walking my lurcher

[karala]

I would really appreciate some advice: we adopted a gorgeous lurcher late last year and he is a beautiful gentle boy about 2 years old. We don't know much about him because he was a stray but the rescue centre felt that he was probably a traveller's dog. He walks reasonably well on the lead in that he doesn't pull but he wants to sniff EVERYTHING. I understand that sniffing is a major part of a dog's reason for life but he won't respond when he's sniffing so we end up in this ridiculous situation of him being dragged down the road/across a field by whoever is walking him. We are dealing with some reactivity as well but that's another story but I'd really appreciate some help with the sniffing just to make it a more enjoyable experience for us all, dog included.

I take your scruff and raise you a wallpaper eating machine...

here he is

Look at those legs!! We don’t have wallpaper so he can come live with me. Although Ddog did eat half the kitchen doorframe as a pup so DH may not appreciate another dog with a penchant interior design!

looking sad (but not)

If I need to walk quickly I leave my dog at home because of all the sniffing...

@karala

looking sad (but not)

Well that’s clearly a “I didn’t get to sniff enough things face”

Lurchers fold up very small. A very underestimated ddog imo.
*beds were bought for dcats. Poor things never got a paw in..

Aww a Salukish lurcher! My ddog1 and current foster puppy are Salukish (puppy has lovely floofy ears too)
Ddog1 loves to sniff and wee on things after a good sniff of them, but we have reached an agreement that if he is on a short lead, walking by my side we are going somewhere and I am not going to stop every 3 nanoseconds, long lead and he can stop. You could take it further as a training thing and have different colour leads. But I do a bright 'walk on' and a quick tug on the lead and we move on anyway whatever we are doing.
Is he on a harness or a martingale collar?

If you think he is anxious, then try an Adaptil collar. It works amazingly well for ddog2 who is part doberman and angst ridden

CMOTDibbler: He wears a harness for now. It's been really helpful hearing what you all have to say and we'll alter our routines a bit and make sure that his walks don't get muddled up with what we need.

Now I need to work on the reactivity which is definitely an anxiety thing. What we've been doing up to now is reassuring him when there are dogs that alarm him (he particularly dislikes labradors both golden and black). He give him lots of treats and keep him on a short lead - he is fine with some dogs and we find that if we chat with the owner he is reassured by this - not always. Do any of you have any words of wisdom?

thanks

I would also recommend a vet check. Dogs in pain sniff a lot. It hurts I sniff it doesnt hurt.

So get a full vet check.

If clean bill of health reward the sniffing. so walk one step and then say lets sniff. Let the sniffari happen then walk another step and reward with sniffing. Over time you can lengthen the time between sniffs and walking BUT always let the dog have plenty of time to sniff .

Have you tried scattering treats as a distraction for the reactivity? If he likes to sniff, he'll probably enjoy that, and sniffing is supposed to be calming.

As others say, see if you can develop cues for when he needs to walk to heel and when he can do his own thing.

Sniffari. Love it.

I sometimes walk a scent hound who would drag his nose v slowly along the ground for the entire walk. It is very frustrating especially when we're trying to get to the beach.
I find injecting an absurd amount of energy & speed into my walking & voice commands helps gee him up but makes me feel like a twat.

Is it a Perfect Fit harness? Lurchers are so bony, especially round the chest that it can be easy to have painful pressure points with a harness, or trapped bits of skin round their armpit. It could make walking uncomfortable.

Once out of lockdown, he'd probably enjoy going to sighthound playgroup at a secure field. Sighthounds love their own kind, and especially being able to run and shoulder barge, play bitey face and other sighthound play techniques.

I've just ordered a new harness from the Kent Greyhound Rescue which is soft - the one he has is from the Dog's Trust and isn't perfect for his build. I'm going to look for sighthound playgroups now.

Sighthound playgroup? God that would be amazing. Don’t think there is anything like that round my way sadly.

