A beginners guide to living with a greyhound

[Music] hi everyone it's not uncommon for people to comment that they've never had a dog like a greyhound before they're a little bit different to other breeds and so in this video i'd like to go through some of the things that they may be finding different when they come to you in retirement things that you might not have encountered with other breeds of dogs so in terms of their previous life experience they're unlikely to have lived in a house unless they've been fostered so everything about the house is going to be strange to them at first they may not have a great deal of experience with other breeds or with pedestrians or traffic or even wide open spaces they've also never lived on their own they've typically been kenneled with other dogs close by so just being on their own can be difficult for them so it's not really like homing a dog that has grown up in a domestic environment in a house so there's a lot of things that they're not used to they may never have come across a television or a washing machine they may not be used to mirrors or glass doors or anything reflective for that matter they may not have been upstairs before they may not have heard a vacuum cleaner and have probably not warped on anything as slippery as a laminate floor a stressed dog may growl may snap may freeze on walks may stop eating may have loose stalls or even be destructive so there are a lot of ways in which their concerns will be expressed in their behavior and you may see some of these things when they first come home they're also not used to having access to things that aren't intended for them so they won't understand that your book on the coffee table is not for chewing that the remote control is not a toy and that your slippers are not part of their cuddly toy collection either now a greyhound is a sprinter they're a retired athlete and may have some aches and pains left over from that athletic career that they've had they may even have retired as a result of injury and although they're built for speed they're not built for duration so certainly at first they're unlikely to cope with long walks or busy days they do need to sleep a lot typically more than other breeds and have short bursts of energy so certainly at first they're going to need a quiet life and you may find they spend a lot of their day asleep most organizations are going to ask for you to have a secure guard and if you have a garden and that would need to have a fence of five feet if not six feet that's secure all the way around including the gates so this is to prevent the greyhound escaping they're not used to say you opening a door and expecting them to stay behind you when the postman delivers a parcel for example they're also not used to going outside to toilet because they haven't had the opportunity to do that and this means that they often have very subtle signs that they need to toilet and sometimes just looking confused standing in the middle of the room can be a sign that they need to go out they won't necessarily go to the door and ask to be let out and they may not also know how to play when they first arrive so that could be something you're going to have to teach them unlike a puppy that has probably had one-on-one interaction with a person since they were quite small and been encouraged to play so with the greyhound always having lived in a kennel they are used to having a small space that is theirs where they're not going to get interrupted or disturbed now if when they move into your home they decide the sofa is their safe space that can cause problems with you perhaps ending up sitting around the table or even on the floor so it's a good idea to instead create a safe secure space that they can spend time when they don't want to be disturbed so you could use a crate or a playpen or just rearrange the furniture to create a cozy corner that is for the greyhound alone they've never been been disturbed while they're sleeping and so this can come to them as a bit of a surprise and this is where we end up with cases of sleep startle it's also worth thinking about what's happened to them before in terms of food so in a kendall environment food will have been brought in a bowl put in the candle and the greyhound will have been left until they've finished eating and the bowl would then be taken away so they're not used to people walking past them while they're eating certainly not used to people touching their bowl or touching their food whilst they're eating now this can mean that they might be a little bit possessive around their food or the opposite to this if you have a nervous dog is that they may not feel safe to eat whilst you're around so i would have their food bowl somewhere quiet and out of the way where they can eat undisturbed and finish before you go to take that bowl away again and the same may apply with treats if they have a treat that's a little bit longer lasting they may want to take that somewhere safe perhaps into their safe space to eat rather than eat it with you when they're eating their meals then they would typically want to eat from a raised feeder with their long legs and long necks it's better to have the bowl raised and it can prevent injuries or damage to their shoulders or strain on their neck when it comes to walking it's good to use a muzzle at least for the first few weeks until you get to know how your greyhound is around other people other dogs and with you for that matter so they are used to wearing muzzles they wear muzzles during their racing career it's not something that is strange to them and it gives you some security until you get to know them better around all the things that they're getting to know as they are new in their home so when you're walking i would avoid narrow places like alleyways where you might end up in a position where you've got dogs on either side of you or more people on either side of you then the dog becomes concerned and also avoid open spaces with dogs that are off lead initially when it comes to letting your greyhound off this again is not something that they're likely to be used to they typically have zero sense of recall and so unless you take them to a secure field to let them off and you know that they're going to come back then by and large they're going to be walking on a lead and i always think that with a greyhound if you do get one that ultimately will learn to recall and can be safely let off the lead this is something of a privilege rather than something to be expected they're not always suited to country walks they don't necessarily like getting muddy rummage around in rocks or streams or getting over or under styles they might prefer to walk on pavements or some nice freshly cut grass rather than getting themselves all messed up so you'll also need to think about where you walk rather than maybe going up hills or mountains for your weekend out some other quirks that you might have come across or maybe not have come across as well as sleep startle we have the greyhound scream of death which tends to happen when you've maybe tweaked a toenail pinched an ear putting a collar on something relatively minor you'll get this sudden loud squeal which can be alarming if you haven't heard it before zoom is is also a greyhound thing charging up and down randomly around the garden or around the house for that matter and this is something that can be a bit alarming if you haven't seen it before suddenly having 30 kilos of dog doing 40 miles an hour up and down the garden or around the living room but it does tend to be part and parcel of a happy hound and when it comes to showing affection their signs can be quite subtle at first they may not really understand when they don't know you very well how to approach having affection but they generally soon get the idea and you'll find that they're offering you a pour of more to get you to carry on stroking their head or patting their tummy rather than letting you stop they do tend to love other greyhounds so it's great to get involved with greyhound activities so they can spend time meeting other grey hounds socializing and going on warts with them so look out for other greyhound activities in your area so you can join in as well when you get your own it's also a great place to go to meet some dogs if you haven't got one yet to help you get to know a bit more about the breed so that's all for now we'll be back again soon with more videos for you bye for now look out for new videos every monday and why not subscribe so you don't miss out [Music] you

Channel: JW Canine Care

Views: 50,594

Keywords:

Id: TyURpFHp5C4

Length: 9min 37sec (577 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 18 2021