Greyhound

Greyhounds are one of the oldest breeds on record. This breed dates back to ancient Greece and Egypt. Depictions of greyhounds can be found in paintings and carvings dating back to 2900 BC. They were brought to America by the Spanish in the 1500s and grew in popularity, used mostly for hunting hares, jack rabbits, foxes and deer.

Greyhounds are part of a group called sight hounds. These hounds tend to rely on their sight for hunting rather than their noses like other hounds. Greyhounds’ sight is quite formidable. They have a long head with a rather narrow muzzle that widens at the ears. The placement of their eyes allows a 270˚ field of vision (2 times that of a human) which basically means they can see behind their head. They have small ears that are bent toward the back.

The Greyhound’s body is built for speed. They have very muscular hindquarters, they are tall and lean, with a very deep chest. Greyhounds have a very flexible spine that allows them to run in a double suspended gallop. This means all four legs are suspended at two points during their gallop, when they are stretched out and tucked under their body. This allows for great speeds. Greyhounds can reach a speed of 45 miles per hour in 30 ft. So it is no surprise that this magnificent breed has been used for racing. They also love to participate in other dog sports like lure coursing, flyball and agility.

But speed and hunting are not the only things they are good at, Greyhounds are very sweet and lovable family dogs. They love children and other dogs but great care must be taken with smaller pets and other animals. A greyhound will chase almost anything they see moving, so it is very important to have them on a leash when outside and to provide a secure location for them to run freely in.

Due to this breed’s amazing speed, training, specially a reliable recall, is a must. The good news is that they are quite easy to train, they love to please their humans. And though they love to run when there is space, they can be very good apartment dogs since they are amazingly calm when indoors. They are actually known as couch potatoes by many owners, but they are healthiest when exercised daily. A proper diet is a must. Since Greyhounds have a propensity for bloat it is suggested that they rest for at least an hour after being fed; and feeding smaller meals 2 or 3 times a day rather than one big meal once a day.

Greyhounds have a short smooth coat that can be almost any color. There can be Greyhounds in black, white, grey, brindle, red, blue, blue fawn, red brindle and mixtures of these colors. They have very thin skin that can easily tear so it’s important to keep an eye on them when they are running outdoors. Their smooth coat is easy to take care of, needing only occasional brushing and bathing.

They are quite tall, a full grown Greyhound will be about 30 inches tall, but their frames are quite delicate so they tend to only weigh between 60 and 70lbs. Though they are tall they still think they are lap dogs. Greyhounds can’t really sit like other dogs, when they do their backside just hovers without touching the ground. During training, most Greyhound parents tend to teach them a down stay instead of forcing them to sit. With appropriate care a Greyhounds’ life expectancy is 10 to 12 years.

So if you have access to a secure space for running and want a gentle well behaved, sweet family dog then maybe a Greyhound is right for you.

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Teaching target or touch

Teaching your dog to target on cue is a very useful tool. At first we teach it as a way to get our dog to redirect her attention when loose leash walking, or as an alternative to “come”, but it is the building block for many exercises. For assistance dogs, “touch” can evolve into turning the lights on or off, bringing specific items to you, pressing the crosswalk button to cross the street, etc. It is also used in most dog sports to, guide your dog away from you, reach contacts in agility, bring Treiballs to you, etc. And many pet parents have used it to teach their dogs to ring a bell to go outside. It is quite easy to teach touch since we are using your dog’s instinct to sniff.

Insturctions:

Get ready with a variety of tiny, yummy, treats. Reach your hand out towards your pup to smell. When she reaches your hand with her face, “click” or say “yes” and feed her a treat with your other hand. We are using your dogs instinct to sniff your hand to make her bump it or touch it with her muzzle. Move your hand to the side or move backwards and wait for your dog to touch it again, “click” and treat. Once she is consistently touching it every time you put your hand out, give it a name, you can call it “touch“, “target” or “bump”.

Start making the game harder by moving your hand higher up, down bellow or to the side. The faster the game goes the better, keep it fun and be super quick with your reward. You want your dog reaching out as fast as she can in quick succession to keep her engaged.

Once you can get her to target your hand no matter where it is, grab a long, wooden spoon and have her target that. At fist your dog will probably try to “touch” your hand instead of the spoon. Wait a little with the reward and she will soon try something a bit different to get the “click” and treat. This is called shaping, we are making the dog figure it out on her own, with little steps getting her closer to the final product. First she only had to sniff your hand, then we wanted a more marked contact with the hand, then touching any part of the new object, then we start moving farther away from the hand to the tip of the object.

Some dogs prefer to touch with their paw and that is ok for most cases. Make sure you are consistent with your dog, you should only reward what you actually want. We can ask her to “bump” a hand with her snout and later on ask her to “target” a mat with her paws. 

Dogs are very smart and with the right reinforcements we can get them to differentiate between objects and how we want them to engage with said objects. Be patient and think ahead… What is your ultimate goal for this exercise? Will it be paws targeting a contact in agility? A muzzle bump to roll a ball playing Treiball? Maybe you want her to not only reach, but lie down on the mat? Or maybe it will turn into a fun trick like “shake” or “hi five”? You can have many cues for ultimately the same behavior and then use these cues to teach separate exercises.

Short training sessions tend to be more productive and effective so work for 5 to 10 minutes at a time, let your dog relax and then try again in a few hours or the next day. Use very yummy treats when you are teaching something new, once your dog starts to “get it”, you can switch to lower value treats or treat less often. Don’t just quit rewarding or she will loose interest, it has to be gradual with some rewarding surprises thrown in sometimes.

Always remember to be patient with your dog and have fun!

       Potty Bells

This training tip is an extension to potty training.... We love to have easier ways for our dogs to let us know when they need to go outside. A bell is a great option. The most common bells used are the ones you can hang on the doorknob, but the desk bells placed on the floor work well too.

The first thing to do is ring the bell every single time that door opens. This will start signaling to the dog that the noise makes the door open. 

Now to get your pup to ring it we will teach him to target. You can start by reaching your hand out to the dog, the dog will follow his instinct to sniff it and when he makes contact with your hand you will say “yes” or click and then follow with a treat. Once you can get your dog to target your hand every time you ask him to, you can start asking him to target other objects like the bell. A way to encourage this can be a bit of peanut butter or wet dog food on the bell so they will lick it and make it ring. Every time they touch it you will open the door. Once you have your dog targeting when you ask, give him some time to see if he will go touch it on his own. When he does, reward the pup and open the door.

Be sure to stop the treats within a few sessions and then only use a verbal reward such as “good dog, let’s go outside” so the dog doesn’t just ring the bell for a treat. The whole purpose is for them to go outside and go potty not just ring the bell. Beware of the dog that’s too smart for his own good and starts ringing the bell for attention and not for outside needs.

As always make sure your training sessions are short, happy and gentle. Both you and the dog should think this is a fun exercise so if its not working stop and try it again later or give us a call so we can help you out.