i am bringing home a retired racing greyhound next week and i was wondering how do you confirm your self as pack leader with out traumatising the dog
Answers:
Good on you for adopting one of these wonderful dogs!! I also have a retired Greyhound. They are the best when you get them assimilated into 'civilian' life.
I suggest getting Cesars Way book and Retired Racing Greyhounds for dummies. There is also a website called Greytalk.com. But beware of them, they tend to say that a grey is a grey and you cant change their behavior. Those on that site usually allow their dogs to continue to growl and be aggressive or destructive saying thats just what they do. Well its not, they are a dog like any other. Dont feel sorry for the dog being a racing dog.
First thing you need to know is that a greyhound has NEVER been inside a home before. They dont know what widows, or glass sliding doors are. They dont know what stairs are. Theire paws are not calloused and you need to slowly introduce them to rough terrain when you walk them. Get your dog a crate! The most important thing you can have. They are used to being in one. Its not cruel. Its their safe havens, their dens. Get them a martigale collar, special for greyhounds. They are not house broken so to speak. Make sure you have time at first to devote to your dog. Like being able to let him outside 3-4 times during the day. They will go in the house. Your dog may even chew on stuff. They do suffer from separation anxiety badly. They will have a lot of issues and you probably will think of giving up and giving back, but dont! It just takes time. Took us a year to get Dash where we wanted. The first thing you should do, is claim your house. Before bringing home baby for the first time...Take the dog for a nice long walk to get ride of energy, let him in the house you walking first. Do not take leash off. Walk him around the house, you in lead, show him around. Keep him by your side all day long. Never leave the dog alone. Set up the rules from the very beginning! oh and NEVER...EVER let him off leash unless in a fenced area. They have a high prey drive and will chase and run away. Send me a message if want more info.
Nothing In Life Is Free (NILIF)
http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm
http://www.goof.com/~pmurphy/nilif.html...
EDIT: OMG, do NOT use Cesar Milan's methods on a greyhound, he'll be traumatized for sure!
Try the No Free Lunch method but racing greyhounds are not trained to do anything so you will have to train him from scratch. Getting them to Sit is the most difficult but when they learn it they often wear their hair off their butts to do it and get praise..
if it does something you don't like you have to show it whose boss you'll have to hit it or do something it doesn't like to teach it that thats wrong
If it's just you and one greyhound, I hardly think there will be a problem - greyhounds are pretty easy going as long as they get some exercise.
You feed her, you lead her, you tell her where she can go - makes you the pack leader.
Have you had a dog before? Greyhounds are laid back dogs, pretty submissive overall, so wait before trying anything on the dog, until you see how it acts. The last thing you want to do is traumatize that dog, because once it is done, it will be almost impossible to undo.
Thats so nice to adopt a greyhound. These are docile dogs, I dont think you will have a problem. Below are some sites you may like. Best wishes to you and your new family member.
Retired racers make absolutely wonderful companions. If you're getting one and don't want to traumatize him, throw away any garbage you might have been reading about playing "alpha" with your dog. And please, talk to the people at the rescue group. Any greyhound is going to shut down with a trainer using harsh methods. Greyhounds respond very, very well to positive reinforcement. You don't need to do more than raise your voice with any greyhound I've had.
They're very laid back, easy going dogs, who just want to please, but they're like all of the sight hounds, sensitive. If you plan on using any kind of harsh training methods because you think you need to reinforce your position, look at a different breed. Greyhounds recognize their leader as the person who feeds, walks, grooms, talks to, and teaches them.
A great book to read would be either Suzanne Clothier's "Bones Would Rain from the Sky", Sheila Booth's "Purely Positive Training", or Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies. Better yet, talk to the people who have greyhounds, they'll all let you know they respond to positive training very well.
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