I wanted to see if anyone else has had any experiences of bullying greyhounds!
I walk Pez over at our local common (around 400 acres) and i always seem to bump into these three greyhounds (like the beachtowel syndrome, all that space.....) and i dread it! They are not owned collectively and are not as bad seperately but when together (most of the time as the owners meet up to walk) they are plain old bullys and try to grab my Pez around the neck, i'm sure they think he is a rabbit, he gives as good as he gets, but they tower over him and when all three of him start i can't control the situation and on Sunday missed getting bitten thanks to my thick winter wear! The owners do try and call them off but it never works....pack mentality thing i suppose. Anyway i was talking to the vet and he had the same problem with Greyhounds and his English bull terrier!!!!

I've never come across this before, anyone else?

I've been warned by a couple of people to watch out for greyhounds and the possibility that they could give chase to small breeds and attack. There's only a couple of greyhound walkers that i meet now and then in our local park but their always on lead. I put Buddy (Westie) on a lead when i see them as he might think their worth investigating and run over for a play. One of the walkers told my brother that greyhounds think that anything small is prey (rabbit) and their trained to chase them are'nt they.
It'll be interesting what greyhound owners on the board think about this. I look forward to their input.
Budmag

I love greyhounds and am loathe to say a bad word against them but there's a greyhound track where I live and two people take their six greyhounds to the same field we USED to take our whippet, you can imagine the scene can't you 6 greyhounds ignoring their owners and chasing our whippet pup I'm sure people thought it was fantastic entertainment but it was terifying at the time luckily our pup ran straight to us and they pulled out of the chase. You dont realise just how big a greyhound is until you have to stand in the way of one in full flight I didn't anyway.

Cheers
Steve

I have recently purchased a Lurcher pup for the purpose of rabbit control on our farm, the instinct to chase anything that runs before him is very strong even at 3 months old. I excersise him with my Spaniels and he loves to chase and catch them by their ears, now thats ok because they are my dogs and i do not want to inhibit his chasing instinct by telling him off and trying to stop him chasing.But if I was in a public place and he was fully grown I would have to consider a muzzle or restricting his exercise to the farm.Any small animal running away from a lurcher/greyhound particularly one that works is fair game in their eyes.

Sooz

Think this is a case of ignorant owners on the greyhounds point of view. Hounds track, hunt and chase - anyone owning a hound should be aware of the natural instincts, channel the energy and skill into controlled activity - and certainly not allow them to run amock in the company of other owners and their dogs. I feel really strongly about this - after all on the whole guarding breeds instinctively guard, and gundogs instinctively do their thing.

My rhodesian ridgeback loves to chase ( it's the greyhound in him I guess) - so he has lots of toys we throw during walks to simulate chase and we run with him too - he loves it , but is very gentle - however I know that when we are out on a walk where we might meet others I have to be careful - he is only playing , but as we all know it is easy for a game to get out of control. Though it is a pain sometimes, I recall my dog and put him on a lead when I see people approaching - until they are more relaxed at the site of a larger breed. He does play with dogs off lead ( you can see he is just dying for them to run off so he can chase them, and he bounds about like a puppy!) , but it is only sensible to watch the play and stop it BEFORE it gets out of control. He is so agile and large that it can easily intimidate other dogs.

I sympathise with you and your dogs getting bullied. A weimaraner of equally bad manners bullies my ridgeback - no one will believe my ridgy is a gentle giant - mostly because he bounces about like 'tigger' , but I can see he hates being pushed around by the weim. I'm near the point of having a go at the weim owner - afterall I recall my dog and get him under control, then have a weim jumping up at my face and nibbling my dog .

Right, i am off to brave the common again, let's see what happens tonight, i am taking my waterpistol (better than me screming at them!) with me and my flashlight!!! I'll update you all tomorrow!

try carrying a pocket personel attack alarm, or air horn,it works,
i carry one as there are alot of strays about here,they quite often
try to attack my pup
good luck

Hi Nikki, wish you lived near us so Blaze could chase Manic Morse about till sundown! It is sad people assume big dog = bad dog. We know a Leonberger who only gets off lead when nobody else is about and his owners were telling us sadly that noone loves giant breeds and they wished theyd got 2 pups to keep each other company. I wish more people would train their dogs like you.

I'm back and i feel AWFUL!, had a pleasant night walk all kitted up with my water pistol etc, and saw one of the greyhound women there, interestingley she had her dog on a lead and whilst he still was pulling to get to Pez he was much more controlled and we let them have a sniff and stand next to each other, i passed pleasantries and then asked where her friends where to be told that one of the other greyhounds had been knocked over by a car that afternoon! still alive but in a very bad way....he was chasing something.
Poor little man! how awful for his family............ :(