Scared of other dogs

[holdan]

Hi,
We have only had our Poppy a week but she is very nervous in general but is petrified of other dogs. She was fine with the other greyhounds at the homing centre but when we take her out and she sees other dogs , even if they are nowhere near her, she bucks and tries to slip her collar to get away. It is scary for all of us and it is difficult to hold on to her, we are scared she will get away or hurt herself. Has anyone else had this problem and how can we cure it?
Thanks

[Nettie]

First thing as far as security goes, you might get a harness for Poppy and use a double ended lead, one end attached to the harness and one attached to her collar. I think Lisa suggested a DAP diffuser in your other thread, DAP now do a collar which might be better for Poppy as its means it would be with her all the time, inside or outside.

If its possible, can you teach her the 'look at me' command so you can distract her when she sees another dog, preferably before she starts to react. Lots of treats and praise as soon as you get her attention, when she looks at you, even if its briefly, timing is important.

An idea is to take her to dog training, visit the class on your own without Poppy for the first time to make sure you are happy with the way the class is run. Talk to the trainer, explain Poppy's problems, initially I would expect that the trainer would suggest you bring Poppy to class and just sit quietly with her watching, gradually getting closer to the class until she is confident enough to start taking part, over a period of time. This is an ideal way to start socialising her with other breeds of dogs.

[helen7]

if she's trying to slip her lead and is so anxious, have you thought about a ruff wear harness for her? She wouldn't be able to get out of it and it would give you peace of mind if she starts rearing etc. A link is hear if you're interested

www.scruffmacduff.co.uk/acatalog/Dog_Harnesses.html

although various people sell it

helen

eta: I bought one for 1 of my greyhounds after she started jumping and twisting at some running dogs in the park. It was too scary trying to control her with just the lead attached to her collar and these harnesses are really fab I'm now going top get one for my lurcher and other grey ;D

[Flaperoo]

I would go along with all of the above. In addition Lisa suggested for me with Roo keeping him on a very short lead and getting him to walk behind me. If you try this with Poppy give lots of praise when she does and lots of praise and treats when she sees another dog and does not react. Could you find a neighbour with a really laid back dog to go walking with you to show Poppy there is nothing to worry about?

As Nettie suggested the "look at me" command is very good. Practice it lots at home without the distractions and again give plenty timely praise and treats.

My Roo is getting better for having followed this advice ;D, but it takes consistency and time, and we still have some way to go, and I say WE because for the most part this is about me changing my behaviour because my anxieties were being transmitted down the lead to him , thus adding to his worries .

Good luck

Maryx

[hdavies]

my mums one dog has always been scared of other dogs and tries to hide.we have a harness for her and just try to distract her with a stick or ball when she starts her quivering. We do have to be careful if an inquistive dog come near her or she'l nip.i blame my mum cus she was scared of other dogs beofre she got hers, i thinks shes transmitted her fears to domino.

[Sian]

Tallulah was exactly the same when I first had her and as a result we went back to the Dogs Trust for help as she was really petrified of any other dogs she didn't know.
Like Poppy the mere sight of another dog was enough to get her backing out of a collar. It also got to the point where she would get driven to the local park and she would refuse to walk. When we had combatted it on lead and built up her confidence, we made the mistake of thinking she was fine off lead, but wthout the security of the lead, she just ran off back to the car!!
The behaviourists advice was pants so I won't go into that to be honest.

However, as others have said, get a harness on her, one like the ruffwear one so at least you can keep her safe. The ones from P@H are too easy to get out of for a determined grey.
Time and socialisation are the key, Tallulah was so scared that toys or treats were of no interest outside of the house (still are sometimes) and so any sort of training was difficult.

We enrolled in training classes, which built her confidence and strengthened the bond between me and her. It was also a controlled environemnt where she learnt to be around other dogs without the pressure of them wanting to introduce themselves all the time. We also buddied up on walks with a friend and their Yorkie and Setter. Initially she kept her distance from them but gradually she learnt to interact with them. We soon learnt that she was much more confident with her 'friends' around her and much better at coping with other dogs coming up to her.

The greatest change in Tallulah's behaviour came from the addition of a second grey six months after having her. She was much more confident.

Five years on, she is sooo much better but still keeps her distance from other dogs if she isn't sure particularly when she is on her own. Its either that or she bullies them!!

Good luck with Poppy, I am sure with time her confidence will grow. ;D

[cadbury]

Unfortunely this is quite commom with greys that have had a racing/kennel background as they view other breeds as alien speices and are therfore scared of the unknown. Follow the above advice and slowly but surley things will come right and Poppy will get over her fears, everything is new to her at the moment and it's a big wide world out there and in your house so there's alot to ajust to. I've seen this with some of my foster dogs and with calm consitency things sort themselves out, but i also know that it can be rather duanting behavior with a new dog, so i'm glad you've asked for help most of us have been there at some poit and can remeber how we felt at the time, so we totally understand.
If you feel you want some hands on help jim green wood is great
here's a link to his detials.
greyhoundgap.proboards35.com/v45index.cgi?board=chat&action=display&thread=13025
Or maybe there's a fellow gapper in your area who'd be willing to hook up with you and Poppy who has a suitable dog to walk out with.
nicky

[holdan]

Many thanks for everyones advice, it so nice that we can get advice from people with experience of greyhounds as we are such novices at the moment. We left the walks for a couple of days to let Poppy settle in a bit more and then we brought Poppy a harness and she seems much happier wearing it . We are also more relaxed as we are not so worried about her getting out of her collar now that she has a harness.We have taken her for a few quiet uneventful walks to build on her confidence which appears to be working. Fingers crossed. We have also enrolled her in the Billericay Dog School Greyhound classes which we start in a couple of weeks, hopefully this will help her a bit more. Poppy is such a lovely girl and we want her to be as happy to be part of our family as we are that she is part of our lives. Hopefully she will become less nervous as time goes on. Thanks again for all your support and help. Nearly forgot to say we have also arranged to go for a walk with another greyhound so hopefully this will help too.

[cadbury]

Oh that is sooo Jammy having a greyhound class near you, there few and far between. I'm sure Poppy will go from stregnth to stregnth with all the right help, just give her time and she'll firmly plant her paws under the table.