The Frozen Hound: A Common Post-Adoption Behaviour

Although  not unique to the breed, a common problem that quite routinely occurs  in early greyhound ownership is what is referred to as the ‘frozen  hound’,

You may or may not have  experienced this with your hound, but it is what it says on the tin.   Your hound freezes, puts on the breaks, digs their heels in, refuses to  budge, become unmoveable…you get the message!  If it wasn’t for the sad,  hard done by eyes that they give you, you would think you had tied your  lead to a lamppost for all the response you get out of them.

Unfortunately,  this can be quite embarrassing.  We had it once where one of our hounds  froze on an evening walk in winter…we had head torches on, but that  just made it worse because it looked like we were casing out this  person’s house.  We could see them looking out at us out their front  window, no doubt wondering why we had been lingering outside their house  for several minutes.

It was  absolutely mortifying to then have the homeowner open the window and  stick her head out to shout at us to move on, as if we were thinking of  robbing them, but they did thankfully let us explain that one of the  dogs had gotten scared and refused to walk.  Thankfully, that sudden  interaction was enough to break her out of her frozen state and trot on.   But it’s equally embarrassing in the day light being overtaken by  various people as your hound stands stock still in the middle of the  pavement and refuses to move.

But, why do they do it?  

You've heard of the ‘Fight or Flight’ response, right? But have you heard of ‘Fight, Flight or Freeze’?

The  ‘frozen hound’ is, in essence, a fear response and when put under  stress, are overstimulated, or feeling anxious they get stuck between  the ‘flight’ and the ‘fight’ and seize up in a ‘freeze’!  They can’t  help it, and really, all you can do is wait them out as the cogs in  their brain eventually start going again and they come to a decision to  continue walking.  This can, however, be short lived as they get a few  more feet up the road and freeze again…

Greyhounds  are very precious souls, and who can blame them?  Before they’re  adopted into homes, they spend their formative years in rural settings,  with very little exposure to the outside world beyond their racing  careers.  When adopted, they find themselves in novel environments, with  humans they don’t know, and have to take in a huge amount of stimulus  and information which is ongoing for weeks, if not months, into their  new home.

They’ve not done  ‘street’ walking before, they aren’t familiar with traffic, buses, and  everything in between, groups of kids on scooters or people pushing  prams.  Motorbikes and cyclists.  Other dog breeds, and off lead dogs  running around the parks.  Even just all the different buildings,  movement in windows and all the noises that come with this new land they  find themselves in.

It can be  very overwhelming for them, and it is scary, and while for some hounds  their way of responding to this environment is to become reactive, for  others, their way of coping is to freeze.  While it is often  misinterpreted as them being ‘stubborn’ or ‘naughty’, it is actually a  clear sign that your hound is not handling things very well.

Freezing  is largely unavoidable, but it can come about through a few very common  causes.  The prime culprit is over-exercising in those initial days and  weeks of settling your hound into their new life.

That  overstimulation, both physically, but more importantly, mentally, in  those early days can have drastic behavioural consequences which we’ve  discussed in previous posts.  Thankfully freezing is a fairly innocuous  response, when compared to reactivity, but it is still a clear sign that  your hound is not coping and something needs to change!

Even  doing something as simple as regularly changing their daily walking  route or taking them to lots of new places, can lead them to that  freezing fear response.  Greyhounds are creatures of routine, they  thrive on it, and while it sometimes seems like a nice idea to take them  somewhere new to give them some enrichment…in those early days, you  need to keep things quite simple and let them learn their normal daily  walking route until they are fully comfortable before broadening their  horizons.

Sometimes, it can  seemingly come out of nowhere, and usually because of something  triggering the fear response while on a walk, even if it isn’t apparent  when it happened because your hound didn’t show any reaction or only a  very minimal reaction at the time.

For  instance, we’ve had to coach numerous owners through the ‘frozen hound’  stage and have heard the story of countless hounds being absolutely  fine on walks, showing no reaction to anything, trotting along seemingly  happy for weeks…only to head out for a walk the next day and put the  brakes halfway down the road.  
After much  discussion, there is always a cause.  One such example is a car  backfired a couple streets over and their hound was then unable to walk  down the street associated with that event.  Another was a child on a  scooter, also resulting in the hound no longer being able to go left  when they left the driveway and had to establish a new walking route by  going right instead.

