Over-Exercising: A Common Mistake In Early Hound Ownership

As  January is Walk Your Dog month, we thought it would be apt to discuss a  variety of topics about exercising your hounds over the coming weeks!  

We’re  starting off today with one of the most common mistakes we see,  particularly in newly adopted hounds, and that is over exercising.

Did  you know that it’s really easy to over exercise a greyhound?  You’d  think as retired racers, dogs capable of such athleticism, that they’d  be energetic and raring to go out on great long walks and adventures  straight out the gate…but that is far from the case!

While  many greyhounds love, and benefit, from long walks and adventures, it  isn’t something you can dive straight into.  Overdoing it in those early  weeks, and months, of settling your new hound into domestic life can  lead to a host of behavioural issues, if not injury.

Many  of the behavioural issues such as reactivity, or sudden onset of  lameness or injury, that we see greyhounds present with when newly  adopted are from doing too much too soon!

When  a greyhound retires into domestic life, they’re experiencing everything  for the first time.  Establishing a routine, socialising them with  their normal day to day walking routes, traffic, people, other dogs, and  their general environment is much more important than dashing off to  that beach, nature reserve or hiking trial you’ve been looking for an  excuse to visit!

It is so  important to put the groundwork in first, to build up both their  physical and mental endurance, stamina, and flexibility in coping with  new places and the experiences that come with them.  
Otherwise,  they’ll be constantly working on the back foot, unable to process each  new thing that occurs, causing stress to build and build and build until  the dog is so overstimulated, anxious, and sore that have an internal  meltdown.

This can present in a  lot of ways while out on walks, with two of the most prevalent  indicators being freezing or sudden onset reactivity.  It can also  impact on indoor behaviour such as difficulty settling, defensive  behaviour such as growling and snapping toward children or other dogs in  the home, toileting indoors, excessive barking and chewing.

All  these issues can be as of a direct result of the stress and sensory  overload, but it can also be the result of pain that has resulted from  the exercise.

During their  racing careers, greyhounds are raised and exercised in rural areas.  A  lot of grass, sand, or other soft surfaces.  They aren’t used to hard  grounds like pavements and roads, and all that accompanies them.  Too  much exercise too soon on these hard surfaces can lead to problems such  as cramps, sprains, and joint pain.  It can also cause corns to develop  on their pads.  

Beyond this,  many greyhounds retire from racing due to injury; it may be a little  niggly wrist sprain or it could have been a torn TFL or badly broken  hock.  They are quite often sent to rehoming centres fresh out of the  casts to set their broken legs, or within days of pulling up lame with a  wrist sprain.  Regardless of the type of injury, they all impact on  their exercise limits, and if they are not rested and exercised  appropriately, could result in lifelong issues.

Sadly,  a problem we are encountering more and more is that the greyhound’s  medical history is not always being disclosed to adopters by the  rehoming centres.  We can only guess at the reasoning behind this, most  likely to prevent people being put off adopting a dog, but we’ll never  know.

One such example, which one  of our admin team resolved in a previous position, was an owner who  adopted a beautiful big black boy that needed help and advice due to  increasingly severe behavioural issues and an occasional limp.

In  discussing his exercise routine, the owners explained he had been  having three very long walks per day and had been since they had adopted  him.  They had not been given any information suggesting he had an  injury by the rehoming centre.  
The immediate  concern with this situation was over exercise, resulting in pain, which  was causing in his reactivity on walks and defensive indoors toward the  child.

On examination, it was  found that his back was out in several places, was very tense and  painful in his lower back/pelvic area that when pressed caused weakening  of the back legs.  In tracking down his origins and speaking to his  original trainer, we found he had sustained a serious injury to his  hip/upper leg.  He was sent for rehoming, and adopted in quick fashion,  which meant that the injury was never appropriately rested, treated, or  exercised because the family were not made aware.  The extensive  exercise he then underwent in the home caused a lot of pain which led  him to become reactive and defensive.

In  drastically reducing his exercise, going onto pain medication, and  receiving physiotherapy, he became a calmer, happier, and much more  relaxed hound.  This was one of the happier endings, but others aren’t  so lucky.

The known injuries are something that can be worked around, it’s the unknown ones that are the problem.

Though  regardless of their condition, you don’t want to overdo it.  While you  may aggravate an existing injury, they just don’t have the endurance of  normal dog breeds when newly retired and need to be exercised  appropriately within their limits to then be able to broaden them.

This  applies to their mental endurance as well.  As we mentioned above, you  want to broaden their horizons gradually so they can experience,  process, accept and move on in a healthy way and not having their stress  levels overflow.

A great analogy  that we like to use for this is the stress bucket.  Every hound has a  mental bucket that starts to fill with water every time something  stresses them but is subsequently drains out when the hound relaxes.  

However,  when the bucket fills too much and they aren’t getting time to rest,  relax or are unable to do so, the bucket overflows.  This is where  behavioural issues start presenting and if the bucket stays this full  for extended periods, these behaviours can escalate rapidly.  

This  can lead to behaviours becoming learned and ingrained, and harder to  reverse.  Which is why you want to maintain your hound’s lifestyle in a  way that keeps their bucket regularly emptying to prevent overflow.

