last updated on February 15, 2003
Greyhound Rescue's resident book reviewer, Pat, has taken on the challenge of writing informative and quirky reviews. She has taken on Lee Livingood's Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies. Which, handsdown GRI recommends to all new and old greyhound parents. Pat's delightful reviews will focus on a topic or a chapter of Retired Racing Greyhounds for Dummies. We enthusiastically encourage everyone that has a greyhound or is expecting to welcome a greyhound into their home to run to a bookstore, or click to a website and order this book. Or even think about this book as a gift for your friends that have a greyhound. There is an unlimited wealth of greyt information contained within the covers of Lee Livingood's books.
Reviews
- Chapter 11: Helping the Fearful Dog Stand on His Own Four Feet
Part II: Finding Your Soul Mate (this section contains chapters 3, 4 & 5)
Chapter 11
"A no-nonsense guide to the joys and pitfalls of adopting the retired racing greyhound." (From the front cover, quoting Bruce Skinner, Editor in Chief, "A Breed Apart.")
The above quote puts this exceptionally informative book in a nutshell. "Joys?" As anyone who has adopted a retired racing greyhound can attest, there are many. "Pitfalls?" Well, yes. These precious dogs have lived their entire lives secluded from what we call "life." In our eagerness to help them, we throw them into our hectic lives and expect them to adapt ... and soon ... hence the "pitfalls."
The above quote puts this exceptionally informative book in a nutshell. "Joys?" As anyone who has adopted a retired racing greyhound can attest, there are many. "Pitfalls?" Well, yes. These precious dogs have lived their entire lives secluded from what we call "life." In our eagerness to help them, we throw them into our hectic lives and expect them to adapt ... and soon ... hence the "pitfalls."
Lee Livingood has many excellent credentials to recommend her. The ones I want to make special note of are mentioned in the following quote:
I am so impressed with her wisdom and insight and excellent training tips, I could write a book about this book! I promise not to do that, but I would like to tell you about some of the things she covers that often cause us to struggle with our retired racers. One of the most important is dealing with separation anxiety. She does tell you how to deal with it, but she also shows you how to avoid it by teaching your greyhound how to stay alone. Lee says that a big part of it is simply learning to train your dog. She insists that it must be fun for your racer, but, as it turns out, it is also fun for you. If you train him in other areas, you will be able to get him to respond better in the more difficult areas.
The advice that she gives on helping the fearful dog worked so well, I cannot use any other word but "amazing." She says on page 137, "Before you figure out how to retrain a fearful dog, you need to know how you can avoid the fear in the first place." The help I needed was found in the paragraph entitled, "Find a way to make him smile." Basically, it is to find out what your greyhound really loves and use it to get him to associate this wonderful thing with the thing that is frightening him.
I had a very fearful little foster dog at the time. He would get so excited and fearful at the same time, he would go backwards, with all four feet seemingly going in four different directions, and, at the same time, smiling (baring his teeth) and clacking his jaws together like castanets. I couldn't get near enough to touch him until he was in the furthest corner of the house. When I was finally able to touch him, he would just melt at that very instant. It was like he was saying, "You finally saved me from myself!" I always tried to move carefully around him so as not to startle him; I'd bend way down when I approached him. I would even put another greyhound in front of me. That helped, but not very much.
After I read Lee Livingood's advice on the fearful dog, I thought, "What does he like most of all?" That was easy - FOOD! He was crazy over food! So, I put a small dish of dry dog food near any place I might meet him as I walked about the house. I tried to keep some in my hand every time I walked around at all. As he'd start that frantic backing, I'd bend over and offer him a piece of food. He was unsure, but the other dogs soon figured it out and and would get the piece I was holding out. That pushed him over the line of uncertainty. After only two or three times, he quit that backward dance all together. I only had to do it three days, but a week or so after I quit, he started "The Dance" again, so I gave him the food again. He relaxed almost immediately. Just one week ago, the sweet little guy that I was beginning to think was unadoptable, was placed in his very own loving home. I would never have thought of using food to help with fear to that degree. Truthfully, I did not do it just like she suggested - it worked so well, I didn't get the chance to do the rest!
Lee Livingood writes about everything you could possibly need to know when adopting a retired racing greyhound. She discusses how to choose the right dog for you (I love the way she puts it, "Finding Your Soulmate."), training them to live in your home, feeding, grooming, preventing health problems, and anything else you could possibly want to know.
One final thing. I understand to some extent about how dogs relate to one another and about packs. However, she said something I would never have figured out on my own. It was a little thing, but it prevented possible problems. Lee says, "When you've identified who fits where in the pack, don't mess with it. Don't baby {your resident dog] or feel sorry for him because your new Greyhound is taking over. If you don't want this to escalate, reinforce the dog who is most likely to be able to physically maintain the alpha role. The alpha dog eats first, gets petted first, goes out first, etc., etc."
When I read that, I was quite surprised to realize that I was, in a sense, fighting that same little foster dog I mentioned above, because he was apparently trying to take over the lead of "our" pack and he was "only the foster dog." When I decided my dog wasn't fighting this switch - that I was the only one who seemed to resent it - I did what she said; I started doing everything to him first, basically deferring to him as the alpha dog. Things smoothed out immediately between the dogs. Evidently I was the only problem. (When the little foster guy went to his own home, my daughter said we should have a "coronation" party for our "resident dog.")
