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Newbie here with a Whippet X Saluki

Jeanie11

Jeanie11

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Hi all thought I'd join this doggie forum as I'm having a few troubles with my 4 month old whippet x saluki so was hoping to have a chat with some more experienced sight hound owners!

Looking forward to chatting with you all

Xx
 
Welcome @Jeanie11 - lots of great advice on here! :) and lots of sighthound owners to!
 
Welcome! Hopefully the forum has every thing you want and need on. we have a lot of sight hound owners
 
Welcome! I'm not an expert at all, but do have a lurcher and am a big saluki fan:)
 
Thanks for the welcome everyone! The trouble I'm having with him is that he's just so manic. I don't know if it's just because he's a puppy or if I'm doing something wrong but he's very bitey and can be growly. He attacks my husband the most but does try it on with my 3 year old too. If you tell him off or move away and ignore him he just barks. He is so naughty and constantly steals my kids toys and teddies despite being told not to and having his own toys to play with. He sleeps on his own bed in our bedroom and has never been allowed on our bed. He tries several times every night to get on our bed so we have to push him off and resettle him several times a night. He just doesn't seem to learn that his behaviour is not acceptable. I take him to puppy training class every week.

Is this all just normal puppy behaviour? Is it typical of a sighthound? I'm just finding him really hard work but hoping things will get better with time. Am I expecting too much of a 4 month old dog?

Thank for reading my essay!
 
Jeanie11 said:
Thanks for the welcome everyone! The trouble I'm having with him is that he's just so manic. I don't know if it's just because he's a puppy or if I'm doing something wrong but he's very bitey and can be growly. He attacks my husband the most but does try it on with my 3 year old too. If you tell him off or move away and ignore him he just barks. He is so naughty and constantly steals my kids toys and teddies despite being told not to and having his own toys to play with. He sleeps on his own bed in our bedroom and has never been allowed on our bed. He tries several times every night to get on our bed so we have to push him off and resettle him several times a night. He just doesn't seem to learn that his behaviour is not acceptable. I take him to puppy training class every week.

Is this all just normal puppy behaviour? Is it typical of a sighthound? I'm just finding him really hard work but hoping things will get better with time. Am I expecting too much of a 4 month old dog?

Thank for reading my essay!
Click to expand...
yes normal puppy behaviours. but if your worried go to the vet because they know best! also don't reward his biting behaviour or else he will continue to do it. if the vets cant help go to a behaviourist or you can ask around on here I'm sure someone will help!
 
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Yes, it sounds par for the course, and both salukis and whippets can be a little loopy! What are you feeding him, though? Some foods can make dogs a little hyper, so it's worth considering.

Generally, telling a dog off doesn't work well, particularly a hyper puppy who is just having too much fun! Whenever you want to tell him off, think about how you could have avoided the situation, what it is you want him to do, and how you can replace the unwanted behaviour with a wanted one.

I'm assuming the biting/growling is just overexcitement or frustration rather than aggression. One thing that's really important is NEVER to punish or correct growling - this is your dog telling you he isn't happy, and if he learns he's not allowed to growl he might not tell you when he's uncomfortable with a situation and get so stressed he needs to bite. But assuming this is just overexcitement, the best method is a timeout - either move away from him, or move him, say the other side of a stairgate. It doesn't have to be long though - literally 5-10 seconds - and then let him out again. Some days you'll feel like he's in and out of timeout every single minute but if you're consistent, it will work in the end.

As hard as it may be, the best solution for stealing your son's toys is not to give him the opportunity - so use a big lidded toybox for easy clear-ups, and try to keep your son & dog separate (in different rooms or one in a playpen or fenced-off area) when your son has his toys out. When he does get a toy, don't chase him and try to get it back - that's far too much fun! Instead, either ignore him and be really boring, or offer him one of his toys (maybe a squeaky toy so it's more fun than the one he has) or a treat in exchange. You might find he deliberately picks up the toys just to get the better toy or treat, but that's great, and worth encouraging - once he's a bit calmer you can scale down the rewards. (My dog still brings me socks in exchange for treats on occasion, but I find it quite sweet!)

Working on 'drop', 'leave', 'bring it to me' will also be really useful here, but you need to start training with things he's not going to be reluctant to give up.

