Rio and Roxy are adolescent greyhound sisters. Their playfighting, play biting, lack of manners on the lead and toiletting all over the kitchen floor is driving their owners apart.
What did you think of this episode, are there any questions you want to ask, heres the place to do it.
From my point of view, this is a classic example of what can happen all too easily when someone takes on two pretty much identical dogs, same sex, same breed, same age.
The play fighting must be managed because neither dog has the 'upper hand' in status, so neither can really tell the other one to back off. Left unmanaged it would be very easy for these two dogs to permanently fall out, and when bitches do it, it is extremely dangerous.
It is incredibly difficult to train two puppies at the same time, its not just twice the work its three times the work or more because you need to give each pup seperate training and then work with them both together.
This episode also shows how letting dogs BE dogs, giving them the opportunity to fulfill their natural urges, in this case to run off lead, will create calmer more relaxed animals in the home.
What I would like to ask Victoria is this.
Why did this couple get two ***** puppies, did they ever have any advice that this would be triple the work of one pup, and did you explain to them that the really serious consequence of not managing these two dogs properly could mean they fall out and as adults, hate the sight of one another?
I often find that some rescues will happily rehome pairs of puppies together, and its rare that this works out nicely. I dont know of any reputable breeder who would do such a thing (and I know a great many rescues who absolutely wouldnt), and many breeders would think twice before keeping two from the same litter.
Its nice to see with a bit of work that Rio and Roxy are happier, calmer and clean in the house. I was also very glad to see Victoria clearly state that if the owners arent willing to put in the work, there is no point in her training the dogs.
Em
Series 4 Episode 3 (UK): Rio and Roxy the Greyhounds
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Series 4 Episode 3 (UK): Rio and Roxy the Greyhounds
Last edited by emmabeth on Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Yay Greyhounds! Not that I'm biased you understand.
Very interesting programme. I take your point Em about homing sisters. I wonder tho whether finding homes for thousands of greyhounds every year is so hard that wherever Roxy and Rio came from were just relieved to get two more off their books.
I completely relatate to the fear of letting greys loose though. Finding a secure environment is really hard - farmers round here are not co-operative. And despite Victoria's reassurances there are plenty of of greys who could get over a 6' fence. And I'd like to see that recall work with a bunny in the field. Overall though excellent results - well done VS. And well done the owners for working so hard. Shame we didn't get to hear more about what fantastic pets retired greys make but hey ho.
Very interesting programme. I take your point Em about homing sisters. I wonder tho whether finding homes for thousands of greyhounds every year is so hard that wherever Roxy and Rio came from were just relieved to get two more off their books.
I completely relatate to the fear of letting greys loose though. Finding a secure environment is really hard - farmers round here are not co-operative. And despite Victoria's reassurances there are plenty of of greys who could get over a 6' fence. And I'd like to see that recall work with a bunny in the field. Overall though excellent results - well done VS. And well done the owners for working so hard. Shame we didn't get to hear more about what fantastic pets retired greys make but hey ho.
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leafninjasteph
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Mon May 21, 2007 10:27 am
- Location: Fareham
I doubt actually that any dog would jump 6ft of wire, because their perception of depth is different from ours, as well sa other differences (they are better in the dark and better at seeing moving objects but NOT good at focussing on stationary objects especially like a mesh fence), they really cant focus on it properly to judge where the ground line is, and where the top line is.
And if they cant judge how high it realy is, they wont jump. Dogs also dislike jumping non solid objects so again they are very very unlikely to even try jumping wire.
I keep all four of my dogs in with a 5 foot wire fence. All four of my dogs can and have cleared upwards of 7ft..... but only when its solid!
And if they cant judge how high it realy is, they wont jump. Dogs also dislike jumping non solid objects so again they are very very unlikely to even try jumping wire.
I keep all four of my dogs in with a 5 foot wire fence. All four of my dogs can and have cleared upwards of 7ft..... but only when its solid!
I really enjoy all the shows I watch, as they are a good way of seeing that my pair arent that bad after all 
Seriously though, have these people ever owned a dog before let alone 2 at the same time. I mean who in their right minds would let dogs toilet in their house!!!.
We see so many unwanted dogs come through the BIN because people take on a dog and dont do any research into the breed at all. I know in basics all dogs are the same, but in reality certain breeds are different in certain traits. Certain breeds need a damn site more excersize than others, and boy was that obvious last night.
Ive personally never known anyone have to of the same sex dogs when theyve just got a pair. When we applied to get Monty through rescue, we were told piont blank that we would never get a girl dog, as we allready have a girl dog. So our only option was to have a boy dog. We were told rigerously that there would be fall outs and the BIN are ALLWAYS on hand if a problem arrises. I just wish the same could be said for all rescues and breeders, but unfortunatly its not.
Luckily we have got plenty of experience with Bullie's and knew what we would be taking on. I just wish people would get a bit of background on dogs and the specific breed they are getting in the first place.
Mind you if we all did that, we wouldnt get such entertainment as we do from shows like this.
Maggie
Seriously though, have these people ever owned a dog before let alone 2 at the same time. I mean who in their right minds would let dogs toilet in their house!!!.
We see so many unwanted dogs come through the BIN because people take on a dog and dont do any research into the breed at all. I know in basics all dogs are the same, but in reality certain breeds are different in certain traits. Certain breeds need a damn site more excersize than others, and boy was that obvious last night.
