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Most of PI probably knows my greyhound story, since it played out from start to finish here. It doesn't have the happiest ending, but from November 7, 2009 to December 11, 2012 I had the good fortune to live with this handsome fellow: This is Husker, the day we brought him home. He was still at racing weight here, a big boy at about 78 lbs. It took about three months for him to really open up, but once he did he was easily the most outgoing greyhound I've ever met. He made friends wherever he went, human and animal alike.  We lost him to cancer at an unusually young age. I still think about him a lot, almost every day. We're living abroad for all of 2013 and doing tons of other travel for the first half of 2014, but I think when things settle down we'll look into adopting another retired racer. Husker was kind of exceptional, so it will be hard for a new dog to live up to that, but I love the breed and I miss having one in the house. So dignified. 
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May 18, 2013 08:56
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I think the essential difference is that it's relatively easy to train a people-pleasing breed to "leave it" or to focus on their handler for a few minutes while the thing they want leaves (which I know you've trained your dogs to do, Super). Greyhounds mostly don't care about pleasing you. Very highly prey-driven greyhounds generally won't ever learn a reliable "leave it," it's just their nature. And, once they're in motion, you're not physically going to be able to stop them because you can't run that fast. I think people who automatically assume that a high prey drive is a bad thing shouldn't adopt prey-driven greyhounds, but I think you're underestimating the amount of management you do for your breed if you think it's less than what a greyhound owner does. It just has to be approached differently, that's all.
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May 20, 2013 06:25
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Mostly we just called Husker "Huskeroo, Huskeroo roo roo" which always got his tail wagging. And if you kept at it, he would start rooing back at you. And sometimes it just became "Haroo!" Occasionally in the Richard Nixon voice from Futurama. He was also Hucker to quite a few of our friends, because one of our pals' daughters couldn't manage the SK sound and everybody liked it so much they started calling him that. Our friends have three IGs, and they're pretty awesome little dogs. Nice to visit, but I wouldn't own one. I think I would be okay with a whippet, if it was on the larger end of the breed rather than the smaller. I know in some areas whippet racing is more common than greyhound racing, so it's easier to get a rescue whippet than a full-sized grey. It just so happens that a lot of greyhound racing takes place in West Virginia, and I live in the DC area, so all the rescues pull dogs from WV. It was always fun to take Husker to their house and let him romp around the yard with the Iggies. Their male would get so mad at him for marking everything in the yard he couldn't reach! One of their females liked to lure him over to the steps and then use them to launch herself over top of him like a pole vaulter. They had way more energy than he did, though, and he would usually come back inside for a nap while they were still bouncing around.
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May 20, 2013 20:06
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Yeah, our friends' Iggies have issues holding it for very long too. They have a designated "pee corner" upstairs in the master bathroom, with tile floor and absorbent pads laid out for while they're at work. That said, I don't think they have any issues with the dogs eliminating elsewhere in the house, and I don't think peeing in the designated corner happens every day. My friends got their first two IGs, one male and one female, at a pet store before they knew any better, and their third comes from a good breeder but was the runt of the litter and is very tiny. I think only the two smaller ones have problems holding their bladders, their male is significantly larger than the breed standard. He does have thyroid disease, though, which apparently is common in badly bred IGs? It makes him a little bit chunky, and most of his hair has fallen out, so he feels like he's made of suede. The teeny tiny one has one leg that's more metal rod than natural bone now, from repeated breaks. The middle-sized one has some kind of inherited issue with her eyes, and problems with her bowels, as well as a permanent kink in her tail from breaking it against a table leg. They're kind of a wreck, overall. Really marvelous personalities, so it's a shame they have so many issues. It's a good thing my friends have lots of cash to spend on vet bills, that's all I can say.  
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May 21, 2013 15:13
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Kojiro posted:Honestly surprised she ate the bun, do dogs usually like bread? I'd say I've met more dogs who do like bread than dogs who don't.
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May 23, 2013 11:33
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You've visited with him a few times, so I'm sure when he sees you he recognizes you. Hsker used to walk some of our friends to the door when they left, but not others - it's definitely a sign that he likes you. 
