the adopter didn't even bother bringing her chihuahua to meet the dogs because she knew he wouldn't like any of the greys and would growl at everyone (this isn't recommended and she had to clear it with the director). She adopted a lovely houndie who has the right personality - not pushy, really easygoing with the other dogs, takes his cues from the others dogs, backs down easily, etc. They kept the hound muzzled for the first couple of weeks and SLOWLY worked in introducing the chi to the hound (I don't know how they went about this, just that she had a really fleshed out plan for it). There were a few bumps along the way with the chi - he didn't want to make friends. But now everyone is living in harmony! The chi and the hound coexist, even if they're not best buds.

 

There was another one this weekend - a woman brought her two chis and two greys to adopt another grey. The chis, despite living with greyhounds comfortably enough that the owner felt like adding another grey was a fine idea, snarled and growled their way through the intro. The dog we introduced to them sniffed vigorously, then heard the growl and left the chis alone. She sniffed again, they growled again, and she left them be.

Mom of bridge babies Regis and Dusty.

Wrote a book about shelter dogs!

I sell things on Etsy!

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Guest DarkHorse

I agree with everyone else, with the right grey and significant training for your little dog, you might be able to make it work. But even though all of my boys are patient, even the most laid-back of them won't put up with a lunging dog for long, regardless of size. My SiLs have a dog each - one little fluffy that is a bundle of anxiety and one giant Great Dane. They're not fans of either of them because they won't leave them alone - the little one barks and lunges at them and the big one keeps stepping on them and pawing at them trying to get them to play. My dogs are laid-back and well behaved (albeit not perfect), but they don't like that kind of treatment and can and will escalate their warnings from grumbling to growling to barking to snapping. And with a smaller dog, snapping can potentially be fatal, and it won't matter that it's the little dog's fault for not heading any of the previous warnings.

 

Needless to say, those two dogs aren't welcome in our home because we don't want to tempt fate.

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Guest Greyt_dog_lover

Depends on the group you work with. The group that I am a rep for requires you to bring your existing dogs to meet the hounds when you are picking your hound. If your dog is unruly and aggressive, chances are you will not be allowed to adopt a hound. The group I work with will not place a greyhound in a house with an existing aggressive dog. Not safe for either hound or existing dog.

You have some work to do with your dog. You can do it, just find a trainer and explain your situation and they should be able to guide you through the process of helping socialize your dog with other animals. Once your dog has appropriate manners, definitely get a greyhound.

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Here's my 2 cents:

 

Desi is very non-confrontational. He will go 10 miles out of his way to avoid any unpleasantness. That being said, he has been bitten in the jowls

twice by 2 different small dogs. Their owners thought it was quite cute that they wanted to "meet" my big boy......the bites were both on the side of

his face, because he had his head turned in avoidance. And the moral of this story is, if Desi won't bite the little heathens, I will.

Blessed is the person who has earned the love of an old dog.

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Thank you all for your wisdom. Our little guy was from an elderly lady with dementia, so I really don't know much of his background. I believe he just sat in her trailer and was her companion. So yes, he most likely wasn't socialized when he was young so you all hit that nail on the head. We will seek a trainer to work with him as I don't know anyone well enough with a calm big dog to ask for help. It was sort of odd, he was in the room with five greyhounds for about an hour (probably part of his anxiety) and would passively sit there, then just lunge occasionally. I used to have big dogs that were well trained (and one shih tzu that passed away in October that was so smart and well trained so I know I can do it) but I fell into the small dog trap of not teaching this guy full obedience. Many regrets. Thank you again, and hopefully we can turn him around and join the wonderful world of greyhounds! I'll lurk on the boards to learn as much as I can before then.

