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Post by suryemist on Oct 3, 2014 14:32:16 GMT -5
I'm desperately hoping someone on this forum may be able to help me.
I have an ex-racer who has been at home with me now for just over a year. When we first brought him home he would gladly go out for a walk but was always scared and jumpy if he heard a loud noise. This has gradually got worse to such an extent that he just about has to be dragged out to do his business.
He is very clean and has only once done anything in the house but he must regularly be fit to burst because he keeps everything in for so long.
He will usually go out first thing in the morning (between 6am and 8am) and last thing at night but between times it's a real test of patience to get him out. I'm really worried he will put some sort of strain on his bowels or bladder - he went out at 6 this morning and we've tried to get him to go out all day but he won't budge (and he's a big dog!). My last attempt was about 15mins ago and it's 8.30pm as I type. Amy hints, tips or suggestions would be gratefully received.
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Post by kamkay on Oct 4, 2014 2:00:05 GMT -5
Welcome to Gap-sorry no advice to offer, but I'm sure there are people on here who have shared your experience and will be along to share it. Just one thought-has something specific happened to him on a walk , could you possibly chose a different venue or route?
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Post by sharonhigh45 on Oct 4, 2014 3:30:12 GMT -5
Welcome to the Gap, not had any experience of this but am sure there will be some other Gappers who will be able to advise, hope the situation resolves iteself soon.
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Post by lurcherlot on Oct 4, 2014 3:41:53 GMT -5
Perhaps a friend with a dog that you could walk with at midday - it may encourage him, when he sees another dog walking out of the house in front of him?
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Post by deborahburt on Oct 4, 2014 3:56:42 GMT -5
Hi and welcome to Gap. No advice I'm afraid,but hopefully someone on here can help. Good luck with your boy.  What are your names? |
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Post by ragsysmum on Oct 4, 2014 4:17:26 GMT -5
Do you mean he won't go out for a walk or won't even go out of the house into your own garden either? Can he be tempted with a toy or treat? We have some very nervous kennel dogs straight off the track who are reluctant to go out but we just clip a lead on and set off in a lively, determined way and they just follow. Very quickly they can't wait for their turn for a walk. Can you get him into the car and take him somewhere different/quiet/away from home and see if he can get over whatever is bothering him?
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Post by gazer on Oct 4, 2014 4:24:08 GMT -5
Never had any experience of this but as Liz says is there anyone you could walk with, you need to make going out a good thing, not something he fears as it sounds like he does at the moment. Take some tasty treats with you and feed him as you get him out the door, praise him loads when he moves forward, even if he only goes a little way that's progress, try again the next time, don't force the issue. Also you could try putting him in the car and taking him somewhere quiet then getting him out and see if he's happier doing that. As for holding his bladder and bowels, my greyhound lad can hold on for hours, I've known him go for over 14 hours without a wee or poo. If I happen to let my dogs out very late at night for last wees, I've seen him not do a wee the next morning after he's been fed because it was only say 8 hours since he last went !! He will hang on until I walk him  Good luck with him and please keep us posted  |
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Post by ailsa on Oct 4, 2014 6:47:18 GMT -5
Your post could have been written by me several years ago! Our first greyhound, Archie, who sadly left us a year ago, was exactly as you describe. Happy to go out when we first got him, then increasingly fearful as the months went on, and in the end pretty much phobic of the outdoors.
We enlisted the help of a truly outstanding behaviorist. The first thing he did was deal with our stress, because we were truly at our wits' end. Here's what we did, and it worked. It took time and patience, but we got there, and I'm sure you will, too.
The first thing we did was limit his outings to three per day (our situation was complicated further by the fact that we don't have a garden). We worked out a route around our flat that would take no more than ten minutes, and we stuck to that route no matter what, for about 4-5 weeks. The point of this was to teach Archie that he wasn't going to be challenged by his trips outside, and that we wouldn't ask any more of him than going to the toilet. It was tricky for the first week or so, because he didn't understand the new routine at first, but after a while he began to realise he could trust the situation and began to come to the door more willingly.
I should add, that there was no point at all with us being firm with him, or clipping on his lead and giving it a yank to get him up. He was so scared that he would growl and bare his teeth if we attempted anything like that, and it wasn't something we wanted to escalate.
After a month, the behaviourist said we could start taking him on longer walks, but we didn't want to push things, so we continued with the very basic, unchallenging routine for anothe rweek or so. It was only after he woke us up for a couple of nights in a row at around 1am, thundering up and down the hall and playing with his toys, that we decided the time had come to push him a little further!
So we started taking him to our local woods, just a five-minute drive up the road. We would do a half circuit, once a day, which took around 20 minutes. He didn't like it at first, but again, after a week or so, he began to realise that it was actually quite enjoyable and that he always went home to the safety of his bed at the end of it! We did this for a few weeks, and then extended the walk to a full circuit of the woods, which took around 45 minutes.
Over the course of a year or so, we extended the walks more and more, until we ended up with a route that took in the woods, then out onto the adjoining golf course and hill fort, and back again. It took about an hour and a half. This would be the only walk he got and he would just have pee breaks for the rest of the day, then a 20-minute stroll around the block in the evening.
I can completely understand your worry and concern about doing the right thing by your greyhound. I honestly can't recommend enough taking things gently, slowly and repetitively for as long as you possibly can. Your greyhound will let you know when he is ready to be pushed a little further.