From their  point of view, they’re trying to cope and come to understand this  strange new land they’ve found themselves in, so freezing is bound to  happen.  Even though you follow all the guidance, take things slow and  do everything right…freezing can still occur!

It  can be frustrating, especially if you’re in a hurry, but freezing on  walks shouldn’t be treated as a bad behaviour as this compound the  issue.

Although it doesn’t help that greyhounds can be prone to giving mixed signals when it comes to walks!

We’ve  seen it happen so often when a hound appears to be all excited and  happy to be going for a walk, doing the pre-walk zoomies when they see  the lead come out, showing off their best happy tappy feet as you clip  it on and then drag you out the door…only to put the brakes on the  minute their feet touch the pavement.

Unfortunately,  you can’t use the pre-walk madness as an indicator that your hound  ACTUALLY wants to go for a walk.  Hounds will have had years od  association with their lead and collar before you adopt them, and the  premise of the lead come out does elicit excitement because they know  they’re going for a walk.  It’s a learnt behaviour.
The  only problem is you get them dressed, and they walk out your front  door, and they immediately remember that they aren’t at their racing  kennels anymore about to go for a lollop around the fields.  They’re in  this strange new land that causes them stress.  So, they stop.

They  can also start to associate the lead with going for walks in this  strange new land and their ‘excitement’ is a means to release of anxious  energy, and they don’t want to go for a walk at all.  As we said, mixed  signals.  

We assure you, even  the most canine body-language trained person in the world wouldn’t be  able to tell the difference between genuine pre-walk excitement and the  pre-walk oh s~~t, we’re going for a walk anxiety.

The  problem is, beyond having to try and interpret these mixed signals, is  if they do put on the brakes, you will gain nothing from trying to pull  them out and force them to go on a walk.  The more tension you put on  the lead, the more they will pull back.  Yes, you may encourage them on  another few meters, but they will only stop again, and again, and again.  

It’s counterproductive, they’re  trying to communicate a fear and you’re ignoring them.  For some, they  will eventually give up fighting and be dragged along but this isn’t a  very compassionate approach and can lead to further issues down the  line.

The only way to combat  freezing is time, patience and understanding.  Positive reinforcement  and treat-based training can be very beneficial, however, when hounds  are overwhelmed and stressed, they are unlikely to accept treats on  walks.  Sometimes they aren’t comfortable taking treats from the hand  either.

So, should that not be an option, the next best thing is to give your hound a break.

It’s  been long ingrained into society that you’re a bad dog parent if you  don’t walk your dog every day, sometimes two or three times a day!  But  this myth is very damaging to a lot of dogs who have not built up the  mental resilience to cope with that, let alone their physical  resilience!

When a house becomes  really stressed, to the point of demonstrating behavioural issues like  freezing, they are unable to access their higher cognitive function.   This, in essence, means their brains go out the window! Just like how we  don’t think clearly when we’re overwhelmed, it’s the same for dogs.   So, they act and respond to stimuli on their base instincts, hence the  freezing!  So, as their care takers, we need to facilitate the space and  time for them to decompress and recharge.  

It  can take up to 72 hours for the spike in cortisol (the stress hormone)  to return to normal levels in the body.  So, if walking your dog is  causing them stress, and you continue to try and force them out on walks  every day, their cortisol is forever being spiked and they never get  the opportunity to decompress.

There  is nothing wrong with giving your hound a couple days off walking.   Even a week off.  You do what you need to, to help them come to terms  with their new lives.  If that means only walking them once, every other  day, then that is what you need to do.  On days where you are not  walking your dog, you can offer alternative forms of enrichment and  stimulation such as puzzles, games, playtime and even training.

But  if they’re freezing, and refusing to walk, you need to give them a few  days off for their cortisol to return to normal and to allow them time  to clear their head, before very gradually reintroducing walks.

Alternatively,  if you think your hound may just start climbing the walls if they  aren’t walked every day, you need to provide walking experiences that  work for them.  Quite often, as dogs that have been raised in rural  settings, putting them in the car and driving them out to country parks,  rural spaces with public footpaths or rental fields can really help  them settle as you’re providing walks without any societal pressures and  stressors.  They can just be a dog, enjoying a calm laid back, dog-led,  sniffari.