When  we reference the stress bucket, it’s in relation to the build-up of  stress hormones in the body.  It can take 72 hours for the cortisol  (stress hormone) to return to normal levels following a stressful event.   So, if the dog is repeatedly being exposed to stressors (new or old)  continuously, the 72-hour timer is constantly resetting, and the bucket  never empties.

However, what we consider stressful, and what the dog considers stressful are two different things.

When  they are newly retired, they are already in a heightened state of  stress.  They’re whole lives have been turned upside down from that  simple kennel life they were used to.

There  are so many new sights, smells, and noises to get used to indoors.   Activity from the strange humans they now live with and a new routine.   Stress.  It’s a lot!  But then family and friends want to come and meet  the new dog, add more stress.

Then,  each walk they will encounter new things, they’re also a stressor.  A  group of kids on scooters, a car backfiring two streets away, a bus  driving past, a dog barking at them, even just encountering a traffic  cone on their normal walk that wasn’t there before.

For  a newly retired hound, all these little stressors build up, and in  walking your dog for extended periods, numerous times a day or in  different places every day, their bucket never gets a chance to empty.   They’re constantly being exposed to new stressors on top of learning  their day-to-day life.

A lack of  awareness as to the impact of exercise, on behaviour, means a lot of  people try to correct the symptoms without curing the cause.

In  an ideal world, potential adopters would be aware of this and take the  appropriate steps to prevent issues arising.  But it’s going to take a  while to change the wheel.

When  you adopt your new hound, make sure to walk them before leaving the  rehoming centre.  This will be in familiar surroundings where they are  comfortable, and it will help with the journey home and settling into  the home.

That first day in the  home, let them settle in and investigate everything, start the house  training in the garden, but don’t walk them because they’ll already be  stressed enough!  What you can do instead is get them dressed for a  walk, go out the front door and just sit on the doorstep or at the end  of your driveway for 10 minutes.

As  sighthounds, they can see so much all the time, so taking them outside  without any of the pressure of actually going for walk lets them take in  their new surroundings.  Give them treats (if they’ll take them, they  may be too stressed) and just talk to them and praise them.  It’s a  scary world out there.

But what  this achieves is that the next day, after having a good sleep, is that  going for a walk isn’t quite as daunting as they will have already  processed what is outside the front door!

Keep  exercise to the typical two 20-minute walks per day, injury dependant,  for the first 3-4 weeks as this is the most crucial time for them to  decompress, learn their routine and start to feel at home.  After this,  depending on how they’re coping, you can then start broadening their  horizons!

Should your hound start  freezing on walks or otherwise demonstrating signs of stress, offer  them a day or two off from walking to let their stress buckets empty,  return to the basic walking pattern and gradually reintroduce new  things.

During the rest days,  substitute some other forms of activity and stimulation for them such as  enrichment, playtime and zoomies in the garden, or even doing training  or focus cues with them.  

If you  think your dog is to climb the walls from the lack of physical  exercise, which can also be a sign of stress, put them in the car and  take them out to a country park or rural space.  Go for a calm, dog led,  sniffari where they can enjoy being a ‘dog’ without the societal  pressures and stressors of a street walk.  These types of walks can be  massively beneficial to your dog’s mental state as it allows them to  decompress in a more natural way.

Going  on frequent sniffaris and offering them a rest day, or reduced exercise  day, after a big day out can be very beneficial in maintaining a good  balance!

Once you get to know  your hound, you’ll start being able to identify the signs of stress,  tiredness and discomfort, and their overall limits in terms of exercise,  to be able to advocate for them and decide when to bow out and go home  or take a rest day.  It’s also a great way to get out of social  situations that you yourself don’t want to be in!  Sorry, got to go, the  dog needs a nap!
If people with children can do it, dog parents can totally do it too!

When  anyone is having issues with their newly adopted hounds, taking into  consideration the exercise routine can be a bit step in diagnosing the  problem.  But there are many reasons why a dog might display the  behaviours mentioned above which we will discuss in future posts.

It  can be daunting, and disheartening, to have your dog display  behavioural issues in the early days of hound ownership and because  these issues are largely misunderstood and taken at face value rather  than understanding the emotion behind them, many dogs are returned to  rehoming centres they came from.

If  you are having behavioural issues, having your hound assessed by a  qualified veterinary physiotherapist is the best first step to take.   This will rule out or diagnose specific muscular issues, or  restrictions, that could be impacting on behaviour.
We have found that, while amazing, vets do not have the same level of ability in this area.

Then,  depending on the result of this, you can then decide on how best to  move forward.  If it’s an exercise related issue, take steps to reduce  stress in your dog’s life, but if not, you have ruled out one factor and  can look into getting a behaviourist or trainer to assist.

If  you go down that route, because pain makes such a big difference to  behaviour, it is good to be able to offer them the physio report to save  time later.  It is a big red flag in choosing a behaviourist/trainer if  they do not suggest a medical assessment before moving into behaviour  modification, as if it is a pain related issue, it can lead to a lot  more issues down the line!

Greyhounds  are a sensitive breed, and they are also all very individual in their  personalities and needs.  One may thoroughly enjoy going for three long  walks a day while others may only want one…if that!  It’s all about  knowing what works for them, and their injuries, if they have one.

At  the end of the day, all that really matters is that your hound is happy  and healthy both physically and mentally, but to achieve this you have  to find the right exercise balance!