You will have periods where you feel everything has gone backwards and you're back to square one, but don't despair - it will get better. Keep things simple, involve lots of praise and treats, and I'm sure you will get there. I can truly say that for the last 3-4 years of his life, Archie was a happy, contented greyhound. He never got over his fears of certain things (one of which was the moon, but that's a whole different story!), but we learned how to manage his fears so that they never got out of hand.
I wish you the very best of luck.
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Post by suryemist on Oct 4, 2014 11:20:11 GMT -5
Thanks very much to everyone with all the quick replies. My name is Susan, my husband is Stephen and the hound in question is Tiger (a brindle that was nicknamed Tiger in his racing days)
Some great tips and I'll be trying lots of them out - and if all else fails we'll try a behavioural therapist that our vet has recommended to us. She seems to think he's developed a noise phobia and that, coupled with picking up on our anxiousness when trying to get him out, has probably made it worse.
She suggested a sounds CD so I've ordered 'sounds of towns' that has all sorts of different noises on and for good measure some plug-in 'calming' diffusers.
Will keep you posted - and in the meantime, please keep your fingers crossed!
Thanks again.
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Post by lurchernut on Oct 4, 2014 12:00:16 GMT -5
Just a quick reply. I found that the adaptil diffusers didn't seem to make much difference, but if you buy the adaptil spray and a soft fleece collar it can make a marked improvement with anxiety etc. I shopped around and found a great deal awhile ago on www.fetch.co.uk (pet dept of Ocado) and I have fleece house collars for mine that I bought from www.dog-games.co.ukI hope this will help good luck with Tiger and welcome to GAP |
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Post by suryemist on Oct 5, 2014 12:21:25 GMT -5
Just a quick reply. I found that the adaptil diffusers didn't seem to make much difference, but if you buy the adaptil spray and a soft fleece collar it can make a marked improvement with anxiety etc. I shopped around and found a great deal awhile ago on www.fetch.co.uk (pet dept of Ocado) and I have fleece house collars for mine that I bought from www.dog-games.co.ukI hope this will help good luck with Tiger and welcome to GAP Will definitely give the house collar a go and thanks very much for the advice. |
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Post by lurchernut on Oct 5, 2014 17:03:57 GMT -5
Just a quick reply. I found that the adaptil diffusers didn't seem to make much difference, but if you buy the adaptil spray and a soft fleece collar it can make a marked improvement with anxiety etc. I shopped around and found a great deal awhile ago on www.fetch.co.uk (pet dept of Ocado) and I have fleece house collars for mine that I bought from www.dog-games.co.ukI hope this will help good luck with Tiger and welcome to GAP Will definitely give the house collar a go and thanks very much for the advice. Just quickly again   I forgot to say that when you spray it on the collar make sure you wait 10 mins or more for the alcohol base smell to evaporate before putting the collar on your boy Good luck |
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ritab
Ironing Piling Up
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Post by ritab on Oct 6, 2014 4:47:25 GMT -5
I wish I'd known about Greyhound Gap Forum when I had my first hound. She would go in the garden but didn't want to go for a walk. I DID force her out of the front door, and once out she would walk but was very wary of everything. After a week or 2 I noticed that she was much more relaxed after dark and actually seemed to enjoy those short evening walks. Then after about 3 months she started sniffing on the daylight walks - she had got used to the routine by then. She still isn't eager to go for a walk but is fine on rural walks and in the park. Heavy lorries and the refuse collection days still bother her 3 years on, and I think always will (even when in the house).
Most of the time she is very relaxed now - but everything seems to take quite a while with greyhounds (well it has with mine) but when I look back it doesn't seem so bad now. Would I do things differently now? I'm not sure, because if she hadn't faced her fears she may still not want to leave the house. She had never raced and so had led a kennel life for 3 1/2 years so wasn't used to going anywhere. Now she has 2 walks a day, plays with our other hound in the garden, loves her beach holidays, and sleeps on the bed with us most nights.
One last thing - neither of them are excited about the prospect of going out - they just accept their collars and leads and dawdle along, but lots of sniffing and meeting other dogs. I think Gizzi wouldn't be bothered if she never went for a walk so long as she could play in the garden but when we're in Norfolk in a few weeks time and her feet hit the sand she'll be really excited and ready for a run and a play. They both know that sand means they can have a run off lead!
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Oct 6, 2014 6:29:49 GMT -5
Your girl sounds so much like our small GH boy who we fostered but then adopted coming up to a year because he was SO scared of everything and no one showed interest in him. He didn't race either so sat around for nearly four years in a kennel and when we got him home we couldn't make eye contact with him for about three weeks.
At first he even found going into our smallish garden a frightening experience. When we eventually decided to take him for a walk it was a short, around the block of about 10 minutes but he still can get frightened, after 18 months. He too prefers walks in the dark. A short car ride to a tree lined rural area he enjoys sniffing around now and relaxes but the travelling sends him into rapid panting.
At the moment we're on holiday in a quiet area of Norfolk with our 3 greys and he's lying upside down in the cottage so he's gradually growing in confidence. A long job.
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ritab
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Post by ritab on Oct 8, 2014 2:16:07 GMT -5
Yes - it does sound very like our story. Gizzi didn't want to be stroked or fussed in any way for the first year. Because we didn't want to push it we didn't realise she was ready until someone who didn't know much about her started stroking her ears and she just stood there without trying to move away! So now she likes a quick fuss - not for too long - but does come to us to say hello.
The going out after dark may be a useful thing to know for others with agoraphobic hounds. I suppose it's quieter, but they also spend longer sniffing in the garden after dark. So winter may be a good thing for Tiger, Susan, and Stephen. Let's hope Tiger likes the dark nights.
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