This is massively  beneficial for your hound, and we highly recommend incorporating these  into your normal hounds walking routine regardless of how good their  behaviour is.

But when it does  come time for your decompressed hound to return to their normal walking  routine, you need to understand your hounds’ limits.  You can’t  immediately go straight into long twice daily street walks.  It needs to  be done gradually and positively or you’ll go straight back to having a  frozen hound on your hands!

You  don’t even need to take them for a walk the first day or two, you can  simply get your hound dressed and then go and sit on your doorstep or at  the end of your driveway.  Let them look at the world, watch the cars  and people go by, and give them a treat and praise them for doing so.   Then, start to introduce walking.   Start with just a few minutes and  praise them every time something ‘scary’ happens such as a bus going  past, or a football being kicked in the park as you go by.  

Try  to avoid the points in which your hound has previously frozen.   Thankfully, they aren’t always the brightest, so it can sometimes be  avoided just by walking the same road but on the opposite side to where  you would normally walk.  But do try to establish a new, positive  walking route, starting with a few minutes, and gradually increasing it  by a minute or two each time.

Keep  an eye on their posture, as there will be subtle changes to suggest  they’re reaching their limit.  It can be more tension in the lines of  their face, their ears will square off, the tail will be central and  still, their panting will expose more of the gums.  If you are seeing  this, head home as to continue will result in a freeze.  This may or may  not relate to how long you have been walking, it can be due to how many  stressful things have happened while you’ve been on the walk.

If  they do freeze, just wait them out.  Just stand with them, stroke them,  talk to them, show them you’re there and that they can trust you.  It  may take some time, but eventually, they’ll snap out of their freeze and  make the conscience decision to walk on.  You can then heavily reward  them for this.  At the end of the day, they need to make the decision  and come of their anxious state naturally.
Some will  try and spin them in a circle, happy baby talk or otherwise try to pull  them out of a freeze, but this takes the decision away from the hound.   For some hounds, this can work and be very effective in the long run,  but for others they need to be allowed to make the decision for their  confidence.

Turning back and  immediately heading home as soon as they freeze can also be counter  productive as it can reinforce the fear.  If they ultimately decide to  turn back, that’s fine, but don’t immediately give up and encourage them  to choose this option.  Even if people are giving you funny looks as to  why you’re just aimlessly standing in the street with your dog.

An  odd behaviour you may seem with freezing hounds, is they may refuse to  head home or at least refuse to turn around and go back the way you have  come.  They can then choose to plough forward in an anxious state as  turning back may result in re-encountering something that made caused  them to be anxious in the first place.
We have seen  this happen in really shut down dogs that refuse to walk but then  suddenly start walking miles and refuse to turn home.  The owner  believing that they are enjoying their walk, let them take the lead and  end up halfway across town.

This  is again, another incidence of mixed signals.  What is happening in this  situation is the dog has gotten stuck in a vicious cycle of  overstimulation where they keep charging forward as a way of fleeing  what is behind them, but what is in front of them is also scary…so they  keep ploughing on!

To break this,  instead of trying to turn them around and letting them walk for miles,  structure the walk so that you go in a ‘loop’ back to the house.  This  prevents any repeat encounters on walks and will stop them from getting  themselves into a state!

We have  not written this post to give you an excuse never to walk your hound  again, but as a way of saying that it’s okay if you have a hound that  doesn’t enjoy walking.

Freezing doesn’t mean they never want to walk again; they just need some time!

At  the end of the day, so long as your hound is happy, healthy and  maintains a good weight, it doesn’t matter how many times a day or week  you walk them.  Being a responsible dog owner is doing what is best for  your dog and their preferences, not following what society tells you  needs to be done.

If your hound  enjoys two walks a day, you go for it, but if they only want to go out a  couple of times a week and then blow off steam each weekend at a rental  field, then you do that instead!

Going  for a walk is for your hound’s enjoyment, not ours.  Our enjoyment is  secondary. Their wellbeing comes first and if walking them is causing  them unnecessary stress then look at providing alternative forms of  exercise and mental stimulation.