Nervous Greyhound Needs a Foster Home

Could you give a long term foster home to 2 yr old Finlay who is very nervous? Some greyhounds come out of the racing industry as "spooks". Nobody is sure why but it can be to do with inheriting a nervous streak or can be because the greyhound had bad experiences and becomes overly fearful of new situations. I would not always assume that the treatment they have had was particularly cruel, but more that they are highly strung and intelligent and the industry just did not suit pups like them. 

Our Lily was such a dog and was so scared she would shake, thrash around and do anything to avoid being handled. These dogs need to be removed from kennels as soon as it can be seen they are not thriving and put into a calm, stable home, preferably with another greyhound who is confident, and given the time and space to settle.

As we have done so well with Lily in making her stable and cuddly we were asked if we could do the same for another nervous boy Finlay who needs to be put into foster care whilst looking for his forever home. It is important that he is not put into any situation that is not right for him because he may learn behaviour that is not desirable or just be downright miserable. Sadly, we were already fostering so were not available. 

Finlay was put into another temporary foster home as a third dog. However the foster carer worked and so he was left alone for about four hours per day. Everyone thought this would be ok as he had two other dogs to keep him company but he had bonded so well with the lady that he pined for her. She found this out when she had complaints from neighbouring flats about a whining dog and was put in a position of rectifying it, or having to get rid of him. As giving up work was not an option for her, and he could not tolerate her absence for four hours right away, he went back to kennels. This does not mean he will always have separation anxiety and be noisy, it just means he needs to build up to 3 or 4 hours slowly, ten minutes at a time which obviously his carer could not do.

Getting separation anxiety is quite normal for hounds used to constant companionship with dogs or used to kennel maids being present all day. The correct way to get your dog confident enough to be left alone is by leaving him for very short periods like five or ten mins, and then increasing those periods gradually over time. He eventually learns that you might go, but that you will come back very soon. This is not possible if the owner has to be absent for a large block of time to go to work right away.

So Finlay is again looking for a long term foster home, until he finds the right home to go to forever. If anybody lives in the UK Southeast and is home all day and committed to working with a nervous dog by slowly introducing him to new things, as well as building up to him being left for short periods, then contact me and I will put you in touch with the rescue service. This would be ideal for someone who has a greyhound already, preferably a friendly confident bitch. We are already committed elsewhere, I will tell you more about that when we have our commitment confirmed (Lily might not be the perfect match for this dog anyway).

If you would prefer to ring to find out more about Finlay, then you can go here to get the details of the rescue service in Essex who currently hold Finlay.

Dogs like this are so rewarding once they get to know you and have a lot of love to give back as well as being quick to learn and intelligent.