Struggling with our sight hound :(

See duplicate thread in General Dog Forum

 

And I just wrote a big reply on it - I have asked Josie to try to recover it. Meantime it basically said there is hope - I will retype if necessary.

 

Ok, let's see if I can remember what I said.

There seem to be 3 main issues, all stemming from excitability.

The nipping - normal for puppies, it's an extension of the boisterous play he had with his littermates but by now he needs to learn bite inhibition. There are various ways to do this - some people favour sticking a toy in his mouth, others suggest a high pitched "ouch" but both these risk ramping up the excitement. My preference is to walk out of the room for a few moments - the message is that as soon as teeth touch skin, the fun stops dead. Say nothing, just as soon as he makes that contact, walk out. If you need to get him off you to do that, keep a short house lead on him (without a loop that could snag). Teeth on skin = end of fun. As long as the whole family is consistent he will het it. You may find he gets worse before he gets better - that is called extinction burst which is where a behaviour that used to get attention no longer works for the dog so he tries it all the harder. That's good, it shows it is starting to work.

The visitors - similar strategy, have him behind a baby gate or in another room and he is only allowed attention when he is calm. Baby gates are great because everyone can see each other. So visitors ignore him but if he calms, then they can say hello.

The chasing and lack of recall - he must be kept on a long line for his safety, and that of others, until you are on top of this. Long lines or flexi leads should only be attached to a harness, never a collar, as when he is running out he won't know when he is about to reach the end and the jerk as it stops him short could damage his neck or trachea. On the long line you can work more on recall (which sighthound sometimes struggle with, and which adolescents often blow - and you have both in one). A whistle is good as it is consistent. So to start every recall is rewarded, then mix up the rewards so you have a hierarchy - better ones for more challenging recalls, for example from a chase. There is a good book called Total Recall by Pippa Mattinson.

There are a few sighthound owners here who may be able to help further but keep at it, there is hope!

Hope I remembered everything I said earlier!

 

Whippets and salukis are two of the hardest sighthounds to have especially as pups they are So naughty...But stick with him and you will end up with an amazing longdog (sighthound Xsighthound)
Its all about exercise stimulation. ..food and routine and discipline. ...positive reward training ...ignore unwanted behaviour and reward good ...sounds like you may have to go back to the beginning. ..training like you would a brand new pup ....please post some photos ...
I have 2 saluki crosses and the are wired totally different to my bull lurcher

 

I have 3 whippets and i totally agree with everyone , I've had other breeds of dogs but my whippet pups have been the hardest! My youngest is 5mth and totally bonkers! He's hard work but so worth it, i always think if you get through your first year then you've done the most difficult part.
All pups nip i usually replace my hand with a toy and give praise when he plays with it. I definitely wouldn't let him off the lead as hes still young and you need to work on recall, im lucky i have a huge garden and thats were my boys run. We dont have any enclosed areas around us to let them off sadly.
Keep your chin up it does get better they are just such goofy guy's lol

 

Sorry just meant to say i feed harrington to all my boys are i really like it.

 

Gosh he is lovely ...if you hadnt said he was whippet saluki i would have said he was bedlington X

 

I would consider changing his food ...harringtons has a protein of 28%which could be why he is so hyper ....
Have you tried raw food ....diet plays a huge part in a young dogs life especially sighthounds. ...

 

Hi, this could have so easily been written by me a few months ago. We've got a 2 year old saluki/ greyhound cross and have experienced most of what you describe. He is starting to calm down but still has crazy moments. I am learning to manage this by trying to avoid places/ things that cause the biggest problems. One of the best things I have tried with his recall is using a squeaky ball/ toy on walks for emergency recall. It works really well (touch wood!) and today I managed to call him back from charging towards a herd of cows (they were on the other side of a fence but I didn't want to take any chances). I try to only use it when I really need to, in case over-using it makes it lose its appeal. When he comes back I make sure I play with him with the squeaky ball for a short time, which he sees as a real treat.

 

Another thing that I do on walks is to keep giving Sparky treats when he walks nicely and calmly next to me. He is getting better at not charging up to people to say hello but still has the odd embarrassing moment. He unfortunately seems to have a knack of identifying people who are nervous of dogs and seeking them out, wagging his tail vigorously!

A book that I found really helpful was "Calm Down!" By Beverley Courtney. She basically advocates training your dog to chill out on a mat by using loads of treats. It has helped me manage Sparky around the house and now he gets on hs mat pretty quickly, enabling me to get stuff done around the house (whereas previously he thought I existed purely to play with him/ entertain him).

I'm sure you've been told all of this but activities are good - collecting identical empty yoghurt pots and then upturning them and hiding a treat under one for him to sniff out works quite well (it only lasts for a few seconds but you can keep hiding treats again and again) or dabbing a tiny bit of soft cheese on the inside of one so that he has to pick each one up and look inside it works quite well.

I have also found (in the winter, it's obviously much too hot at the moment) putting a house fleece on him when it's time to calm down is a good cue that fun is over and it's time to settle down. In all honesty there were many times in the first year where I thought that i couldn't cope with him and he would have to be returned to the rescue, even though it would have broken my husband's and kids' hearts. As I said, we still have our moments and he is far from the perfect dog (he still has an incredibly high chase drive) but he is a gorgeous, sweet-natured member of the family and he really tries to please us (most of the time anyway!). What helped me the most was reassurance from people who had been there themselves and reading loads and loads of books.