Introducing Greyhounds and small dogs

[Karolintschka]

Hello everyone!

After a long time of waiting I’m going to get my first ex racing Greyhound this saturday...a 18 month old female from Ireland and of course I‘m very happy to finally meet her 

I’ve already got a small female dog at home (miniature pinscher, neutered, 4 years old) which sometimes can be a bit cat like and of course I specifically asked my adoption group for a small dog friendly and cat workable Grey - so they decided on a brindle girl, which is described as shy and a bit nervous at first but very lovely. She knows cats and lived in the house together with a Jack Russell terrier as well as other Greys and another large dog of a hunting breed (a setter maybe).

I’m a member of various Greyhound forum’s and groups on Facebook and I see so many harmonic pictures of Greys with cats and small dogs, which is great of course BUT because I’m a new Greyhound owner I don’t really know a lot about introducing Greys to small dogs...

I’ve been reading Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies, which is a great book with great tipps and I‘ve learnt a lot already but I’m still unsure of how to introduce my dogs to each other in the best way possible without any problems. Till now I introduced new dogs with going for a short walk in a neutral area before letting them come into our home (my friends dogs for example) as it’s also told for small dogs on a few websites of Greyhound adoption groups and it always worked out, so I was thinking I would do it this way...but I think my small dog counts as „toy breed“ and in the book it’s completely different for them (similar to cats) and now I’m completely torn between the different methods

Does anyone have a combination of small dog(s) and Greyhound(s)? If yes, then please help me out and tell me how you introduced your dogs to each other or how you guys introduce your Greys to small dogs in general!

Thanks in advance

[Anya]

4 hours ago, Karolintschka said:

Till now I introduced new dogs with going for a short walk in a neutral area before letting them come into our home (my friends dogs for example) as it’s also told for small dogs on a few websites of Greyhound adoption groups and it always worked out, so I was thinking I would do it this way

This is how I introduced my miniature poodle to my grey when she came to me about 3 months ago. My poodle is white and I was nervous that Cleo might mistake her for a rabbit . Luckily everything went smoothly and there have been no incidents. They just about tolerate each other and honestly, I think my poodle is intimidated by Cleo's size - something I hadn't thought of before adopting her. 

Just keep the introduction on neutral territory and I'm sure all will go well.

Good luck and congratulations on your new Irish grey!

 

[Karolintschka]

2 hours ago, Anya said:

This is how I introduced my miniature poodle to my grey when she came to me about 3 months ago. My poodle is white and I was nervous that Cleo might mistake her for a rabbit . Luckily everything went smoothly and there have been no incidents. They just about tolerate each other and honestly, I think my poodle is intimidated by Cleo's size - something I hadn't thought of before adopting her. 

Just keep the introduction on neutral territory and I'm sure all will go well.

Good luck and congratulations on your new Irish grey!

 

Thank you so much for telling me this, I truly appreciate it! Honestly I’m also really nervous about the first meeting but I know that I can’t be too nervous around the dogs as they can sense it and it could turn out bad...does your poodle interact with Cleo at all or is she just ignoring her?

I think my pinscher will be pretty confused and/or peeved when she realizes that „big thing“ will stay with us forever and isn’t just visiting for a few weeks😅

But anyway it’s great to hear that everything went well between them and it makes me more confident about  the three of us living together😁

Maybe your poodle needs to adapt to her for some more time and will become more confident around her😄I know that big dogs can be pretty scary and intimidating for our little ones at first🙈

Edited January 19, 2021 by Karolintschka
I had a spelling mistake

[Jerilyn]

I don't have any advice for you, just wanted to say hello and welcome!

Many years ago I did a college semester abroad in Salzburg. I have many wonderful memories of your beautiful country. 

[HeyRunDog]

Welcome to the forum

I suggest you introduce them as you did with your friends dogs in the park and if that doesn't work then try the cat method but don't overthink it as the dogs will pick up there is something to be wary of and go into defence mode.

