Advice needed

[Kay 3,709]

Hi

I am in the process of taking on an ex track dog as purely a pet , i understand i will be best to crate the dog rather than flood him with the stuff we find normal like washers & hoovers & expecting him to accept all this new stuff.

 

Should i pretty much stick to the type of routine he has grown up with like only time out the crate for food & walks to start with & should i gradually introduce him to a small area of the downstairs at a time ?

 

I wouldnt allow him of the lead & would give him plenty of time & patience to settle at his own pace, i do have 2 cats & will need some advice on how i should check him IF he shows an interest in them ?

 

Many thanks

[woko 0]

Hi

I am in the process of taking on an ex track dog as purely a pet , i understand i will be best to crate the dog rather than flood him with the stuff we find normal like washers & hoovers & expecting him to accept all this new stuff.

 

Should i pretty much stick to the type of routine he has grown up with like only time out the crate for food & walks to start with & should i gradually introduce him to a small area of the downstairs at a time ?

 

I wouldnt allow him of the lead & would give him plenty of time & patience to settle at his own pace, i do have 2 cats & will need some advice on how i should check him IF he shows an interest in them ?

 

Many thanks

Hi Kay, Greys make wonderful house pets and as you say needs a bit of time and patience. When you bring your dog home for the first time walk him around the garden first, if he is to be let loose you need a fence of at least 5ft saying that my old racer cleared a 6ft wall with ease. Greyhounds have lived their entire lives in kennels so before becoming a house pet it means changes in routines for the dog, but you will find they are intelligent dogs and soon adapt. For the first few days keep the dog on a lead and muzzled. When introducing the greyhound to your cats, this is where the fun begins, do it indoors with all doors shut you need to either have the cat on your lap holding firmly or have the cat in a wire cage, have someone to bring the dog in on a lead and muzzled, stroke the cat to show the cat is part of the family, if he lunges for the cat squirt some water at him and firmly tell him NO. This could take weeks for the dog to accept the cat, but just because he accepts your cat it does not mean he will not have the next door neighbors cat. Greyhounds do feel cold temperatures so he will need draught free sleeping area and they do love soft bedding. If the dog is going to sleep indoors, dont forget he is used to sleeping in a kennel along side most probably 60 other dogs, so what I would do is allow him to sleep in the same room with a member of the family, he will feel more secure, but make sure he emptyies out last thing at night. Greyhounds are very clean dogs but need to be taken out early and often to the garden. If you have a male dog it is much easier to know if he is going to mark out his territory in the house by the way he starts sniffing and goes to cock his leg, reprimand him verbally and strongly and take him outside stay with him until he goes then praise him he will soon learn that outside is the place to go. Regarding the crate it can be useful the first few weeks when leaving the dog at home on his own for the first few weeks. when leaving the dog for the first time make sure blinds are up and curtains are open and remove any objects off the window cills and muzzle the dog as he will go to look out the window to look for you. start by leaving the house only for a few minutes at a time but dont make a fuss of him before you leave. you can increase the time you are out of the house. If anxiety is bad then you will need a crate for the first few weeks when left at home. when he understands the family routine you can leave the crate door open, after a few weeks you should have a very happy loving family pet. I hope this has been a little hep to you Kay all the best woko

[Sighthound 49]

Hi

I am in the process of taking on an ex track dog as purely a pet , i understand i will be best to crate the dog rather than flood him with the stuff we find normal like washers & hoovers & expecting him to accept all this new stuff.

 

Should i pretty much stick to the type of routine he has grown up with like only time out the crate for food & walks to start with & should i gradually introduce him to a small area of the downstairs at a time ?

 

I wouldnt allow him of the lead & would give him plenty of time & patience to settle at his own pace, i do have 2 cats & will need some advice on how i should check him IF he shows an interest in them ?

 

Many thanks

 

Kay,

 

I've had two ex track dogs over the years and they are great dogs.

I would be very surprised if he did not try to kill your cats though at first - follow Woko's advice and you should stop it.

Mine would ignore my cat and even tolerate it lying next to her BUT she accounted for many feral cats she came across.

You should aim to let her off the lead eventually it's not that much fun for them if they can't burn off some energy, you'll probably find recall will be slow at first but they adapt quickly.

Also IMHO I would not crate all the time except for food and walks. You want him to be part of your family not shut away all day in a crate.

Patience is all that is needed.

 

Good luck.

[Kay 3,709]

Thanks very much for the advice both, the other thing that was brought to my attention is my other dog, she is a 13 yr old staffy cross & i would say she is staffy sized but rough coated, is there a chance the greyhound may be a problem with a smaller dog , the terrier isnt usually aggressive towards other dogs but should i be alert as she is obviously smaller

[Guest smashygadge]

Thanks very much for the advice both, the other thing that was brought to my attention is my other dog, she is a 13 yr old staffy cross & i would say she is staffy sized but rough coated, is there a chance the greyhound may be a problem with a smaller dog , the terrier isnt usually aggressive towards other dogs but should i be alert as she is obviously smaller

 

as for dogs kay i brought mine into our home with no problems.i have two other dogs

aswell as 2 cats and an indoor rabbit.i had the intention of kenneling the greyhound at

first but within an hour she had setteled in found a place where she liked to sleep, thats now on my chair.the cats have tended to stay clear of her as we have a lurcher thats

been intrested in them since he was young so they no to keep 2 their own space but

i would say that cats are the hardest thing but their again she has calmed down and did so very quickly the rabbit is in doors and showed a lot of intrest in that 2 at first and she lays next to the cage and everything now and learnt its part of the home life even tho she loves to chase when out on a walk.but thing is with them they tend to sleep a lot so not much to worry about uyou will get lots of free time you are not constantly watching them and id say she is more friendly with my staffy than my lurcher so all the best greyhounds atleast are well socailised with other dogs.

