Bones - the challenges of a greyhound puppy… · Walkys Dog Training Academy

Bones - the challenges of a greyhound puppy…

Hi everyone 👋

I wanted to share a bit about Bones and why we’re joining the online training and going to Walkys.

Bones is a greyhound puppy, now 10 months old. He was the runt of his litter and nearly didn’t make it (named as he was skin and bones) but he’s well and truly caught up physically (I think he will be a 40kg+ dog). We brought him home at 13 weeks and he was a giveaway as the breeder didn’t want him to go into racing given how she bonded with him. He did puppy school and group training, which went well initially (but he did always have these problem behaviours).

Greyhound pups are notoriously difficult (“land sharks”) and a very sensitive breed - also really really uncommon in a pet setting. Around 6–7 months, adolescence hit hard for Bones and he lost his ability to cope in stimulating environments including one training session where he went over threshold and couldn’t recover and I bore many many bruises to prove it. We paused group classes after that and focused on management and support. He was desexed shortly after too.

His main challenges are:

becoming overstimulated very quickly
sensory seeking, especially chewing (all of my furniture is chewed - he seeks out anything he can despite every chew toy).
tantrum-style mouthing/jumping when frustrated or overwhelmed
difficulty settling, particularly in the evenings

He’s also very much in the adolescent phase, so he’s easily distracted and his food motivation is hit and miss compared to when he was younger. He generally gets one walk a day which involves a lot of sniffing - but I am always on alert for triggers that will send him over the edge.

He’s not crate trained. We did have a pen for a while but 1. It stressed him out (tethering and confining also sets off his hyper mouthing and jumping) and then 2. He had an accident and got a leg badly stuck in it.

We’re currently using behavioural medication (although he has a stupidly high threshold for meds that would put other dogs out like a light) alongside training to help lower his thresholds and support emotional regulation while his nervous system matures.

We also have a 9-year-old child so mouthy or impulsive behaviour isn’t ok and is a key focus for us. We also have a 7 year old grey who tries to put him in his place but Bones sees it as a game when he bites him on the butt and gets a reaction out of our older boy.

What we’re hoping to work on:

building calmer engagement and focus
improving emotional regulation and recovery
reducing mouthy/chewing behaviours
helping him settle and relax more reliably

He’s a sweet, sensitive dog underneath it all, and we’re really hoping the online format helps us build skills and confidence without tipping him over. He definitely has improved post desexing (and I am better at identifying when he is calm enough for a walk etc) but we are still dealing with this constant management and I am quite frankly, exhausted.

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