Just rehomed a greyhound and i'm not sure if I can handle it

[Amelia]

Hi! I rehomed a 4yo ex-racing greyhound two days ago. He's been really lovely with me and my family, although my sister is afraid of him. We adopted him from a normal dog rescue, and were told he had a gentle and lazy temperament, but as soon as we took him home, he has been genuinely non-stop. I feel very lucky with how good he is with myself and other people/dogs, but he has SO much energy. He geuinely doesn't stop, and it's hard because we've been playing with toys with him, but as soon as he destroys them (very quickly) he loses interest. He just seems to have endless energy even though he gets to run in the garden and walks in the morning. I'm crying my eyes out right now while writing this, but have I made a mistake? I don't want to give up on this dog because he's such a sweetheart, but I genuinely don't know if I made the right decision. I know it's still early days, but will his energy go down once he's settled in?? I just really don't know what to do

[Houndtime]

My dog has spurts of real, strong energy about once a day.  He likes to run in our downstairs.  What seems like a lot of energy to you, might not really be energy to some one else.  He is a dog, not a statue.  I'm sorry, if he truly doesn't stop all day.  It is only two days.  Perhaps you should give him a little more time to settle in.

Edited August 1, 2021 by Houndtime

[HeyRunDog]

I'd have thought at four he should have started to quieten down. They often do zoomies once a day but it's unusual for a greyhound to be on the go all day. Just a thought, check how much protein he is getting? A retired greyhound should only be getting around 18% to 20%. Racing greyhounds have 28% to 30%

[smurfette]

Greyhounds mature late. With 4 years he is still just considered grown up. And now imagine some alien from another planet grabs you, puts you on his planet and aspects you to be just happy and relaxed. That's how your new dog feels.

My greyhounds are very active. They love long walks and lots of time for running and playing. A greyhound per se is not a lazy dog. I hope nobody fed you the 'They only need 20 minutes walks lie'. Yes, there are greys that are like that but a young and healthy dog needs more. You can start with some training like recall or fetch or basic commands. 

And just a little food for thought. We have a saying here in Germany that losely translated says - sighthounds suffer silently. It means that a sighthound that only seems to sit on a sofa or on it's bed most likely is not just lazy but sometimes bored to death. They sleep their days away because nothing happens. 

[greysmom]

If this dog truly doesn't fit into your lifestyle, then there's no fault in returning him and looking for one that does fit in better.  There will be an active family out there looking for exactly that kind of dog.  Sometimes adoption volunteers just don't make good matches between dogs and people, and sometimes dogs lie!   

That being said, he just needs more structured exercise for a bit to help him settle in.  At four years old he's right at the height of physical maturity and needs a place for all that energy to go.  An good long early morning and evening walk, with maybe a shorter one midday should help.  Hiring a dog walker might be the best way to go.  A weekly run in a local (securely fenced) dog park, or meet up with some other greyhound friends with a larger yard can also burn off excess energy.  

 

[Regann]

Hi,

We have had our rescue ex racer called Rocket for nearly 12 months, and he lives up to his name, he needs 4 to 6 30/40 minute walks a day, in the afternoon he is very hyper, we have checked the protein, had him  checked by a vet, and the bottom line is some Greyhounds do have a lot of energy, what does help is the Kong with slits around it that you can put peanut butter in and on Amazon you can buy coffee wood sticks that can help, stick with it, he is our 7th rescue dog ( first Greyhound ) and is the most demanding, but we would never give him up, he has a lot of good characteristics , and will be with us forever

[Sniffy]

On 10/15/2021 at 11:13 AM, Regann said:

Hi,

We have had our rescue ex racer called Rocket for nearly 12 months, and he lives up to his name, he needs 4 to 6 30/40 minute walks a day, in the afternoon he is very hyper, we have checked the protein, had him  checked by a vet, and the bottom line is some Greyhounds do have a lot of energy, what does help is the Kong with slits around it that you can put peanut butter in and on Amazon you can buy coffee wood sticks that can help, stick with it, he is our 7th rescue dog ( first Greyhound ) and is the most demanding, but we would never give him up, he has a lot of good characteristics , and will be with us forever

I saw the coffee wood sticks in the pet supply shop just yesterday.  Made me because I was associating caffeine with a greyhound. Do they last a long time? and do they disrupt sleep (probably not  )