The Calming of Cookie
Members might have read our story a year ago, of
how we adopted and fell in love with a beautiful
black greyhound called Cookie. You might recall
how that dog shaped hole in our lives was filled
by adopting one of these magnificent animals and
how we ended up, like in all good stories,
giving Cookie a wonderful loving home (with us)
and walking off into the sunset to live happily
ever after... Unfortunately real life for dogs
and humans isn’t a fairy story and since we took
Cookie on, there have been some really rough
patches and hard lessons learnt.
Let’s be absolutely honest here, Cookie was and
still can be a real handful! While she is sleek
and beautiful and looks like the ancient
Egyptian god Anubis – she wasn’t a pet at all
when we first brought her home. She seemed
oblivious to her name being called and if let
off the lead would run on way ahead and not come
back. Worst of all, she was very aggressive to
any other dogs who came within a hundred
yards. While hugely excited to see me when I
returned from work, she often didn’t want to be
with the rest of the family and removed herself,
spending time in the front room on her own. In
Cookies’ case, the bond between dog and human
seemed rather insubstantial. On more than one
occasion my wife said that Cookie didn’t seem
like a ‘normal’ dog at all, as she didn’t want
to sniff or play with other animals and seemed
strangely aloof.
Taking any dog for a walk but keeping them on a
lead, seems mean, rather like taking a kid to a
sweet shop but leaving without buying anything.
In an attempt to give Cookie a richer
experience, I improvised an extra long lead,
using some sturdy climbing rope and a spring
clip that I had bought to attach keys to my
belt. On our first outing to the beach using
the long lead, we came across a rather playful
young Jack Russell. The puppy came up to us,
looking for a friend to play with, but Cookie
didn’t understand and her immediate response was
snarling, barking and bearing her teeth. I
turned Cookie around and went off in the
opposite direction.
Unfortunately our circular route meant that we
came across this dog again. This time when
Cookie saw this small brown animal in the
distance running around, she went wild. She
lunged at the far-away dog and with the
acceleration of a Ferrari, headed straight
towards it. To my horror instead of being able
to restrain Cookie with the lead, the spring
clip snapped and my greyhound powered forwards
towards the little dog. Cookie reached the
puppy in a few seconds snatching it up with her
teeth, she started to shake it viciously, trying
to snap its neck.
This was no rough and tumble, or even a spot of
sorting out the pecking order; this was a
hunting dog trying to kill its prey. The little
Jack Russell’s owner stood nearby, frozen in
horror and seemed unable to react. I started to
run over but the dogs were still several hundred
yards away. Fortunately two young lads, who
were close by, managed with a few well placed
kicks, to make Cookie drop the little dog. I
would always describe myself as pretty calm in a
crisis but by the time I had caught her up, I
was covered in a cold sweat and my heart was
thumping like an express train. I felt
physically sick and I started to shake like I
had the DT’s. The little dog was terrified and
bleeding. I stuttered apologies and said that
we must go to the vets and not to worry but I
would pay. It was a nightmare. Fortunately
when we got to the vets we found that the little
dog was not seriously injured and just needed a
few stitches, however the poor thing was
terrified and cowered into its owners lap. As I
left the vets, I still couldn’t stop shaking and
felt sick to the pit of my stomach at the
savagery of my dog.
That weekend I had to do a lot of thinking. We
had not really signed up to rehabilitate a
killer, we only wanted to give a dog a home,
someone to join us on our walks in the
countryside and show and receive affection and
care. The trouble was that we had all really
bonded with Cookie – my son adored her and in
all other respects she was a great pet and we
didn’t want to give her back.
For most of our working lives both my wife and I
have been involved in some kind of caring job.
Claire (my wife) had worked with children whose
mothers were victims of domestic abuse. I had
worked with children too, children with
disabilities, children from disadvantaged areas,
children who had got caught up in the criminal
justice system. Then, it struck me – Cookie was
just like many of the children we had worked
with, children who were damaged and had problems
making relationships with others, children who
had never learn to play, or could not make real
trusting relationships with adults or their
peers. Cookie acted just like some of the
children we had known, children who had grown up
‘in care’!
The more I thought about it the more sense it
made to me. Cooke didn’t know how to play and
though she was very affectionate, she often got
into fights with other dogs. This realisation
created a determination to stick with her. We
were not going to be like the trainers who
traded her like a piece of live stock, to be
raced and then passed on to the next track or
trainer, we were going to stick with Cookie and
do our best to care for her and make her a real
pet.
After several very long supportive phone calls
from various members of Greyhound Rescue Wales,
Sandra Morris the Chair offered to come down to
visit and give us some hands on advice. Sandra
explained that we often think that we understand
dogs and they can understand us but all too
often we are speaking two different languages
and completely misunderstand each other. Dogs
are pack animals and constantly look to their
leader for guidance, reassurance and direction.
