Anyone here ever had trouble training their lurcher?

Mine is part german Shepherd. If I had to sue Cesar Milan's ddescription (purely for descriptive purposes, I do not want a Cesar debate) I would call her excited nervous dominant.

She is dominant to other dogs big time. She plays too rough and upsets them. She has a 'crazy' switch in her,she can be lazy and sopy at home but as soon as someone walks past the window outside or she hears a cat miaow for example, she becomes this incredibly quick, dominant, barking snarling loony. When people come to the door she is impossible to hold. Typical solutions to door madness seem to be 'teach them to go their bed,' and suchlike, but it is impossible. She scorns treats when in this excited mode, or if she is out. She is incapable of listening or controlling herself. Even if it is something she really wants like her dinner, she sighs and tries to get away with not doing it by hovvering instead of sitting down, or turning her head as though to pretend she can't hear me. Then I think about dog body language and think maybe I am making her anxious by 'confronting' her with a command. But I'm not frightening- I don't shout at her, and try not to be too coochy coo either.
She has a nervous paranoid streak too, because if members of the family begin to sound stressed she starts shaking and runs away to hide under the table.
Lastly I have attempted walking her lots in the past to try and 'tire her out,' as people recommend. But I swear she can run up and down a 3 mile long beach for 6 hours and still not want to go home. And if anything the more time out walking she has, the more hyper she gets, for example when we first go out she'll respond to me saying 'Gypsy, come here.' but after a while, she gets silly and starts acting mental.

Sorry can't really help but it sounds as though you need a specialist to help you. We had a lurcher when I was a young child but the only thing I can remember is he was obedient till he saw a rabbit & then you lost him, sometimes for hours. Hope someone more knowledgable comes along soon.

Sorry but i'm not sure how much help i can be! This doesn't sound like a lurcher thing tough as every lurcher in our family is very laid back and easy to train the basics (if not to smart). On the whole lurchers are very easy going dogs and i haven't heard of any being dominant.

Cassie can be a bit nervy but thats because she is a rescue dog and was beaten.

Hope some one on here can help as it sounds like a individual problem not a lurcher related one.

I think it is definitely a good idea to speak to a professional dog behaviourist about her.

Gypsy really does sound like a nervous dog who gets stressed out easily not only by her own feelings but also by emotions of family members. It would also be interesting to know a bit more about her background. Have you rescued her? How old is she?

You could try a product called the DAP diffuser or the DAP collar. DAP stands for Dog Appeasing Pheromone and the diffuser looks like a plug-in air freshener. The DAP diffuser or collar releases a pheromone that a bitch releases after giving birth to her puppies. It has a calming effect on puppies and adult dogs without being sedative. The diffuser can help her to be less nervous indoors and the collar can help outside during walks.

It may help if you know someone who has a relaxed and quiet but assertive dog (he/she should not be nervous) and agree a ‘walk date’ during which she has to walk quietly next to the other dog but is not allowed to play with him. Keep them on the lead during the walk. Sometimes it helps if you avoid eye contact between the two dogs and if you walk between them. Ideally, you should try to keep her in a calm state throughout the walk; the calmness of the other dog should hopefully rub off. This way she learns that she can spend time outdoors and with another dog without getting too excited or nervous. As Gypsy is very sensitive to other people’s emotions, she will pick up on you being nervous as well. So whatever you do, try to stay calm (I know it can be very hard!).

Again, I think it is good idea to speak to a professional dog behaviourist. I work for the Eukanuba Care & Advice Line and we often recommend having a look at the APBC (Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors) website to find someone local.

Maybe she gets her strong barking and guarding instinct off the German Shepherd in her. She is 2 and a half now, and was rescued at 6 months. Probably not socialised or anything. I was wondering last night if maybe she is just anxious of everything inside and that mixed with excitment, means she just decides to go nuts at everything to ward them off.
The reason I say it might be a lurcher thing is that I have met other other lurchers with similar trouble staying calm, and being obedient. A friend has one who is hyper and nips, and I met one in the woods a while ago who was just a whirling dervish like Gypsy and ran straight into his owners legs knowcking him down.
Maybe it depends on their mix, age, and of course all dogs are different. I know another lurcher who is quite calm all the time. They are renowned for being peaceful kind of dogs like greyhounds and maybe some do turn out that way, but I suppose different dogs inherit different levels of influences from their parents.
I have walked alongside people with other dogs before, and she just spends the whole time being a nuisance. There was this dear little Cavalier, she just kept swiping it with her paws. Then a lurcher called Hamish, who is getting on in years and is very docile- she was chasing him round, same with an elderly weim we met. I once met a labradoodle sat down on a day out with a child. It was calm and submissive, it was blinking and looking the other way. It gently sniffed Gypsy, all polite and everything. And then just seemed to ignore her but she was going crazy at it, straining, and tense, body taught and up on tiptoes, then she starts putting a paw over their back. The other dog looks worried, and then she's literally jumping on them, flailing about with her paws, and then she started barking and growling liek she wanted a full on scrap. I walked miles with another friend who has two lovely nice little dogs and the whole time correcting Gypsy, trying to calm her, trying to get her focussed on just walking, but ishe spent the whole time lunging across trying to get my friend's dogs, whining, hyper....then in the woods I tried letting her off to play and she was on the lead within five minutes because she was chasing my friends dog, not in a playful way but not allowing the other dog to get away and again jumping on top of it, making it squeal out.

I think you need to forget the possibilty of dominence as this a veyr comlicated subject and is so often misunderstood, misdiagnosed and blaimed for a variety of problems. It really isn't that important.

It sounds like she is nervous especially as nervous/stressed dogs will refuse food as they go into a fight/flight scenario and eating before each of these options doesn't help.

