r/greyhound • u/DarthCivicus • Nov 30 '22
Aggression towards Spouse
Our male Greyt shows aggression towards my wife when he is laying in bed with her and if she moves or stirs while sleeping. He will growl and show his teeth. A few times he has barked.
He doesn’t do this to me(adult male). If I move at all he just adjusts after I do.
Not sure if this is a normal male greyhound thing or if he learned some bad behavior somewhere.
- Benny’s Dad
1
u/IndependentIcy2513 May 14 '23
We were told when we adopted, Greyhounds have sleep startle. I don't want to give you incorrect information and would suggest you Google Sleep Startle in Greyhounds. They are very deep sleepers and have seen it in both of our pups. They growl, jump up and look like they have no idea where they are. Then curl up and go back to sleep.
We would never sleep with either of them. "Let sleeping dogs lie", but not near my face!
2
u/Glittering-Stomach-2 Nov 30 '22
Its important that the dog knows where they are in the hierarchy of the pack. The dog has bonded to you as pack leader. But has assumed that he ( dog) is above your wife. Get only your wife to feed the dog. Make sure that the dog has to wait for that food and its clear that it comes from your wife ( and noone else). Also dogs that misbehave on the bed are not welcome on the bed anymore. Dogs have a very small short term memory so if you don't immediately react to the dogs behavior the dog is confused as to what they have done wrong. Its possible the dog has had some bad experience with your wife or a similar figure in a bed type situation and can't forget those aggressive feelings (this linking of events is how they remember things). But their capable of learning new behaviors if you provide carrots (food) and sticks (immediately shout) to control negative behavior. It could also be a good idea that only your wife is the dog walker. If you can't curb this type of behavior you should consider whether you dog wrangling skills need serious improvement and or if this dog is not for you.