Advice on letting Greyhound off his lead

[kamkay]

Sept 7, 2012 4:13:09 GMT -5 dizzi said:

Sept 6, 2012 14:41:55 GMT -5 kamkay said:

Mary ( Flaperoo) makes an excellent point about the reasons we want our hounds off lead. It is lovely to see them run - pure poetry in motion

I've never actually thought that about a greyhound in full flight to be honest - it always seems more of utter organised chaos that the legs flailing in a comedy manner somehow manage to all point in the same direction! That, and "oh heck there goes my lawn" are my usual two thoughts.

;D

[Melanie]

Great advice from Nettie
I built up to letting Axel off, I also think it depends on personality. Some Greyhounds (in my opinion) will never be trustworthy off lead. Although I let Axel off, I'm careful where I do it, I wouldn't set him up to failr by going to a rabbit hot spot!

[mickey]

When I made a wrong decision and let big robs off his lead, I didn't want to admire him, I stupidly wanted him to be free after having him onlead for 7 months and having 4 years as a racer with a regimented life. I thought he was ready, as his recall in the house and yard was excellent. Wind in his ears, he will not have again for a long time. And yes he seems happy enough with his onlead walks. At present he has no alternative and his space in the kennels and lovely off lead paddock has been filled by another deserving soul.X he is such a big softy at home.

[Willow]

We were going to post for similar advice for our 2 year old lurcher, Rosie, but the advice given here is really useful so there's no use asking people to repeat themselves. Rose is very prey orientated and although she has learned to mostly ignore kids on bikes etc we can't (and don't) entirely trust her. She has learneed pretty good recall, with bribes, but, again, if she is fixated on something there's really nothing that will stop her. She's ok around other dogs but it's as much about the response of other owners to her exuberance that we have to take into account and the little yappy trouble-causers are a serious occasion of sin! The main problem we've got now is that she loves playing when she's out and it's hard to play when you're on a lead especially when your favourite game is running around in big daft circles.

[Sian]

Of the four greyhounds I have adopted (not just fostered) all of them have been capable of going off lead and have had good (ish lol) recall.

Tallulah was my first greyhound so went off lead naively within two weeks of having her. I didn't know any different so treated he like a 'normal' dog. Luckily she is a pretty bombproof sort of greyhound but initially she would run away from dogs that approached her so that was our only recall issue. This problem disappeared when adopting a second greyhound!

Alfie was harder work and needed more socialisation but with treats and a longer lead we soon had him off and running.

Muppet was the greyhound with the best recall of any of them and was so motivated by human interaction. However, due to his very strong and what was actually a dangerous prey drive and aggression he ended up on lead and muzzled. A real shame as he would have loved to be off lead playing with dogs he chose to like. Unfortunately you were never sure which ones these were.

Kevin who we have had nearly a year now has had the most input and work with recall but he is completely trustworthy with all breeds big and small. It isn't his prey drive that is the problem but his littlest hobo attitude. He will follow routes and paths out of fields as if they are an invitation. Open spaces however he is fine with. Recall is worked on EVERY walk and we always carry a bag of treats with us. It took Kevin seven weeks to respond to his name so it has been a long process but we are getting there. We invested in a long line but even on a harness it was dangerous. He would do excited spins and then take off, getting the line underneath him and really hurting him when he reached the end. I have to say for such fast dogs that long lines have to be used VERY carefully. We have opted to use a giant flexi with a tape lead for practising and reinforcing recall.

We have found the trick with Kevin is to get his attention and keep his attention. The moment that attention starts to wane he is back on lead. He is particularly bad when he is tired and will just wander. To keep his attention we play games with him, again with lots of treats! He loves the throw a treat game where we have a large treat, throw it for him and he pounces on it. He then runs back, gets another treat and waits for the next to be thrown. It is like fetch but greyhound style. We use P@H soft complete kibble as it is cheap and big enough to get carried in the wind down the beach resulting in super pouncing. We do try and mix up our treats though with really high value ones for extra good recall. Other games we play are running between us, one holding the lead and then runs with a head start, dropping some treats and running away while he munches them resulting in a speedy greyhound chase!

With Kevin it is working and he goes off lead on most safe walks. However this sort of game would never have worked with Tallulah so a different approach is needed dependant on the dog. For Muppet he was motivated by toys and a game of fetch but sadly this mean the muzzle coming off which was not going to happen.

Good luck though and persevere. You never know, he may get it one day.

[julies]

For anyone who lies to see their greyhound running free check out local riding schools and clubs - we have one on the south side of Brimingham and occassionally we all hire it and the dogs have 10-15 mins in the arena on their own running free .. after 15mins they're usually kn*acked but I always advise people only to run dogs that have good , regular lengthy walks so are quite fit- greys love to run so will do themselves damage in their excitement even if they're not fit ..

Be inventive too - in local parks there are tennins courts (not ideal but should be fully enclosed tho check every time you use them), some of our parks here have disused bowling greens etc that greyhound people have used for free running as they're well fenced and I used to get up very very early and sneak into children's play areas to run my greyhound when I was starting to let her off .... Some of our bigger parks have small well fenced paddocks that you can use and I have my eye on one of the local National Trust houses ... it has some over flow carparks which look to be very well fenced (sheep on the other side ) and then hedging has been grown ionside the wire fencing .. the house is shut from October to about May so I'll be fertling around to see if I can use the car parks

J xx