Lucky learns to learn, part one

The title of this post may sound strange. Greyhounds are very smart and like all creatures they are learning all the time. So why would we need to teach them to learn? Well, while racing they only learn what they need to race and live in the kennels. Little is expected of them. Little is asked of them. Greyhounds are used to being lead around; shuttled from one activity or location to another. So there is little opportunity for training as we would think of it. They catch on to the routines, basically training themselves through daily experiences and they do this very, very quickly. That is fantastic and one of the reasons they can transition so quickly to home life after adoption.

Most Greyhounds are gentle and comply when humans direct them but only if they know what those directions mean. The hands on approach of having to take them by the collar to lead them or gently push them in the direction we want them to go appears to be the only human/canine communication system known to the newly retired Greyhounds I have worked with. They just go along on their own chosen path until we give them a nudge to indicate we want them to head elsewhere or they simply follow where their leash leads them. So often it seems they just do not seem to even consider listening to or looking at us for any sort of directions.

Once they retire and are placed as a pet, things are so much easier and indeed safer for everyone if the dog learns to check in with his humans, mastering the ability to follow verbal commands or hand signals. That has been a much better form of communication in our home than the hands on approach, no matter how gentle and caring those hands are. However, until they learn how to learn what we are trying to teach them they cannot master those commands and signals. For that reason I have been working with Lucky to teach him that 1) I am trying to communicate with him, 2) how to interpret what I am attempting to communicate, 3) there is a good reason he may wish to pay attention to me.

Lucky has to learn how to learn what I want to teach him. He is learning this through clicker training. If things go as planned, and depending on how quickly he is adopted, his new family will get a dog who already knows humans will actually try to communicate with him and it benefits a hound to pay attention to them. We are already making good headway but I must admit in the beginning there were a few obstacles to learning.