Post by julies on May 1, 2012 2:45:37 GMT -5
Can I add as well to the great greyhound specific advice that greyhounds have usually never had a solid door shut on them- if you visit greyhound rescue kennels they usually have greyhound kennel doors and/or windows which have bars or mesh in them- in my experience if you shut a solid door on a grey it can really freak them and they will trash the door- they have never been kennelled alone so are used to and depend on company.
My friend reduced her greys sleep aggression to zilch by changing her dogs feed to one not based on chicken and rice so you could always try too feeding pork and potato (Burns do a good one) and see if that helps. How much are you feeding him? Again in my experience when greys go into a home from racing they are stressed so burn off even more calories (oh I wish I had the same problem
) .. we recommend that new owners feed more than the recommended amounts till the dog relaxes and settles (which can take months) plus you could add a bit of pasta to make him more full and most of us add pilchards etc etc to help coats etc. You should be able to see his last 3 ribs as well as him having a slab of muscle along his back either side of his spine, the spine rises about 1/2 way down his back for a few nobbles ... if you can see more ribs or spine or his pinbones (on his quarters) are too prominent he could do with more food- you can look at the food amounts you are feeding and add another third as an extra feed tho watch his toilet training doesn't suffer ... also check you're only feeding less than 20% protein -not everyone agrees but I've seen big improvements when you reduce the protein.
As for dominance - this is an old training method that has produced some very scared dogs ...I'd recommend Barry Eaton's book Dominance in Dogs Fact or Fiction as a very good read plus see the articles which L. David Mech and the other originators of the Dominance/Wolf/Dog theory now write- they say that they got the concept wrong as they were watching captive wolves (albeit wild ones) with limited resources which dictates behaviour, what they now admit they see is a family unit which is not ruled by one dominant couple - if there are sufficient food to feed everyone - as in Yellowstone Park, then the youngsters don't even leave the pack but other wolves will join the family group and breed their own family within.
Training classes can be great as long as the trainer understands where the behaviour comes from and allows the grey to quietly build its confidence without insisting that the grey interacts/mingles with the other breeds too soon ...I have had a couple of very aggressive - and very frightened greyhounds come to my class from real dog classses where the trainers have made the greyhound walk with the other breeds too quickly - your grey needs to be lying quietly in a corner, on its bed, away from the others until it'll take treats from you during the class and not react to the others ... it can take months but please be patient.
Good luck with him and keep asking
Julei xx
My friend reduced her greys sleep aggression to zilch by changing her dogs feed to one not based on chicken and rice so you could always try too feeding pork and potato (Burns do a good one) and see if that helps. How much are you feeding him? Again in my experience when greys go into a home from racing they are stressed so burn off even more calories (oh I wish I had the same problem
) .. we recommend that new owners feed more than the recommended amounts till the dog relaxes and settles (which can take months) plus you could add a bit of pasta to make him more full and most of us add pilchards etc etc to help coats etc. You should be able to see his last 3 ribs as well as him having a slab of muscle along his back either side of his spine, the spine rises about 1/2 way down his back for a few nobbles ... if you can see more ribs or spine or his pinbones (on his quarters) are too prominent he could do with more food- you can look at the food amounts you are feeding and add another third as an extra feed tho watch his toilet training doesn't suffer ... also check you're only feeding less than 20% protein -not everyone agrees but I've seen big improvements when you reduce the protein. As for dominance - this is an old training method that has produced some very scared dogs ...I'd recommend Barry Eaton's book Dominance in Dogs Fact or Fiction as a very good read plus see the articles which L. David Mech and the other originators of the Dominance/Wolf/Dog theory now write- they say that they got the concept wrong as they were watching captive wolves (albeit wild ones) with limited resources which dictates behaviour, what they now admit they see is a family unit which is not ruled by one dominant couple - if there are sufficient food to feed everyone - as in Yellowstone Park, then the youngsters don't even leave the pack but other wolves will join the family group and breed their own family within.
Training classes can be great as long as the trainer understands where the behaviour comes from and allows the grey to quietly build its confidence without insisting that the grey interacts/mingles with the other breeds too soon ...I have had a couple of very aggressive - and very frightened greyhounds come to my class from real dog classses where the trainers have made the greyhound walk with the other breeds too quickly - your grey needs to be lying quietly in a corner, on its bed, away from the others until it'll take treats from you during the class and not react to the others ... it can take months but please be patient.
Good luck with him and keep asking
Julei xx
and she now trusts us absolutely and is just amazing 
If I raised my voice to my son he'd go in a corner and stare at the wall (River -not my son) 
but since then things seem to be getting better.. 
