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seren1981
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seren1981 is offline  
Location: Glasgow, UK
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05-08-2010, 05:43 PM

Greyhound distressed at dogs behind fences

Hello. This is my first post on this forum. I have had Noodles, a 4 year old retired greyhound for almost a year. He is a great dog, he is friendly to dogs and humans (although not small furrys) and his general training is going very well.

Recently he has started to get very wound up (i think afraid) when we walk at night past gardens with dogs behind fences. It seems to be getting worse

He was attacked a couple of months ago (late at night) and ended up with quite a bad bite at the top of his front leg which luckily has just about healed now. He was on the lead and the other dog was off. It was quite traumatic for both of us, but he seems to have got over it well apart from the 'dogs behind fences' thing starting, I am not sure if it is linked. There was one particular place where it started (well away from where he was attacked) and the dogs behind the fence bark and growl and are generally intimidating to anyone (with or with out a dog) walking past, he is very reluctant to walk down that street at all now. He even reacts to dogs that are not being threatening now.

I thought it may be me anticipating his response making it worse, but sometimes we will walk past a garden where I am not aware of a dog until Noodles gets upset.

He generally shoots forwards or backwards (away from the dog / garden) with a lot of force (enough to make my shoulder hurt for a few days the first time it happened) and barks, growls and whines which is very unusual for him. It doesnt seem to happen when he can see the dog clearly, or during the day, only when there is a high fence or hedge.

I have tried having treats ready, but once he has noticed the other dog, he takes no notice.

I have modified my route to take account of all the known gardens, but I would like to address this problem in case it develops into something worse. Other than this, he is a happy, well adjusted dog. I would appreciate any thoughts or ideas.
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ClaireandDaisy
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05-08-2010, 05:57 PM
Could you try passing these gardens on the other side of the road? Is he OK at a distance?
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seren1981
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05-08-2010, 06:01 PM
Thank you, I could try. The worst one is really a footpath with a grass bank on the other side and he does seem happier if we walk along the top of the bank. Thinking about it, he doesnt react if we are on the other side of the road. This will stop the ones I know about, perhaps I could slowly get him closer
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wilbar
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06-08-2010, 01:02 PM
Poor Noodles, that must have been quite a fright being attacked like that so no wonder he's nervous now.

It's likely that Noodles has made a lot of associations between being attacked & other things ~ dogs (smell, sound), fences, gardens, the dark, the weather conditions etc etc. So it won't be easy to "cure". Imagine how you'd feel if you'd been mugged in the dark & badly hurt by your attacker ~ I don't think you'd get over it very quickly either! And many people that have been attacked get extremely nervous about going out, after dark or on their own or to particular places. These feelings don't fade away quickly but can take a long time.

So when you walk Noodles after dark, it's likely that even going out in the dark makes him feel a bit anxious & when the stress-related physiology kicks in it can quickly escalate so that other things can spark those same fears.

You need to take things slowly & calmly, avoid going near or past anything that is likely to make him worried. If you can do those same walks in the daylight for a while so that the sounds & smells become more familiar, it's possible that the same places in the dark won't be so scary for him.
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seren1981
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08-08-2010, 03:30 PM
Thank you for your reply. It does make sense the there may be other thing that he associates with being attacked. We have had good walks for the past 2 nights. We are avoiding the areas where I know there are dogs behind fences and I am giving him bits of chicken as we walk to keep his mind off things. We met a lady with another friendly dog that he said hello to which calmed him down
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