New Dog - Have I Made A Mistake?

[Guest Claryella]

Hi All,

 

You can maybe label this: Research Is Not Experience. I've been lurking here and on Reddit's greyhound forum, and I've read both Adopting the Racing Greyhound and the For Dummies version. I knew from all my reading that I'd want a greyhound with previous in-home experience. So I choose an adoption group that does fostering. But the greyhound I was matched with wasn't fostered, which I hadn't realized until I'd already met her. Of course I'd already fallen in love and decided to take her home by then. But now she's pacing and whining, and hasn't tried to lay down outside of her crate. It's making me wonder if I've bitten off more than I can chew. I work full time and was hoping for a dog that could make itself right at home.

 

Disclaimer: it's only been a few hours since she came home. So I'm almost certainly getting ahead of myself, but I still can't help but worry. Does anyone with experience teaching greyhounds how to Dog? Any advice, commiseration, smacks upside the head?

[locket]

1. Breath

2. I would say it depends on how committed you are to making this work. If you are prepared to work with her and show her how life is, then go on, otherwise I would say to contact your adoption group and make it clear that you want a dog that was fostered (even then, any dog takes a few weeks to settle in)

I have done it. Jack was my first dog, straight off the track, I was not raised with dogs or anything, had absolutely no knowledge of the basic needs of a dog, but I read for MONTHS and committed to making this work. We worked through his separation anxiety, possessiveness, reluctance to walk and he became the best dog ever! So it can be done if you put in the effort. Oh and we both worked full time too when we adopted him

 

Her crate is her safe place. That was her home at the track. If she is comfortable in it, let her be in it, she will observe her surrounding and intereact and come out more and more as the time passes.

I am dogsitting a dog that did this pacing for almost 2 hours before settling in a dark room by himself. He has been in a home for 2 years and a half, so you see, it is just normal dog behaviour.

Are you sure you are ready to have a dog at all? Sorry to ask, but every dog will need some work, whether fostered or not, even if just to put him/her on your schedule.

[GreyTzu]

Take a deep breath, relax, ignore your dog, and keep on doing your normal routine. Your dog will settle down. It takes time for everyone, 2-legged and 4, to adjust to any new situation.

Also, remember some dogs do not need to be crated and some just do NOT like the crate. Give it time.

[greysmom]

Relax! All perfectly normal! Just be patient and reassuring (without being overly reassuring). She needs to learn to calm herself.

 

Do a couple rounds of Alone Training this afternoon and evening, particularly if you go back to work Monday. Repeat all day tomorrow.

 

If you have apartment neighbors, let them know you have a new dog and you're working on her staying by herself, but there may be some noise during the day until she's used to her new home schedule.

 

Take her for a walk, or out in the yard to sniff around. Let her explore a bit inside. Then let her be for a while to do her own thing.

 

Time and patience. You got this!

[JohnF]

The pacing is normal; Peggy did it for 2 or 3 hours. The dog has just lost everything that was ever familiar. Allow constant access to the crate, perhaps drap a light cover over half of it.

 

Read the dog's calming signals to you. Usually it's lick, yawn, and look away. You can send something similar back, only sigh as you look away. The dog will hopefully think there's some hope then. Engage in little walks on a safe collar and lead. REALLY important that the broad walking collar is tight enough; Martingales are easier. Present the dog with food and water when you yourself eat, but let it come out to get it in its own time. No staring at it or looming-over.

 

Peggy was a bit of a spook and it took about a week for her to start to get used to her new home, and about six weeks before her eyes started to soften and look less on high alert. If the tail becomes un-tucked then that is an excellent sign.

[Guest Amber]

Yes, it's quite normal for a straight off the track greyhound on the first few days to be anxious...she'll settle down once she gets used to things and her new routine.

 

Even a previously fostered greyhound may find moving to a new home where there are no other dogs stressful (since most are going to be in foster with someone who has their own greyhound).

 

Definitely don't give up yet !

