advice for our distant girl

[goldie]

hello! not sure what to do or how to do this! What is a Thread/ Shoutbox? etc..?!! - and can't seem to put a pic of our girl into this space..!
Years ago we had a very sweet whippet terrier X - Lily - who lived a very happy life with us for 14 years. We now have a beautiful girl, (now all the children have left home!) - greyhound, a fawn ex racer - Goldie. Rescued her in May this year. Calm, quiet, sweet, relaxed, a typical 100-mile-an-hour Couch Potato! We work at home so are with her mostly all day every day. She is still getting into a routine, and has no worries about being left for a while or any anxiety at all about any people or other dogs. Is fine in the car.
Our concerns are just teaching her re-call (can't let her off the lead at all- desperate to let her have a good run) and her slight emotional "detatchment"...! - can be jolly, waggy and friendly, both with us and many friends, family and visitors - yet other times totally detatched, uninterested, cool and distant, for no apparent reason - even with favourite treats (little tiny bits of cheese) - she will just turn round and walk away. This is proving a problem when training her for re-call. And the bowels can still be a little unpredictable at times too.
All suggestions and help, ideas, explanations would be very much appreciated.
thank you
maddy and nigel (and Goldie!)

[Ted]

I have three Greyhounds, two Merlin and Kelly I can trust off the lead in what I call traffic free safe areas and will come back to me when called. However Mickey-Finn I have to keep on the lead at all times outside my secure garden as he will wander far and wide and is not interested in being called back. Some Greyhounds have to be on the lead at all times when outside a very secure environment.

[kamkay]

Greyhounds can seem very aloof , maybe because of their racing lives where they will have had minimal contact with people. Jet, my former hound , could appear very distant at times , but was very obviously my dog and showed his affection on his terms. Guinness is a totally different kettle of fish: a 35 kilo wannabe lapdog! As for recall , it is the perennial problem for owners of ex racers. Neither of mine have been allowed off lead and , to be honest, when given the opportunity to have a run in fully fenced areas neither of them wanted to run at all ( the nearest Big G gets is wall of death in the living room!) . As long as they are happy and enjoying their walks I am not too bothered that they stay on lead and for me the added benefit is that I do at least 5 miles a day walking beside them:-)

[jodav]

Hi Goldie (Maddy & Nigel) a thread is a topic of discussion which you've recently started, the shoutbox is a quick way to get an answer to something.
Congratulations on homing your new hound last May which is a very short amount of time for a hound to come out of its shell. The bonds and little characteristics for your hound will form over time.
It's best to be cautious about letting hounds off lead until you have got to know them well and you have a secure field or similar away from wildlife, rabbits, deer etc. Some parks have secure exercise areas for dogs to run. Tasty treats like sausage pieces are a good way to reward them for returning. It's a good idea to muzzle them when off-lead as excitement sometimes leads to nips.
One of ours is off-lead every day, the other only in safe circumstances. Often when there are many hounds together, they do enjoy running together, which is nice to see.
As has been said, not all hounds go off-lead - it's a personal choice.

[kati]

Hi, we also got a greyhound in May. To check we were on the right track we got a behaviourist to come and see him (we didn't have any greyhound experience), and I highly recommend this if you've one nearby as it made me feel a lot more confident about training him. We've been working on eye contact, impulse control and recall. Dom is a bit detached sometimes, very different to dogs I've got previous experience of (spaniels, Labradors and collies) but he's still getting to know us - like Goldie there are times when he isn't interested in treats especially if there are other distractions. If there's a cat about or he's got the scent of a squirrel you can hold a sausage or liver in front of him and it's like you're not there, he's completely uninterested and won't touch it.
So eye contact, impulse control and learning to be calm are what we're concentrating on. Our garden isn't enclosed and I was also wanting to let him run a bit more - there's a secure fenced area we can use but we have to walk a bit to get there and he doesn't bother to run when we go there! We've been trying him on a 10m line on a harness in the local park, and playing games like chase (one holds the line and the other encourages him to chase, run and play) and a recall game where he has to run or trot (or often just amble slowly) from one of us to the other, still on the long line. I thought he would be desperate to run but he's not that fussed, he does like to bounce around and roll in the grass though so the long line allows him that freedom. We hope one day to be able to trust him off lead but it'll be after many months of training so we can trust him not to chase wildlife!