If the pack leader weakens, then there is always
another dog ready to take over. This point is
always a stressful time for dogs and causes them
much unease. If we – the humans fail to live up
to a dog’s expectation of the way a pack leader
should act, they become confused, unsettled and
sometimes think that they should be leader and
that is when things get out of control. I was
convinced – it was clear she was talking sense,
and could see through our intractable problem
and gave you clear solutions to our doggy
dilemma. Sandra told us we needed to assert
ourselves as the leader of the pack. This would
help Cookie to feel calm and reassured and help
us in our attempts to control her behaviour. To
do this we had to think like a dog and follow
three simple rules:
For wild dogs acquiring food is a life or death
matter and when they make a kill, it is always
the pack leader who eats first, the rest of the
pack must wait their turn. So the first rule
was always to eat before your dog eats. This
can be a problem in our modern lives, so the
solution is to make sure that before you feed
your dog you eat something like a biscuit or a
small snack in their presence. Once you have
eaten, put your dog’s food down and walk away
leaving them to wolf it down.
The second rule was making sure that whenever we
left or returned to the house or even when we
went through a doorway or narrow opening – that
we always went first and our dog should go
second. We were the leaders and she was the
follower.
Thirdly, and this rule I found the hardest to
follow, was when returning home from work and
faced with an excited and affectionate dog, not
to respond but instead to ignore them. This
asserts your authority as the head honcho and
puts the dog into a submissive position. Once
your dog has calmed down and you have reoccupied
‘the den’ then it is possible to respond to
their attention.
I
wish I could say that following Sandra’s
guidance worked like magic. Even after her dog
behaviour master class, we had several more
‘incidents’ with Cookie. For a few months
taking Cookie for a walk was a ‘white knuckle
ride’. However Sandra’s advice slowly begin to
work and eventually we started to let Cookie off
the lead in places that were off the beaten
track, making sure that she always wore a
muzzle.
Cookie is a very determined dog and it has been
a battle of wills to make her do what I decide,
not what she wants to do. A good example is the
struggle I have had getting her into the back of
my estate car. On the way to the park Cookie
would jump in without prompting, however when it
was time to go home, she would refuse to get in
and stand at the open tailgate stubbornly
looking away. For a while I had to pick her up
and lift her in, then one day I decided to call
her bluff and got into the car and started to
drive away. The tactic worked and Cookie ran
frantically after my car and when I stopped a
few yards down the road she immediately jumped
in.
I
also realised that I needed to be less verbal
and more physical with Cookie. In a documentary
on the wolves of North Dakota, I particularly
noticed the intensely physical way that the pack
interacted with each other. As a result I
started to back up my verbal commands with a
bump, a poke or a shove. Not smacking or
hitting but giving Cookie physical
reinforcement, such as using a nudge with my
knee if I wanted her to go in a particular
direction. We also forced Cookie to focus her
attention on us. At the start of every walk we
did some short lead work, walking a few steps in
one direction and then switching to another,
always keeping the dog on her toes, never
knowing which way we intended to go next.
It’s been a year and at times it has been a real
struggle but today Cookie really is a different
dog. She is still strong willed and when an
over playful dog won’t stop bothering her, she
will give a warning growl but that is as far as
it goes - now we can walk her without a muzzle
and even let her off the lead when other dogs
are about. She follows me up the stairs and
lies down at my feet when I work in the study,
rather than going to sit on her own in another
room.
A
few days ago, while walking Cookie; we saw
another greyhound with her owner. Cookie
started to trot over to her fellow racer, tail
wagging. But as we got closer I could see that
the owner was clearly uncomfortable and was
holding on to her dog like grim death. I called
to Cookie and told her to STAY. She stopped
straight away, like it in a game of musical
statues. I just slipped the lead on to her
collar and she stood next to me, relaxed and
calm. I started to chat to the other greyhound
owner. The lady told me that she had just
adopted her greyhound and that the dog was
proving to be a bit of a handful. “She’s very
strong willed and can be quite aggressive” she
said “not well behaved and obedient like your
greyhound” I laughed and thought to myself - if
only she knew!
Jon
Adam
on the beach
Adam
in a rockpool 
Meet
Birdie, another happy greyhound.
Phil
and Annellie Boal and their children Quade, Hannah
and Jodi who live in Port Talbot adopted Johnno on
January 22nd. 
Georgina
Smith sent us this lovely picture of her greyhound
Jade. Jade was very lucky as she was rescued when
she was 7 years-old and when she was going to be
unnecessarily put to sleep.
Rob
and Deb - Star's new owners have sent us this lovely
message:
Virginia
and Peter Teague have sent us this lovely photo of
Bryn. Virginia and Peter adopted Bryn from GRW and
"fell in love with Greyhounds"!
A
lovely photo of Smokey, now known as Tony - what an
aristicratic looking dog, sent in by his proud new
owners Gaby and Glenys.
Lucy
has been living with Barbara Neal near Tenby for
over a year now but we think she deserves a 'photo
shoot' of her own. Lucy is one of our 'golden
oldies' and when she first came into GRW care she
was very withdrawn but as you can now see, after
having a wonderful time living with Barbara she is
now living life to the full.
Bullet
has hit the target. His new owner Martyn says: