new greyhound seems depressed

[julies]

Jun 20, 2015 6:08:42 GMT -5 angiedarling said:

Glad I found this post. I had to put down my old happy super affectionate dog 3 weeks ago and had to adopt quickly so my female dog was not alone. She pines terribly being an only dog. We adopted a lovely young greyhound. He was in kennels for about 6 months as a rescue and then 4 weeks in a foster home with a lovely couple. He is just so quiet, I remember my other rescue was also really unsure and looked sad at first. I may be overwhelming him by kissing his face and giving him hugs. His tail doesn't wag when either of these things happen. He is not overt in seeking attention or affection. My girl dog likes him and vice versa. I guess it will just take time. He may also miss his foster mum. He got taken out every morning for ball throwing on an oval off lead and unmuzzled but I do not feel confident at all taking dogs off lead. So maybe he misses that too? He is getting settled in its only the second day! dear lord I am trying to analyse the thoughts of a dog !

Don't forget that eye to eye contact can actually be very frightening to a dog - eyeballing another dog is usually one of the first steps of aggression (over simplyfying it ) so although you think you are being ultra friendly kissing your dog's face (and we all do it eventually) your new dog may not realise what you are doing and find it very scarey I know one rescue who had a dog that began to fly at people and bite - I visited her and one of the things I asked the volunteers not to do was stare at her and particularly bend down and stare at her ... I asked them to do a few other things too and she immediately began to be more calm - she visited the vet who found a problem in her jaw which needed chiropractic manipulation ... and she's not bitten anyone since so wait till you're better acquainted before kissing him

Good lcuk with him

Julie