Have a look at www.apdt.co.uk or www.apbc.co.uk and you should be able to find a trainner/behaviourist in your area who uses kind, fair and effective methods.

I think you do need to find someone who will help you either one-to-one or in a very small group, so that you can sort out which problems are caused by general lurcher traits (e.g. they do play rough nipping rrrrahhhh games) and which problems are specific to your dog.

Ask to sit in on a few sessions before you take your dog, and see if there are any lurchers or sighthounds in the group and how they are treated. Some trainers and behaviourists unfortunately think lurchers are 'thick' because they are not clockwork collies - if you get this impression run like b*ggery and find someone who understands them.

You mention 'dominance' a lot. I've actually met very few dominant dogs, but I've met scared ones who have learnt to get by with lots of bluster and noise. I hope you can find someone who will help you to listen to what your dog is telling you.

I have a GSD/Greyhound, extemely nervous dog and very excitable but I don't believe in dogs being dominant, just dogs that don't know how to behave.

So will mine if I allow her to, I stop her being so bad mannered with other dogs.

So is Tilly but I don't allow her to, this isn't being dominant, it is being bad mannered like teenage hooligans. Thankfully Tilly is coming out of her hooligan stage.

I have another that is worse than Tilly, Lab/Collie but I don't let them get to the door, I shut them in another room so I can open the front door in safety.

She can't listen when she is like this, part of her brain has shut down so she can deal with her imaginary threat. If her bones are long like most lurchers, she may not be able to sit, many long boned dogs can't, I have 2 that can't sit, like your dog, Joe will hover, Merlin doesn't attempt to sit.

Turning her head like this is her trying to communicate with you, she is telling you she isn't happy and upset.

I never confront my dogs, I do try to put them in a position where they can do what I want. This takes more thought on our part but well worth the effort.

How well have you taught the command, if you teach sit in the kitchen, you will have to reteach it in the living room, hall etc, dogs don't generalise. The more places you teach this the better she will become and one day will sit in places were she hasn't been taught.

What has got her like this? Can you work it out?

Even now after 5 years I have to be careful with my Greyhound, if I am not he screams which I find very distressing. When I first got him it was a nightmare trying to get him to do something but gradually I started to think of other ways and it worked.

She may benefit from mental exercise, hide dry food round the house and let her hunt for it, scatter dry food over the grass and let her hunt for it. Things like this will tire her out a lot better than letting her run for several hours.

Too much freedom doesn't do dogs good, they need structored exercise, break the free running up with short training session, play hide and seek etc. Again use your imagination with her.

Lurchers are not like most dogs, you have to think outside the box to train them but well worth the effort. Agility or flyball may do her good as well.

Good luck with your hooligan, I am so pleased that Tilly's hooligan period is nearly over

Quoting: ' So will mine if I allow her to, I stop her being so bad mannered with other dogs.'

It is easy enough to say 'i don't allow her to' but what do you mean? That I don't try and stop her? Like I just let her get away with everything. What is your idea of disciplining and saying 'no?' I get this kind of attitude from a lot of people whenever I discuss my dog, and it is superior and too assuming. I don't mind your constructive criticism or advice, but it is the assumption that it would be a piece of cake if only YOU were there to sort it out (when you are probably no more intelligent or qualified as I am) that annoys me.
We attempt to get her sit (she knows this command very well, we get her to do it before we give her anything), we use a halti collar, we can try and physically hold her back from hurting anyone or anything, and try and shut her away, but she is like an eel in your hands, very difficult. She can slip the halti if she gets very bad, and can still pull with it on.

And if we shut her away she barks and goes crazy at the door without relent, although obviously we still do it- I do not allow her to answer the door with me, unless I know the person wants to see her. She can physically sit fine, her back is not too curved or bony. I have also studied dog behaviour and body language, and can correctly recognise their signals, such as the turning of the head. I just don't know how to behave myself, or what to do in response.

She will sit while outdoors, just not with distractions, her reaction to them is just too intense.
She has always been like it. My first memory of Gypsy in the rescue kennels was of a very unusual looking dog who acted differently to the others. Really hyper and funny. I liked it, thought it was cute, the weird bouncing and flailing arms, but didn't realise it would be as bad, or be so hard to stop.

I have done the hiding treats around thing but she isn't very good at it. We have to keep directing her around or she'll give up and go away. And it only lasts 5 minutes, it doesn't seem to help her that much. She just doesn't get into things like this, and make them worthwhile. I am thinking of buying an attachment for my bike which will allow her to run beside me. I think she needs a short burst of running rather than endless off lead pottering, or endless walking beside me. That is the one of the only (positive) things which I have seen her doing when eyes really light up and focus. She doesn't get into many of the other 'typical' things dogs like, such as sniffing out treats, in fact she doesn't really get excited about treats at all. I could wave fresh warm chicken in front of her nose while outside (and I have done) and she doesn't focus on it, and attempt to behave so she can have it. She prefers having things her own way above most things. As soon as we open the door her nose and ears are everywhere, scanning, and she is riveted, and very forward, I am just in the background no matter how hard I try and interest her and discipline her.

I am aware of the controversy around the dominance theory. I am not cruel, blaming everything on dominance, or just trying to blame her and 'teach her a lesson.' It is controversial because people think is is somehow a negative way of thinking, and encourages people to think in a punitive kind of way. To me 'dominance' is a natural state. Some people are more dominant than others, I am not talking about people who threaten to club you if you don't do what you say, I am talking about people who are strong, and who attempt to take the powerful, leading roles. When she is with other dogs she is on tiptoes, placing a paw over their back and looks very sure of her ability to out maneuver them.