Finally we have given Tula the last of the tablets. It was a combination of antibiotics and 2 different painkillers. Some 3 times a day, some twice, one without food and one with food....

She did love the hotdogs we used to put them in....

She does not seem to be in any pain anymore. We had a really good walk with the two of them this evening. About an hour and 10 min in around Glasgow Green + adjacent park across the river.

No, they did not have to swim...

They also wore their new rain coats and they looked good in it. Tula is red and Booker, well.... Blue of course....

And Bookers choice of the day for a raised area to poo on was a Heather...

Impossible to pick up. I tried..

Interesting poo places that they pick isn't it!!
Wait till the nettles come up that's a challenge and a half.
When we walked them at the kennels Booker did like a particular tree stump on the woodland walk.
Glad that Tula is back to her old self.
George, Morag, Billy & Lassie

And on this last walk we just came in from he planted himself well and truly in to a small bush...

Back to the vet again this morning for a check of Tula's progress. They woke us up at 7 this morning seemingly desperate to get out. Yaaaaawhn.....

Once we were outside there was noooo rush at all....

And as soon as they had finished their breakfast Tula had a pee inside. We can always catch Booker in the act as we can hear him, but Tu;a is much more subtle so we never see it before after the dirty deed is completed and the perpetrator has vanished from the seen....

But we know who you are!!!!!!!! LOL

Back from the vet and Tula is in good shape.
She did not like going in there much. Her tale was well under her stomach and she shoved no interest in the other dogs there. As soon as the vet tried to open her jaw she started to whimper really loudly. There was no pain, she is fine, but the anticipation and fair of pain caused her reaction. Such wimps these dogs....

Booker was not overly exited about being left alone, and had done jobs inside when I came back. One of each...

But he is fine now. Took them both for a walk. Tula was not that interested in walking today. Think she only wanted to lay down, so we cut the walk a little shorter than normal to about 25 minutes. Booker spent a lot of energy rubbing his head against me up and down my legs trying to get the muzzle off. Tula rubbed once against the ground, but them more or less resigned to the fact that was there.

Now they are sleeping.

It has happened. It always does when you are learning something new and exiting. Initially you are soooooo exited that you do not care if they are not as obedient as you you want.

Then slowly but surely that initial excitement starts to wear off and you get frustrated with the learning not going as quickly as it did in the beginning.

I am telling you, getting dogs are no different. Don't get me wrong, under no circumstances do I regret having gotten these two fantastic creatures. They give me an immense amount of pleasure and affection.

Feeding time is going great. They both lay down and wait for the food now. Usually a little tired from the walk as well.

Tula is insisting on getting in our bed again just when we though we had them trained not to.

House training has it's ups and downs. Two poo's and one pee inside yesterday. Two of them was when I took Tula to the vet and left Booker at home for about 1.5 hours so I am not paying to much attention to those two. Next time we will have our new car so I can easily take them both comfortably.

This morning we got woken up a 06:45 and no was not an option. They do listen when we say go and lay down, but then they lay in their bed whimpering so there is no way we can sleep again. We did get up and walk them and Booker rushed to his favourite bush.... We figured it would be fairly quiet at that time so we did not muzzle them. That was all fine until about 008:00 when suddenly everyone was out with their dogs.

Tula is much easier to control. Booker seems more determent to get to the other dogs. I corrected him as I always do and during this he nipped my thigh. He did this twice. I can only guess that he is trying to assert authority which is not being tolerated, but it also makes me weary. I know he could sense that I was not happy and he behave well for the rest of the walk.

We had a friend over for the night and she gave them a squeaky toy. One to share... It was not bad. Tula had it first and then Booker took it. Later when I wanted to take it away from him he growled at me. I must admit that that had me very concerned. I did let him be, but realised that that was a mistake. so I went back in and used a different approach. I commanded him off his bed, No problem there, and they I just took it and walked out of the room with it. He gave up after about 10 seconds when he realised that he was not getting it back.

As I am writing here he comes. Booker walking in to the livingroom slowly coming to me with head low and looking for some attention. Resistance is futile!!!....

I also found out the other day that when they play with a squeaky toy, they are not playing, but killing it. A pray would be squealing and squeaking as well if caught and killed. That is something we are not going to entertain, so no more toys that makes noise. I don't think it is good for them!