The chances are that if your new greyhound (have you a name for her yet?) is anything like mine she'll totally ignore anything much smaller than her and then show total indifference.

[Karolintschka]

10 hours ago, Jerilyn said:

I don't have any advice for you, just wanted to say hello and welcome!

Many years ago I did a college semester abroad in Salzburg. I have many wonderful memories of your beautiful country. 

That’s alright too of course! Thank you for your kind words, I’m happy to be a part of this great community😁

Really? Oh wow, that sounds so cool! I’m so glad you liked your semester abroad in Salzburg and have lot’s of good memories of Austria, it’s very beautiful here indeed!😊🏔🇦🇹

[Karolintschka]

1 hour ago, HeyRunDog said:

Welcome to the forum

I suggest you introduce them as you did with your friends dogs in the park and if that doesn't work then try the cat method but don't overthink it as the dogs will pick up there is something to be wary of and go into defence mode.

The chances are that if your new greyhound (have you a name for her yet?) is anything like mine she'll totally ignore anything much smaller than her and then show total indifference.

Hello and thank you so much for your advice!☺️Yes, I was thinking of doing it this way because to me it feels more like introducing two dogs to each other because I really want my Grey to recognize my little one as a dog from the start but if it doesn’t work out then of course I’ll try the cat method🙈I know that I can’t be too nervous or anxious about it because they’ll know but I just really want them to be on good terms😅

Oh yes, I already have a name for her - it’s Faye because to me she looks as fragile and delicate as a fairy🧚🏻‍♀️😊even though she actually ain’t that small at all with her 68 cm but right now her name is Lolly and I’m not really a fan of it😅

Her racing name was Patchwork Queen but I can’t find any racing records of her...she’s only 18 months old yet, so I guess she was never raced professionally😄

 

[Anya]

20 hours ago, Karolintschka said:

Thank you so much for telling me this, I truly appreciate it! Honestly I’m also really nervous about the first meeting but I know that I can’t be too nervous around the dogs as they can sense it and it could turn out bad...does your poodle interact with Cleo at all or is she just ignoring her?

I think my pinscher will be pretty confused and/or peeved when she realizes that „big thing“ will stay with us forever and isn’t just visiting for a few weeks😅

But anyway it’s great to hear that everything went well between them and it makes me more confident about  the three of us living together😁

Maybe your poodle needs to adapt to her for some more time and will become more confident around her😄I know that big dogs can be pretty scary and intimidating for our little ones at first🙈

There's little to no interaction between the two of them. My poodle is 13, very timid and laid back and isn't in the best of health unfortunately. Cleo is 9, so they're both senior dogs, but Cleo has firmly established herself as the Alpha. I'd imagine if your pinscher is a younger, energetic dog they will eventually play together. I'm not holding out any hope for my two to become best friends - I was hoping they would. Oh and I forgot to mention in my original post - keep your grey muzzled for a couple of weeks until you know her/him better and can trust him/her with your pinscher.

Keep us posted on their progress.

[HeyRunDog]

22 hours ago, Karolintschka said:

Her racing name was Patchwork Queen but I can’t find any racing records of her...she’s only 18 months old yet, so I guess she was never raced professionally

Have a look here. It has her family tree etc. https://www.greyhound-data.com/d?d=Patchwork+Queen&sex=&color=&birthyear=&birthland=

[Karolintschka]

21 hours ago, Anya said:

There's little to no interaction between the two of them. My poodle is 13, very timid and laid back and isn't in the best of health unfortunately. Cleo is 9, so they're both senior dogs, but Cleo has firmly established herself as the Alpha. I'd imagine if your pinscher is a younger, energetic dog they will eventually play together. I'm not holding out any hope for my two to become best friends - I was hoping they would. Oh and I forgot to mention in my original post - keep your grey muzzled for a couple of weeks until you know her/him better and can trust him/her with your pinscher.

Keep us posted on their progress.