@SnarkyBag its worth following your local secure fields on social media, and also sighthound rescues. My local field do sighthound group walks (I think even having large and small ones), and greyhound rescue organise (in normal times) play at an indoor riding school

[quote CMOTDibbler]@SnarkyBag its worth following your local secure fields on social media, and also sighthound rescues. My local field do sighthound group walks (I think even having large and small ones), and greyhound rescue organise (in normal times) play at an indoor riding school[/quote]
Thanks for that I’ll do a bit of digging around locally. Would be fantastic. Ddog is rather misunderstood on the local rec so we rarely bother but he does love to be chased and will just barge and bite faces until the others either oblige!

My 3 would love to run with other loons!! Ddog 4 wears a muzzle or rags the others by their ears!!

My lurcher loves sniffing

We take her to lesser walked areas, less dog pee to sniff

We always allow her 10 mins of sniffing at the beginning of the walk, to get it out of her system. We say “she’s checking her pee-mails”

After that we call her after a bit or put her on lead

She accepts this now as the rules

Dogs love predictability

@Snowymcsnowsony

Lurchers fold up very small. A very underestimated ddog imo. *beds were bought for dcats. Poor things never got a paw in..

Adorable!

I sympathise!
I'd had several lurchers before but my present one was a manic sniffer when I got her. (And also reactive to other dogs). She too walked quite well on the lead generally but would haul me over to interesting smells.
I mentioned it to the vet when I took her for a checkup and got told that it's normal and necessary et etc. I knew all that.
Then lockdown and the vets came out to the car, collected the dogs and took them in to the surgery. That's when they understood just how much she sniffed.

I live near schools and there's often litter around. If she obeyed when told to leave it, she got a treat (just a bit of her normal food in fact). She's extremely keen on food so that helped a lot.
I tended to to walk the same routes as too much variation was too stimulating and I stuck to streets and avoided grass and areas where she could cope with the smell overload. That was also to avoid dogs off the lead which she couldn't cope with. Gradually, with steps back as well as forward, she became calmer.

A year and a half later she still loves to sniff but to a much more normal extent and I can relax about it. She also, when restrictions permit, goes to a secure field and she can sniff around off lead in complete safety.

My other dogs settled much more quickly, and I hope yours does too, but we've made huge progress albeit slowly and she's much more chilled and lurcherlike in the house too.

'avoided grass and areas where she couldn't cope with the smell overload' was what I meant to say!

thank you okstretch - that's interesting to hear. I think a lot of it is probably settling in and learning where he lives and being able to cope with it all. He is a lovely dog and I hope that we can help him calm down a little to manage the reactivity

We do scent work and mantrailing with our two.
It doesn't help on walks but gives the sniffing a purpose

Karala, he's really beautiful!

Mine would lunge and bark at other dogs. It was really difficult as she's heavy and strong. She's not aggressive, it's more fear combined with overexcitement

I tried a training class but she couldn't cope with being face to face close to other dogs and it became too stressful for both of us.

Because she loves food above all else I carried food with me ( and still do ) and gave her something whenever we saw another dog, before she got close enough to react. The lunging soon stopped, and whenever she saw a dog she would look to me for a treat.

I avoid the green areas where there are dogs off the lead and always cross over if we see another dog approaching on the pavement. Lockdown made me look less odd!

I've had travellers' dogs before and they were fine with other dogs except occasionally if a strange dog rushed up to them when they were on the lead. I'd be very hopeful that yours soon will be too.
My present girl was apparently always a pet but not socialised with other dogs and not exercised enough.

She also sometimes does the stopping and standing still and looking anxious. I give her a moment and coax her on. She won't move if I stand ahead of her, it has to be beside her, if you see what I mean.

Calmness, perseverance and routine have brought good progress. Our walks are still a bit lacking in variety (luckily I live in a nice area) but I just accept the limitations, she's such a sweetheart!