Our expectations on pet dogs is huge and when you take your greyhound home, they have a lot of new things to learn just in your house. New people, new sights, smells and sounds and often other pets. This is a lot for a dog to learn about and often when they first arrive, they will be feeling very stressed and anxious so our first steps must be allowing them to settle in the home. It will take at least three days for your new greyhound’s stress levels to come back into normal ranges where they are able to process new things rather than just react to them.
If we start adding new things and the dog is already in a stressed state, then they are far more likely to cause issues like freezing on walks and leash reactivity. These are preventable if we take it very slow and don’t rush into adding new things to process when the dog is not relaxed enough to do so.
Here are our top 10 steps for success setting you up to have the best relationship with your new greyhound:
- Be proactive in helping your greyhound make the right choices by using a crate, playpen, or baby-gate when you can’t supervise them.
- Make sure your greyhound has somewhere quiet to rest undisturbed
- Leave them alone when they are on their bed, sleeping, or resting
- Spend time building a relationship through play, enrichment activities, and fun training games
- All interactions with children are supervised and at the greyhound’s pace
- Leave them alone when they are eating and separate them from other animals at meal times
- Keep them off the furniture for at least three weeks while they are learning the house rules
- No walks for at least 3 days, then only in an area that is quieter away from traffic, lots of people, and other dogs.
- Keep them on lead – especially in unfenced areas. Instead use a harness and a longline to give them more freedom to sniff and explore.
- Use a muzzle when introducing new dogs or other animals.
What to expect when you are expecting - a great guide for the first few weeks of your greyhounds new pet life.
Please watch our Settling in 30 day Video Diary for tips on settling in a new greyhound.
Check out our behavior guides below: