I think all this has to do with maturing, I just need some advice on the best way to guide her away from it.

Raven is 17 1/2 weeks, for about the past weel-10 days it seems she has totally forgotten EVERYTHING we have ever done. Normal? She won't settle in her pen anymore, but barks and fusses, even if I've taken her for a long walk, and a play session, training, etc. If it's after a walk, she will eventually settle down, but it suddenly takes a while. She has also gotten very focused on other dogs, to the exclusion of everything, including food or toys. She jumps at and bugs my older dog terribly. I can't let her be out loose with him, and I am reluctant to walk them together because she constantly tries to cross in front of me and nip or jump at him. I use the same correction word for her then as I use if she tries to mouth the children, but it isn't as effective. She is very focused on nipping at his tail and ears.

So, solutions? Do I need to up her exercise time? (We walk for a total of 2-3 hours a day, very slow walks). Increase the speed perhaps, to a brisk walk? I've tried doing more play sessions with her, but when we go outside to play, she just flops in the grass or tears around the yard. I expect the running, since she is a sighthound, but she is not interested in running after toys at all. Would increasing mental challenges help? One of her favorite things is to balance on the lowest part of the bleachers at the ball fields. I won't let her on the higher ones. Any suggestions for challenges like this I could try that don't require huge amounts of equipment or space?

I've been tethering her to keep her with me as much as possible, instead of having her in her ex-pen, because that seems to help return her focus to me. I know I lost some ground at the beginning of the month when everyone was sick, no one was sleeping, and we all felt like zombies (and not in the cool, horror-movie way).

Sorry this post is a little all over the place.

so she's just teething now ?

that can produce erratic behaviour .

as for the walks , sounds not very stimulating to me . i'd bring her out , do her business , then do something with her , then put her away . 15 minutes later , repeat .

not saying no long walks , but the majority of her time out of the crate or pen should be time spent focused on you .


prior to teething the dog is just finding her way in the world with some caution . now she has matured a bit she wants to explore things , to find out her place . combine that with the pain she might be experiencing and it's no wonder you aren't the number one you used to be . . . have patience .

personally , expecting a dog that young to be walking nicely on lead with a distraction as powerful as your other dog seems a bit ambitious .

i'm currently dealing with a rambunctious 7 month BC ( henry ) , who is being " mentored " by a 9 1/2 y/o BC ( hector ). because i know there won't be any blood letting , i will let henry pester hector to the point where hector will physically let henry know when he has crossed the line . over time , each has found each others' boundaries . henry is still very interested in the things hector does , but he is less and less fixated on him and is always looking to me to see where we are going and what we might be doing next .

If you live in the boonies I'd consider finding a country road, put the dog out the driver's side window, and jog her, a long trot, no loping. Beside the car. You can have your kids in the car and your dog working out. It will take some training, but it can be done. She can "heel" beside the car. Be sure and stop for rests, water, good dog breaks. Not too much at first. In the beginning just get her trained to do it, then as she matures you can add more.



I think what you are seeing is a dog that needs more exercise. At maturity these dogs can do 20 miles per night. But she is young, so it can't be too much too soon or there could be orthopedic problems.

OTOH, they can get orthopedic problems just jumping about because they have so much energy and drive to move.

It's okay to have her run then? I was hesitant to have her running beside me so young because I was afraid it would affect her joints. I thought I had to wait until she was 18 months to 2 years. If I can let her run (on dirt or grass) at a trot, then I can take her out with my land rollers. We have some good walking paths where she can go on the grass while I'm on the concrete, and the cemetery has several nice areas where we can do that too. I'd been making the older kids slow down on their scooters for her. (I know, I sound like the first time mom who takes her baby to the emergency room for the sniffles, I'm just paranoid about joint damage on her).

We've gone to the ball fields so she can free run off leash a few times, but all she wanted to do was roll in the grass and bug the kids.

Trot, long trot. Fast enough so she is not smelling the ground or getting distracted. Long enough to get her tired but not exhausted.

I think you can do that without problems. Just not too long at first, so her muscles build up. Then stop and let her rest.

Ask Kiersten Lippman what the sled dog folks do.
Your pup is a running machine. I think you can begin a little of it, and I think that sort of controlled exercise is probably safer than sprints after balls or leaping for Frisbees.
She may not like it. Some greyhounds hate jogging!

agreed betty , when i think of this past summer with henry , a good portion of our time ( 35 % + / - ) was spent doing long unsupervised walks over big distances with great variety in terrain .

typical would be 3 + hours over 10 + km ; the biggest we did was 26 km over about 10 hours with a nice lunch break at a lake . food reward for every reunion whether initiated by me or not . brisk pace with no dallying while on the move . very little verbal from me . unannounced direction changes . random whistle recalls ( lots ) with big reward party . short downstays on breaks .

as well , we did his first mtb trip . about ten km up to the same lake as the big hike . we overnighted at a mtn cabin there , and then did a 4 km hike a bike to the top of the jewel : a gradual 15 km downhill ending in a shallow river crossing . the dog was still full of beans at the end .

and betty i'm lucky enough to have not one , but two rural driveways to access my house . both are fairly steep , 300 meters and 700 meters long , just enough for a little fresh air . standard routine is to allow the dogs to run alongside the vehicle , usually only in the uphill direction .

so yeah becca you can run your dog . if you are paying attention to the dog you should be able to tell when enough is enough .

Here's some video of pups a couple months older running pretty hard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1tvvpWOXXw

I'm thinking you won't break her by running her a bit at a trot, but do be careful to give her plenty of breaks and make sure you don't over do it.

We did a trot beside my land rollers last night and I think it went really well. She still wanted to stop and explore every little thing at first, but once she realized that "Hey, we're going faster" she really enjoyed it. We went to the school grounds where it's easy to keep her on the grass. (And boy, now I know how out of shape I am *Wheeze*)

Ian, I would love to go hiking with my dogs. Hopefully by next summer the kids will be more up to some day hikes at least. Now that it's cooled down a bit, we can go to the reservoir and Raven can at least enjoy the sand dunes and rocks, etc. I'm not sure I would let her off leash just yet there though. It's enclosed, but it's a big area and there are wild animals.

Be very careful if you jog her along side of a car. My uncle was doing that with their dog when my aunt was laid up (she would jog with the dog every day) and inadvertently ran over his foot

Keirsten, obviously, I should inform my husband that we *need* a 4-wheeler. And a trailer for it to strap the kiddos into.