Opinions on where to start (teaching an old dog new tricks)

OK so now Nancy is settling down we need to start work on her learning things. She's an ex-racer, older than they're normally rehomed (she raced till she was 5, rehomed aged 7) and so basically she's come to us as pretty much an utter blank slate - bless her. Although Nancy's her old name that we decided to keep purely because we couldn't agree on anything else, she's only just starting to become vaguely aware that it refers to her.

So far all we've done is a few "watch me" and working on the pair of 'em waiting behind the kitchen door dividing line while I sort out their food and working on becoming familiar with the cat (she doesn't seem at all bothered by cats/rabbits/squirrels thankfully but I ain't taking this as a given for a LOOOOONG time) - but it's pretty daunting knowing where to start with this. It doesn't help that she's very easily frustrated - if she doesn't get a treat straight away, she'll just flounce off and go to sleep (I knew they were lazy - she has lazy to PhD level). She also struggles a little bit to get treats into her mouth at times - she's missing all but one of her front teeth so food tends to pop out like your old gran's might do if she's forgotten her dentures!

Basically my logic is to push on with things like watch me, try to keep feeding time very regulated (I'm making the pair of them wait outside the kitchen till they're called) just to get a notion in that she doesn't call the shots (she comes across as very willful - but it's in the same way that you'd see a kid with no boundaries hitting nursery school and climbing up bookshelves to get to the stickers and give himself one if that makes sense to you - and I DO understand that because I've seen the human equivalent!) and keep exposing her to different places and experiences before trying to formally "train" her in any commands as such.

Is my logic completely off the ball on that one or am I on the right tracks? She's a lovely little thing, but feels completely manic at times (and that pointy nose is a deadly weapon and seems about 20 feet long when she's trying to get it into something)!

Please don't bash me for being completely naive - I knew the kind of background we'd be taking on before we did, and this is more me trying to formulate a plan of action than any kind of gnashing of teeth and expectation of an instantly trained dream dog.

I'd probably try hand feeding her for a while. Just so she learns to look to you as an important part of her life. I expect she will take ages to realise she will be staying, if she ever does. As far as she is concerned you are just another person in another place.

The greyhounds I have known don't give a lot away, they have 'moments' and then just chill, rarely really wag tails and are very self contained.

Work out what you need to train her to do and go from there, she will learn slowly I am sure.

rune

Oh she wags her tail like nothing else (with the state of her coat at the moment it's like wagging a soggy, bedraggled piece of string) and grins from ear to ear when she sees you. Takes quite a lot of skill to wag your tail enthusiastically while still remaining firmly lying down in your bed! The tail wagging started after a couple of days so she's obviously worked out we're pretty good people in her book (I get a bigger score on the wag-o-meter than hubby )

Bless her she sounds lovely I think greyhounds are so pretty and elegant, though stubborn and self-willed it seems ??

Re the basics of training - if you find that she gets 'bored' quickly/easily/before you've blinked (like my collie Davy, laziest thing on earth ) then the same with him, I make sure the treats I use TO train him are like the BESTEST things ever, I mean not like usual biscuits/dog treats - but save them as the BEST yummiest things for the training times - in Davy's case either stinky cheese, or pieces of frankfurter, or liver.

Plus (again same with Davy) I keep training sessions short and sweet, even a couple of minutes so you control them, do a couple of even basic things, they get the sweeties/reward, then a couple more, then stop - so that way they are more interested in coming back again for more when you start up the few minutes training again.