Greyhounds and training

Bomber our big black greyhound boy is amazing. He's been with us just under 5 months and has become a firm fixture of our household. Our Girl Greyhound, Lottie gets along famously with him and he is an affectionate cuddler. In short, my wife, Lottie and I are all besotted with Bomber, he's the bomb!

Things started getting more fun after we'd entered Bomber into beginner dog obedience classes. Lottie has already passed these classes, and they're a great way to get more connected to your dog.

At least that'd be the case if Bomber wasn't as thick as a (well intentioned) plank. Actually that isn't all that fair. Bomber really wants to please, but like a lot of Greyhounds, he also really REALLY wants to play.

With Lottie we were able to overcome this because she was so highly food motivated. We could keep her focussed with a treat and eventually she'd cotton onto what the command was and what she was being expected to do.

This hasn't quite been the case with Bomber. Getting a greyhound to sit is incredibly difficult and some just refuse to do it. Lottie eventually got it but with Poor wee Bomber its taking a lot of effort.

At first I'd utter the command "sit" and lure him with a treat over his head (starting at his nose so he knew it was something yummy). The plan being that he'd back up his behind and hopefully low it into a sit.

Unfortunately I'd get salivation, an incredibly cute hungry stare but nothing approximating a furry dog bum planting itself on the ground.

Persistence and a lot of treats later we had our first real breakthrough.

Turns out that like many Greyhounds, Bomber has an aversion to sitting on any surface that isn't soft and warm. Who'd have thought that Greyhound behinds were so sensitive? Luring Bomber up onto a sofa and issuing the sit command whilst gesturing with a treat from his nose over his head so he backs towards one of the sofa arms resulted in a sit. I was pleasantly gobsmacked and rewarded him with lots of treats and praise.

He now plants his ass everytime he gets up onto the sofa.The next steps have however been a tad more tricky.

While Bomber will automatically sit when on a sofa, getting him to sit on a normal floor is still a work in progress.

 He so clearly wants to please and like most Greyhounds has a heart of gold. The big question however is can he and will he get sit figured out? With only 2 classes to go before he's graded out it'll be interesting to see if he becomes a puppy drop out or an educated greyhound.