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A potential quick fix is to take you little one for a good long walk with a big, confident, and relaxed greyhound. I have done this with my grey a few times. The little one's adapt in about two minutes and then bond with the grey as they walk together. One absolutely psycho Jack Russel cross settled right down, shut it's yap, and behaved like a proper dog almost immediately. We run into this same dog from time to time and never a peep - only the most polite greetings. (It still loses its mind when it meets other big dogs though. :dunno )

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I agree with others that the right Grey is out there for you. We have always had small dogs and Greys without any major confrontations. The key is the Grey's demeanor and whether they will accept a small dog being the boss and you being vigilant enough that you don't allow things to get out of hand. It's very possible your small dog has fear aggression and just needs some help to get over it. I can also attest to some small dogs with this type of issue will grow to love the right Grey and can help with their issue. The key is the right Grey who is calm and mellow with a low prey drive. Just so you know we have had 4 Greys and Terriers and they have co-existed fine and three of the Greys have prey drive, not high though. They have killed squirrels and chipmunks unfortunately and almost a groundhog. They have not hurt our small dogs but again we are always very careful and always muzzle when we leave the house for any period of time. Better safe than sorry.

Edited by Charlies_Dad

Kyle with Stewie ('Super C Ledoux, Super C Sampson x Sing It Blondie) and forever missing my three angels, Jack ('Roy Jack', Greys Flambeau x Miss Cobblepot) and Charlie ('CTR Midas Touch', Leo's Midas x Hallo Argentina) and Shelby ('Shari's Hooty', Flying Viper x Shari Carusi) running free across the bridge.

Gus an coinnich sinn a'rithist my boys and little girl.

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All I can add is we've had 3 greyhounds and 5 westies at the same time and had no problems. Each time we introduced a new dog, we were very careful and watchful about their interaction for a long time. Maybe we were just lucky, but in the 15 years we've had combinations of greys/westies, we NEVER had a bite or a scratch. And we let them play together in our fenced in backyard. And - flame away - no muzzles on any of them. Not sure what we did right to have had no problems, but at least you know it's quite possible for greys and LWFs to co-exist happily without problems..

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Thank you for the recent replies, they are good real life stories that encourage me. I spoke with a trainer and they said a long walk is one of the best way to introduce new dogs. Thanks again.

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Guest bubbagumpshrimp

A little dog lunging at a bigger dog is an accident waiting to happen. Either the little one will bite and injure the other dog, or/and the big dog will attempt to defend itself and hurt the little dog. You cannot judge how your dog would react to another dog by it's reaction to a puppy--dogs instinctively recognize puppies and treat them differently than they treat adult dogs. Frankly I would never let my greys be around any dog that lunges at them. They would be likely to try to protect themselves (and me) by growling, running away or attacking your dog. And while your dog is at fault, they would be blamed as they are bigger. At the very minimum a grey would be miserable being forced to live with such a badly behaved dog.

 

Your little dog needs to learn some manners before you bring another dog into your home. It may be that he was not adequately socialized with other dogs when he was a pup. You should be able to correct the behavior now, but It will take time, commitment and money on your part to teach the dog. I would recommend you find a good dog behaviorist to guide you. Only when this behavior is stopped should you consider bring a greyhound, or any other adult dog into your home.

 

Sorry to be so negative, but I have had too much experience with badly behaved dogs to be optimistic about your situation.

 

Yup. This is not a "should we avoid Greyhounds?" issue, but a "we should avoid inflicting our aggressive small dog on other dogs" issue. My Barnaby has interacted with a LOT of different sized dogs...ranging from x <10 lbs to 100+ lbs. More often than not, it's small dogs that are a problem. Whenever I have him at the dog park and we run into one of those dogs...we leave.I have even had people get huffy/offended when I go to get him...without saying a word to them or their dog (I don't see the point of trying to reason with someone like that))...and take Barnaby out of that situation. As you said...I'm not going to leave my dog in a situation where the justifiable outcome is for him to defend himself.

 

The issue that I most frequently see with it, is that the owners of said dogs make zero effort to correct the lunging behavior. Watching the dogs...it's clearly such a normal part of their routine (being aggressive little sh**s) that they don't give it a second thought. Lots of people with small dogs just do not put in the effort that is necessary to result in a companion with decent behavioral qualities.

 

Small dogs are "cute" though. I'd be curious how long it would take for someone to call animal control on a 90+lb aggressive/lunging dog. :rolleyes: Good luck on training that behavior out. :cheers

Edited by bubbagumpshrimp
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