All in all it is all very positive. I feel to a greater degree that now is when the real work starts and we just have to be consistent in what we do. ANd of course keep enjoying it as well.

Reading your post there took me back to the stage where I felt I was constantly fighting Bambi in terms of her behaviour and the times when if Im honest I dreaded taking her out as I knew it was going to be another physical struggle to control her on the lead (Im not sure that my size in relation to Bambi's always worked in my favour in that one!!lol) - to offset that thought though is the realisation that its a long time now since I have felt like that and the physical struggles we have now are far far far less frequent and way way less not sure what word I want to use...probably violent does it!! So keep the faith guys it will get better over time just keep staying calm and not reacting with them - well sounds like with Booker is what I mean!! Dont know that I want to say how long it was till I saw the big difference with Bambi as this may not encourage you and after all they are all different - but keep at it cos it is SO well worth it in the end!!

Yes it is well worth it. It already is and I stated before in a previous post, giving up is not an option. We just had a good walk. We kept a good pace for about 1 hour and avoided other dogs. We did meet a tiny tiny dog ( a Daxen mix) that expressed some interest, but was smart enough to keep away and not bark. The physical struggle is not a problem. They gave up fairly easy and I tried a different way of correction Booker that worked this time.

After we came in they were both tired. As I prepared their meals, Greg brushed them both. We always hold their food tray's to them for the first couple of minutes and then take it away for a few seconds before we set it down in their holder for the bowls.

While I was holding their food and they were eating, Greg was still brushing them. Would have been a good pic I think...

Hi guys, I think you're reading a bit too much into the squeaky toy thing. My last two loved squeaky toys and would go mad with them but they were not aggressive dogs. Kell can usually stop a toy squeaking within a few minutes whereas Lucy is less bothered and gives up. Outside is a different matter - Kell loves all dogs (small or large) and stays fairly calm when he sees rabbits. Lucy on the other hand goes bananas when she sees a rabbit, howling, pulling, twisting and turning to get free and after them.

And now for the matter of muzzling. I can see you're not keen, but eventually they will get used to it, and might even accept it as part of the walk routine. Puppies hate collars when they first have them put on, but once they're used to them they love having a collar put on because they associate it with going for a walk.

How about that???
POST NUMBER 100!!!!!!!

We are just in from the afternoon walk. A bit windy outside, but we had a good long walk.

On the morning walk this morning they were fine as well, but again Booker nipped at Greg when he got corrected. This habit of nipping I am not sure how to get reed of. Greg was prepared anyway, so he never got far. But this was las chance so to speak. From now on it is muzzle every single time, also when we walk them together. It is just the way it must be.

You are right Steve in the sense that I am not keen on that. I guess it is obvious...

But on this last walk I loosened Bookers muzzle by one notch and it made a difference. He did not seem as bothered and never used near as much energy in trying to remove it.

Also on this last walk he let me know that he does not like to be corrected. I must, however reluctantly, admit that I feel much better walking them with the muzzle on as well.

Apart from that, the walk was brilliant. they behaved and walked well.

They were alone for about 2,5 hours today and it was a little past their walk time when I got home and found the house clean...

Of course I had to reward them with a little treat. They were both exited and ready to go out. The excitement got the better of one of them, because while I was in the kitchen one of them pee'd in the hall. Not to worry, I got one of those coconut rugs that soaks up everything and make it impossible to get it all out.... Odour remover and cleaner is a great thing. I can't wait to get my hall tiled.....

At first I thought it was Tula as Booker had spent most of the time with me, but judging by the bucket load in the rug + the fact that Booker looked very guilty and went and laid down in his bed not making a sound while I cleaned it up has made me revise my opinion. But I cannot know for sure.

What the heck! It's only pee...

Hi Guys,

Have really enjoyed reading this honest and open thread. Great Job!

Sounds though you may have a bit of a dominance issue there. I had this once before with a rescue dog. As he was mature when I got him and he came into our home he tried to take charge. This showed itself as him becoming possesive of toys/food, peeing in the house when we were at home, nipping when being corrected and a reluctance to break eye contact first.

