Why do other dogs bark at my greyhound?

[Deedee]

Why do other dogs bark at my greyhound so much? It’s normally smaller dogs but labradors seem to do it a lot as well. My grey is nearly 6, raced until he was 5, and always muzzled. I’ve never tried him off the lead and try and stay away from other dogs because he lunges if other dogs are too close.

[macoduck]

I like to think that those barky dogs are jealous of our gorgeous greyhounds. And some other dogs are just jerks.

[Mercsmom]

Yep. I was going to go with "They're s". 

[Deedee]

Thanks Macoduck and Mercsmom. Had quite a nasty encounter with two French bulldogs this morning who were off the lead and their owner on his phone 🙄 The Frenchies ran over and scared my lovely boy, and the owner couldn’t get them under control for ages. 

[macoduck]

DeeDee, my brother has french bulldogs and they were reactive like the ones you described. They are often very hard for french bulldog rescue groups to rehome due to their tendencies to be aggressive. It's a shame because they are cute little dogs.

I am not ashamed to say that I have kicked a pair of chihuahuas who attacked my old, calm greyhound when they attacked. Their owner was preoccupied too and then thought it was funny that they were doing it.

[Feefee147]

It's incredible how many times another dog owner (whilst putting their dog on lead and avoiding my grey) have said "he hates greyhounds", "she can't stand them..." or something similar. 

My boy is on lead and muzzled when out and about. Plus he's so shy around bigger non-sighthounds that at best he looks away meekly, at worst he drags and hides behind me. 

I personally think it's just because they don't give off the 'normal' dog signals, particularly ex racers that have only ever socialised with other greyhounds, and for some reason other breeds just don't understand them and their signals.

That said, he could be walking around glaring and muttering obscenities for all I know :-) 

[Deedee]

Feefee147 I’m so tickled by the idea of greys muttering obscenities! 🤣

[MerseyGrey]

On 8/20/2020 at 2:20 PM, Feefee147 said:

It's incredible how many times another dog owner (whilst putting their dog on lead and avoiding my grey) have said "he hates greyhounds", "she can't stand them..." or something similar. 

My boy is on lead and muzzled when out and about. Plus he's so shy around bigger non-sighthounds that at best he looks away meekly, at worst he drags and hides behind me. 

I personally think it's just because they don't give off the 'normal' dog signals, particularly ex racers that have only ever socialised with other greyhounds, and for some reason other breeds just don't understand them and their signals.

That said, he could be walking around glaring and muttering obscenities for all I know :-) 

Hahaha! I think this is probably true and using long words the other dogs don’t understand. I also think that some other dogs are also just jerks too. However, I try to watch Buddy’s body language and very often when another dog approaches him, he doesn’t quite know how to react. He lifts his head, and his neck and back become very stiff, and although he often wags his tail, it’s clear he’s not comfortable. I wonder if this provokes other dogs to bark (at best) and become aggressive at worst.

Some people whose dogs bark at Buddy say that their dogs react to other dogs who are on leads, some will say that they are just being friendly. I wish I spoke better dog, particularly greyhound dialect. While I have also wanted to kick a few dogs, it’s the owners I usually want to maim - especially the ones who yell ‘it’s ok, he’s friendly!’ as Buddy is having a nervous breakdown behind me trying to avoid the attention 

[ShebasMom]

I have the reverse--Sheba barks at all other breeds passing by, plus skateboarders, bicyclists, people walking by, motorcycles, you name it. My front yard is fenced in so anything going by when she's there gets barked at. She's not out there alone so I just get her to stop and bring her inside. She's a barker by nature, mostly at me for attention.