Alright, that’s good to know because I think my pinscher won’t interact with my Grey at first either. She can be a bit wary of larger dogs as we’ve had a few questionable incidents with large dogs while being at dog parks (that’s one of the reasons I won’t go to dog parks anymore unless it’s with dogs I know)🙈

Wow, your poodle is 13 years old? That’s amazing! I really hope that you have some time left to enjoy with him/her as no matter how long they stay with us it’s clearly never enough♥️ I can imagine that Cleo could become Alpha pretty quickly but as long as your poodle is fine with it it’s not a problem☺️.

Yes, my pinscher is 4 years old and very energetic (typical for the breed but still it can be a challenge sometimes) even though she’s much calmer already and a lot wiser too😄

I don’t know if I should let them play together at all as my pinscher‘s favorite game to play is chase and she plays it with her dog friends all the time but they are Golden Retrievers, Schnauzers and Collies...not Greyhounds (I don’t think she could win that one😂) but I’m very curious to see if and how they’ll interact with each other...

No, I think your dogs won’t become best friends after all but you meant well and they tolerate each other which is great too😊 Yes, I’ll keep the Grey muzzled at all times for at least 3 weeks, unless she’s in her crate or they are in different rooms.

Thanks and I’ll definitely keep you updated on them!

 

 

 

[Karolintschka]

7 hours ago, HeyRunDog said:

Have a look here. It has her family tree etc. https://www.greyhound-data.com/d?d=Patchwork+Queen&sex=&color=&birthyear=&birthland=

Oh, thank you so much! It’s great to be able to read all the information about her!😍

[HeyRunDog]

15 hours ago, Karolintschka said:

Oh, thank you so much! It’s great to be able to read all the information about her!😍

Just had a second look at Faye's pedigree and I see Larkhill Jo is her great great granddad and by coincidence he's also Grace's great granddad twice but with different dames.

[Karolintschka]

51 minutes ago, HeyRunDog said:

Just had a second look at Faye's pedigree and I see Larkhill Jo is her great great granddad and by coincidence he's also Grace's great granddad twice but with different dames.

Oh, what a cute coincidence! So they are distantly related to each other🥰I’m just thinking, that most Greys are in some way related because I read the same names over and over again in the pedigrees of different dogs😅

[EllenEveBaz]

Welcome to you and Faye and Yuna!  I see today is The Day -- let us know how the introduction went.  

[Karolintschka]

So yesterday was finally the big introduction day for us as I came home pretty late on saturday and I didn’t want to stress Faye out even more🙈

I was so worried and nervous because I had to introduce them in my tiny garden...walks are definitely no option for Faye yet as she is the most nervous, scared and skittish dog I’ve ever met. She is scared of nearly every sound etc. inside as well as outside but it’s just like the adoption group described her to be for the first few weeks. It’s a bit exhausting but I hope she’ll settle in soon though☺️.

But now to the introduction part: It was really alright and I‘m honestly very proud of Faye as she did very well with Yuna. She wasn’t really interested in my little one, just sniffed at her a few times and then she finally PEED (because she held it in for sooo long I thought her bladder would burst😅)!

So she doesn’t seem to care about Yuna very much...yet🙈which is great of course and Yuna simply ignores her too🤷🏻‍♀️Faye sleeps in her crate most of the time and Yuna does the same on the couch...so till now it all looks pretty positive and there’s not much interaction between them but I‘ll see how it goes when Faye comes out of her shell a bit more😄.

I‘ll definitely keep you guys posted on their progress!

 

[Anya]

Thanks for updating us Karolintschka. Glad the initial introduction went well - it's about the same as my two. I have Cleo since September and they pretty well still ignore each other. Cleo will let out a bark at Kali every now and then for no reason and poor old Kali runs for the hills. I wish they would be buddies .

So Faye has been with you for a couple of weeks now. How is it going with both of them?