It was easily corrected though. We basically did nothing. Well sort of, we excluded him. This is not as harsh as it sounds. We basically did not pet him, make a fuss of him, talk to him or look at him. We of course fed him, walked him and attended to all his needs but that was all. We did this for about 2 days and then we started to call him to us. If he came we would pet him or play, if not we carried on ignoring him (well sort of, you get the gist above!). This basically showed him that he was not the most important one in the house and after the 2 days he was much better.

I would say he became a lot more settled after this as well as he knew his place and was happy with it.

We were then very carefull to make sure all petting, play and treats were on our terms. We also made him work for his food/perks. So for instance he would have to obey a sit command before getting dinner. This just seemed to re-assert his position.

He was never allowed on our bed after this or indeed in our bedroom so he respected our space. Wheneevr we let any of this slip he would start to get back into his bad ways I'm afraid.

I should say he was the only dog we had to do this with. We always joked that he had a Napoleon complex but once we got it sorted he was brilliant for the remainder of his life.


Ian

Thanks for that Ian. Definitively a tactic to try if he does not improve.

The walks over the last couple of days has been better, but we do take greater care in avoiding other dogs if possible. Not an easy task on a Saturday afternoon.... lol. We make them both where muzzle now on every walk. That seems to have improved matters. Booker is also much less hesitant already when it comes to put it on and wearing it.

I have also started to make a point of not removing them inside before they calm down and stop trying to get them off.

Yesterday I went away for the day. In the evening after their walk and right after Greg had fed them, Booker did a little poo inside. Not sure what that was all about as he had just been outside.

Today so far no accidents and i am getting ready to take them out and looking forward to it.

Incidentally, I went down to Manchester yesterday to pick up the estate we had bought for transport of the twins. I got about 52 miles on the way and it broke down. I had to be towed to Glasgow...

I made a point of walking the last 15 min to get home and be as calm as I could before I came in the door and met Booker and Tula. It worked and we all had a nice evening (with some wine) and a very nice walk at around 11.

Most of the time today has been spent with them doing what they do best, snoozing away. They have not tried to get in to our bed for few days, so that is good.

Hello again!
Just in from last walk with Booker and Tula. It was a good one. No one else out either, which made it all that much easier...

As I know it is always quiet at this time of the night and more so on a Saturday I did consider walking them without the muzzle and actually decided not to put them on. But when I put their leads on I changed my mind to the more sensible option of putting them on. Simply because I am believer of consistency. If it is the same every time, then there is no doubt.

At the moment Tula is on the couch in the livingroom. As you will have seen from previous pic's, she knows how to make herself comfortable on there. Earlier this evening she was trying to find the right position. From the night before we had removed all the pillows to give room for us as well.... I know I am a big softy at times, I went over to the couch and sled her down the couch, I then put her favourite pillow back and sled her back up so she could rest her head on the pillow....

Well..... Her ladyship needed to be comfortable....

In search for his normal elevated "platform" this morning, Booker turned a newly sprung Crocus in to a newly sprung Crapus....

The two of them had a little playing around mid afternoon today. As result Booker had a bit of a "Bambi syndrome" going on in the living room on the floor between the orange carpet and the door. As a result he is now weary of walking in and out of the living room. Once he is on the carpet he is fine with walking on the floor to the window, Also the bedroom floor which is the same is no issue. Only the bit between the door and the carpet where he slided a bit.... I spent a bit of time time walking him back and forth and it has helped, but he is not too happy about it yet.

I am sure he will be back to normal shortly.

That did not take long.

Booker is walking over the treacherous part in the livingroom again.

We had a good walk this morning. I am not sure, but maybe we are putting too much effort in to avoiding all the other dogs in the park at the moment. It will have to stop at some point.

This morning during feeding, Tula growled at me for the first time. We still soften her food properly before feeding them. This morning she stopped eating hers and started to eat out of Bookers bowl. I took took her back to her own bowl and Booker started to eat out her food as well. Thats when she first growled. At Booker first and he just walked away. She started to eat out of his bowl and when I pulled her head over to her own bowl she growled at me.

I gave her a correction and took both food bowls away for 5 minutes. Before I gave it back I pretended to eat some of it. It worked, but we will watch their behaviour again during feeding tonight.

And now I am going back to bed.... ZZzzzzzzzzz

Today has been a good day. We have done 3 longer walks for about an hour each and one shorter for about 30 minutes.

