Things Not Going So Well With Our 'new Addition'

[hughes0]

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as most of you already know i have jake (9 months) and pixie (4 months)

and we recently took on milo (18 months) from a family that could no longer keep him with the arrival of their new baby.

the main problem they had was his running off and his over exuberance.

the first week to ten days was looking very positive, he was initially shell shocked of course but then settled down nicely. he stopped the jumping up that he displayed when at home with his owners quite quickly.

unfortunatly as his confidence as grown so has his dominance. starting with the dogs but now moving on to us. if he gets off the lead or out of the gate he is gone...down the road. no amount of calling gets him back.

this week he found he could squeeze between the gatepost and the prickly hedge and has been escaping the garden :unsure:

he will not respond to me at all, not in the house or out and about, he will occasionally respond to my husband but he is never home really so i feel quite desperate.

today he has got out twice and gone chasing the horses in the field over the road, their owners were out there too!! i felt helpless not being able to get him back.

i took him out on a long lead and i got pulled over, and pulled my shoulder quite badly, he carried on running.

he is a pleasent dog, very clean and no trouble at night. he walks quite nicely on a short lead. he has shown great patience with my four children, he is a bit overpowering for my other two dogs though, i think this is because they are younger and he wants to dominate them.

after exchanges of emails between my friend who is an experienced whippet owner and breeder and between milos owners i have really come to the conclusion that i am rather out of my depth with milo. i cannot offer him the amount of time he needs, not with the puppy and the children. i have stated that i will keep on to the weekend and then if there is no improvement he will have to go.

i personally feel he really is a mans dog and also very dominant. his owners do not agree that he is a mans dog and apparently responded more to his lady owner there. he has been to all the training classes etc... with his owners but definitly seems to have forgotten the lot.

i have today been in contact with jr whippet rescue, and will be talking with her again later on today.

i am posting this message in case there is any one out there looking for a teenage whippet, probably with older dogs or no dogs and definitly with older children than mine (we have toddlers) with more experience than me that has the time to take him back to basics and straighten him out and give him his new forever home. he cant go back to his owners as it has been hard enough for them letting go, without having to have him back to rehome him again.

we are based in gloucester/cheltenham. if anyone can help or advise please pm me.

 

[nicky12]

aww such a shame hes such a handsome boy to anymore pics of him ...how long have you had him ??

 

[OEH]

Oh dear how horrible for you.

These difficult ones can be such a nightmare. Our Josephine was like Milo sounds and it has taken well over a year to get her to be almost normal, I doubt she'll ever be totally normal, and it has been such hard work that I have said I'd never do it again. As much as I love her now I still think it would have probably been the best idea to find her a new home while we still could (before she had bonded too well) as she still causes great disturbances in the pack (I was in A+E with a dislocated thumb and lots of puncture wounds a few weeks ago due to a fight between her and another one of min) so I have enormous sympathy with you :huggles: :luck: .

 

[~elizabeth~]

I've had phases like this with Gelert, I've found that it helped to give him more stimulation in the form of rabbiting and lately, lurecoursing and regular running at racing and other places. It may be your boy needs more stimulation than other whippets; once you have a routine of this he may stop looking for his own entertainment, and also start to trust you a little more (I find Gelert's more obedient/compliant with me, as I tend to collude more with his special interests than my OH). Does your boy have some coursing blood by any chance?

 

[FoxyDog]

To bad to hear that you are having trouble, but hats off to you for trying to help!

I am always cautious before I lable a dog "dominant" when I am working with fostered ex-racing Greyhounds. A lot of the time the dogs that others have labeled "dominant" are not that at all but are simply suffereing from 1) the shock of being taken away from all that's familiar, and 2) just don't know what is expected. This dog may have had some training but the question is does he know what you expect of him? If you are in contact from the original owners ask them what they expected from him, what ground rules did they inforce? Most re-homed dogs that I have known seem to suffer from a lack of good behaviour in their new home or foster home. It can be a VERY hard time for any dog.