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Jun 2, 2013 09:51
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various cheeses posted:This thread is making me want a greyhound as my first dog. How prevalent are the bladder issues though? That's really only a problem for the Italian Greyhounds, which are the toy breed. Whippets and greyhounds shouldn't have any issues holding it for the length of a normal workday and again through the night.
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Jun 2, 2013 20:49
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dupersaurus posted:Speaking of greyhounds as first dogs, are they really as good (small) apartment dogs as people advertise them to be? And how much time do they need someone to be around? Between work and extracurriculars my weekdays are somewhat irregular (although I usually do have some time at home between work and activities), and I'm not sure how fair that'd be to a dog. The big thing greyhounds want is a routine. When we first got Husker, our work situation gave us a lot of time at home in the evenings, and he actually didn't spend that much of the time interacting with us. He wanted to be in the same room, but after he had gotten his desired amount of attention he would just snooze. Later, we both got jobs with longer commutes, and our time in the evenings was much shorter. This was still fine with him. The key is consistency day to day - if your schedule is wildly different each night of the week, the dog is probably not going to deal with it well. If traffic was really bad and we were 45 minutes late, Husker was very concerned. Depending on what kind of activities you do in the evenings, you could potentially take the dog with you. They're generally pretty content to pull up a corner and nap while you do your thing, and just going to a different house for a couple of hours is usually enough mental stimulation to last them a few days.
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Jun 3, 2013 11:47
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Trauma Tank posted:This might be a silly question, but how do they deal with weekends? It took a while for him to grasp the idea of weekends. Eventually we got to a point where as long as someone got up and took him out to potty, then fed him his breakfast, he was happy enough to come back to bed and let us sleep in for a couple more hours. If we didn't mess with breakfast and dinner times, he was cool with weekends being a little off from the normal routine. But holy poo poo if you tried to change mealtimes, you are talking one seriously worried pooch. Even feeding him early seemed to make him uncomfortable if it was by too wide a margin.
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Jun 3, 2013 12:55
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I love spotty greyhounds  Our rescue never seems to get very many of them - mostly I see brindle, fawn, and black. I'm sure it's just that the lines at the track they pull from trend toward those colors. When we were first applying, they asked what color I wanted. I said I genuinely didn't care, that personality was all I was interested in, but they really pressed me for a color preference. I said, "I dunno, brindle?" and they marked down brindle. A couple of weeks later the lady called me back and said "I can't find you any brindle dogs, would you accept a fawn instead?" Um, yeah? I only asked for brindle because you basically told me I had to pick a color? Just thought that was kind of funny.
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Jun 4, 2013 19:15
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HappyHelmet posted:This is a stupid question, but something I've always been curious about and don't care enough to look up on Google. They tend to sink like rocks. I don't know if it's the low body fat or what, but they don't have a lot of natural buoyancy. Maybe if you put a life jacket on them to help them float they could be good swimmers. They do have very powerful legs after all, and streamlined bodies. Husker enjoyed splashing around in the little kiddie pools they had at the dog park, and I've known other greyhounds that liked to play with water, so I imagine some of them might enjoy it.
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Jun 7, 2013 08:54
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HappyHelmet posted:Ah, kind of what I figured. I'm a little surprised they are not afraid to go into water though. I'm not sure most of them know what it is, the first time they encounter water in larger quantities than a bowl. Some of them might react fearfully, but I think as soon as Husker figured out that cool water on his feet felt good, he was all for the idea. What was really funny was that he would make digging motions in water. He was never a digger in general, but he would make these huge sweeping dig motions in water that got him all wet. Wouldn't lay down in water like Mona is in that picture, though.
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Jun 8, 2013 08:15
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gninjagnome posted:Now that you mention it, the guy that hauls the greyhounds from the various tracks to my rescue gave a talk at a picnic once. In it, he said that a the tracks he works with, after the greys race, they make them run into a long pool to cool down. Some love it, some have to be prodded to go in. Not sure if every track does this though, but I think greys have seen large pools of water. I'm pretty sure they don't have that at the track in West Virginia, but I'm sure practices vary from track to track. My dog definitely seemed baffled by the presence of large quantities of water. He seemed to know what a water hose was, though, and did NOT want to be sprayed with one, so maybe they do their cool-offs the same way we did at the polo barn - by spraying cool water over the animals and letting evaporation do the work.