There is lots of foxes in our area. Tonight a pair crossed our path not too far away. They both saw them before I did. Their hunting instinct kicked in and they really wanted to run for the chase. We walked on and I had to constantly correct them and hold them back, but in the end they almost gave up and carried on walking. When we 20 minutes later walked past the same area they were all perked up and looking for and smelling something.

I am telling you, both me and Greg are stronger arms at the moment. My belt is even slightly looser....

Oh, and I was a little hasty in declaring the floor a past issue. Only almost past. There were moments today that Booker did not want to walk across. I walked him across a couple of times and it helped. It's strange. Sometimes he is worried about the floor and other times he just walks normally across... Go figure...

It was a bit on the wet side this morning when we took them out. Booker was fairly quick in doing his things, but Tula who was the one most eager to get out this morning took about 20 min before she did anything..... And then another 10 before she had done it all....

They were both soaked when we got came inside. All we had to do was to throw a towel over Booker and he stands still and await his towel rub. They both really like that. We have gotten in to the practise of giving them a little rub down anyway after walking them Booker seems to enjoy it the most. He is the one standing still, looking at you and waiting for one of us to start on his back and spine....


When we came in this morning Booker was bleeding a little from under his paw. Given recent events we are a bit concerned about this and we did a thorough check and also soaked his foot in salt water and then checked again. Could not see anything, nor did he express any pain or discomfort when we touched the area. We are keeping an eye on this and if there is any sign of anything we will take him to the vet as well.

They are now sleeping in their bed, full and content.

I definitively need to get some more pics on here....

During the afternoon walk today I would say that just abut everyone and their brothers were out with their dogs. More than usual I would say. We did walk them about an hour earlier than usual...

We think it went well. They did need constant correction, especially Booker. He is a bit wilder than Tula who is much more submissive to us. It is a little paradox here. Booker may be more difficult or physically challenging to correct while we are outside, but in the house Tula is the more cheeky one and constantly trying to do what she wants to, rater than what we tell her. Generally she is pretty good though. She gives up in the end and go and lay down.

Booker was bleeding a little again from his paw after the walk this afternoon. We did the same as this morning and soaked it in salty water and had a good check.

This evening we cut the walk short to only about 20 min and kept Booker on the grass for the most part. Looks like it stopped. There were no bleeding when we came back in to the house.

More importantly, for the last few days there has been no accidents inside. Fingers crossed...

We are trying to teach them the command "OUT" to be used when we are preparing food in the kitchen. They know it, but their compliance still leaves a little to be desired. Again Tula is the most persistent here. She will just walk back in to the kitchen, while Booker stands in the doorway. The other day they were both peaking around the door after I had told them OUT several times. Two heads, one on top of the other. I wish I've had my camera ready...

I am enjoying reading the regular updates, sounds like you are doing a fantastic job with the pair of them.

I understand completely your position when walking them and trying to avoid other dogs. I have spent the past year with mine doing the same thing. However yesterday my friend persuaded me to walk him with her spaniel. I was very nervous but I must admit after the initial excitement he lost interest and we spent a lovely 50 minutes with both dogs pottering around completely comfortable in each other's company. I think in true greyhound style after the initial protest he just couldn't be bothered keeping up the carry on!

It's lovely to hear the progress they're making and really nice they've found such a good forever home. Keep up the good work and I'll keep reading :)

Susan xx

Morning walk today turned out to a bit of a wrestling match as they were all perked up and ready to go outside. In Glasgow green there is a reasonably large closed in area where a lot of people walk their dogs. We normally start and finish there, but walk alongside the river around the park to the other end and then through the park coming back. You can easily do an hours walk this way.

This morning as soon as I walked in to the enclosed area, another guy walked in from the other end with two small long haired "mops". As soon as he was inside the gate he let them off the lead and they were running and barking all over the place, There were no way that Booker and Tula would do anything except to chase these two dogs, so I just walked out of the area and down to the river side.

We met a really bouncy and curious Labradoodle that wanted to come over. Booker and Tula was of course very eager to make contact. What sort of contact, I am not sure. For the time being I am not letting them get close to other dogs. Maybe I am a bit too over protective, but I'd rather play it safe. Even if they are both wearing their muzzles. I make them wear it every time we go outside now. Especially since Booker is a lot more secure of himself and his environment and thus more bold and sometimes requires a "firmer" hand to keep him in check.