[Karolintschka]

On 2/11/2021 at 7:56 PM, Anya said:

Thanks for updating us Karolintschka. Glad the initial introduction went well - it's about the same as my two. I have Cleo since September and they pretty well still ignore each other. Cleo will let out a bark at Kali every now and then for no reason and poor old Kali runs for the hills. I wish they would be buddies .

So Faye has been with you for a couple of weeks now. How is it going with both of them?

Oh you´re welcome!It all went so smoothly and I was actually quite surprised about that because I worried so much beforehand but both dogs just seemed to tolerate each other, no more and luckily no less either.

Awww poor old Kali (I love that name btw)I know how you feel...I wish for them to grow closer too but I´m afraid that won´t happen anytime soon or maybe not at allI hope that Kali and Cleo will become friends in the future - sometimes it just takes a lot of time for the dogs to adjust to each other...at least I keep reading that often.

Well where should I start...she´s a handful to say the least but not because of any bad behavior or something like that. She´s just sooo nervous and scared of nearly everything...it already got so much better than during the first week but it´s still so hard for her. She´s a super lovely girl but has no self-confidence at all...I do my best to make it easier for her but sometimes it´s a bit frustrating too to be honest.

She has absolutely no prey drive (or at least it didn´t show yet) and she doesn´t care about Yuna´s movements at all no matter if she jumps, moves around her, runs or whatever - which makes me happy because at least that´s nothing to worry about!

We´re making progress I think and she get´s a bit better everyday but she´s so different from all the dogs I know. I´m almost certain thst something bad must have happened to her back in Ireland before she was given to the adoption agency...she´s extremely afraid of men and fast movements, especially hands...

I can touch her all over her body now and also pet her, which she seems to like a lot - that´s great because no one else is allowed to even come near her except for my little sister. She´ll need lot´s of time to accept and understand that she´s home now and won´t have to leave us again. I already adore her so much even though it´s not easy all the time but she´s definitely worth it!

We´re working on her self-confidence right now and to get her desentisized to cars and outdoor things. She´s great with doing her business outside and super well behaved at night, there´s no such thing as whining or barking. She´s not once tried to steal food but maybe that´s going to show later. I feel like separation anxiety is going to be a big problem for us because when I leave that´s the only time she starts whining and wanting to get out of her crate...so I ordered a book by Patricia McConell and hopefully it´s going to work

Wow that was a super long text I´m really sorry...

[HeyRunDog]

9 hours ago, Karolintschka said:

She´s not once tried to steal food but maybe that´s going to show later. I feel like separation anxiety is going to be a big problem for us because when I leave that´s the only time she starts whining and wanting to get out of her crate..

Grace doesn't steal food despite unintentional opportunities presenting themselves . I'm a great believer in not giving her treats or leftovers during meal times, while preparing food or even a crisp when I'm having some. She gets a couple of half gravy bones (treats come in two's so I break one in half) two or three times a day, anything else goes in her food bowl ready for her next meal.

Putting her into a crate when you leave her is not mandatory and you have to be careful she doesn't start to associate the crate with something bad is about to happen. Get yourself ready but don't pay any attention to her, then when your ready to go give her a Kong filled with kibble and a bit of peanut butter, say goodbye and go. No fuss or drama. The only time Grace is upset when I leave her is if I forget to give her her Kong before I go.

[Karolintschka]

10 hours ago, HeyRunDog said:

Grace doesn't steal food despite unintentional opportunities presenting themselves . I'm a great believer in not giving her treats or leftovers during meal times, while preparing food or even a crisp when I'm having some. She gets a couple of half gravy bones (treats come in two's so I break one in half) two or three times a day, anything else goes in her food bowl ready for her next meal.

Putting her into a crate when you leave her is not mandatory and you have to be careful she doesn't start to associate the crate with something bad is about to happen. Get yourself ready but don't pay any attention to her, then when your ready to go give her a Kong filled with kibble and a bit of peanut butter, say goodbye and go. No fuss or drama. The only time Grace is upset when I leave her is if I forget to give her her Kong before I go.