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Jun 8, 2013 14:22
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notsowelp posted:Man people accusing me of starving my dog is getting really old It depends on their attitude, really. Sometimes I'd try and educate them, sometimes I'd just ignore them, sometimes I'd make a joke... Usually if I said "He eats four cups of premium dog food a day," most of the concerned dog ladies  would back off.
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Jul 1, 2013 16:09
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I would also point out Husker's huge muscley back end, because seriously that dog's thighs were almost as big as mine, and no starving animal has that much muscle mass. We didn't keep him in racing condition, so one or two ribs disappeared and those big gams were a little smaller, but he was still pretty clearly an athlete even up to the end. One time a couple came up to me and the woman was all concerned about how skinny he was, poor baby, mama needs to fatten you up, oh did you rescue him from abuse, blah blah blah. She talked right over me as I was trying to explain. Her boyfriend was listening, though, and when she took a breath he said "Babe, that dog is like Michael loving Phelps." 
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Jul 1, 2013 18:18
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skoolmunkee posted:Well I have learned that Union has bone cancer in her front leg. They are going to remove the leg on Tuesday but the vet kept saying how it was a risky surgery because Union is old and has heart problems. It was pretty not awesome hearing about how it's the second worse type of anger and it will probably come back somewhere else because its aggressive, and also super painful. What kind of tumor is it? My experience is with osteosarcoma, but I know there are 2-3 other common forms of bone cancer in dogs. We were able to buy Husker about eight months with amputation and chemo, even with stopping the chemo early. If she responds well to the surgery and any chemo or radiation you decide to do, and has relatively few side effects from pain medication, Union should have some good time left. Feed dat dawg a burger, and I wish her luck.
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Jul 19, 2013 19:51
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Mighty Amoeba posted:I will probably never own a dog because I just am way better suited to owning cats, but I secretly want a greyhound. Does anyone have pictures of their greyhounds wearing hoodies? I love that poo poo. They are relatively "catlike" in personality, though of course they still have the same needs all dogs do - they have to be taken outside to eliminate, they will get lonely if they're home alone all day, etc. But they have a much smaller footprint in your life than some breeds. I don't have pics in a hoodie, because Husker hated having stuff on his head, but here he is in a Battlestar Galactica uniform:  And wearing sweatpants: 
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Jul 21, 2013 00:47
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How is Blake's prey drive? Sure, they're bred to chase, but individual dogs have different levels of drive. If it's high, you'll need to be much more careful. If it's low, the introduction may be no big thing at all. And even some high prey drive dogs will chase a cat outside, but a cat indoors is safe. It just depends on the animals involved. I've usually seen it recommended that you muzzle the dog and keep him on a short leash, and let the cat mostly drive the interaction. If you can get someone to help you, have one person handle the cat and one hold the dog, and praise the dog highly for ignoring or calmly watching the cat. Basically you want to teach the dog that your cat is really very boring, and he shouldn't bother with it. If the cat will tolerate it, have the cat-handler sit on a chair or couch with the cat in his/her lap and you sit nearby with the dog, but not super close. If everybody is calm you might let them get closer and sniff each other. They probably won't be friends right away, or maybe ever, but hopefully they can coexist without much conflict.
