New Greyhound - Need Help W Behavior

[Guest dragonflydays]

Hi,

I'm new to greytalk. I'm not new to greyhound owning but I need some help. I got my first greyhound Kif almost 2 years ago, and another one, Dexter, a month after that. Cat and bunny friendly. Yes you read that. I've had a great experience overall with learning greyhound body language and training and enjoying the companionship of the first two.

 

First (Kif) was about 1.5 yrs when adopted after 2 weeks in a foster home, was shy for a long time, but he came out of his shell. He's still reserved overall but he's a content confident guy and a happy dog.

 

Second one was 2.5 yrs when adopted, just 2 days off the track, and was/is a happy boy, more dog-like from the start. Neither are barkers, neither really play with toys except to carry one around now and then and give it a shake. All soft toys still intact since the start. They are now 3 and 4 years old. Not big chewers. Good companions and cuddlers and listen very well but I can't really remember how things went at the start, I'm a little hazy. Agh I'm too young to have a memory this bad!

 

I started using a bark buster trainer within the first few weeks of getting Kif and also hired her for Dexter. I can't remember how long I let them get acclimated before starting training. She only had to come over a few times and my husband and I took it from there (well mostly me...). Both are very well adjusted, sweet, mellow dogs. Well trained. They listen well and behave politely. (No sitting though, I don't bother and I don't care - they do everything else I've taught them and they lie down on command.) Kif just took a while to stop averting his gaze and be confident. Dexter can still be a little stubborn and act like a nitwit if he knows he did something naughty but that's incredibly rare (basically digging in the backyard is the thing and only happens a few times a year). Both of them are tail wagging, head up, look you in the face, happy, confident, and sweet. Both were house trained or got it right away. I really didn't have to DO much of anything. Dexter doesn't give much indication but he will hold it unless it's diarrhea (don't blame him) and I didn't know it, but that's only happened two times in two years. Kif's only problem was poo eating, but I determined that was only if either of them ate anything peanut butter flavor anything so all peanut butter is off limits.

 

I started the process of getting them registered as therapy dogs but found we had a chronic hook infestation and that's just.... ongoing. Just found a less expensive treatment and I'm going to just try to get a negative sample and then start up again with it. That's not the point of this post, anyway!

 

Introduce third greyhound Sisko. Adopted from the same rescue as the first two. Over 1.5 years old, even bigger than the first two (first 2 are just shy of 80 lb and healthy weight -- this one was 80 lb and severely undernourished, will prob top out around 90lb). So, he's incredibly thin. Like hip bones stuck up an inch at first and between foster mom and me they're only 1/2 inch tall now but he's still very thin. They all eat the same high quality food and he was eating it at foster moms so no food adjustment there. Foster mom was a barkbuster trainer. I am hoping to take what I learned from the first 2 and not have to hire the trainer for this one, since I had to spend a lot of extra money on Hurricane Irma prep and house/fence repair. Sisko's last race was 8/31, he was with his foster family at least 2 weeks, and I adopted him 1 week ago. He has -0- confidence, and when we saw him online and contacted the rescue to adopt it turned out he needed to be with other greys anyway - super separation anxiety to the point he would not eat if not around other dogs. Tested cat and bun friendly. (Not testing more bun stuff here at home until he gets better settled in and he leaves the bun alone in his cage.) . Also hook positive and he had 1 round of treatment and is about to start round 2 but his stools are relatively solid only a little soft. Could also be attributed to anxiety.

 

He is more puppyish, he chews on squeaker toys. He almost NEVER wags his tail, his head is always down, he almost always averts his gaze, and he's still learning everything from his name, to being a house pet, to some basic manners by copying the other dogs when I give commands (stay, come, go to bed, time to eat, outside, and go potty, and heeling on walks are the basic ones I'm starting with). I have someone else walk the first 2 dogs and I train Sisko alongside or behind them to be a good walker.

 

So anyway - I brought him home, short walk to eliminate, then he met my boys (accepted immediately), did the house explore, took out back for a yard explore, etc. The foster mom told me he hates getting his paws wet in grass and pooped on her pool deck sometimes. I don't have a pool deck. She suggested giving him 45 minutes to do his business outside. He will only pee outside thankfully, but poop is another story. He paces when he wants out, but most the time goes to the back door now. But then.... sometimes he will poop within about 10 minutes but if not 10 minutes then not at all, not 30 and not 45 minutes. So, the first few nights he pooped early in the AM (5, 6) in the house, but he whined or barked and I got up and let them out and he recently did 1 morning poop indoors again. Most of the time in the morning I'd say it's good now. However if we go away even for 45 minutes he will poop in the house, even if I give ample time to relieve himself before we leave. We removed crates before the third came home, and foster mom said Sisko was not crated at all the last week of fostering. She would leave in AM for work, come home at lunch to let him and the other dogs out, back to work and home late afternoon I'm assuming? No indoor accidents. Just pool deck accidents. So far he has had an indoor poop accident 100% of the time we left, which is anywhere from 45 mins to 2.5 hours. We only heard him bark a little when we left and then he stopped. I put on a specific playlist of music when I leave so he learns mom leaves when this music plays but she always comes back (it worked for my first two boys). Foster mom said when he was crated, he never went in his crate.

 

We pulled out a crate again. I'm going to try using it overnight tonight and keep my boys in a big room with their usual beds/water bowls with some gates. I don't know how this will go. I'm also trying not to be harsh and just be very positive. He's much more treat motivated than my first two. I'm trying to reward him with LOTS of praise when he goes out and goes potty especially. I have not done much one-on-one training with him since it's been one week and he's just learning the ropes of being a pet.