As you can see, I am quite impressed with Lee Livingood's advice. Not only is she a dog trainer, but she loves greyhounds as much as we do and KNOWS greyhounds better than a lot of us ever will. That is a rare combination in a book. I don't mind saying I'm a "Dummie" where greyhounds are concerned ... I have SO much to learn! RETIRED RACING GREYHOUNDS for DUMMIES shortened my learning period by about 20 years!
- "Lee has been training dogs since she borrowed a book on dog training from the library more than forty years ago. Rescuing and training adult companion dogs became a hobby and a passion for her. A number of years ago, Lee and her husband met their first retired racer, and it was love at first sight. She was immediately taken with the Greyhound's quiet elegance and gentle disposition. A new passion was born. In addition to running a companion animal training and behavioral modification business, Lee writes on dog and cat behavior and training for a variety of publications. Lee and her husband volunteer with a local Greyhound adoption group and were named volunteers of the year by Personalized Greyhounds, Inc."
I am so impressed with her wisdom and insight and excellent training tips, I could write a book about this book! I promise not to do that, but I would like to tell you about some of the things she covers that often cause us to struggle with our retired racers. One of the most important is dealing with separation anxiety. She does tell you how to deal with it, but she also shows you how to avoid it by teaching your greyhound how to stay alone. Lee says that a big part of it is simply learning to train your dog. She insists that it must be fun for your racer, but, as it turns out, it is also fun for you. If you train him in other areas, you will be able to get him to respond better in the more difficult areas.
The advice that she gives on helping the fearful dog worked so well, I cannot use any other word but "amazing." She says on page 137, "Before you figure out how to retrain a fearful dog, you need to know how you can avoid the fear in the first place." The help I needed was found in the paragraph entitled, "Find a way to make him smile." Basically, it is to find out what your greyhound really loves and use it to get him to associate this wonderful thing with the thing that is frightening him.
I had a very fearful little foster dog at the time. He would get so excited and fearful at the same time, he would go backwards, with all four feet seemingly going in four different directions, and, at the same time, smiling (baring his teeth) and clacking his jaws together like castanets. I couldn't get near enough to touch him until he was in the furthest corner of the house. When I was finally able to touch him, he would just melt at that very instant. It was like he was saying, "You finally saved me from myself!" I always tried to move carefully around him so as not to startle him; I'd bend way down when I approached him. I would even put another greyhound in front of me. That helped, but not very much.
After I read Lee Livingood's advice on the fearful dog, I thought, "What does he like most of all?" That was easy - FOOD! He was crazy over food! So, I put a small dish of dry dog food near any place I might meet him as I walked about the house. I tried to keep some in my hand every time I walked around at all. As he'd start that frantic backing, I'd bend over and offer him a piece of food. He was unsure, but the other dogs soon figured it out and and would get the piece I was holding out. That pushed him over the line of uncertainty. After only two or three times, he quit that backward dance all together. I only had to do it three days, but a week or so after I quit, he started "The Dance" again, so I gave him the food again. He relaxed almost immediately. Just one week ago, the sweet little guy that I was beginning to think was unadoptable, was placed in his very own loving home. I would never have thought of using food to help with fear to that degree. Truthfully, I did not do it just like she suggested - it worked so well, I didn't get the chance to do the rest!
Lee Livingood writes about everything you could possibly need to know when adopting a retired racing greyhound. She discusses how to choose the right dog for you (I love the way she puts it, "Finding Your Soulmate."), training them to live in your home, feeding, grooming, preventing health problems, and anything else you could possibly want to know.
One final thing. I understand to some extent about how dogs relate to one another and about packs. However, she said something I would never have figured out on my own. It was a little thing, but it prevented possible problems. Lee says, "When you've identified who fits where in the pack, don't mess with it. Don't baby {your resident dog] or feel sorry for him because your new Greyhound is taking over. If you don't want this to escalate, reinforce the dog who is most likely to be able to physically maintain the alpha role. The alpha dog eats first, gets petted first, goes out first, etc., etc."
When I read that, I was quite surprised to realize that I was, in a sense, fighting that same little foster dog I mentioned above, because he was apparently trying to take over the lead of "our" pack and he was "only the foster dog." When I decided my dog wasn't fighting this switch - that I was the only one who seemed to resent it - I did what she said; I started doing everything to him first, basically deferring to him as the alpha dog. Things smoothed out immediately between the dogs. Evidently I was the only problem. (When the little foster guy went to his own home, my daughter said we should have a "coronation" party for our "resident dog.")
As you can see, I am quite impressed with Lee Livingood's advice. Not only is she a dog trainer, but she loves greyhounds as much as we do and KNOWS greyhounds better than a lot of us ever will. That is a rare combination in a book. I don't mind saying I'm a "Dummie" where greyhounds are concerned ... I have SO much to learn! RETIRED RACING GREYHOUNDS for DUMMIES shortened my learning period by about 20 years!
Pat Bernhard December , 2001