Greyhound stopped listening to all but one household member - Advice?

[Greyhoundboi]

We've had our ex-rescue grey over a year now and in that time he's had some behavioural issues that we've weaved around. It's mostly his aggression towards other dogs, which mean we always have to walk him with a muzzle and can't approach other dogs. He also is aggressive towards humans he doesn't know, so now we have to keep our front door shut or our post gets hurled over the fence. 

Lately however he's started totally ignoring everyone but my dad. He adores my dad, and wines at the door when he hears his car pull up, and will listen to his every command, meanwhile he totally ignores everybody else. This becomes an issue when we try and walk him in the morning while dad is at work (and the word walk or sight of his leash is the thing that used to get him super excited) but now he just ignores it and stays in his bed. Even roast chicken doesn't tempt him all the time now because if he sees the leash first he thinks it's a trap. 

We're not really sure what to do, and its certainly making our dog a bit less enjoyable to be around that he is totally emotionless to all but one of us. Has anyone else experienced this and has some advice?

[HeyRunDog]

Dogs pickup how to behave from their owners and I just wonder if your dad is a bit more confident with your dog. Take him for a walk together but without paying much attention to your dog so he gets to understand that he's not above you in the pecking order.

When you take him for a walk and you see another dog, do you tighten the lead and change how you are walking? This signals to your dog that the other dog is not to be trusted and needs seeing off. Keep the lead slack and get your dog to look at you either with a treat and or your voice and praise them while he's ignoring it.

[greysmom]

Couple things

True aggression in dogs is really rare, and many dogs get labeled "aggressive" when in fact they are anxious and scared and reacting in an over-the-top way to whatever is scaring them - strange dogs, strange people, whatever.  And reacting to meeting other dogs when on leash is *extremely* common.  It's called being "leash reactive" and there are some ways you can help him work through his issues.  Pick up the booklet "Feisty Fido: Help for the Leash Reactive Dog" and "The Cautious Canine: How to Help Dogs Conquer Their Fears" both by Patricia McConnell, to walk you through training and deconditioning.  Both are available in print and as e-books.

Long about this time in an adoption, most dogs start to get really settled in to their new home life, getting comfortable with the routine and day to day activities, picking their favorite human and favorite bed, and just starting to assert their personality more and more.   He's not just ignoring what's going on around him, he's trying to rearrange things to suit his wants/needs better.  Greyhounds are really excellent people trainers, and it sounds like he's doing a pretty good job!    If multiple people in the household need to be responsible for his care, then everybody needs to rotate through doing all the daily activities - feeding, walking, training, daily grooming, toileting routines - so he doesn't become habituated to one person, and so he learns that all his humans will take care of him and be his advocates.

Generally when training, you use small portions to reward and reinforce good behavior.  Most times, a single kind of training treat works fine, but sometimes a dog will need persuading with a higher value treat.  Most times, you can use the same kind of higher value treat to keep a dogs attention, but some dogs need that reward to be rotated so they don't become bored with it.  Find a couple different yummy high value rewards he responds to no matter what - roast chicken, cooked or dehydrated liver, cheese, jerky, roast beef - and use them sparingly and only when you really need him to respond.

As far as walking him goes, it sounds like he's a bit anxious about leaving the house now, for whatever reason.  Outside is stressful and scary since there are so many things out there he's scared of, and he doesn't have his "support person" with him now.  If he doesn't need to go for these walks for toileting purposes, I would give him a break for a few months.  Work on building his confidence, both in himself and in other members of the family who need to take him for walks.  Other family members need to go with him and your dad for a while, holding the leash for a few minutes and gradually increasing the time.  Everyone also needs to use the same training and confidence building techniques with him.

If he does need to walk for potties, make these non-dad trips short and positive.  Out and back in once his business is done and lots of praise and rewards for it.  He needs to relearn that going outside can be fun and positive, and not scary and stressful.   I would also break up the getting-ready-for-walks routine into a couple different stages.  First call him to you, out of his bed, with rewards and praise - basically working on his Recall training.  Practice this at other times throughout the day so he doesn't figure out this is the new walk routine.  Then put on his leash - with rewards/praise - sometimes immediately take the leash off, sometimes leave it one for a while, sometimes actually go outside and back in, sometimes for a walk.  Several short training sessions during the day rather than one long one suit a greyhounds attention span better.

Things like these issues take time to develop and they take time and patience to work through.  This isn't a quick fix kind of thing.  He has fears and needs support from all his humans.  If you all feel he needs more help, or you all need more personalized suggestions, ask your vet or your adoption group for referrals to certified veterinary behaviorists in your area who have experience working with greyhounds (and use ONLY positive reinforcement techniques).

Time and patience and consistency.  Those are the keys.  Good luck!!

[Apollo_the_Grey]

On 2/14/2022 at 1:05 PM, greysmom said:

 

As far as walking him goes, it sounds like he's a bit anxious about leaving the house now, for whatever reason.  Outside is stressful and scary since there are so many things out there he's scared of, and he doesn't have his "support person" with him now.  If he doesn't need to go for these walks for toileting purposes, I would give him a break for a few months.  Work on building his confidence, both in himself and in other members of the family who need to take him for walks.  Other family members need to go with him and your dad for a while, holding the leash for a few minutes and gradually increasing the time.  Everyone also needs to use the same training and confidence building techniques with him.

 

Amazing advice from greysmom!  All of the post.  I just wanted to add that confidence comes through consistency and training/reward situations.