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Jul 22, 2013 14:47
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I think it's interesting that he barks at cats, it probably indicates he doesn't see them as prey - sighthounds generally will get really quiet when they see something they want to take down. There's a whole series of signs for prey reaction. Hard eye contact, muscle tensing, a change in ear carriage. Some of them chatter their teeth. Some sighthounds have a weird kind of drive, where they aren't actually interested in catching something, but they still enjoy the chasing part. Husker was that way - he would chase other dogs who were playing fetch, he would give a little chase to our cats if they had the zoomies near him, and he would run after cats in our yard until they crossed the property line, but he never showed any interest in actually grabbing them. I've met a few greyhounds like that. I guess they do alright in races because they still want to run faster than the other dogs, but they would probably not do well as coursers or actual hunters. I'd say just encourage Blake to "leave it" when Jet is running around like a maniac, and make sure Jet has lots of places to climb out of the way if he feels threatened. Until you're confident Blake won't try to grab Jet, just make it way more rewarding to ignore him completely. If Blake is food-motivated you can accomplish this by cramming his face full of delicious things whenever he ignores the cat running by. I hope it goes well. By the end of Husker's life, he and our cat Nibbler were actually pretty good buddies, and would cuddle together and sometimes try to play, even though they really didn't understand each other's play styles. And our other cat would occasionally rub up against him and even tolerated him licking her, though she wasn't as friendly with him as her brother was.
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Jul 22, 2013 16:02
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Oh, no, skoolmunkee 
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Jul 23, 2013 19:54
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Comic book writer Gail Simone has a retired racer named 'Scuro, and she posted this picture of him recently: I think we can all sympathize.
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Jul 26, 2013 21:06
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Some of them do remain more aloof, but it's very unusual for them to be unfriendly. Even the most  ones I've met will still sidle up to a likely candidate for petting and do a lean. I've never known one to be afraid of strangers or anything, once they've adjusted to being a pet, but I'm sure it happens sometimes.Husker was wildly outgoing for the breed, and even he took a couple of months to really start to show that side of himself. I think it coincided with the time period where everything stopped being new - once he had seen most of the things he was going to see in his life as a pet (other animals, kids, bicycles, and so on and so forth), he was able to relax. My mom met him at Thanksgiving, two weeks after we got him, and when she finally saw him again at Christmas she was convinced we had gone and traded dogs because his behavior was so different. We have a friend in the rescue whose dog Ariel developed a fantastically nosy personality. She's not as interested in being petted as Husker was, but she wants to get all up in everybody's business. If she's at an event at a store or shopping center, she has to check everybody's bag as they walk past. It's adorable. But she started off just as standoffish as any other dog fresh off the track, with no indication that she would become a busybody Ariel is also the politest dog ever about taking treats, I love it. Adam is very handsome, I think black greyhounds are so pretty. You should get him a dog shirt with a big gold lightning bolt on his chest so he can be Black Adam. And then you can shout "Shazam!" at him, and only geeky people will get it.
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Aug 7, 2013 03:45
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gninjagnome posted:Honestly, the best thing for her was letting her stay for a week with a friends Lab. Like, the constant exposure to another dog made something click for her. My sister's Aussie was the one who taught Husker to play, he really didn't grasp the idea until they were out in the yard together and she was like "Chase me chase me!" and he was all, hey, I can do that, chasing is just running, this is fun! And then they wrassled and he was briefly confused and then totally into it. quote:The polite treat taking is the greatest thing - it really throws people off. I don't think my hands have ever made contact with Mona's teeth or tongue while giving her a treat. I'm not sure how Ariel even gets the treat out of your hand, it's like she teleports it a few inches into her mouth, that's how gentle it is. She doesn't know any tricks to earn a treat with, but she's just so sweet and genteel that you feel like she deserves a treat just for being an elegant lady. She's also really small, like 48 lbs, so it was always funny to put her and Husker (80 lbs) side by side and show people the full range of size in the breed. Man, every new dog in this thread makes me that much more eager to get through the next year so I can adopt another one. I should email the rescue coordinator and ask her if we need to fill out a new application or if they have a different process for "alumni" so to speak. And I think we still have one of their banners and donation boxes from when we tried to get a meet-and-greet going at our local Petco 
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Aug 7, 2013 04:17
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Husker would lay down with his body on the bed and his face on the floor, and gradually his nose would get smoothed against the carpet more and more until he couldn't breathe, at which he would wake up with a start and grumble and ruck his bed around and then lay back down with his face in the floor 
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Aug 10, 2013 21:41
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One of the posts in the Facebook group inspired my husband and me to start talking about names for the new girl, when she comes along. We're thinking maybe Vastra, after the reptilian character from Doctor Who. If that ends up being her name I will totally buy a green faux croc leather from Sexy Beast for her
