Post Your Pets

After what happened with our dog walker and little pup our flat felt extremely empty, so we decided to look into rehoming a rescue dog. We figured something good should come out of the ordeal.

Meet Farah, she couldn't be any more different to the last little dude.

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Lovely! Lurcher?

Well done! I think that anyone who has some 'dog space' and leaves it empty is missing out!
You obviously will be very happy with each other after your terrible last experience......farah looks a cutie!!

Just a small greyhound, retired racer like myself hahaha!

Awesome, good to see some more greyhounds getting good homes!

Our two are (old) ex racers.

Here they are in typical Greyhound fashion. Asleep.

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She is an awesome hound. Well done.

Retired greyhounds sometimes find it difficult to not chase (and kill) little dogs, in my experience.

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Ex racers will not normally know what to do when they catch something. When they were younger our hounds would chase squirrels etc but would just look at them when they caught them with a wtf, that never happens expression.
Greyhounds and lurchers that have been trained to course (ie hunt) are obviously a different matter.

I would certainly adivise keeping a greyhound on a lead until you are very sure of what they will do (and that they will come back....) We didn't let ours off until we had them over a year, and still only let them off in enclosed fields.

@Colm89 did you get her from a sighthound rescue? If not there may be a few things that are specific to greyhounds you should be aware of.

Believe me after what happened to our last little chap Farrah will never be:

1. Trusted to a dog walker
   
2. Walked off a lead
   
   

We got her from Battersea and they've given us a few bits of info around raised feeding platforms and not training them to sit etc. Also to not walk her without a muzzle. I'd be interested to hear any other info.

Cool, did they give you signs to watch for bloat?

Caleb our boy hound basically inhales food, so we had to put a massive stone in his bowl to force him to eat around it and slow him down a little. Also try to avoid feeding before excersize (or straight after) and feed two smaller meals rather than one a day.

We kept the muzzle on ours for walks for about 6 weeks, until we were comfortable that they were ok.

Top tip for leads - NEVER use an extender lead - if they take off after something they will be doing 40mph and then come to the end of the lead - either dislocating your shoulder or breaking their neck.

Lots of good hound specifc advice here:

http://www.foreverhoundstrust.org/advice-support/fact-sheets/

Good tips, thank you. Didn't mention any signs of bloat but will keep an eye out for it as she also inhales food.

Oh yes, fully aware re extending leads.

Cheers

I absolutely love greyhounds but my bf hates them - I have been using the photos in this thread to change his mind as if he doesn't know that they're greyhounds then he likes them. Ha. His mum's husband had 3 greyhounds and after they went on a killing spree killing a lamb and some cats then 2 of the dogs got sent to the great farm in the sky. I can't blame the dogs, how did they get hold of a lamb other than crap dog ownership...

Question for you all! We may be taking temporary ownership of a viszla/pointer cross, about 5 years old, sweet but has had zero training. Doesn't know basic commands like sit. Doesn't get walked enough. Gets frustrated and knocks stuff over in the house and gets shouted at.

Is the saying "you can't teach an old dog new tricks" true? I've walked him once and he nearly pulled my arm off but eventually I got him to walk a bit more calmly, so I feel like there's hope for him.

Farah is lovely!!

Absolutely not. Use praise and rewards (treats) to develop behaviour. Shouting at dogs just confuses and agitates them, especially if its after the event.

If he is pulling I would highly recommend a "gentle leader" harness - very effective.

We've been going to a trick training class (nothing major, just lay down, roll over etc). There's a big, fat 9-yr old lab who's putting the younger pups to shame, despite having no proper training before.

Wear an old jacket and have a pocket full of small treats*. Only reward good behaviour, even down to saying his name and he looks at you (to start with). Move onto more elaborate stuff as your confidence and his reactions allow. Go to some open ground with him on a lead leaving the lead as slack as possible. Each time he gets ahead of you or goes left or right turn and go in the opposite direction say "Fido heel" in a happy voice and when he turns to join you give him a treat. Pretty soon anytime you say his name or a command he will be looking at you and expecting a treat. After you've got his attention all the time you can stop giving him a treat every time. Eventually he will start responding to just your voice and if he gets a treat then that's a bonus for him. I took my oldest rescue dog to a trainer for months and spent hundreds and he's still a twat but the second rescue puppy is four now and he's perfect.
*We used Frolic Complete which are like small 2 pence piece sized doughnuts. I wouldn't use this as dog food but if you pinch between north and south the doughnut will split into four equal sized lumps. Each of these lumps is one treat as you have to take into account the dogs daily food/treat intake. Good luck.

Brilliant, thanks so much for all the advice everyone! We wouldn't have the dog until January, so a little way off, but I'm feeling really positive about it. He is a really lovely dog and it makes me sad that his owners got him without committing the time or energy to looking after him properly.

Higgs has forgotten how to floor, again.

"gentle leader" harness

So I've been trying to get Hazel to stop pulling. This harness thing is great! She's a different dog.
So thanks for that suggestions here on thread for it.

Spoke to the trainer about it and he was like, "don't use it, train her out with the regular collar instead. blah blah you wouldn't like it either if you had the thing pulling you down...", and suggested using techniques like Savage mentioned above. Rewarding good behaviour (slack line) with a "good" and treat low to the ground. So we're doing both, training with her food and sometimes with the gentle leader. I think we're getting there.

Small treats: These treats are v small and my dog loves them -
http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/merch-groups/lp-charlie-treat
but she'll bloody eat anything.

We went to and should continue to go to Finsbury park, isn't close to you Hats! but it's very good and cheap for what you get. It's:
http://alphadogtraininglondon.weebly.com/services.html
We'll get back into it when I don't have to deliver a major project 1 Oct. Perhaps I see you there!

The problem with rewarding with treats is that some dogs are not motivated by them at all - mine isn't. I've tried every treat there is, including sausages, to reward his recall and good walking on the lead - he simply isn't interested. So it has to be firm instructions and praise, and keeping him interested/occupied.

Don't feel bad about using the gentle leader, sometimes you have to do what works for you, not what the trainer says. As an alternative, you could try this http://www.petplanet.co.uk/product_group.asp?dept_id=484&pg_id=3620 (pic with it round the muzzle) - there's another brand, which is good, but I can't find a link right now

Yeah agree with you, we're trying not to be too treat-reward and do also reward with play (a toy) and encouragement.
Hazel is very food motivated though and so it's good, and bad. She'll go straight up to Pat - lady in the park knowing she's got food. And she'll feed Hazel :(

It's only just developed as a habit, so, I've been avoiding Pat in the mornings in the park, opting to go for a walk around the block - which is good for training. But I'm going to have to suck it up and say "Yo Pat, stop feeding my dog."

Anyone got some words for me?

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Pedey, at his favourite watering hole in Point Reyes.