Author Topic: Greyhounds  (Read 19481 times)

Offline Greytmom

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Greyhounds
« on: March 08, 2005, 01:02:53 am »
Hi I hope you consider my two greyhounds as big dogs, they might not be as heavy but they are tall enought. My name is Toni and I live in Ballarat Australia, but am an American by birth. My husband and I adopted a 2 1/2 year old Greyhound Jessica in January. She is an ex racing dog and is a wonderful dog, I am so happy she did not run fast  We were thinging of getting another one for company for her later in the year. We heard about a greyhound puppy who is blind in one eye. Our last dog a sheppard X went blind so we felt that we had to offer this puppy a home with us. The puppy is now 14 weeks old, his name is Oz and he is the problem. I can't seem to find anything about greyhound puppies. I have had other puppies but not a large breed puppy. I can't seem to get this puppy to stop biting me, my husband and or other greyhound. I am trying to just use postive reinforcement but it is not working or not for more than a day. My poor arms are getting so scared up and we have only had him for 30 days.  He only really bites when he is tried or when he is over exicited. He has made two skin tears on Jessica and which I do not like, there skin tears easy because they have so little body fat. I am waiting to start puppy training with Oz, but there is only 1 positive trainer here who has a fence in area. By law here they can not be off lead unless they are in a secured fenced area. That is the only reason he has not already started puppy classes. He does not respond to "NO", "OUCH", and about the only thing that has had any influence is time outs where I put him outside. The problem is when I am outside with him and he suddendly runs up and starts biting me, even at his young age he has jumped up and bite me in the upper thigh. On Sunday I was sitting outside and he came up and started biting me in the shoulder, neck and upper arm. Jessica has started to correct him but I hate to see her take his whole face in her mouth. It has to do with him being blind in one eye. I know I should let her correct him but his teeth hurt so much and don't want her to get any more tears.  One problem we have is when we give him a chew toy, she wants it. It does not matter that we give her one too, she wants the one he has. So the chew toys only work when I have them in seperate rooms. I hope someone on this site might have some experience in greyhound puppies. I have tons of people who have trained greyhound racers but only after they were over the age of 12 months, and I don't like how they train them. So please any help you can give me would be wonderful.

Toni
Toni

Greyhounds are great

Offline jabear

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2005, 09:33:57 am »
Hi Toni! Welcome to Big Paws Only! Even though your dogs aren't as hefty as the rest, their size makes them as welcome as the rest.  :)
I am glad that you have found a breed you really enjoy. I have heard that retired Greyhounds do make great pets!
 I have not had any personal experience with them, but I can offer a piece of advice with the biting problem. First, I completely agree with you about causing more pain or allowing aggression- even if it is just to "put him in his place". Since yelling "no" and "ouch" don't work you may want to try an attention getting method. Get a small, metal juice can (apple juice or something) and put a few pennies in it. Cover the top with tape and then shake this rattle can whenever Oz does something bad. It is loud and will stop any behavior at that moment. Once you have the dog's attention you can begin to correct the problem. And since you said that putting him in the backyard did work, you may try that too. I know that with my Bear, outside punishment is the worst. Good Luck and keep us posted on how the rattle can works!
Hugs,
Jaime
  Mom to one handsome black Bear.

Offline bigpawsadmin

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2005, 10:26:58 am »
Hi Tony and welcome to Big Paws. Just a heads up, I've now added a Grey Hound Board. We will continue to add whatever is needed based on user feedback.

Again welcome!
Michael
Just trying to keep the bugs off the board!

Offline Greytmom

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2005, 10:59:01 pm »
Hi Toni! Welcome to Big Paws Only! Even though your dogs aren't as hefty as the rest, their size makes them as welcome as the rest.  :)
I am glad that you have found a breed you really enjoy. I have heard that retired Greyhounds do make great pets!
 I have not had any personal experience with them, but I can offer a piece of advice with the biting problem. First, I completely agree with you about causing more pain or allowing aggression- even if it is just to "put him in his place". Since yelling "no" and "ouch" don't work you may want to try an attention getting method. Get a small, metal juice can (apple juice or something) and put a few pennies in it. Cover the top with tape and then shake this rattle can whenever Oz does something bad. It is loud and will stop any behavior at that moment. Once you have the dog's attention you can begin to correct the problem. And since you said that putting him in the backyard did work, you may try that too. I know that with my Bear, outside punishment is the worst. Good Luck and keep us posted on how the rattle can works!

That is a great idea. I forgot about something like that. I will try it as soon as I need to again. It is pretty cool here today and Oz has been sleeping by the heater. Poor boy was born in late autumn here and is not used to cool weather yet. I have also found another postive trainer today. She will be over in a few days for a one on one with Oz. I think she will be great, she used to be over all the puppies in the Melbourne  guide dogs. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Thanks for the great idea.

Toni, Jessica and Oz's mom in Ballarat
Toni

Greyhounds are great

Offline Greytmom

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2005, 11:05:16 pm »
Hi Tony and welcome to Big Paws. Just a heads up, I've now added a Grey Hound Board. We will continue to add whatever is needed based on user feedback.