[EllenEveBaz]

Ditto posts above. My first hound was a bounce; she had lived several years with her first family and she HATED changing homes and she let everyone know it. Best advice I got was that she would act like I treated her. If I told her poor baby, poor puppy, she would think she was a pathetic poor puppy. If I treated her casually like she was the luckiest, greatest dog on earth, that's what she would think she was. By week 2, I went from crying and wondering what they would think if I took her back, to being totally in love. She really was the greatest dog on earth.

[Guest Claryella]

Thanks everyone! She's still pacing, almost 7 hours after I brought her home. She will lay down in the crate, but otherwise paces and wanders. She has been outside multiple times to pee and poo, and she's eating and drinking more or less normally. Thanks for the suggestion to cover her crate, I've got a light blanket on it now.

[robinw]

Patience

[Hubcitypam]

Take a deep breath, relax, ignore your dog, and keep on doing your normal routine. Your dog will settle down. It takes time for everyone, 2-legged and 4, to adjust to any new situation.

Also, remember some dogs do not need to be crated and some just do NOT like the crate. Give it time.

100% agree.

[Guest Claryella]

She's laying down! On her bed! And dozing on and off! Huzzah!

[palmettobug]

You can do it!

[juliemac]

lovely progress! hope you both get some sleep!

 

I'm sure you're anticipating this, but since she's right from the track, she may be used to a very regimented schedule (one of my 2 brand new pups has made it clear that first turnout is at 5a and breakfast at 5:05a with dinner at 5:00pm). Keeping a very clear schedule will help the transition, which you can gradually shift to something easier for your life (for example, after 3 weeks in my home, my hounds now understand that they can wake me at 5a for a turnout, but we go back to bed until 6:30a before breakfast. As a result, yesterday, they actually slept in until 6:15a).

 

will enjoy watching tomorrow's progress!

[Guest Izzy2]

Hi keep us updated on her progress please she and you will be fine 😁😁😁 everyone on here gives great help and advice so don't be afraid to post if you need to.

Good luck xx

[Guest Claryella]

Hi everyone! Pupdate from last night. It was kinda rough at first. We had her in her crate in a quiet spot but she kept whining and barking and trying to claw her way out. Big difference from earlier when that's where she'd nap. After 3 hours with no signs of letting up, I waited for a quiet moment and let her out. She did poo outside, so maybe that was part of it? Either way, I brought her and her bed into my bedroom and after a couple minutes, she flopped down and passed out. Didn't even want to get up this morning. And she's been a lot better. She's started playing with a few of her toys, ate her breakfast like a champ, and we went for a short walk around the neighborhood.

 

I'll work more with alone training today. Luckily, there'll be someone home almost all day tomorrow, so we can keep with the alone training. She does seem a lot more comfortable with the radio on, so it'll just have to be on all day. And I'll keep her in my bedroom at night so she's not so frightened. Part of me wonders if she might be kind of scared of the dark?

 

Also, she's napping now with one of her toys as a headrest.

[Batmom]

Sounds like things are going well!

 

All of mine have slept in the bedroom with me since day 1. They are not used to being alone, and they don't know what you're doing if they can't see you. Hence you often get whining and fussing when crated away from their people at night. Just easier for everyone to have them close by.

[Zoomdoggie]

Sounds like some good progress! Our boy gets crated during the day when we're at work, but sleeps on his bed in our bedroom at night.

 

Your story reminded me of obe of the nights we did crate him during the first week we had him, with the crate being in another room. He kept barking and rooing, like it was the end of the world. My wife suggested maybe he needed to go out for a potty break. I said that we should just give him a little more time to settle down. Well,I eventually gave in to his crying, and discovered he had gone poo in the crate, and was so upset about not being able to get out. Last time I made that mistake!

[EllenEveBaz]

Thanks for the pupdate. She is a grown, healthy dog so she should be able to hold pee and poop all night. Poop might have been from stress, or just taking advantage of being outside. She was probably scared and lonely -- she probably has never been in a room by herself before. When she flopped down on her new bed in your bedroom, that means that's what she wanted.

 

If you haven't read it before, here's an article about greyhounds changing from kennel to home: http://bayareagreyhounds.org/what-your-greyhound-is-thinking/

 

she's napping now with one of her toys as a headrest.

Adorable, right?

