Kate is fully housetrained and does not go to the bathroom in her crate. She is not destructive. She does have a problem with men but with some work I think she can get past that. I have a male friend who stops here and she has started to relax around him. Kate is a high energy dog and has to be kept busy. I do about a half hour walk with her every nite with her carrying a pack weighing about 4-5 pounds. I think it's helped her self confidence. She likes to chase anything with wheels but I have been working with her to get her to stop doing that. I walk with her beside the road and she does not react to cars or bikes now.
She is in a fenced in yard in the afternoon after I come home from work and she will chase cars in the fence but will stop immediately if I tell her to. We took her to a greyhound rescue family fun day and she was a little nervous at first but after walking her around she relaxed and was socializing with the people that came up to her and allowed them to pet her. When you are walking with Kate or in any situation where she is nervous it's very important to ignore her behaviour and to just keep her walking acting like it's no big deal.
I think that Kate's family never used any kind of discipline on Kate when she was growing up and she got a bit out of control and I think that is why they dumped her in a shelter. Kate can be very stubborn and you have to be consistent with her and have a lot of patience at times. You will also have to have rules with Kate and make sure that she follows them or she can get out of control.
I have been working on Kate's walking on a lead. When we first started Kate would pull and sniff the ground. She now knows she has to walk beside me and is not aloud to pull or sniff. When we took her to the greyhound rescue day I went to a food stand with her. She sat and stood beside me behaving herself. Then I got food for everyone and had my hands full. Kate ended up being on a loose lead and walking right beside me through the crowd. She never once pulled on the lead. I am very proud of the progress she is making.
I have also started her doing a little bit of tracking. She has to track for her dinner. She is not real great at it yet but she is slowly getting the hang of it.
****Katie was adopted by a very wonderful couple. She is doing really great and is even comfortable with the husband. She improves every day. Her new family understands and welcomes her energy with frequent walks and trips to the beach. I also suggested to them that the husband should be the one to feed Katie so that she comes to respect and see him as the pack leader and also learn to trust him.****