That´s good to hear!Faye could´ve stolen so much food already if she wanted to (I can be quite forgetful sometimes) but it never happend...she´s so nervous and even runs back to her crate so many times during her meal... I´ve never experienced this behavior before because all dogs I know are super food motivated. She likes food and treats but not enough to be motivated to do anything for them...

The dogs are sometimes allowed to lick a bit of joghurt or peanut butter off a spoon when I fill their Kongs but I never feed them leftovers or things like that as it might result in them pestering me while I eat and I definitely don´t want that!

I know that it´s not mandatory to crate her while I leave but because of Yuna I want to do it for the first few months at least. I want them both to be safe while I´m gone and even though I do trust Faye to a certain extend I do not trust her a 100% yet...

She loves her crate it´s her favorite spot to sleep and she doesn´t really like any of the other dog beds I´ve prepared for her so she spends most of the time in the crate. She sleeps in it during the night without any problems so I don´t think she´ll start to associate it with bad things. The crate is not the problem, but me leaving the flat through the entrance door. She doesn´t care about me leaving the room or closing doors behind me...I always close the bedroom door at night while she sleeps in the living room and she´s absolutely fine with it. I´ve had my mom come over to be with them while I´m at work for the last few weeks and she doesn´t bother at all when I leave...

She does have Yuna´s company but that doesn´t help much. I try to give her frozen Kongs BUT she won´t eat it until I´m back...she only licks at it for 2-3 minutes then it´s not interesting enough anymore - so the whining and rumbling around starts...I don´t give her any attention before I go or right when I come home.

I might try leaving on the TV with some calm music or a nice documentary film...maybe the silcence is the problem

Edited February 14, 2021 by Karolintschka
spelling mistake

[HeyRunDog]

If she's OK with sleeping in the living room and with you closing the door behind you then there is a good chance she will quickly get used to being left alone. Leaving the TV or radio on quietly is a good idea. I did that with Grace for the first few weeks at night (she also sleeps in the living room) and when I went to work.

I also got a cheap webcam from Amazon to see what she was doing when left alone. It was one of the most boring videos ever. She would eat her treats from her Kong, a quick mooch about then fall asleep on the sofa, only occasionally moving to change which side she was sleeping on or for a quick roach. She would only start to get agitated when the school children started to come home because she knew I wouldn't be far behind. (No, I'm not a teacher before you ask )

[Karolintschka]

6 hours ago, HeyRunDog said:

If she's OK with sleeping in the living room and with you closing the door behind you then there is a good chance she will quickly get used to being left alone. Leaving the TV or radio on quietly is a good idea. I did that with Grace for the first few weeks at night (she also sleeps in the living room) and when I went to work.

I also got a cheap webcam from Amazon to see what she was doing when left alone. It was one of the most boring videos ever. She would eat her treats from her Kong, a quick mooch about then fall asleep on the sofa, only occasionally moving to change which side she was sleeping on or for a quick roach. She would only start to get agitated when the school children started to come home because she knew I wouldn't be far behind. (No, I'm not a teacher before you ask )

Yes she´s absolutely fine with it but she doesn´t really care if I exist at all I thinkI´ve heard from many people that their Greys are like their shadows as they follow them around everywhere...the only thing I´m useful for Faye right now are food, water, treats, walks and some pets every now and then

I had another female Grey called Light for a very short period of time until she´d move into her forever home (only one week or so) and she DID follow me everywhere - even to the toilet and I had no privacy at all

It´s just Faye´s character I guess...she´s never had any sort of positive human attention in her life, so she simply doesn´t need it...yet. I don´t care as long as she´s happy

Funny thing is, she also doesn´t care if I go out at the back door into the garden and through the gate...it really seems to be just the front door that makes her anxious

But I´ll try the music thing and see how it goes - can´t ask my mum to come over forever I guess

No they are just super quick to combine things and link actions, so your Grace knows excactly the school children are a sign for you to come back home soon - such a good girl!