[Guest Claryella]

She is rather adorable and precious. For how stressed she was yesterday, she is quite calm today. We had to go on a long drive and she napped for almost all of it. And she also got to meet some livestock! She's very inquisitive about everything.

 

She's still not too thrilled about stairs and hardwood floors. Which is doubly unfortunate since the stairs in my house are made of hardwood. What have people found to the be the best way to help dogs get used to stairs? I'll do a search in the archives, but any hints and tips are greatly appreciated!

 

Also, her name is Pachy, said PAH-chee. I also call her Honey and Peanut.

[XTRAWLD]

Hardwood + hardwood stairs make for scared times. You might want to think about putting down some grip strips on the stairs to help her. I'd let her figure out the stairs on her own pace if they are not mandatory to do daily activities. Make sure the space is fully lit so she can see her paw placements. Use some high value treats like hotdogs to encourage movement up the stairs. There are lots of good threads in T&D about how to help them, but your biggest challenge will be that the stairs to her will be super slippery and she will be unsure and could fall, which then makes your work even more difficult because she will become fearful and you have to start dealing with that too.

[ramonaghan]

When we first brought Sweep home, we got these stair treads for our hardwood stairs: http://solutions.blair.com/p/vista-stair-treads-set-of-4/137778.uts. They worked great because they didn't permanently alter the stairs and stayed in place pretty well thanks to their latex backing. Also, they're safe to machine wash and dry and held up really well over multiple cycles. We moved to our current house three years ago, and it's also all hard surface flooring with two sets of wood stairs. We installed wool stair runners here. There's no way Sweep would do the stairs without some sort of traction in place, and I don't blame her with those long legs! She handles the tile, concrete, and hardwood floors fine (though she has added plenty of "character" to the latter over the years), but we do have lots of area rugs for her benefit. It's helpful to keep their nails trimmed fairly short, but that's not something I'd tackle yet for a dog home one day!

 

Congrats on your adoption of Pachy! I call Sweep Peanut too.

[Neal]

Congratulation on your giving Pachy a loving home. Take your time. All will be well

[Guest Claryella]

Thanks for the stair cover suggestion, Ramonaghan! I don't own the house, and can't make any permanent alterations. Pachy is fine with the outside wood and concrete steps, since both are fairly grippy. And having to navigate steps is mostly necessary, since my bedroom is upstairs. Last night I had to half-carry her up them. I think I'll use a towel or something like that if I have to do it again tonight. We did some more alone training, and she was mostly fine. But I can tell she wants to be out, even if she's trying to stay calm.

 

And she's asleep again.

[Redfishingirl]

Hardwood + hardwood stairs make for scared times. You might want to think about putting down some grip strips on the stairs to help her. I'd let her figure out the stairs on her own pace if they are not mandatory to do daily activities. Make sure the space is fully lit so she can see her paw placements. Use some high value treats like hotdogs to encourage movement up the stairs. There are lots of good threads in T&D about how to help them, but your biggest challenge will be that the stairs to her will be super slippery and she will be unsure and could fall, which then makes your work even more difficult because she will become fearful and you have to start dealing with that too.

Not necessarily for stairs, but we got our girl some grippy dog socks (like babies wear) for the hardwood floors so she wouldn't slip. Took about a month before she fully figured it out without them.

[Guest Claryella]

Not necessarily for stairs, but we got our girl some grippy dog socks (like babies wear) for the hardwood floors so she wouldn't slip. Took about a month before she fully figured it out without them.

 

Ooh! That's a really good idea. I can pick up some of those today.

 

I'm also thinking the cat training might be more difficult than I anticipated. I live with 2 cats, neither of which are very dog-smart. One has never lived with dogs and the other lived with my geriatric beagle who barely acknowledged his existence. So they both take off whenever they are aware of Pachy, and it's been hard trying to convince them to at least stay on the same floor with her. To make matters more complicated, she wants to and say "hi" to them at least. I keep hoping one of them will be brave enough to come close, but they're both scaredy-cats in every sense of the word. Pachy also doesn't like just wear her muzzle since that means she can't chew on her toys. So right now, I'm not sure if I should take the "give it time" approach or try some controlled exposure.