At the moment I am waiting for a friend of mine to come over and meet them. We are then going for the afternoon walk. He helps a couple of friend of his with their dogs on a regular basis. One is a pair of Springer Spaniels and one is a Dalmatian. We have talked about walking them together one day. But I am not sure. We were informed when we got them that they do not like Spaniels...

I hoe he hurry's because it is definitively time to go out. They are being very patient, but how long can it last....

U may be wise to keep ur distance even with them in muzzles until you know their intentions as Bambi has lost 2 potential doggie friends by basically jumping on their heads with both her front feet - this was discovered as her preferred intention by accident when the 2 poor pootches came up to her one when he slipped his lead (his crime was not being a greyhound I believe) and the other because she dared to run past Bambi before she came back to speak (she is a lurcher and had previously been accepted as "ok" by Bambi)!! Bambi also has a dislike for spaniels (altho is ok with the one that comes to the greyhound walks??!!) and also a distinct dislike for boxers! Each to their own i suppose!!lol

The walk went fine. We did a long one for almost one and a half hour. We did avoid where we could, but not every time. I find that the trick is just to walk on and walk faster until we are past. It does not take them long to settle in to going forward again. But I did definitively avoid a young mother with 3 small kids, one in a pram and two running about (both of the lead...) and two very small dogs running around, also off the lead.

After showing how to walk them I let my friend walk Tula for the rest of the walk. He looked a bit stiff but eventually got the hang of it. (sort of lol)

Booker's favorite place to "unload" is in a Crocus flower bed. Talking about being royalty, having s flowerbed for a loo...

After this walk we went for lunch. I came back after around 2 hours only to find that Booker had pee'd on the carpet again and Tula was in our bed. They both looked very guilty and went to their own bed and stayed there until I was done cleaning up.

In the evening Greg and I did a fairly long walk with them as well. After these walks Booker is still good with the steps. I run up the steps with him only to demonstrate that I can do the steps faster than he can. Tula is making it look like she is soooooooo exhausted that she can barely make it up the stairs. Regardless of how long the walk has been.

Our final walk was the shortest we have ever done with them. We were both very tired and only wanted to go to bed. Normally we take them out around 11:30-midnight, but last night we went out at 10:30, and only for 15 min. We fully expected to be woken up well before 6am with them needing to get out. It never happened. They slept through until the alarm came on. We were very pleasantly surprised....

I had to turn the volume down on the radio/alarm as got very exited as soon as it went off. They still react to it unless I am very fast in snoozing it... As soon as they here it they come around and start to lick wherever they can find some exposed skin...

I supposed there is worse ways of being woken up...

Tula has claimed the couch as her own. I don't think Booker has discovered it yet.

Tula thinks she only weighs 10 pounds. She keeps trying to crawl on top of you, just like a cat would. Last night I laid down on the carpet and she came and laid right on top of me. She did the same with Greg on the couch the other day. 32kg's on your chest is very noticeable...

Hi Greg and Nicolai,
Just a word of warning as it's nearly squirrel and baby rabbit season and that will provoke a massive reaction - squirrels, in my experience, drive my hounds to distraction. Not sure if there are many in your parks but be prepared.
I have one hound who is a real gent and fine with all other dogs (but was difficult to toilet-train), one who is nearly blind and increasingly unpredictable, basically because he's nervous but he never has liked spaniels, collies, vizlers ....! and my lovely GRF dog Bryn, whose chase instict still rules his life but, like Bambi, he is getting much better with time and it's SO rewarding when you make progress. Hang in - you're doing great and it will be well worth it in the end. It's really hard at first but I've found that if you can stay relaxed and make like it's no big deal, that seems to work better than a more dominant approach, which just seems to add to the excitement.

poor show lads - no updates from last nights walk

Yeah, come on guys, I really look forward to reading your daily posts, the are very well written, informative and entertaining.

Hurry up with your next post I am having withdrawal symptoms!

I do apologise. How could I be so neglecting?.....

They are just in from todays afternoon walk. I stayed in this time and Greg walked them with a friend of ours. They were out for about an hour and I enjoyed the peace and quiet....

Of course I had to give his Majesty his usual and expected back rub when they came in. He stood in a slight curve and leaned against my legs. An unmistakable command...