Again welcome!
Michael

Hi Michael,
I have seen the greyhound rescue board. It is a really good one. I have joined a group they talked about. It is so good to see that this breed is finding homes. The adult dogs are so loving and giving they just need people to see them as something other than an object to make money on. They are difficult as puppies, I just hope this new training consultant can help me get the biting under control with Oz. He is a good puppy other than that. He was toilet trained by 11 weeks ( we got him at 10 weeks) and sits on command already without a treat.

Thanks for this great site. You will be getting more greyhound people from Australia on here soon. Information on this group has been posted on the greyhound groups I belong to here.

Toni, Jessica and Oz's mom in Ballarat Australia
Toni

Greyhounds are great

Offline Greyhound

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2005, 09:44:10 am »
Hi Toni
I hope you have your problem under control by now. 
We have several young Greyhound puppies and they are VERY mouthy.  Mom dogs usually correct their puppies by grabbing their muzzles.  Use your thumb and forefinger and squeeze the puppie's muzzle and firmly tell the pup "NO".  This is not acceptable behavior.  Give the pup plenty of chewing toys, no love when you are being bitten. I have made the mistake of laughing, they get that one very quickly... "NO" and separate yourself.  Muzzle sqeezing works, Greytmoms know this.  I have seen one mom actually drag her pup by the head she was so frustrated with the little needlemouth.  Then she walked away, leaving the puppy embarrased.

If you need more assistance, I can send you some..respond to whippetRescue@aol.com

Offline cupcakeorbust

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2005, 10:30:27 am »
What is the Greyhound Rescue Board? 

Offline Greytmom

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2005, 04:52:18 pm »
 :) Oz has been getting better and better. He was a bit of a handful the beginning of last week but by Wednesday I had him under control. He is loosing his puppy teeth and really wanting to chew things, so I have been putting toys, teething rusk and hard chewing treats in his mouth when he starts. I have also found a product here called Crib Stop which is a spray used for horses and dogs. It is really strong and I can just spray something once every 2 days and he stays away from it. He has also started puppy classes and is doing really well. It is a very small class only 3 dogs and Oz is the youngest but the middle on in size. He likes being with other breeds and learing new things has helped him calm down. I have been having several training sessions with him a day, ony 3 or 4 minutes at a time.

He is really growing like a weed. He is already 62 cm from base of his neck to the start of his tail. He is 50 cm from his shoulder to his feet. The last time we weighted him he was over 13 kilos and that was 2 weeks ago. His big sister is only 69 cm from base of her neck to the start of her tail and she is nearly 3 years old. I think he is going to be a really big boy he is now only 4 months old.

Thanks,
Toni
Toni

Greyhounds are great

Offline RottnPeytonsMom

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #8 on: April 11, 2005, 08:33:47 pm »
I have found that using Bitter Apple spray when the puppies nip works really well. I kept a really small spray bottle in my pocket or close to wherever I was and when Peyton would nip me I would give her a little shot of Bitter Apple. She stopped after a few sprays of it.
Please dont forget me, for if I thought you would I would never leave-Christopher Robin

Offline Greytmom

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #9 on: April 15, 2005, 08:07:52 pm »
Oz has really been a good boy. No biting at all for over a week. He is growing up fast. He is wanting to eat everything in site and you would think he would be fat with all the food he is eating. He is eating his 3 meals a day plus 2 to 3 small snacks ie, chicken wings, lamb off cuts, bone marrow bones etc. He is also taking 2 walks a day. We live in a hilly area so I don't have to take him for long walks just going up a hill or two usually makes him tired. You don't see greyhounds walking in public here much so they both gets lots of people giving them cuddles and watching them from there cars. Jessica and Oz both love it when people pet them and talk to them. They are really people dogs. He is sleeping really well, hardly ever wants to go outside for the toilet after we go to bed anymore.

Toni, mom of Jessica and Oz in Ballarat Victoria in Australia
Toni

Greyhounds are great

Offline jabear

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #10 on: April 15, 2005, 09:29:29 pm »
Glad to hear that you are making progress!
Hugs,
Jaime
  Mom to one handsome black Bear.

Offline Dragonflyte

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Re: Greyhounds
« Reply #11 on: May 11, 2005, 11:52:05 am »
>>I hope someone on this site might have some experience in greyhound puppies. I have tons of people who have trained greyhound racers but only after they were over the age of 12 months, and I don't like how they train them.<<

They don't call them Pirahna with legs for nothin'!!  LOL

I'm interested to hear how the "tons of people you have who have trained racers" trained the dogs and what you didn't like about it.

 Being a dog trainer for PetsMart in the U.S. we only use positive reinforcement and a few small corrections in our training and it always seems to work.

Have you tried a squirt bottle or shaker can when your puppy bites?  There are better ways to stop a bad behavior than simply giving them something to eat instead.
Jeanni and the Hounds of Dragonflyte