Dog walkers - advice please!

[futuramafan]

Hi

I posted a thread about my greyhound getting more and more difficult a few weeks ago now and I got some good advice. The problem hasn't gone away and She will be starting seeing a behaviourist supplied by the RGT soon but in the mean time I think I am in danger of losing my dog walker as she is finding Molly really difficult. It is so odd because when we take her out she does react to other dogs but otherwise she is fine. However increasingly she growls at the walker who comes in when I am at work and then behaves very badly the whole time she is out with her. I am feeling anxious about it as I have looked at other walkers and none will take dogs that don't get on with other dogs or who can be a bit difficult.

Can anyone suggest a bomb proof walker or walking company in the Nottingham area???

[Letty's Mum]

Hi

Where abouts in the Notts area are you?

Helen x

[julies]

Hi

I was just looking at your last thread .. Emma had asked for more info but as that hasn't appeared I'm going to use my psychic head and offer this ....

In my experience ..... ex-racers are usually frightened by other breeds, when your dog is on lead (not recommending you let her off) she is vulnerable and feels threatened so if you have let other dogs approach her and not realised that she is frightened she has had to escalate her signals to scare away the other dogs - greys signals can be small at first and they often/usually shut down to cope which many people read as - 'they are ok' .. trust me -they aren't they are just hoping 'it' will go away.

I would guess - and it's obviously better to have seen your dog but ... she links your dog walker with very sacrey experiences if the walker has a number of other breeds and lets them off so you have the trigger of running dogs, yours is on lead and scared, other dogs coming back to the walker so approaching your dog etc etc etc so is growling to keep your dog walker away .. and let her stay in peace. This is just a guess but this is from experience ....

I have had greys come to my grey/lurcher training class who have been taken to real dog classes and taken into class or made to stay too close to other breeds- some have ended up totally traumatised and have taken months to calm down in company often because the trainer hasn't appreciated greyhounds and their language so has assumed a 'shut down' hound is an ok hound .....

When I have my hounds walked I have someone who walks only my dogs, just for half an hour if I know I'm going to be late home and that's enough for them - if you can find a walker who will take her on her own, just round the block even so not amongst other breeds then she should begin to settle down (and muzzle your dog for everyone's safety even leave her in her muzzle for the dog walker to collect her as grey muzzles allow them to drink) .. make sure your behaviourist is experienced with hounds as even RGT ones I've seen have not had anything/much experience of greys which seems very daft to me but heyho ....

Take her on the RGT walks and get to know other grey owners so she can begin to socialise with her own and see if people know of a nice quiet dog that you can walk with- on lead, first parralell then get closer (person to person) then when she is very confident and relaxed with person to person walking closely go back further apart and start walking so one dog is next to you and she's on the other side of you but keep to the distance apart that she can cope with .. when she's very realxed and ahppy go back to further apart and walk with the dogs next to each other ...it's important that you only move slightly closer when she's walking on a loose lead and not interested in 'getting to' the other dog .. lots of high value treats to encourage and reward her and don't rush - she has to build her confidence .. also check out TTouch which can give you great tools to help both of you - there will be local practitioners on the Tilley Farm website and details of Workshops you can take her to ...

Good Luck

Julie

[wings]

We've had similar problems with dog walkers. We now have a dog walker who takes our 2 dogs for a short 15 minute walk straight from our house, for the price of a 'home visit'. This works well.

Our first problem with our previous dog walker happened when we only had Lela. Lela was scared of being in the van with the other dogs (perhaps due to racing memories?), and was more and more reluctant to go with the dog walker. She started refusing to get off her bed for the dog walker, and got to a point where she was snarling and snapping. We then hired someone to walk her on her own, from the house.

A few years later, and we now have Lela and Sammy. Lela now loves her walks with other dogs, but it turned out Sammy can't deal with group walks. He got very anxious and prey driven by the other dogs running loose around him. He would not settle down at all, and only get more wound up. So we stopped the group walks again, and now the dog walker takes them for a 15 minutes walk on their own.

My dogs do have a few dog friends (calm, big dogs), and they love going for walks with them. But this is very different to a group walk situation where you may have 5 smaller dogs running around creating chaos.

[ritab]

There is a Nottingham RGT walk this Sunday at Elvaston Castle near Derby. Starts 10:30 from the car park. The dogs have to be kept on leads and almost all are greyhounds. See the Nottm RGT website for more details. Most dogs rub along fine with other greyhounds. Plus there are lots of people to give advice about various things - suggest getting there about 10:00 to chat to other owners.

[futuramafan]

Thanks everyone- all excellent advice. I tried to go on a greyhound walk a few weeks ago but I was the only one there - probably got the wrong meeting place or time. I can't go on Sunday as I am seeing the behaviourist but I will be trying to go to others in the future.

The dog walker has always walked Molly alone and at first she was really fine but over time has got more difficult. I almost feel that the longer she is with us the less she wants to have anything to do with anyone else! I think Julie that you are right and that somehow she has started to associate the dog walker with something negative- it is a shame as the walker is lovely and has been very supportive. Today though we decided with her that it wasn't a good idea to continue and now I am trying to think about alternatives.

To answer the question of where I am - I am in Wollaton.

Thanks everyone

Jane

[dizzi]

You're quite close to me - I'm over in Stapleford. Don't know any dog walkers that are good (I know several that can clear Bramcote Park as they roll up and open car/van doors though...) - I've got a similarly arsey bugger of a hound when the mood takes her (she's getting better) and another thing of questionable parentage who is normally quite calm but seems to have decided he's the cassanova of the world and wants to randomly hump things lately.

I'd offer their services to walk alongside yours but at the moment I can't walk very well myself (and neither of my two are particularly sane)!

[futuramafan]

Thanks for that - if you ever want to meet up for a trial walk then let me know! I now have a new dog walker who has a company called Hike On. She is lovely and seems very understanding of Molly's unpredictable behaviour! I have also now seen the behaviourist and have started the 'learn to earn' programme. This starts with getting her to react to simple commands like 'leave' and then works up to being able to react to that outside the home.

[Flaperoo]

Because greyhounds are particularly perceptive (in my opinion) and because most of them actually feel quite vulnerable (even if they don't show it) for a couple of years after being rehomed, my experience with dog walkers has had everything to do with confidence and not "niceness".

I've had dog walkers who were perfectly lovely but in reality terrified of walking two muzzled greyhounds to my current dog walker who breezed in and when I said apologetically "it's four greyhounds" and her replying "greyhounds are a piece of cake anyone could walk 10 of them ", and from day one that is exactly what she did , although in reality she appeared to march them round ;D ;D

I do hope this walker works out well for you and good luck.

Maryx