Hi Iv got a 16 month old lurcher from a dogs home a few months ago. he's well behaved in the house and on lead but sometimes when playing with other dogs he gets too excited & constanly barks,growls & even nibbles their bums until they chase him.he didnt start doing this until a few weeks after we got him.while he does all this his tail is wagging & its like he wants to annoy them until they snap at him so they chase him.he wont try it if theres 2 or more dogs together. In the meantime iv put a muzzle on him but other dogs still yelp (mayb its just the thought of it) hes a lovely calm, effectionate dog who turns into this monster when playing.Iv tried to grab him by collor when hes doing this & tell him NO as other dog owners see him as being aggressive & he tries to bite me,jumps all over the place & takes a while to calm down.i think he was a dog warden before we got him.Has anyone got the same problem with their dog or any explaination why he would do this?..maybe its just him and he needs to mature a bit. i duno.thanks for reading.

Sounds very much like typical lurcher play. We have two saluki lurchers and they both play way too rough with other dogs. One nips their bums to make them run, the other nips their bum, sides or scruffs them with the same purpose! It is the reason why they are very rarely allowed to play with other dogs, and if they are, they are muzzled. They are fine with calm dogs that don't run, but switch into rough play as soon as other dogs run...

Vera

My mums lurcher plays like this with Fagan she either bundles him or steals his toys and runs off with them so he will chase her :rolleyes:

It does sound like typical hound play, I would defintiely keep him muzzled though until he's got over this stage, and learnt that it's not appropriate.

You can buy lovely plastic coated wire greyhound muzzles like this from this place. They allow the dog to breathe but not bite.

I would also try to put him on a lead when you say strange dogs coming. Let him say hello nicely and then ask the owners if their dogs would play with him.

I think its the same with SBT'S and larger breeds that they dont know theyre own strength and bomb through not realising how quick and strong they are as well.
I see many that are calm when on lead, couldnt ask for better, but when theyre let off they run like mad hares and anything thats in theyre way had better move!! :D :D :D

I dont generally let Mitz play with them unless we know them from when she was a puppy as she is smaller and they wind her up, with a SBT I dont want them antagonising her and her get really hacked off! ;)

I think part of it is that people dont run Lurchers/greyhounds/whippets etc enough, they seem to have so much energy pent up that it just explodes out when theyre let off lead. Either that or not socialised enough so dont know how to act round dogs, not at all saying thats the case with yours or anything just seems to be a trait with the ones I know.
How often do you walk your dog or let him have free roam etc out of intrest as I know they can only have short bursts and then theyre done, is that right?

Gorgeous dogs tho, I do love Lurchers. :)

I think part of it is that people dont run Lurchers/greyhounds/whippets etc enough, they seem to have so much energy pent up that it just explodes out when theyre let off lead.

Our lurchers are off lead every day. They get an hour's walk with 40 minutes of that off-lead. They run mostly during that time!

How often do you walk your dog or let him have free roam etc out of intrest as I know they can only have short bursts and then theyre done, is that right?

That depends very much on the breeds that are involved with the lurcher. In general, the more greyhound the lazier they are and the more likely they are just sprinters and not long distance runners. The more saluki they have, or terrier or collie, the more running exercise they need as they are endurance runners. One of our lurchers is happy with a sprint here and there (though he does run quite a lot as well), whereas our other one which is mainly saluki needs long distance running for a good amount of time, just a spring will certainly not do with him! As lurchers are crossbreeds, their needs can be quite different in many ways and it's often difficult to generalise.

Vera

isnt that why there is so many greyhounds in rescues? As they cant sprint after a certain age?

Always wondered what happened there....

No, greyhounds aren't retired because they can't sprint anymore, but because they are injured or have slowed down a little bit due to age.

Vera

I find it so sad that the people who have them as racers get rid when they cant run (Not all but most), why cant they keep it as a family pet

I remember that horrible story about that bloke who had buried hundreds in his yard, the ones who couldnt race. It was a scary story.

Its the sad reality of racing that younger animals are faster. You can't reasonable expect a serious greyhound racing kennel, that may have 10 dogs racing and 30 in training to keep all it's ex racers as pets. Taking it at a conservative 15 dogs a year retired, the second year they would have 55 dogs in their kennel, 70 the next year in 5 years of this policy they would have 115 dogs - and couldn't possibly give them the attention they deserve.

What should happen is they should be made to pay a fee for each retired dog, this fee would be used to provide rehabilitation, advertising and find a good home for the animal. But it's a difficult one as if you charge too much the greyhounds will simply be dumped or killed rather than handed to rescues :(

I always think if I win the lotto I would love a greyhound rescue kennels, I'd go to every local track on every racing day and take any ex-racers they have, no questions asked. That way you could almost guarantee that none would come to an unsavoury end.

We have always said that if we won the lottery we would take all the bullbreeds from shelters and start our own rescue foundation for bullbreeds and retired animals IE Greyhounds etc.

I do volunteer for the RSPCA but I'm not doing enough in my eyes for all the poor souls out there....

I always think if I win the lotto I would love a greyhound rescue kennels, I'd go to every local track on every racing day and take any ex-racers they have, no questions asked. That way you could almost guarantee that none would come to an unsavoury end.

The thing is you'd have to rescue around 30,000 greyhounds a year, that's almost 100 a day... where are you going to put them all? And what would you do with all the ones that never make it to the track? That's probably at least another 30,000 a year...

It's an impossible task.

Vera

There aren't 30000 abandoned dogs at my local tracks, maybe nationally! Anyway, as the saying goes...every little helps :)

Anyway, as the saying goes...every little helps

I certainly won't argue with that. :-)

Maybe racing should be changed to allow for the dogs to race longer and be raced in age classes, then the actual speed wouldn't be the issue as they would be racing older dogs against older dogs, then the only reason for retirement would be injury, a lot fewer dogs bred etc.

All Lurchers and long dogs play rough. my Whippet throws our Dobe to the ground by her face and she loves it. So every evening after tea, they are allowed in the room at the front of the house which is the biggest and the freest from furniture, to rough play away from us and our valuables. To stop them from playing doggy games would be cruel, although I knew a lady who crated her Boxer to give it some peace away from her Whippet.:)