Is it common for some greys to have little to no prey drive?

[Legendaryfrank]

I've had my 2 year old retired Greyhound now for 3 months, and from what I've seen, he's just not interested in chasing other animals at all. It's quite odd, we are trying to get him used to our 10 year old cat who is very sweet with humans, never seen her scratch or hiss once in 4 years, and he is terrified of her. To be fair, on our first try she went right at him to and clawed him in the butt, but now they've been seperated via baby gate for a month with seperate halves of the house and he is comfortable around all areas even with the cat in sight and right up to the gate. 

On walks, he will see multiple rabbits, birds, and squirrels and he kind of stares at them and then continues on walking. He is really skittish around hyperactive dogs that will bark at sight, much better with calmer dogs regardless of size, never seen him get aggressive.

 

Is this quite typical of a Greyhound that has retired early? I'm just not sure what to do because when I try to do some research, it's flooded with high prey drive hounds and not much with shy and calm ones. 

 

Thanks for your time!

[greysmom]

Yes.  It's highly likely he was sent to adoption because he "would not chase."   If you look at his races, his comments might actually say something like that.

He's probably fine with the cat.  Especially if she'll stand up for herself.  If you're still concerned over his reaction, have him wear his muzzle.  Make sure your kitty has several easy exit points from every room, just in case, and a quiet place to retreat to if she wants some alone time.

[Legendaryfrank]

1 minute ago, greysmom said:

Yes.  It's highly likely he was sent to adoption because he "would not chase."   If you look at his races, his comments might actually say something like that.

He's probably fine with the cat.  Especially if she'll stand up for herself.  If you're still concerned over his reaction, have him wear his muzzle.  Make sure your kitty has several easy exit points from every room, just in case, and a quiet place to retreat to if she wants some alone time.

Thank you so much for the reassurance! I hope they will get along in the future, I really do. 

 

Allow me to pay my dog tax

 

[LBass]

What a cutie, you've got there!

Chris's reply says it all.  My first Greyhound, Piper, had a very brief but impressive (to me at least  ) racing career.  He lived happily with a cat and a smaller dog, my Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Winston.  Piper loved running in the yard but never chased squirrels or Winston or anything else that I ever saw.  Winston was far more interested in other animals in the yard that Piper ever was.  One of my favorite memories of them was the Great Mockingbird Chase of '09.  We were all in the yard and Winston spied a Mockingbird fledgling in the grass.  Winston headed over to check out the guest.  Piper and I picked up on Winston's interest and went to check it all out.  We ended up in an hilarious parade formation, lead by the little bird, who hopped toward and then through the fence.  He was followed--all walking--by Winston, followed by Piper, followed by me.  The nice thing was that neither of my dogs wanted to harm the bird at all.  The thing that fascinated me was that it was the toy spaniel who spied that bird, not the sight hound.  

[ShebasMom]

Lucky you with a hound with no prey drive (in my opinion).

[Hubcitypam]

Little Girl, my first grey, was chosen for me as he had zero prey drive and I had a yorkie..  They do exist.  Girl was   2.5 when I got her and had never been out of her run at the farm.  Neurotic is a kind term but she loved the yorkie.

[zimsmom]

On 8/29/2020 at 10:37 AM, ShebasMom said:

Lucky you with a hound with no prey drive (in my opinion

Agree.  Can be very trying at times. 

[Christine]

Yes, our greyhound Sarah we had for almost 12 years and she only chased our cat Liesel once and it was more of a play chase. We had many cats, and rabbits during that time. Liesel would snuggle and sleep on her, the rabbits would hop all over her and she never did anything. We did work with her to make sure she'd be safe around the animals.

[spottydog]

Our sweet but nutty little girlie has ZERO prey drive...

[PatricksMom]

My first boy, Patrick had no prey drive, and was scared of our pet rabbits. I miss those days. Petey's caught two birds and a lizard

[Legendaryfrank]

Maybe I've spoke too soon! Today in our closed yard, for the first time in 2 months, Starry became hyper aware of a squirrel in our backyard and instantly went from laying down chewing on his chew toy to bolting at the squirrel at full speed, it was quite shocking to see since he's ignored just about every critter since I've got him. Now I definitely see how the switch can get turned on at any moment. Still terrified of the cat though!

[HeyRunDog]

First squirrel: "Where's your brother?"

Second squirrel: "Well. You know how he used to tease the dogs in the park?"

First squirrel:"Yes"

Second squirrel: "Some b*****d went and got a greyhound!"

[MerseyGrey]

Jekyll and Hyde. They do love to keep you on your toes!

[Twogirls]

my first, Queen, waited until they were in the yard...then off to the races

My second, Conrad, saw them before they were in the yard then off to the races. Oh and he got 2 tree squirrels

My third, Bisbee, well she stayed as far away as possible then bark.

the first 2 only raced a few times the third never raced and showed up at the adoption group with a litter

Felton, my current won 25% of his races and caught a rabbit, but we do not seem to have many squirrels 

all but Felton got along with the cat, he thinks he is from the planet MELMACK and like A.L.F. think they are tasty  

So I have had some that are and some that are not