From what you say it sounds to me more like this dog just loves to run. If he got out and had a grand ol' time of course he's going to want to do it again, and remember the breed we're talking about here . Every time he gets out is one more time that the bad habit is re-enforced. He may not be listening to you because he just hasn't bonded enough to you and doesn't see you as someone to listen to yet, this should not be confused with outright deliberate disobedience.

It's good sometimes to realize that you cannot provide what a foster dog needs. There's nothing wrong with that. It sounds like you have done your best and with your household that's been a lot to ask. My pup is reaching 9 months now and he has been very good with his training, but now as he gets to this stage he's starting to not listen as well. It's to be expected at this age but that doesn't make him dominant, he's just going through that stage where I'm going to have to be a little more diligent. He will mellow out again, it comes with age.

I hope everything works out for you and the little guy, and don't feel to bad. I'm sure that everyone who works with rescue has at some point felt overwhelmed. I sure have!

Good luck!

FoxyDog

 

[Happy Humber]

There is one thing that might help and that is to change his diet. He may be sensative to his food.

I took on a whippet dog at very short notice the same age and had awful trouble untill we realized he went totally hyper on most dog foods.

What I did was to put him on to tripe and mixer as a start and the effect was immidiate.

If he is food sensative he will calm down very quickly if you can remove the cause.

Alternativly you could try fish and boiled rice. I used tripe because it is low in protien. You dont have to stay on it forever you can re introduce things and watch what effect they have.

My own pup goes hyper if I give him butchers tinned tripe. I must say I find whips quite prone to food sesativity rather like some children with cola and food colourings. This dog now lives on tinned chappie.

Also get yourself a rolled up news paper to waive about and let him know you are the boss!

Bless him it is all new for him, the boy I took on was left behind at the kennels the owners did not want him back! he was total maniac but it was mostly due to his food.

Good luck you must be so busy, but def try the diet thing even if you decide to re home, him if he is hyper he is unable to listen properly to you.

 

[hughes0]

some great advice thanks guys )

i wasnt sure whether or not to post as i was worried about getting shouted down but you are all very kind.

when he arrived he was on dried complete bakers.

we feed tripe, mixer, chicken wings, sunday veggies, and sometimes a pigs ear or two here. he has been completely moved over to this 'barf' diet from his bakers and seems to enjoy it immensely so i dont think it is his food ... maybe do you think he was happier on his dried stuff :blink: i know which my other two would choose even if it is stinky :x they love it.

with regard to the coursing question, i have a good feeling he is, he is built differently to other show dogs i've seen. he is a big boy, i have seen some of his papers and miramax was his breeder i think, i dont claim to know who that is though

 

[Janimal]

Sorry to hear about your problems with Milo I hope you can sort them out.... Im sure there would be someone on here willing to offer you some help - or even possible rehome him if necessary.

With 2 under a year, and Milo sounds very energetic too, its sounds like your hands are well and truly full at the moment. :blink:

 

[*Lesley*]

some great advice thanks guys )
i wasnt sure whether or not to post as i was worried about getting shouted down    but you are all very kind.

when he arrived he was on dried complete bakers.

we feed tripe, mixer, chicken wings, sunday veggies, and sometimes a pigs ear or two here.  he has been completely moved over to this 'barf' diet from his bakers and seems to enjoy it immensely so i dont think it is his food ... maybe do you think he was happier on his dried stuff :blink:   i know which my other two would choose even if it is stinky :x   they love it.

with regard to the coursing question, i have a good feeling he is, he is built differently to other show dogs i've seen.  he is a big boy,  i have seen some of his papers and miramax was his breeder i think, i dont claim to know who that is though

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

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Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time and sad to think you were worried about posting, it's a hard enough thing to cope with has it is, sorry I can't really offer any advice but the advice you've had sounds good and I hope it works, but if not good luck with finding an alternative :luck: :luck:

 

[Rae]

Sorry to hear you are having problems with Milo.

