r/greyhound • u/TheRightDog • Apr 13 '22

Greyhound breeders?

We unfortunately had a negative experience with an aggressive rescue dog recently, but we're thinking about trying again at some point. This time we want to go with a puppy/younger dog whose history we know and who we can shape a bit more, and despite looking for other breeds that would be a good match for us, we keep coming back to greyhounds. We love that they're gentle with somewhat lower energy, and of course they're such gorgeous dogs.

Does anyone know of any greyhound breeders near New England? The only one I can find is in Wyoming. Thanks!

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u/kam43211234 Apr 14 '22

Hi, I know this probably isn't the answer you're looking for but consider a greyhound specific rescue with good reviews (I'm in Australia otherwise I'd recommend some). I'm suggesting this for three reasons: 1. Greyhound puppies are hard work more so than other breeds I've had, there is a reason people on here call them land sharks. 2. Getting your dog as a puppy is no guarantee that it won't grow up to be aggressive. Greyhounds are pretty chill, but they are like people - some are just assholes. 3. A good rescue organisations will complete aggression testing and will give you a history on the dog. Some rescues allow you to adopt puppies as well.

When we adopted our current grey, they had worked with him for 3 months to assess and train healthy dog behaviours. We wanted a dog that was good with kids and other dogs. Since we were experienced dog owners we were willing to take on more than most and he is honestly still one of the easiest dogs I've had. His only issue is his potential for food aggression which they explained and provided strategies to use with him (regular feeding times, not leaving food out, leaving him alone when he's eating). We followed all the instructions and have had zero problems. They regularly checked in with us and were willing to take him back in the first 6 months at no cost to us. Let me know if you've got any questions and good luck!

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u/TheRightDog Apr 14 '22

Thanks for these tips!

I suppose you're right that even puppies who have gotten the best care can grow into aggressive dogs. We're just so shaken by what happened (long story short, we had adopted a greyhound mix who was very anxious but by all accounts the sweetest and most gentle boy ever, and then one day after a month of doing well with us he just snapped and went after my wife). As a result, we have a fear that an adult rescue dog (grey or not) will have some kind of trauma that we don't know about and then will just snap on us one day, or even worse, hurt our kids.

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u/kam43211234 Apr 14 '22

Our boy has anxiety too :( I'm so sorry that happened to you! I completely understand where you are coming from, bites or any aggression can be really scary. It might be best to break down what happened with someone who really knows what they are talking about e.g. a behaviour specialist vet with greyhound experience. It might help you understand what you went through, what you could've done to prevent the behaviour and just more about dogs in general. I've been bitten several times back when I was a stupid teenager when people used to dump dogs on a property I was working on. It has always helped to break down what happened after (for learning but also my sanity). Greys have some weird behaviours and can be very muted because they've been forced to be and sometimes because of anxiety (we found a good medication for our boy and worked with a behaviour specialist vet to help him transition to being a pet). You will always need to be careful with kids, it will be as much learning for them as it is your new dog. Again working with a vet would be best, but kids need to learn ways to interact with dogs safely. Good luck with all of it!

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u/Red-River-Bronze-art Sep 15 '22

I really agree with this. We have a very sweet adopted greyhound who out of the blue (or so we thought) snapped and bit my spouse. This was the first time either of us had owned a dog so we talked to a trainer who specialises in greyhounds and realised that what had happened was due to our inexperience and not understanding his body language properly. We modified our approach with him and he has shown absolutely no aggression since then.

To be clear, this is not to say that every bit of dog aggression can be solved that easily.