This morning I got called in to work at 06:00. Normally we walk them at about 8, so I decided to take them out before I left so Greg could have a long morning.

I put on their coats and muzzle's and off we went. Why is that when the weather is miserable, it takes them forever to do anything. We were out for half an hour and they heads were all soaking wet. They looked so pitiful and poorly when we came inside. However. As soon as they had their towel rub and food appeared on the table, they were happy again.

As you know from previous posts, I carried Tula down the stairs a few times when she was ill. The day before yesterday I decided to lift up Booker. Just for the sake of it and to see how he would react to that. He was heeeeaaaavyyyyyy.... 37kg's...He looked very sorry for himself and very submissive while I was holding him. Here is the pic:


It almost looks like he is trying to get down, but that was not the case. He just held his head way down and vas completely still. When I sat him down he just laid down on the floor.

The exercise came in useful the next day during the afternoon walk. We were walking along side the river and a women came running past us from behind. We see her all the time. She runs with two dogs off the lead, but well behaved. Of course Booker and Tula wanted to run as well. They got exited and started howling and pulling really hard on the leash. On of the dogs turned around and looked at us. I did not let them get any closer and Booker got a bit wild. I corrected him fairly strongly and snapped at me (he was muzzled). This was the perfect opportunity. I lifted him up and laid him down on the grass and then I "bit" him. A light poke with a full hand has a similar feeling to a nip which is how packleaders correct their pack members.

The transformation was surprising. He immediately became very submissive and just laid completely still with his ears as far back as they could go. I almost started to feel sorry for him, but caught myself in the act.... During this Tula just looked at us and calmed right down as well. Innocent little creature that she is...

Back to Wednesday. Our former flatmate Graham came over during the day and did the afternoon walk with us. He looks small standing with Booker and Tula. Here is a couple of pics:





As some of you know, they do like their little cuddles, or big cuddles, not to mention a little wrestling/licking match. Here is Greg giving Booker a cuddle followed by all three of them in a lickdown competition...



And the final lick down.....


And finally:..

I hope this makes up for 2 days of silence.

And I forgot to mention about this morning; as soon as they had finished eating Tula decided to have pee in the hall..... This time I caught her in the act, which is unusual. Normally I would have taken her straight out, but as I thought I was still going to work at that time, I had to get ready.

Oh yes, they canceled my callout so I am still home.

The late night walks are generally more quiet, or has been up until now. Recently we have seen lots of foxes out and that really gets there their attention. When they first got here, they did not seem that interested, but now that they are used to their surroundings it's all very different...

I think they just want a fox fur coat to wear....

We are now starting to train them to stay away from the front door when we got friends or take away coming over...

So far they understand and it works for about 2 seconds. This one might take a while.

Getting them out of the kitchen when we are preparing food works better. After only 23 times of telling them out they finally lay down in the hall. That way you are sure to trip over them when walking out with food and once it's on the floor.....

Thats until next time we cook. They are just like 3-4 year olds that constantly pushes the boundaries.

AH thats right. They are 3-4 years old. My mistake , sorry lol

When we eat our food, they try to come up to the table, but after being told to lay down a couple of times, usually with one of us standing in front of them blocking their way to the dining table, they lay down and thats it. We are then left alone. Should me make the mistake of trusting them to stay while we leave the room for a few seconds....

Thats it. I'll stop for now.

I am away for a few days again, but Greg keeps me inform about what is going on.

Yesterday for the first time they only went out 3 times. That will not be a normal practise. Twice when I have gone away early in the morning, before they normal walking time, they have stayed in bed sleeping until 10-11am. Same thing yesterday. Ok, fair enough, the weather was no exactly brilliant, don't think they wanted to go before they HAD to.... They got walked at about 11:30, then had a late brunch after at 12:30. They did not want to go out again before after 18:00. I was very surprised. No accidents inside either... Today however... Even with 4 walks...

Oh well.

Today they were also fighting over one of those foreign adapter plugs. We use it as a window stopper. Tula picked it up and Booker being a bully took it away from her and she tried to get it back. They do like to pick up strange objects and carry it in to their bed...

While I was talking to Greg on the phone, Tula tried to climb up on his lap. I am sure she sleeps on my side in the bed while I am away....