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Aug 15, 2013 01:13
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In our case, Husker came basically straight from the track and any future dog from the same rescue will be the same way - they don't foster, just do behavior analysis at the rescue kennel on-site, and they don't give the dogs new names. Trainers and handlers (at least at our local track, I can't speak for every racing kennel) don't really call the dogs by name at the track, and racing names are generally kind of long and unwieldy. Husker's name was To Tell the Truth. We just said his new name a lot and associated it with positive things, and eventually he'd perk his ears up at his name even if he was asleep. Trauma Tank is right that you can change any dog's name. My sister has successfully taught her new dog the name they picked for him, and he went by something else for three years. I think it was especially easy in our situation because Husker didn't really have a call name. I'm not sure they realize that it's their name, per se. For all I know, he thought I was saying "Hey!" every time. A friend forwarded us a link last night to two bonded greyhound girls who need a new home, and I kind of immediately shut down It's too soon. They turned out to be not cat safe, so it's a moot point for us, but it definitely showed me that I'm not ready. I still think about Husker every single day.
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Aug 15, 2013 16:01
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Are you brushing him? I found that frequent brushing during the crappy track coat phase helped a lot. I bought a soft curry comb and a face finishing brush, both intended for horses, and it worked much better than any of the dog brushes I've tried. Plus he really liked it
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Aug 24, 2013 15:40
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various cheeses posted:I noticed all the dogs at the rescue had a hilariously bare rear end. I'm assuming it fills in later after some coddling in a proper home? Husker eventually had long, fluffy butt hair. It looked very silly. But he always had a bare patch on his tail and his belly ranged from mildly fuzzy in the winter to naked in the summer.
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Aug 29, 2013 14:34
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alucinor posted:What indulgences can I feed a farty old man with a sensitive tummy for his birthday? Yogurt! Unsweetened, unflavored, regular-fat yogurt. It's very gentle on the guts (and even beneficial!) and dogs seem to really love the stuff.
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Sep 3, 2013 23:00
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He's probably fine I've known lots of greyhounds with bald bellies. Some were just bald in the summer months, others year round. Just enjoy the weird smooth belly skin. Edit: If he starts having scaly skin, dark splotches, or weight gain, he might have hypothyroidism. It's not the end of the world if he does, though - it's a very manageable issue. RazorBunny fucked around with this message at 15:52 on Sep 16, 2013 |
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Sep 16, 2013 15:49
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One of the rescues we talked to wouldn't adopt to anyone with a fence that was less than five feet tall. And one wouldn't adopt to us because the person who would be taking the dog out in the middle of the afternoon was our teenage son - they wanted an adult to come home mid-day and walk the dog. A third just wanted to basically give us a dog sight unseen with no temperament testing or anything, just "Here's a random greyhound, hope it doesn't eat your cat!" So yeah, rescues have a wide variety of ideas and requirements.
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Oct 2, 2013 01:28
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I think a 3-year-old dog fresh off the track would be a fine apartment dog if you had a nearby fenced park or something where it could run around every day, but otherwise I agree that an older dog is better suited to apartment living. Greyhounds live a long time for large dogs, you're not going to miss out on much by adopting, say, a 5-year-old dog instead of a 2- or 3-year-old. I got mine at 3.5 and he still had tons of energy. He slept all day, but when he went out in the yard he ran laps for ten or fifteen minutes. I don't think he would have been happy just getting his exercise from walks - he never much cared for walks unless we were going someplace new and interesting, so he was mostly getting mental stimulation rather than physical. It's not really that difficult to adjust a dog to living in a household from the track, but they definitely don't adjust right away regardless of their age. It takes a lot of patience and effort, especially to anticipate what the dog will find confusing/scary in the new environment. If your rescue fosters first, though, you won't have to worry about that aspect. You definitely don't want a young dog with a lot of energy if you can't give it an outlet. And don't lie to your rescue organization. RazorBunny fucked around with this message at 14:32 on Oct 3, 2013 |
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Oct 3, 2013 14:26
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We got our dog from GPA-NOVA, and had a pretty good experience with them. We'll go through them for our next grey too. I don't know much about either of the two you mentioned, so I can't speak to them one way or another. There are a lot of greyhound groups around here
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Nov 6, 2013 18:31
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Husker eventually transferred from hanging out in the crate to hanging out in a specific corner of the living room, where one of his beds was. That was where he retreated if something was intimidating (vacuum cleaner, etc.) or if I wouldn't let him follow me into another room. They've been crate trained their whole lives, it's comforting and familiar. Skeeter might find another place to "den" or he might always prefer the crate.
