Lively Lurcher on the lead

[BarbarAnna]

Hi all. We have just taken in a rescue Lurcher. We have already had to lock the bin! He is sleeping at night fine and not too many accidents. He is thieving food off our plates which we are working on. However, he goes completely crazy on walks if he sees other dogs. To the extent that I thought he was going to slip his collar. I know it is early days and we need to work on his confidence and settle him, but just wondering whether people would recommend a harness (which I would use along with the collar I think) for added security. He just wants to play and misses his kennel mates I am sure, but he is incredibly strong. Any suggestions would be great.

[Windydaysuponus]

A neighbour of mine rushed her ddog to the emergency vet the first time she saw his lipstick!!
Imagine!!

[janey15]

Our rescue lurched worked out how to open the bin within minutes of bringing him home 🙈
We were recommended to get a perfect fit harness and we have always bought these since then for both dogs.
He was 10 months when we got him and was completely loopy - we just walked and walked and walked until he could relax. He began to calm down at 3 and now at almost 6 he still gets zoomies but he's probably got less stamina than our 10 yr old Jack Russell who I'm pretty sure is aging in reverse!

[janey15]

Forgot to add - it took a good 5 weeks for him to settle in. At that point we suddenly realised we were seeing his true personality not an unsure dog trying to work out what the hell is going on!

[EnidPrunehat]

What I would say about walks is that we, as humans, tend to think they are a great deal more beneficial to dogs than your dog necessarily does! My boy (who is hiding under my desk not speaking to me since yesterday's castration) is a people dog. Not a dog's dog. He's not reactive and he loves a really good walk but he doesn't mind at all if he doesn't see another dog. He certainly doesn't need to go out in order to meet one. He particularly dislikes organised gatherings and I shan't be trying another Sighthound Meeting after the last two have involved him sitting, thoughtfully, on my feet while most of the other dogs ran around like zoomy things. I'm admiring of his discernment, to be honest.

It sounds as if your lurcher is settling down on his walks but I'd just say that if they do ever get very stressful for him, just walk somewhere very quiet or actually, just stay home for a day or so. 'Flooding' reactive dogs doesn't help.

[BarbarAnna]

Thanks all. Quite a lot of pulling tonight but I have been holding him very close when other dogs were in sight and he was mainly good, a bit skitty. New challenge over the last couple of days is lots of mouthing. Which we are walking away from when it happens. Less lipstick thank goodness. He is a total sweetheart though.

[Wornoutalready]

What is it with sighthounds and bins?
Ours used to be a nightmare.
She still snaffles anything she can find too. The more disgusting the better.

[noodlenosefraggle]

Ours does too! He'll leave his dinner half eaten but the other day snaffled the empty tin of his own dog food out of the recycling, took it over to the sofa and gave it a good lick out even though the contents of the tin were sitting in his bowl