I have a lurcher who can be a liability when she is off her lead, good as gold for weeks, then all of sudden she's off for no reason other than she felt like it. It could just be that Milo is one of those dogs, I know that some other K9'ers have whippies who love to run off and explore on their own. Like Moriate I did find that rabbiting (and me a vegetarian ....it was only because they had myxi ) and lure coursing did help enormously with her, but we don't have a family and the dogs are my focus so it's relatively easy for me to put this time in with her, not so easy for you I can imagine.

In the mean time is it possible to make sure you dont let him off his lead unless it is totally safe, and that he cant get out of the garden?

:luck: this is obviously very hard for all concerned.

 

[~elizabeth~]

I have a lurcher who can be a liability when she is off her lead, good as gold for weeks, then all of sudden she's off for no reason other than she felt like it.  It could just be that Milo is one of those dogs.

I have to say that my experience is that they don't change. Gelert's gone through phases of being fine with them for over a year or more, then suddenly he'll start out of the blue. He can be extremely cunning at slipping away; you have to be one step ahead of him all the time, and have no distractions when walking otherwise he takes full advantage. It is usually when he's been understimulated, he was particularly bad after being on lead for months after his toe break, though things improved very quickly we got back to normal. We're very lucky where we are, we have a large, open common area with few hazards (apart from the horses); life would be more difficult if we didn't have such a good, safe place to free run I think.

I found he got very hyper when he was on Red Mills; it wasn't even the highest protein one so diet could be worth looking at. I feed turkey/fish and rice for one meal, plus Burns extra though I know it doesn't suit all dogs.

Did his previous owners have any other dogs? Perhaps his behaviour is just due to being a little undersocialised, and having to learn good doggy manners for the first time?

 

[wild whippies]

I agree with Moriarte, the stubborn one's don't change, I think you have to watch them like a hawk and really bear down on them. I've got two this way inclined (mother and son) who are both avid hunters. Mum has mellowed a lot with age and doesn't stray so much these days and her son gets club raced every week (where his recall is wonderful) What gets me about her son though is when I take him places like the beach, he's waiting and watching for me to take my eyes off him, the minute I do he's off and were talking 1000+ yard sprints into the dunes. I used to go nuts and shout and bawl at him but it never improved. What has worked with this particular dog has been positive enforcement big style. The more I pet and fuss over him, the more he's been inclined to stay with me but in fairness, his Mum's stubbron streak is far stronger and nothing would distract her enough to stop her going hunting for fluffies.

On a positive note, the world would be a far less interesting place if we all had the same personality. It's just a problem when you encounter stronger ones than your own.

 

[zilloot]

I had a very stubborn one (a bitch) and it just felt that no amount of training or training classes was getting 'through' to her. If I let her off the lead she just disappeared and chased whatever she liked.

I have literally spent years long-lining her at re-call and only letting her off when it was safe (ie no livestock etc around). We sank the fences round our garden to stop her digging her way out. I also spent lots of time just playing silly games with squeaky toys and treats with her to try and bring her focus back to me. One thing we discovered she loved was chasing a tennis ball and we were lucky at the time to have an enclosed field we could use so I just used to tire her out with a tennis-ball launcher.

She's quite grown up now and has turned lazy since she was neutered. Her recall is quite good (finally!!!) but it has taken a HUGE amount of work over a very long time... literally years! Luckily she was not big so I had the strength to handle her on a long line.

My Dad's dog is also stubborn and huge and he was a rescue from a family who couldn't cope with him. I doubt I would have managed him by myself and my Dad only manages because he has acres of very high and secure fencing. He is almost impossible to train and they only manage because he is utterly devoted to my Dad.

:luck: I really wish you the very best with Milo. The only hope I can offer is that they do 'grow up' in time and are worth the effort... but it's a huge job to manage them and it can just be impossible in some circumstances. :luck: :luck: for whatever decision you make :huggles:

 

[~elizabeth~]

On a less positive note regarding serious escape artists, our neighbours have several children who were very lazy about shutting doors and gates, and their dogs quite often got out and wandered everywhere; they then got a husky which kept escaping all the time; we found her hunting around over the lake once and took her home; a couple of weeks later she escaped again and this time disappeared for good; they never discovered what happened to her despite a big local publicity campaign.