# Italian Greyhound puppy trouble :(



## Lina0418 (Oct 2, 2014)

2 weeks ago we got a 5 months old Italian Greyhound from a breeder and we have a couple of issues with her.

She is shaking all the time when we are outside. She came from Fresno and now she lives in downtown San Francisco. I'm guessing all the noises are to much for her hence the shaking but I cannot snap her out of it. She is not taking any treats and it is very hard to get her attention when outside. She is constantly looking and shaking and trying to bolt. Any ideas how to stop her from shaking and make her more confident?

It's very hard to walk her too as she pulls all the time. I already changed the martingale collar to an Easy Walk harness but it's not much better. She refuses to leave the apartment and I have to drag her on the corridor (or pick her up) until we reach the elevator. After that she goes out but she wants to get back in immediately. She needs the exercise but the collar bruises her neck and the harness bruises her chest and armpit. Please help. 

At the beginning she was eliminating outside but now she rather holds it until we get back to the apartment. I tried to pick her up when she was about to pee or poo and took her out immediately but she would just hold it until we get back to the apartment. Even if I walk her for 2 hours she will hold it. (At least she learnt the pee pad in 2 days.) Any ideas how to get her to pee outside?

She sleeps in a crate and she usually wakes us up at 3 am as she has to pee.
Even if we take away her water at 8 pm and make sure she pees around 11 pm, she would still wake us up and pee. After we take her back to the crate she would be ok until 6-7 am-ish but then again we have the shaking issue when taking her out in the morning.

Please help! :help:


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## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

Has she been to the vet? Shaking can be a lot of things. Waking up to pee at 3am is totally normal for a puppy that young, all the shaking and hiding is not a good sign. I'm hoping it's something physical.


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## superdi99 (Jul 23, 2014)

Is she cold? Fresno is HOT and SF is usually cool. Maybe she's uncomfortable with the climate?


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

the bruising is certainly not normal either. definitely a vet.


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## Lina0418 (Oct 2, 2014)

Amaryllis, we've been to the vet and physically she is totally fine so probably she will have to deal with this mentally.
The vet said shaking is fine at the beginning, but it doesn't look ok for me.

superdi99, she should be ok, it's 80 degrees these days. The breeder says she should be ok till 60 degrees but I will get a coat for her.

Kayota, maybe bruising i s a little to strong word. Her skin gets a little red after the walk but it usually disappears after a couple of hours.


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## BostonBullMama (Apr 20, 2013)

The shaking could be 1 of 3 things;
1) Cold - in which case, you could try putting a little sweater on her, don't feel silly about it either, plenty of dogs wear clothes because they need to. Not all of us are crazy 
2) Fear - has anything happened outside previous to her acting this way that maybe spooked her? Something simple even... a stick in the yard that wasn't there before, moved lawn chair, saw a cat... the fix for this is conditioning her to associate 'outside' with good things. So make sure you bring high value treats out with you and reward her literally just for being outside. 
3) Medical - shaking could be related to pain.. having it associated with outdoors would make me think UTI or along the lines of pain when pottying - which would make her more comfortable doing it indoors because at least she has the comfort of being home even though it hurts... You also mentioned the leash caused bruising, which shouldn't have happened if used properly - even on the pully-est of dogs - which would steer me in the direction of the leash (which would loop back into fear, leash hurts + leash comes on when going outside = fear of leash, anxiety outdoors) 

Full circle 
Throw a sweater on her, put a harness over the sweater to prevent it from digging into her and putting pressure on her bruises, and have a vet look her over.


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## superdi99 (Jul 23, 2014)

It's not getting to 80 degrees in the city until around 11AM. Is that what time you are walking her and having trouble? In the mornings between 6AM-8AM it's around 60 degrees.


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## MRVivekB (Jun 21, 2014)

some mornings my 1 year old dog needs to have attention paid to him before we even leave the house to settle him down, otherwise he's ludicrously reactive on the leash. I was just waking up and immediately walking him, but we had several bad days in a row. The last few days i've walked him into back balcony where he peed (turf mat), then go inside, interact for maybe 3-5 minutes, *then* walk. It seems to settle him down. It certainly settles *me* down as I was starting to get wound up and quiet in the mornings pre-walk as I was gearing up for Mr Barky Bark, which I'm sure he picked up on and made it a self-fulfilling prophecy.


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## Lina0418 (Oct 2, 2014)

Thanks, BostonBullMama! 
Cold I don't think so it's boiling hot here these days. But I will try to get one of those anti-anxiety vests, maybe that would help.
My guess is there are way to many cars and trucks for her, there are a couple of constructions around us as well. So I think she is using her ear instead her nose. 
Nothing unusual happened during the walks . Everything is the same from day 1.
I will check with the vet again, but she said she will get better with time and get used to the noises.
I hope she will get over it soon as I have to take her out every day to drain her energy...


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## Lina0418 (Oct 2, 2014)

Hi superdi99, it doesn't matter what time I walk her she always shakes.
There are a couple of places now where she actually stops shaking until we get closer to traffic again.


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## Kayota (Aug 14, 2009)

Some small dogs just shake also. But it sounds like she is scared yeah.


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

Get a nice soft mesh harness with lots of padding. A little bitty dog like that, it doesn't really matter if they pull, and any kind of anti-pull device is going to cause some trouble with such a tiny, thin-furred dog. You can use a comfortable harness and work on her pulling using positive, non-physical methods. The anti-pull harness may be contributing to her fear---I know that if I'm physically uncomfortable, I can't deal with mental stress as well.


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

I second the mesh harness, they sell them at places like petsmart ... they are padded with neoprene in the chest area.


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## parus (Apr 10, 2014)

Personally I'd be working on the leash walking in an environment where the dog wasn't shaking and freaked out. Maybe a large interior space, or a quiet park, or a yard. Separate from the leash walking practice, I'd suggest introducing the busy city in small doses, starting with less boisterous areas and working up as her comfort level rises.


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## taquitos (Oct 18, 2012)

Why don't you guys start off small and just try walking up and down your street? You can even start smaller than that and go up and down your front entrance while rewarding with treats.

Only take your dog as far as he will take treats. Then work your way out slowly. Just be patient.

Oh, and make sure they're really good treats like cooked chicken breast or something similar


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## OwnedbyACDs (Jun 22, 2013)

I was thinking one like these:


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