Nervous rehomed greyhound

[Hodgeheg3]

We recently rehomed an ex-racing greyhound who we adore, he’s very affectionate and is a fantastic family pet. However, he’s very nervous and lots of things-loud noises, wheely bins, motorbikes, cyclists, children on scooters, other dogs (especially small fluffy dogs who bark at him)-seem to make him very anxious. An incident with a very over-friendly puppy and idiot owner who wouldn’t call his dog away because ‘he’s just playing’ has left our poor dog now refusing to go into the park. How can we start to build his confidence? He lived in kennels for nearly 6 years and has only been with us for a month so it is early days.

[user1494670108]

I think just keep treating him very gently for now. To some extent he will grow in confidence, it took my rescue lurcher a full 6 months to properly settle and he'd come from a home (via kennels).
It may well be that he is always the nervous type but he will learns to trust you and many of the things that scared our lurcher, plastic bags, tin foil etc no longer bother him.
For now try to walk him elsewhere rather than force the same place - preferably where there are less idiots although that of course is impossible to predict!
I hope he settles in with you in time

[79andnotout]

Mine is still like this after three years of ownership. She has her safe routes that she likes but it's difficult to take her on busy noisy roads etc. Some greys are just very anxious. Every now and then she will reopen a previously refused route and deem it safe again but we just take her lead and treat her when she does a full walk with us. She has also run home on her own several times when startled so I would advise don't walk off lead until you've well and truly won her trust. Our dog will stop running home for me but not for my partner so it's too risky.

Other than that she is the best pet ever, and we love her to bits.

[OverFedStanley]

Take all the pressure of him.
Do not take him out for walks ( I would leave it for quite a while maybe a couple of weeks)
Let him watch observe and take in his new life from a safe place.
You will see him become more confident at home then you can start to take him to quiet places etc.

Really I can not stress enough how slowly you need to take this.
You can tire him out from brain games, finding his food is great as this is also a brilliant stress reliever, lots of games with you if he will - many rescue greys need help with this, gentle massage if he likes it etc

Greys can be quite lazy sedentary so do not worry about lack of exercise he can make up for that later

[Purplecatshopaholic]

Aww, my rescue sighthound (podenco) was so nervous when I got him - everything freaked him out. Patience and time is the answer. He still doesnt like the noise of the letter box but most other things have calmed down over time. I just kept on with the socialisation and keeping calm around him when he was not calm so as he trusted me he grew in confidence himself. Dont get stressed yourself, they defo pick up on it. You have only had him a month - it will take a while for him to trust and calm down I would think.

[Purplecatshopaholic]

PS agree that not insisting on walks every single day is a good idea. It takes the pressure off if he is feeling worried

[Sexnotgender]

My rescue greyhound doesn’t go for walks, thanks mostly to arsehole dog owners who can’t control their dogs off lead.

Thankfully I have a massive garden that he hurtles round regularly like a lunatic.

We’re trying to entice him out into the big bad world but he’s just terrified lots of treats and letting him lead the way is my advice.

[Hodgeheg3]

Thanks all, that’s really helpful. We did take him for a walk this eve but to a different park, let him decide where he wanted to go, left when he wanted to (which he made quite clear by heading to the gates) and gave him lots of treats.

[florentina1]

It took my Rescue 5 months to calm down but after 18 months she is still reactive and anxious in some situations.

Now I have bought her a yellow coat with big “Keep your Distance “ lettering. What part of ‘she is very nervous, she is a bit reactive’ translates to ‘please lean right into her face and say ooooh are you a nervous one then?’

She answers that question in her own way, “snap snap,snarl, snarl” which translates as ‘yes I am thank you for asking’ . Or possibly something a bit ruder.