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Nov 7, 2013 00:04
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Pig Head posted:I second this!! Husker only ever barked like four times, and it was usually during play with one of his toys. And one time in response to a super weird noise from the yard. He did have a whole repertoire of whines, deep weird moaning sounds, and sighs that he could express all kinds of things with. I know a greyhound named Harley, on the other hand, who communicates entirely through grumbles. Happy grumbles, hungry grumbles, grouchy grumbles. Hilarious. We dogsat him over a weekend one time and he just grumbled the whole time. He's also pretty old, though, so I don't know if the grumbling is relatively recent or what.
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Nov 8, 2013 17:09
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I submitted a new application to GPA-NOVA and got a message back saying we are approved, no new home visit needed (I thought they might want to do another one since we've done some remodeling). I listed our preferred adoption date as any time after March 1, since we have contractors coming in to do our kitchen and then a week-long cruise in January and February. After that our house should be nice and quiet with no extended absences of its people - a good time to work on acclimating a new pooch. Countdown to ladyhound
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Nov 26, 2013 02:05
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rhoga posted:
We tried with Husker, and he would just stand on the couch looking upset until you let him hop down. We're hoping the new gal is more amenable, my husband really wants a couch cuddling buddy.
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Nov 26, 2013 12:36
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SUPER HASSLER posted:Yeah it took Adam 2-3 months to learn how to jump on/off stuff. I guess tracks must be pretty flat places. Before then I'd bust my rear end hauling him up into the car. Now he splits his time between his bed and mine. The car was fine, until the leg amputation made it difficult for him to do it on his own. We taught him "load up" as the command to jump into the car, and he didn't mind. But the couch was like some kind of dark magic he didn't trust, it was kind of hilarious. My husband got him up on our bed one time and the look he gave was so pitiful, because he couldn't figure out how to jump back down...
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Nov 27, 2013 01:12
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Meowenstein posted:Thank you for your replies. I won't be able to adopt a dog for good long while, so there's a long time to think about this. Not being able to let the dog off their leash while outside could be a bit awkward while fishing. My other activities outdoors are about as lazy as my fishing, though, so I don't think being too active would be an issue. Do you know of any other breeds that might work better in this situation? Either way, thanks for the advice! Honestly a variety of laid-back mutts would probably suit your needs. I've known quite a few dogs of various breeds that would have loved to be your fishing buddy and lollygag around, maybe get you to throw a tennis ball from time to time. Your best bet might be to find a good general (rather than breed-specific) rescue near you, tell them about your lifestyle and what you want in a dog, and let them find a match for you. And then post cute pictures various cheeses posted:I may be getting a greyhound later this month. What do they absolutely need for cold weather? I'm definitely getting a coat of some kind. That's pretty much it, unless you live in a really cold place, in which case just a better coat. Maybe a snood to cover the ears. If you have a lot of snow and ice you might want to look into some booties like they're talking about ^ I live in an area with moderately cold winters, and we only used Husker's coat when we were going to be out for long periods of time or on unusually cold days. Most of the time he was fine running around in his birthday suit and coming inside when he got chilly. It just depends on how severe your winters are, really.
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Dec 12, 2013 05:04
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| # ¿ Apr 30, 2024 13:23 |
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I expect to see lots of pictures on Facebook 
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Dec 29, 2013 18:07
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