New mom questions

[Kobethegreyt]

We’ve had our beautiful boy for 2 weeks. He seems happy and we don’t really have any problems. I’m waiting for the book recommended for SA to arrive. The longest he’s been left alone is 2 hours and he did start to destroy his bed (he was crated). 
I would like to know what are considered “high quality treats”. Also, not sure how to break him of counter surfing. So far, he’s been very responsive to training in other areas (wait, and walking on his lead - he wanted to chase cars but I’ve been consistent in teaching him to just calmly keep walking and he’s doing great).Thanks for any advice !

[MerseyGrey]

High quality treats - try cheese, or bits of sausage. Smelly food works well, and it has to be stuff that you wouldn’t normally give him for being a good boy. For counter surfing, make sure everything is pushed back out of reach. You might need to follow him discreetly to the kitchen if goes there of his own accord, and tell him firmly ‘no’ when you see him doing it. Treat him when he comes away. I should say that mine doesn’t exactly countersurf, and just has a sniff at whatever is on the top, which I just let him do as he is a curious boy but has not (yet) been known to take anything

[HeyRunDog]

I know most adoption agencies recommend crating your greyhound when left alone but most owners don't. Keep a bed in the crate but leave the door open so he can use it as his safe place. Not all greyhounds suffer from SA and if you can leave yours alone for two hours without him whining, barking and being stressed then he'll be OK. He probably just got bored being locked in his crate.

As for counter surfing, never give him a treat when you are preparing or eating food not even when you are eating a snack in front of the TV. Only feed him leftovers in his bowl when you've finished eating, snacking or preparing food. If he does put his nose near the counter a very firm NO and a gentle tap on the inquisitive nose, if required, should dissuade him.

I agree with MerseyGrey, smelly cheese, bit of sausage or chicken work well as high value treats.

[Feefee147]

9 hours ago, Kobethegreyt said:

We’ve had our beautiful boy for 2 weeks

Congratulations  

Our grey gets quite upset if he is confined (eg a crate) or separated from us. When we leave him alone - which isn't very often but we are doing it regularly for short periods to get him used to it - we just dog proof the lounge and bedroom, shut the kitchen door and let him roam. He's much better with that and, after pacing a whining for a few minutes, just settles on his sofa now...albeit a bit morosely. Have you tried giving him more space with a treat and leaving him for a short period to see if that helps? Letting him have access to his usual comfy spots may help?

Counter surfing - ha! I fear we'll never get past this. A firm "no" stops him in his tracks if we see him do it, but (as Merseygrey said) if we discretely follow him in we have caught him in the act. He knows it's wrong (surprisingly!) and we don't leave anything out that he can get, but if we did I'm sure it would be too tempting for him to resist. 

Another good high value treat (aside from cheese - ours would do anything for cheese!) is ham. Nice and smelly! Training miraculously becomes MUCH easier when cheese or ham are involved 

 

[longboyz100]

Definitely smelly cheese and ham. It become quite obvious based on my boy's reaction what he valued the most

[greysmom]

Jerky is also a good high value treat and less messy to carry around than cheese and ham.  But each dog will determine what their own high value treat is - whatever they will do *anything* for!

[Kobethegreyt]

Thank you all for the advice ! I’m sure I’ll have more questions in the future !