Greyhound Food possession - Should i be worried ?

[shutt015]

Hi All
I am new to this forum so sorry if I have posted in the wrong area here.

We have recently rescued a grey who has a fantastic personality in general and is really placid around the children no matter what the four year old can offer him, all playful though.

My issue arose today though when we had a BBQ with neighbours and I treated him to a sausage and he wondered of on to the settee. it appeared he hid the treat under him but then growled at anybody who came near him and made a swift bark..!
This is not something he does at tea time or with dog treats. Ot may of been that there was four children playing with in close proximity however non looked at him nor approached him.

I have only had the dog for a month or so, Is this a warning sign or should we just leave him alone

Thanks in anticipation

Best regards
Chris

[tinar]

Welcome to Greyhound Gap

Congratulations on rescuing your first Grey, and offering him a forever sofa. They really make wonderful pets.

I can only speak from experience, and would say that if it had been my girl Sonia - the sausage would not have touched the sides

Daley, my boy is a bit 'special' and used to 'hide' everything of value [to him] when he first came here. He growled occasionally, but we ignored him, retrieved the object and encouraged him to eat it. He is also quite wary of strangers and does not like to eat when there are lots of people around. This may be similar to how your dog behaved today. What's his name?

My greys do not respond to harsh commands and are very easily scared, so we have had to learn gentle ways to teach them right and wrong. They are usually gentle souls, and if ex racers will need some guidance on acceptable behaviour.


We have a very helpful community here and I'm sure someone will soon be along who can give advice better than me.

[shutt015]

Thanks for the reply

Noble was fine as soon as we took the sausage away, Just seems he was guarding it for what ever reason, Never seen him not eat food. I guess he may be a little nervous as there were a few more people around..

Thanks again.

Chris

[Cath]

Not long after we got Bob I gave him a bone.... which he guarded.... growled ....bared his teeth at me to protect. It was a very early lesson that he'd not had much in his life before and would take care of anything that was high value. 

We decided that was a behaviour we weren't happy with and once we had a good relationship with him I'd sit very close to him while he ate.... eventually I could touch him and he'd not notice. Kind of a very gentle de-sensitising process to get him used to being touched when he didn't expect it- we had to do the same with him while he was sleeping- he didn't mind as he adores me and loves cuddles. Now I can touch any of our hounds while they are eating or sleeping without problem. 

Now we have 4 dogs and are able to give out bones and then take them away after 20 minutes- this may not be possible with all dogs but it worked for us


Just to add- we don't have children and would never do this in sight of children or allow children to disturb a grey when eating or sleeping.

[julies]

My Lucy greyhound turns into a crocodile when she has a bone but I make sure that I can take it off her (that wasn't for the sensible or faint hearted the first time ) . It's a difficult one cos you need to be confident so you can and do get the high value goodie but obviously don't get bitten in the process ... I suggest to my class that they 'trade' .. if your dog has something you want then you have something even tastier (like cooked liver) and drop it on the floor round your dog .. few pieces at a time, ask your dog to leave it and hopefully he'll go and check out the liver .. he may take the bone or whatever with him but has to drop it to eat the liver ... don't try to pick it up if he's close but drop more liver a distance away so hopefully you can either grab the bone or kick it out of sight ....

if you know he guards food etc then I wouldn't give him any when there are other people or animals about - you don't want him lunging out at them and God forbid biting cos he thinks they may be after his goodies ... it's really not worth the risk if there are children about

Welcome to the wonderful world of greyhounds

Julie

[Nettie]

As well as the advice above if you do want to give him something tasty like a sausage, don't give him a whole sausage, break it into bite size pieces and hand feed them, that way he won't have something substantial to hide away and guard, also if he realises there is more where the first mouthful came from he is more likely to eat the first piece because he'd really like more please. He'll also get used to being hand fed which will help build a bond with him as well, in the first couple of weeks you could also hand feed him his meals, again this will help create a good bond, make him realise good things come from you and also that food is forthcoming so there isn't a need to guard. Make sure you feed him from a flat hand to start with just in case he is eager to get his food and you don't get nibbled fingers. I've got two who take food really nicely and gently and one who despite having been here for nearly 13 years is a real foodie and although she doesn't mean to she can get shall we say 'over eager'. Good luck.

[deborahburt]

Hi Chris,

Wot they all said

Welcome.

[becgeo]

I've always been told you shouldn't take food from a dog once you have given it to them because it will encourage them to guard as they learn that you will take their food?

[julies]

I can understand that advice Becgeo but I worry that a child could go to pick up a biscuit or whatever and the dog think/expect its theirs and nip the kiddie ... or anyone so I always make sure I can take food/bones away from my dogs tho I don't continually do it... just as an training exercise with lots of better rewards ... plus I may need to take manky kebabs etc from the dogs if they steal when we're out .... I've never found my dogs to be more food aggressive .. thinking about Lucy who was really norty when she had bones- if I now go up to her she'll concentrate very hard on the bone but won't react when I pick it up, she gets praised and I give her the bone back I am really careful not to allow she and Charlie near each other when there are bones about and I always stay and supervise them

J xx