r/Galgos • u/NeskaRed • 22d ago
Galga warning bite
Hi, our lovely 3 year old galga has been with us for 2 months now. We got her from a rescue organisation and she lives with me, my partner, my toddler and our two cats.
Everything was going fine up until today. She is scared of men and will show signs like lip licking etc when she is approached by men. She is enthusiastic around me but shy around my partner (M).
Today my partner wanted to put on her harnass. He always does this while she is on the couch, as she doesn't want to get off it for him, not even when he offers her the most amazing treats. She is simply still too shy/scared. However I am not always there to help so he needs to be able to leash and walk her on his own.
Today she bit him in the arm while he touched her belly. Luckily just a warning bite, no blood drawn. Normally she just yelps when something hurts so we were very negatively surprised. She did not growl beforehand.
We did not punish her and my partner backed away and let her be.
However I am now so worried that she might do this more often. I have a small toddler (off course I will not let her be alone with the dog) and two cats. My trust in her has decreased now. Has anyone experienced this with their Galgo?
6
u/KroganWarl0rd 22d ago edited 22d ago
Instead of a harness try a martingale collar. It slips over the head and not around her vulnerable parts which is what she was protecting. Since she doesn’t trust your partner yet. Our female was the same with me when we first got her. They are usually abused by men so naturally they have a lot of fear towards them. I do recommend treats laid out on the ground but she has to see him put it down. He should also have a couple extra in his hand while he sits there talking sweetly to her. Hold out a treat open handed and have her take it when she is ready. She needs to associate him with positive things for her to gain trust. For now I would go on walks together both of you and the dog non stress areas, and swap who holds the leash. Also Galgos are very intuitive and read emotions really well, calm vibes really really helps keep them calm. Being down on their level helps a lot as well. Dong hover over or try and show dominance it really doesn’t work with them. Be small and they will feel much less threatened. Also recommend once she gets used to the house and her environment and she feels safe start training, both of you training her.
They also tend to guard safe spaces. I would recommend keeping the martingale collar on and if she growls at you on the sofa calmly remove her from it don’t yell. It shows her that this is a shared space. That one takes some time. Kennel training is also recommended, if they are up to it. It lets them have an actual safe space. Keep the baby away from it best you can until she starts to change. Remember the rule of threes 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months. I would say also add a year mark on that, that is when you really see them calm down.
3
u/chichaslocas 22d ago
If she’s only been with you for 2 months, be patient :)
You are doing get, just keep being calm and showing love and she will come around to trust him too. It takes a while , but she will stop being distrusting at some point.
Keep it up, you’re doing great! It just takes a while with dogs that have been hurt
3
u/Arabella6623 22d ago
Our greyhound, yes.
The advice we got from the vet was that these dogs frighten us when they nip because they have jaws like an alligator, but if no blood is drawn, it’s just a signal.
She never did it again.
And female dogs seem to be tolerant of babies.
1
u/Representative_Set79 21d ago
“Warning bites” are just communication. They certainly are not ideal, but it is how some dogs communicate. It is usually Growl and hold rather than a snap. She’s telling him that she doesn’t want that . You can certainly tell her off and try and discourage the bahaviour calmly but some dogs just communicate more with their mouths than others. Nearly forgot to mention , verbal communication helps greatly. Make sure you show no fear but communicate and tell her what’s about the happen rather than just making contact.
1
u/GreyhoundMom84 18d ago
These pups have complicated stories that we dont know and often time is your friend and savior here. But you can absolutely help that along with the right support and work. Does your partner try and connect with the pup at all? I realize she is shy and we don’t want to overwhelm her but I’d be having him try and bond with her through positive reinforcement activities, pattern games, and just being around each other. He doesn’t have to be that close to her but he could sit near by with a bag of high value treats and just throw one to her every few minutes. No eye contact. No talking. He can also try to hand feed if she’ll let him for dinner.
I also would take away the couch for now. I think if she is enthusiastic with you, you also need to work with her and get some boundaries set up with some supportive training. Meaning teaching her “off” or “go to place” that he can then take and use. If you can find an inhome trainer to support you along the way, it’ll do wonders as well.
I realize you have a lot going on and you have a toddler to care for too, but you’ve committed to this beautiful new friend and you owe it to her to work with her to try and make this work a little bit better than it is. Time will do a lot of the work. But your efforts will pay off in spades too.
1
u/GreyhoundMom84 18d ago
And to be clear - none of that was meant to blame or judge or criticize. Just trying to help with what I think could help as this has helped us a lot in our home.
We had to take away couch privileges for a while and teaching a go to place has been incredibly helpful for that. Sometimes having their own special space will also help too. Once my dogs stopped fighting for the best spots on the couch, and realized they could just get up and go to another bed if they wanted space, everyone was a lot less tense with each other. Not totally the same issue here but I think the “off” part of the training is important here
1
u/GreyhoundMom84 18d ago
And it’s amazing how much can be made better even when you aren’t even “working” on the thing that’s a problem.
We had a resource guarder (greyhound) and though we worked on leave it and give it and all the usual things, just playing pattern games and bonding with training gave her so much confidence in herself and with us that even without working on things, we all started to feel better about each other. We were less scared of her (bc we were starting to bond and also saw how eager and smart she was) and she was more secure in the home and with all of us so she didn’t feel as much need to guard against us.
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u/danhawk1 22d ago
This sounds like territory guarding/ aggression. The issue here is the dogs use of the furniture. She has claimed it as her safe space, much like her dog crate.
You definitely need to get ahead of this. It will lead to a dangerous encounter with your toddler.
This happened to us with our greyhound. We were too permissive with letting her lay in our bed. This led to snapping incidents. The crate was a definite hot spot. Our toddler leaned into her crate to kiss her and got bit in the face leading to stitches. This was with a normally very sweet and relaxed dog.
A safety talk with your toddler is in order as well as getting the dog off the furniture. Your toddler needs to be watched carefully around the dog. Enforce the rules strictly, even after you think it’s been long enough without any issues (complacency will lead to an issue).
I hope this helps.
Resource:
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u/PipEmmieHarvey 22d ago
It’s not territory guarding. She was uncomfortable about what he was doing and used the language available to her to get him to stop.
17
u/_galgos_ 22d ago
I’m so sorry to hear this.
Our girl is similarly hard to get off the couch, especially in winter. We never put her harness on while she’s still up there since that means uncomfortable handling and pulling her off, which is a bad experience for everyone.
You mentioned treats alone don’t work. Try this: have your partner scatter treats on the floor, then walk away and turn his back on her. Let her get down at her own pace, then harness her once she’s off on her own. The point isn’t to lure her down. It’s to let her make the decision herself. That’s how we get our girl into her winter gear.
Separately, she won’t bite, but she will nibble when she is really excited and it can hurt. When she does, we yelp “OWWW” and act wounded, and she stops.
It’s only been two months, so she’s still decompressing. Give her time and lots of treats. Good luck!