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Post Info TOPIC: George & Maia
Suzanne


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RE: George & Maia
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Hi Liz - what a strange problem - poor wee Bentley - i dread to think what is going through his wee head that makes him so scared of the jacket.

My only usggestion is that you try putting the jacket on him in the house - 5 mins here, 10 mins there - dont take him out in it. Just et him do what he does indoors - dont fuss him, ignore his fretting if you can - walk away & make a cup of tea or something, come back & take the jacket off him without saying anything/making a fuss & again try to ignore him for a few more minutes & THEN give him big hugs for being awfully clever.

I reckon if you do this several times a day he will soon realise that its not such a bad thing & will start to accept it outside too.

Hope that makes sense....good luck with the wee scone. What is his past history btw?

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Christine Young


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Hi Elizabeth


Vegas is also a smooth coated lurcher and hates his coat on when he's out! We tried it on a couple of the really cold days (one of them blizzard conditions) the first winter we had him, and he just didn't want it on at all. Like Bentley, he wouldn't go to the toilet, or run around off lead - it's almost as if the coat was cramping his style! Now we don't even try to put it on him and he doesn't seem to come to any harm from the cold. But he does have a much thicker coat than a greyhound. He didn't seem frightened, though, which makes me think that Bentley associates wearing his coat with something terrible that will happen to him.


The only advice I can give is the same as Suzanne's - familiarise him with his jacket on in the house for a couple of minutes at a time to let him see that wearing a jacket is no big deal.


You might find it helpful to get in touch with Viv, GAL's dog behaviourist, and you can find her contact no through the Training part of this forum.


Good luck with Bentley - hope he soon realises that his coat is not a monster on his back! Let us know how he gets on.


Christine



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Betster


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RE: George & Maia
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Hi again,

Thanks very much everyone for your advice - it makes a lot of sense and we will definitely give putting it on him for a few minutes at a time in the house, then gradually increasing before trying to go outside in it a go (lots of excuses for chocolate drops as well!)

Our knowledge of his past is extremely limited. All we know is that he ended up in a Birmingham dog pound who got in touch with Evesham Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue (where we rehomed him from 2 years ago). They didn't know where he came from but all they knew was he had been thrown out of a moving car (the scars from which he still has on his legs).

It's very strange as he has no problems with humans - he just wants everyone to love him but when it comes to cars, doors, the hoover, the food processor (and letterboxes rather bizarrely!), he gets frightened! To be fair, he is much better around cars now and he is fine to travel in the car but he isn't keen on lots of traffic, which is understandable. Fortunately, he is very settled and happy now and whereas he suffered from separation anxiety a lot in the beginning - he is happy to be left for short periods now (providing he has access to my Dad's slippers for comfort!) The only other throwback from his "street" days is his scavenging - no food is safe without constant supervision (and even then sometimes we aren't quick enough!)

Anyway, that's just a little bit of his background - at the moment he is lying in his bed fast asleep hopefully having sweet dreams and doesn't remember too much of his nasty past.

Thanks again everyone - will let you know how we get on with the jacket!

Take care
Elizabeth



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dinomartino


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RE: George & Maia
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Hi Elizabeth

Glad to hear that George and Maia are doing well. I look forward to seeing them at one of the GAL events.

Re your problem it may also be worth changing his expectations by putting the coat on as Suzanne suggests for a short period but do it just before his dinner and leaving it on while he is fed. With any luck he will soon associate wearing the coat with dinner instead of whatever horrible thing he thinks is going to happen now... This probably only works with greedy dogs but I don't know any other kind...!

Perversely the only dog we have that won't wear his coat is Malcolm who is a greyhound whereas our lurcher girls are quite happy with theirs (and even have jim jams for cold winter nights!)

Dino

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