Teaching a good 'settle' on his bed is really useful too, but don't expect too much too soon.

Teaching impulse control is invaluable, because as well as knowing what you want him to do, the dog has to have the self-control to do it. Have a look on YouTube for a video called 'It's Yer Choice'.

For him going on your bed at night (and who can blame him? It's warm and snuggly and smells of the people he loves most!), you might want to have his bed in a crate by your bed. Then you can reassure him when he's unsettled without having to evict him from your bed. Make sure he's warm enough - he might even appreciate a pair of fleecy pjs!

Puppies are VERY hard work, and whippet/saluki crosses likely to be even more so. Don't compare him to other pups you meet who seem to be calmness personified. The first time I went to a 'puppy party' at Pets@Home all the other pups there sat quietly and attentively on their owners' laps listening to the staff's talk about what products to buy, while my lurcher and another lurcher were like a seething ball of fluff as they play-fought each other, then he tried to raid the dog food aisle, and the cat food aisle, and the bird food aisle....

Having a toddler as well will make it even harder, but keep telling yourself that this will pass, it will get better, try to enjoy the manic moments, and accept that a few of your son's toys won't survive. Oh, an excellent puppy training book IMO is The Puppy Primer by Patricia McConnell.

Do we get to see photos? Please?:)
 
Welcome!
Definitely normal sighthound puppy behaviour, i have 2 whippets the youngest 16mth. I've had other pups but definitely my whippets have been the most work but i love it!
Oliver use to nip me a lot but i use to turn away from him and not speak he hated being ignored .
Oliver still takes my sons toys but i just remove it from him and replace it with one of his own and when he plays with it i praise him.
Sleeping well my boy's share my bed i did try them in their own bed but nope they ended up with me and my hubby.
When Oliver use to get carried away nipping and getting over excited i would put him on a lead and tie it to my waist so he had to go everywhere i went , it helped Oliver chill out a lot we used that on Marley as well.
Whenever your pup is doing something good give plenty of praise and fuss as these guy's need a lot off guidance, well my two did!
 
Thank you everyone for all your replies, I'll definitely take on board all you've said. I'll try and upload a picture, not sure exactly how to though.....!
 
Hi @Jeanie11 - to upload a photo just click on 'upload file' next to post reply and then click 'full image'

That should work :)
 
IMG_20180102_112454.jpg
 
Jeanie11 said:
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Wow, he's exactly like our young lad shortly after we got him. He looks lovely :)
As the others have said, they're nutty as squirrel poo so settle in for a few years and enjoy it :D . Our lad does the typical zoomies around garden, into the house, leaps, hits the back of one of the sofas, bounces off and goes back out again. #wreckedsofa :D
Gotta love those puppy teeth lol.
I've read saluki pups in particular can be a bit 'nippy' so it's just a case of setting clear boundaries i.e. it's okay to play but no biting. We're at the stage where our 10yr old son WANTS to play fight with our lad (like I do but minus the biting - me biting the dog :D ) but the dog won't play fight our son as he's been told not to. He will have a game of tug or fetch though.
When we first got our Charlie (the dog), we taught our son to sternly say "NO" when Charlie got too boisterous. This often was a shout but our son soon learnt the correct way/tone/volume.
For the barking thing (not growling but barking), if he and our greyhound won't stop a noisy play fight we have a couple of water spray bottles handy. We've only got to pick it up and shake it now and they stop barking at each other.
Hope that helps in some way :)
 
Just popping my 'positive training' hat on - shouting NO, even if not too angry-sounding, and using water sprays can make some dogs more excited, and more peed off with you in general, so doesn't help with what you really want, which is for the dog to calm down again. And some dogs, which very much includes salukis, will find this so shocking they can get really anxious and upset and maybe lose trust in you. Aversives worked really badly for my dog, whereas just consistently stopping overboisterous play did work... eventually.

Just my own opinion, of course, and based on my own dog (and a lot of time spent on a positive-training forum). They're all different, so just keep an open mind on what might be right for yours.

Zoomies are even more impressive when they start with a dip in the wildlife pond and digging up the borders before belting round the house and jumping on the soft furnishing... they certainly leave a longer-lasting impression:mad::D
 
If you post one of these photo's in the photo's/video's thread you will be entered into a draw for some dog treats @Jeanie11 :D
 
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