By Nancy Hudson, TLC Greyhound Adoption Vice President
and Training Director

Your greyhound has just captured a rabbit. Will he or she willingly surrender this wonderful prize to you? If not, you are not the ALPHA you think you are.

Have you ever watched a pack of wolves with a fresh kill? The alpha male and female eat first. They will growl, snarl and chase other pack members away if necessary, but rarely does anyone get hurt. The progression moves down through the pack order and the puppies get to eat last. (This is why you should never allow small children to feed the dog or try to take away something the dog is eating or chewing. Your greyhound will always regard a small child as lower in pack order. Children are the puppies!)

Pack order is the only social structure that your greyhound understands. This is a very strong instinct, because the pack structure has been maintained at the greyhound farms and racetracks. After adoption, the greyhound is expected to become a family member. In the eyes of your greyhound, a human family is just a smaller pack. Your new greyhound will be low on the totem pole at first, observing to see where he or she can fit in. If the greyhound does not see a good leader, he or she will step into the role. There ALWAYS has to be a pack leader.

Being a good Alpha does not mean you have to be nasty or mean to your dog. A good and strong leader can also be a benevolent leader. IT’S OK TO BE NICE TO YOUR DOG.

Think of people in your past that you respected or regarded as natural leaders. They exhibited lots of confidence, good self esteem, good judgment, were team spirited, kind, and gentle, but strong. These are the qualities your greyhound will recognize as Alpha.

A little common sense doesn’t hurt either. For instance, don’t give your dogs chew bones and leave the room. Gosh, do you think a disturbance might ensue? A responsible pack leader would have crated each dog and then passed out chew bones to everyone, or separated the dogs in different rooms and closed the doors. Can you walk up to your dog and take the chew bone away???? As a pack leader you should be able to, but don’t try this until you have done quite a bit of remedial pack leader training.

Don’t free feed. This will alleviate skirmishes at the food bowl. I feed each dog in his or her crate with the doors closed. Bowls are collected in fifteen minutes. This allows me a daily check of the status of each dog. Is he or she eating, if not, is this dog getting sick? (A dog that does not eat a meal gets a quick physical: check the gums for color, smell the breath, feel the throat, listen to the tummy, check the breathing. I will also watch to see if this dog is drinking adequate water, urinating and defecating in a normal manner.)

Some of these tried and true methods of pack maintenance are a good place to start. They require a little dedication on your part. Having a good set of ground rules will help your greyhound adjust in his or her new pack. 1.) Make the dog move out of your way instead of walking around the dog. 2.) Eat your meals first; feed the dog second. 3.) Don’t allow the dog to rush through doorways ahead of you. 4.) Don’t allow the dog to pull and tug on leash, or to bite at the leash. (The leash is viewed as an extension of your arm.) 5.) Don’t allow the dog to bite at your shoes and clothing. 6.) Don’t play tug of war games unless you can ensure that you will win, EVERY TIME. (Winning means you take the tug toy and put it away after the game is over: the spoils of war belong to the pack leader.) 7.) Allow the dog to play with only one toy at a time. (All the toys belong to the alpha leader, you should be in charge of the toys.) 8.) Don’t allow the dog to sleep in bed with you (or by invitation only).

Formal obedience training classes are a good way for you to learn to be a leader. Contrary to popular belief, these classes are held to teach people, not dogs.

If your greyhound already thinks he or she is the leader, it will require a little more work and determination on your part.

I have a pack of eight greyhounds at my house and there are always foster greys moving in and out. My greys are very accepting of this. They are always excited to welcome new pack members into the fold. I do a quick assessment of each new dog: are they proud and confident, dominant or shy, is the tail tucked way under, do they lean on me, and are they walking on two legs or four? Sometimes it is just a gut feeling. If I sense any dominance at all, on goes the muzzle. It is like watching a miracle to see a new greyhound with dominant tendencies in the midst of my pack, new dog wearing a muzzle and nine greyhounds with no muzzles! New dominant dog says, “Hey, I’m the only one wearing a muzzle! I better be careful here, wouldn’t want to offend any dogs in this pack. Who is the leader anyway? Who is the Beta dog?” I could not do this if my dogs did not totally accept me as their leader. If I had a shy, terrified new grey all dogs would be in muzzles. Sometimes a new grey will need to wear a muzzle for a week or two when out of his or her crate. But, they all eventually figure out the proper pack order and where they fit in.

If I had a strong alpha dog and I wasn’t really sure if I was the leader (news flash, if you have any doubts, you are NOT the leader), I would muzzle all dogs for the introduction of a new dog and maybe require the little tyrant I had been living with to wear a muzzle for a few weeks.

I have found the greyhound muzzle to be a great equalizer. Every greyhound should come with a muzzle upon adoption, please ask for one if this is overlooked. The greys are used to wearing them, and it is not a traumatic thing for them. In fact, I think it gives the shy greys more confidence if every grey is wearing a muzzle. So retrieve your muzzle from the garage or attic, dust it off and use it when you think you are having alpha problems, or when you take your grey to the vet, or when you are introducing your grey to a new pack member.

Really dominant dogs do much better with people who have dog savvy and/or people who have had formal dog obedience training. These dogs need a job. A dominant dog should always have to work to get a treat from the alpha leader. So teach them to sit and down, come when called and a few simple tricks like shake paws, high five and bow. Then you can ask them to work for a treat instead of just handing out goodies. Give your grey a treat each time you ask him or her to get in the dog crate.

I can not over emphasize the importance of a dog crate. To you it is a ‘cage’, to your grey it is a den, a safe haven. Crating is the way you can ensure the safety of your grey when you are not at home. Your grey is not chewing the light cords, eating the chicken bones from the trash, getting into the refrigerator, drinking the Drano, or chewing a hole in the waterbed if he or she is in the dog crate.

REALLY dominant/aggressive dogs need behavior modification. Once again training is of utmost importance. Another way of taking over as a leader is to withhold food (or at the very least give half rations) for two days and then fill your pocket with food and ask the dog to do something for each and every piece of kibble. Once again, the dog needs some rudimentary training so that it knows a few commands to perform for this kibble. This can easily be accomplished in a weekend. Once the dog realizes: A.) that it is hungry, B.) that it will only get food, one piece at a time from the ALPHA, C.) that it will only get food after working, you are well on your way to having a well trained grey that has learned to recognize you as leader of the pack.

You might not think pack order is very important, but it is extremely important to your greyhound. Greyhounds are instinctually wired to be part of a pack, and the pack is related to survival itself, so there is no feeling of well being without a well ordered, well structured pack. This is a fundamental need. Step up and provide your wonderful greyhound with a leader he or she can respect and love.

CONTACT US:

TLC Greyhound Adoption
323 2400 Ave
Solomon, KS 67480
TELEPHONE: (785) 655-2208

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Site last updated: May 15, 2008