[Guest smashygadge]

Thanks very much for the advice both, the other thing that was brought to my attention is my other dog, she is a 13 yr old staffy cross & i would say she is staffy sized but rough coated, is there a chance the greyhound may be a problem with a smaller dog , the terrier isnt usually aggressive towards other dogs but should i be alert as she is obviously smaller

 

as for dogs kay i brought mine into our home with no problems.i have two other dogs

aswell as 2 cats and an indoor rabbit.i had the intention of kenneling the greyhound at

first but within an hour she had setteled in found a place where she liked to sleep, thats now on my chair.the cats have tended to stay clear of her as we have a lurcher thats

been intrested in them since he was young so they no to keep 2 their own space but

i would say that cats are the hardest thing but their again she has calmed down and did so very quickly the rabbit is in doors and showed a lot of intrest in that 2 at first and she lays next to the cage and everything now and learnt its part of the home life even tho she loves to chase when out on a walk.but thing is with them they tend to sleep a lot so not much to worry about uyou will get lots of free time you are not constantly watching them and id say she is more friendly with my staffy than my lurcher so all the best greyhounds atleast are well socailised with other dogs.

 

oh it did kill a ferret and did so before id relised she was out so if you have any make sure the dogs well ou of the way when cleaning etc

[Kay 3,709]

I guessed the ferrets here would attract the greyhound but as long as i have them secure & keep a close eye on the dog i am not really worried by that, it seems as though this particular greyhounds fallen through but i intent to contact monmore green retired greyhound re homing people they have loads of black dogs up for re homing , not sure why theres lots of black ones but i will see what they have & see if theres any suitable to be homed with cats

 

Thanks again for the advice much appreciated

[Guest smashygadge]

its fallen threw awh well if you dont have any luck finding out,let me no, i can contact a trainer

for you if you dont mind to travel to west yorks i can get you one free

[Kay 3,709]

its fallen threw awh well if you dont have any luck finding out,let me no, i can contact a trainer

for you if you dont mind to travel to west yorks i can get you one free

 

Thanks for the offer , it has to be local as i dont drive , but i am sure the local place will have a dog thats suitable

[Missie 1]

Black dogs, for some reason are the hardest to rehome. I'm not sure why but people seem to prefer other colours.

 

I have introduced two greys into my house in the past 4 years and had a few as short term fosters too. The dog gave me no problems at all apart from one or two house training issues but other than that he was easy.

 

The bitch is a very dominant one and at the time of introducing her I only had one other resident dog, a terrier bitch. I won't say that things were easy, they often scrapped (usually started by the terrier) and the greyhound being so much bigger and more powerful usually came off better.

 

Her prey drive is immense, although she tolerated my terrier while she was still alive I don't think she'd tolerate another bitch here or if I introduced a small dog. She will chase any smaller dogs she sees running if she is off lead but i'm lucky that I have my dad's farmland to safely let her off where she can't harm anything. The same with cats, I don't think she will ever not want to kill cats and she has accounted for a couple in my back garden which i'm not proud of.

 

I think with greys a lot of it is common sense, you will get to know your dog and what you can and can't do. Crating and muzzling around the cats at first is a definate if said dog shows an interest in them, but they aren't all as bad as my girl.

 

Most rescue's advise muzzling offlead when they first go off, some can then be unmuzzled some can't. Recall training can be made much easier (as I found) if your dog is a bit of a foodie. Both of mine have good recall and I did most of the training with treats. Maybe start off with some long line training or in an enclosed area, an indoor riding school well fenced padock etc.

 

Don't let what I say about my bitch put you off, she is in a class of her own compared to most other greys I have met and in some ways she was better off coming here, as the lady from the rescue said anywhere else might have given up on her long ago.

 

I help out with a rescue that rehome track dogs and have a very good relationship with the trainers etc, if I can be of any help let me know.

[Chaz 6]

its fallen threw awh well if you dont have any luck finding out,let me no, i can contact a trainer

for you if you dont mind to travel to west yorks i can get you one free

 

Thanks for the offer , it has to be local as i dont drive , but i am sure the local place will have a dog thats suitable

 

 

Kay if you defintely want one get in touch with me I work for a trainer that has dogs on Monmore Green and we usually have a few dogs looking for retirement homes , you would be able tp come and have a look at what we have and take any you like the look of for a walk what have you , may even be able to arrange for you to try one at home and see if the dog suits your lifestyle

 

If you are looking for a black dog I know Kev (rycot honcho) here is looking for a home

 

Hope this helps

 

Chaz

Edited April 2, 2008 by Chaz