 

I'd love some helpful advice. I'll answer any questions. My husband works 9-5. Usually I would be working three 12's overnight but I'm on medical leave and now full-time grad school which is all online for the first year so I'm here all the time except errands, gym, or to go out for a brief evening. But the poop thing... ugh. I do eliminate temptations (trash/chewable items within reach/bathroom doors/toilet lids closed etc.) so that we can work on being positive and rewarding positive behavior. The only thing I corrected for "bad" behavior until today was really counter sniffing (sniffing equals thinking equals stealing). I don't make a big deal out of leaving OR returning home. I read some of the other posts about people's new greyhound behavior problems to get an idea. I'd love some advice. Also previously all I did was show him his poo and sternly NO or Bahh (it's a barkbuster thing for your correction). P.S. I like and respect barkbusters a lot. Their methods are humane and worked well for my other greys and my adoption agency highly recommended them for greyhounds. I do not try to teach him stuff if he's in frozen mode because I know he's not learning when that happens.

 

Sorry for the novel. Thanks everybody!

 

Sarah

Edited September 24, 2017 by dragonflydays

[dostacos]

well that sounds like my CONRAD, he walked around the rescue like EYEORE, and my DW was afraid he had been abused. ALL the kids working there said he came to them like that. He is A larger black boy and after his time at blood donor he just did not strike any ones fancy.

 

Well until I showed up, again, like my dear departed Queen, he walked with my wheelie chair PERFECTLY.

 

for a few weeks he would go out side with me, do his bidness, then curl up in the outside bed until time to go in. He then buried himself in the inside bed.

 

after a month or so, HE decided he was NOT going to sleep in his crate at night. I realized this when my DW dragged the bed into the bedroom and dropped him off.

 

NOW, if the controller on my wheelie chair clicks he is right at my side. when I put on my big boy pants he makes sure he "helps" me with the pants.

 

I am going to have the vet write a letter making ME his emotional support pet so we can travel easier

[greysmom]

He needs to be on a regular schedule every day - when he eats, when he goes outside, when he eliminates, when his normal nap time will be. If you're home, he should be under your supervision so you can see his cues when he needs to go out.

 

As far as when you leave, he probably needs more structured exercise prior. An actual good long walk on leash to make sure he eliminates fully, and one that will wear him out so he'll sleep while you're gone.

 

Hooks can also be causing the accidents. You need to get those under control sooner rather than later. If he came from Florida, the infestations from there have been particularly resistant to treatment, sometimes needing several months to a year of regular panache treatments. If your others have them they will probably just keep re-infecting each other until you clear it from all of them.

 

And lots of time and patience. He may need much longer than your first two did to settle fully into home life, especially if he's a bit shy or timid. Focus on games and activities designed to boost his confidence and build trust.

[Guest dragonflydays]

Hi Greyaholic,

 

Scheduling - we are on a pretty routine schedule. Feeding is 9 am and 9 pm. We go out shortly after a feeding, 2 hours after, and every 2 to 4 hours all day long. Walks are usually ~ 5:30pm which we did every other day so far. He has nothing routine for night, he wakes me up anywhere from 3 to 6. Sometimes he had already gone poo, sometimes not. Since Sat night I crated him overnight. He woke me up, same timing. First night he just moped and did nothing forever. I started using treats to reward pottying outside and now he's doing his business much faster. Still wakes me up a lot from the crate, but he's right next to the other 2 dogs (not in our bedroom, we can't). We used to have the two in our bedroom but shortly before we got the 3rd dog we moved their beds out to where their crates used to be and I retrained them to go to bed in that area. I put up a gate to keep them together and my first 2 have had no problems with the new routine. New dog is ok until 3 am and 5 am and 8 am when he cries. I have patience but I'm losing sleep. Hope this doesn't go on past a month!

 

Usually he was under constant supervision but if he started pacing and I was putting on some shoes to go out, he disappeared for 30 seconds and the deed was done. At night for the first week I didn't crate and that was the other area, besides us leaving the house, that resulted in indoor pooping. Since I started crating at night, and I will be crating him for if I have to leave the house, he hasn't had an accident. Unfortunately he does not poop on walks! Our walk is a mile and it wears him out. He pees. He refuses to poo on walks so far. Even if I had all 3 of them do a big sprint race in the back yard to wear them out before I left, he would not poo. Then he poo'd indoors while I was gone for usually less than 2 hours.

 

I don't really know how to schedule nap time since that's... all day, on and off. Suggestions?

 

The hook situation in the new dog is that he's now on his second round (the follow up dosing). I can't make that go faster but in all, yes, I'm in Florida and they are from Florida and with house breaking I can't do the thing I was doing with my boys before which was 100% walking off the property to go potty. He needs to learn the yard first and then I will try that again for 6 weeks, because I do have a lady who sprays my yard monthly (however, hook eggs have no yard treatments that are proven, so I'm probably going to end up doing monthly or every other month panacur for a long while). The monthly yard spray is for fleas, ticks, ants, and other stuff. I've been in contact with a LOT of people to try to solve the problem (multiple vets, grey rescues, parasitologist...) and some grey foster parents I talked to said they have the same chronic problem and just have to do the regular panacur dosing too.

 

Time and patience I have. And that's a good suggestion to focus on activities to boost confidence/trust. I have been doing it and am going to keep it up. I hope I only need this crate out for another few weeks. He's already getting more confident, wagging tail more, and coming up to me for affection. He let me trim his nails already quite peacefully, and today he allowed me (hesitantly but it happened) to brush his teeth with a soft finger brush. Tomorrow is his first visit to MY vet to get the extra shots he needs (lepto etc.).

 

=)

 

Sarah