Question about trusting your dog to run free for exercise ...

[borzoimom]

Its highly unusual for a sighthound to be aggressive towards other dogs- they will chase a small animal, but not aggression. However- I have heard many times that retired racers, having been around nothing BUT other greys, have a hard time accepting that a dog can look so different from them. Usually however- this is manifest in shyness not aggression.

[GreyhoundGirl]

Its highly unusual for a sighthound to be aggressive towards other dogs- they will chase a small animal, but not aggression. However- I have heard many times that retired racers, having been around nothing BUT other greys, have a hard time accepting that a dog can look so different from them. Usually however- this is manifest in shyness not aggression.

Ditto. Greyhounds are around other greys their whole lives, they are anything but dog aggresive.

[Alysser]

My dog is perfect offlead. She knows recall if anything, but she would NEVER leave my side outside. She doesn't chase other animals, she does have SOME interest in them if she sees them, but most of the time she doesn't. I always keep the leash on her no matter what of course. I once left her outside in the yard for 10 mins, in a stay postion. She stayed there for 9 minutes. I swear, I was watching her the entire time. She only got out of it to look in the door to see if I was coming.

This proves some dogs can be off lead, others like sighthounds, its not a good idea. I hope to get a rescue retired grey in the near future, or distant future and I already know he/she will never be offleash in an unfenced area.

Someone told me, when I e-mailed a greyhound rescue this question, that retractable leashes are not good for greys at all and if he/she started to run it would snap. Is this true?

And do they have long 30 foot nylon leashes?

[borzoimom]

The longest flexi/lead I have found, other than a check cord, is 26 feet.. Check cords can be alot longer but risk having legs tied up..

[applesmom]

Anything beyond 25 feet doesn't really give enough control in sticky situations. With a longer lead, even a 40 pound dog can pull a human down when they hit the end of the lead at a run.

We made our own check cords with 1/2 and sometimes even 1 inch cotton rope. It's not as flexible as the retractable leashes and there's much less chance of the dog becoming tangled. We've never had one of those break even when a 65 pound dog hit the end at an all out run. With the rope check cords--wearing gloves is highly recommended!

Wouldn't recommend it for the smaller breeds though!

[shais_mom]

Someone told me, when I e-mailed a greyhound rescue this question, that retractable leashes are not good for greys at all and if he/she started to run it would snap. Is this true?

And do they have long 30 foot nylon leashes?

pretty much - I used a flexi on my greyhound but it was only 15 feet. I often said if I had one longer I would have to anchor myself b/c she'd knock me off my feet (no easy feat) since they top out at about 30 feet. That is why greys are not supposed to be tied out - they can top out their speed and break their necks. I did tie mine out on a tie out (15 feet) and she clotheslined herself once and from then on never tried it again - but what she DID do was run around and around and around - and unscrew the tie out from the ground! She did that once and started on her merry way but got caught by a tree stump! And there she stayed until I rescued her!

[CathyBogart]

Jasper (19 lbs) knocked me down at the end of a 16 foot flexi once. Just be careful!

[Canis-Lupess]

Ask my dad and he'll tell you how nasty racing greyhounds can be with other dogs.

He's had one of his own dogs rushed to the vets a few years ago when his brother attacked him and made a real mess of him and the sister decided to join in too and some of them go completely potty whenever they see another dog when out being walked.
Not far from where I live, there was an incident where a dog walker had his dog attacked and killed by two greyhounds and the owner of them just walked past and did nothing.

I've also seen other greyhound owners walking their dogs on lead on the fields where I walk mine and they would go totally potty whenever another dog came into view.
Even on the dog track, fights between the dogs aren't uncommon, especially when the race is finished thats why they wear the cage muzzles and many of them wear box muzzles when not racing to stop them going for each other. My dads dogs often wear them.
He used to have dogs at a proffessional greyhound kennels and I painted one of the kennel owners retired greyhounds and, when I was looking round the place, many of those dogs were wearing box muzzles when they were in their kennels.

Yes, when hyped up on high protien diets, racing greyhounds are often neurotic but they calm right down once retired.

My dad says his dogs see other small dogs they don't know as prey rather than other dogs. He says they'd kill little dogs if they got hold of them.

I suppose it is partly how they are reared and always in kennels and walked only on lead and not socialized with other dogs outside etc...

Even at the track, they are often kept muzzled...they don't let the greyhounds play together and get to know each other, put it that way.

I have personally seen lots of racing greyhound show aggression so I know they can be that way. I'm sure the ones I saw being walked on our local fields would have run straight over and gone for my dogs had they not been on the lead. He'd walk about 5 at once, you could tell they were racers.

[borzoimom]

THAT IS HIGHLY BIZARRE!!!! HIGHLY! And not like a sighthound at all.. I know several people that work with active racing greys and adoptees- NONE HAVE EVER ACTED like that.. Very strange for sure! I emailed this to one of the directors, and her response was not positive.. Where is do these dogs race?