Rescued for 2 months, seems a bit blue

[nibbler]

Hi there,

I've just joined to forum to read all your interesting questions and advice, and get some help with a few things. We have had our 2 year old rescue hound for about 2 months. She's incredible, she's settled in really well. We believe she had come straight from the racing kennels via the rescue, and had all the usual settling in niggles like night time separation anxiety, but day time wasn't too bad. She was a little fearful on the lead as we think she'd never really seen traffic before, but we all tried really hard and she got over it within a week. She's learned some basic commands and now no longer pesters us when we eat. So, amazing progress in a short space of time. In the last few weeks she'd had antibiotics to prevent (rather than treat) infection on her spay scar site where her stitches weren't dissolving fast enough and immediately after the poor girl had round worms and has just gone back on to her complete dry food after a 10 day stint on chicken and rice while it was being treated and recovered. Understandably she'd been a bit low; not really interested in playing or running, and due to her sensitive tum we couldn't give her any treats and we also couldn't fuss her as much as we wanted as we didn't want to trigger her separation anxiety issues when she'd been coming on so well. So, what's the problem? Well... not a lot really, but she's my fur baby and she seems a bit down in the dumps. She looks... sad. She's not as cuddly as she was before she got poorly and when we go for walks she is so so good, but I'm not really used her behaving *perfectly*. Tonight we played with treats and balls in a muffin tin, then the Nina Ottoson tornado, then a tossed some toys around and had a groom with a glovey thing. She's very very chilled. I just can't work out if this is a relaxed peaceful greyhound or a sad one. Before she got ill she was rather silly, she used to zoom around and stick her snout in our ears and snaffle the TV remote. Can anyone offer any input? Is she bummed out or have we just created an unbelievably well behaved greyhound?

Thanks in advance!

[curlyk]

Hi there. Your girl sounds very much like mine. I have had my large fawn male called Zeus for 9 weeks. He too has settled so well and is so so good. No trouble with house training,fine to be left when I work and good on walks. But,yes I do know what you mean that are they so good that are they actually hiding their emotions in that way. Zeus does still get very excited when I return home from work- even after spending a good hour at lunch with my dog walker and he has bonded well with me. But he can sometimes be very aloof and just sleep and not want to play etc. I still think it is early days and your girl sounds like she has had a few other things to cope with,so try not to worry. I am sure she will perk up soon in her own time.

[kamkay]

Greyhounds can seem to be very aloof: I often call them the canine cat because they will accept affection on their terms. My previous hound , Jet, was very standoffish at times, but could also be silly, giddy and very loving. He was definitely my hound, though and I know he was closely bonded to me. Both of your dogs have only been with you for a comparatively short time and it often takes a while for their true character to shine through.- hopefully with time they will both become less "down". And be careful what you wish for-my current hound Big G weighs 35 kilos and thinks he is a lap dog!

[gvgeam]

I think it takes at least 6 months before you can call a rescue dog truly settled and even then, they can still 'throw' some new behaviour that you've not seen and takes you by surprise.

[greybeard]

Agree with Kay and Vanessa - early days yet,they're still sussing things out and learning that there's a whole new world out there.And yes,we're going through the same thing as Shadow,our latest grey has only been here since the beginning of July.Not sure if the other 2 are helping as he watches them and copies what they do - which is not always a good thing!
Personality wise,as Kay says they can be very aloof(though I would say that our Saluki x Kizzie won that award paws down!).Our 1st grey Tillie was very affectionate - but I think not being an ex-racer had a bearing on that.Perry loves being fussed,always has but has to be the 1 to initiate it.After 2 years Jem has recently started to ask for more fuss - before she would briefly tolereate it,then take herself off.And Shadow is a total cuddle monster - it was very hard to follow Lisa's advice(which we always have done) about being hands off during the initial settling in period.He's not as heavy as Guinness but has aspirations of being a lap dog too.
Final comment - Greys pull the most miserable faces when they object to something eg being ill,walking in the rain,not being fed(even if they had their last meal less than an hour ago),the list is endless.But you can't help but love them!Cath