Ive personally never known anyone have to of the same sex dogs when theyve just got a pair. When we applied to get Monty through rescue, we were told piont blank that we would never get a girl dog, as we allready have a girl dog. So our only option was to have a boy dog. We were told rigerously that there would be fall outs and the BIN are ALLWAYS on hand if a problem arrises. I just wish the same could be said for all rescues and breeders, but unfortunatly its not.
Luckily we have got plenty of experience with Bullie's and knew what we would be taking on. I just wish people would get a bit of background on dogs and the specific breed they are getting in the first place.
Mind you if we all did that, we wouldnt get such entertainment as we do from shows like this.
Maggie
Mmmmm.....
I can see your point Maggie..... but I have a dog who is extremely phobic, due to some bad experiences as a pup and into adolesence, and the result is, he is too fearful to toilet outside.
Hes now nearly 5 and we are only JUST getting to the stage now where he accepts and trusts that a large and ferocious GSD is not going to jump on his head the minute he tries to poo or pee in the garden, and the GSD in question has been DEAD for 3 years.... but she got him about ten times in the course of a year, his other experiences outside were of thunder, extremely heavy rain (which with the thunder and coming before thunder were even worse), massive hail stones and then a wheely bin crashing over right in front of him due to wind.. (he is possibly THE most unlucky puppy ever), all lead to him deciding that going to the loo outside my house was quite probably, very dangerous.
So he didnt and up until just the last few months he has gone on paper in my hallway. Not ideal and certainly not what I want, but.... he IS reliably housetrained. I can and do take him anywhere and ANYWHERE but here he will hang on and ask to go out, and if theres no one there, wait to go out until he is let out.
As I say, very fortunately he is now beginning to trust that nothing bad will happen and he is very very neurotic little dog, but his is a case to point out that sometimes, just sometimes a dog can be housetrained and toilet in the house for other reasons. Dilly would actually make himself unwell rather than toilet in my garden, or the surrounding areas!
However no, thats not what was going on with these two greyhounds and I cant quite fathom out why one would put up with that for that long, its not easy to house train two dogs, especially two puppies, but Victoria showed that it IS possible to do in a matter of weeks, even with two older dogs who have learned to go inside.
Can I ask Maggie you take a little care when talking about the people who appear in the program, as they can and do join this forum - things are not always as they appear on the TV and I'm sure you would hate to upset anyone.
I can see your point Maggie..... but I have a dog who is extremely phobic, due to some bad experiences as a pup and into adolesence, and the result is, he is too fearful to toilet outside.
Hes now nearly 5 and we are only JUST getting to the stage now where he accepts and trusts that a large and ferocious GSD is not going to jump on his head the minute he tries to poo or pee in the garden, and the GSD in question has been DEAD for 3 years.... but she got him about ten times in the course of a year, his other experiences outside were of thunder, extremely heavy rain (which with the thunder and coming before thunder were even worse), massive hail stones and then a wheely bin crashing over right in front of him due to wind.. (he is possibly THE most unlucky puppy ever), all lead to him deciding that going to the loo outside my house was quite probably, very dangerous.
So he didnt and up until just the last few months he has gone on paper in my hallway. Not ideal and certainly not what I want, but.... he IS reliably housetrained. I can and do take him anywhere and ANYWHERE but here he will hang on and ask to go out, and if theres no one there, wait to go out until he is let out.
As I say, very fortunately he is now beginning to trust that nothing bad will happen and he is very very neurotic little dog, but his is a case to point out that sometimes, just sometimes a dog can be housetrained and toilet in the house for other reasons. Dilly would actually make himself unwell rather than toilet in my garden, or the surrounding areas!
However no, thats not what was going on with these two greyhounds and I cant quite fathom out why one would put up with that for that long, its not easy to house train two dogs, especially two puppies, but Victoria showed that it IS possible to do in a matter of weeks, even with two older dogs who have learned to go inside.
Can I ask Maggie you take a little care when talking about the people who appear in the program, as they can and do join this forum - things are not always as they appear on the TV and I'm sure you would hate to upset anyone.
I do appologise if i caused any offence to anyone in what I said, but the way it came over in the programme, as Im sure you would aggree, made it look as if the dogs just hadnt been house trained. 
I can only go by what I saw on the programme, and to me it looked as though they had bitten off a little more than they could chew.
I was, as allways, so glad to see the way they turned out though, and they now look as though they are wonderful dogs, and luckily no more accidents in the house
What a poor little pooch you have, to have all those things happen to him, bless him. I bet you dont rub your lotto ticket on him for good luck hey I really do hope he gets better in his head soon the poor little mite.
I feel sorry for anyone who has got a dog that really is unable to go to the loo in the normal way or place. I myself know a lady with a bullie, that, when the dog was a puppy, she had a very bad thing happen to her, and now doesnt know when she neds to go to the loo. This is a medical problem, and wether its medical or psycological, its not a nice thing to have to put up with.
I am glad for the pooches though that Victoria managed to turn them round, and at the end of the day... it makes good veiwing
Again sorry if I caused anyone any offence I honestly didnt mean to, and will try and watch how I frase things in future
Cheers Maggie
I can only go by what I saw on the programme, and to me it looked as though they had bitten off a little more than they could chew.
I was, as allways, so glad to see the way they turned out though, and they now look as though they are wonderful dogs, and luckily no more accidents in the house
What a poor little pooch you have, to have all those things happen to him, bless him. I bet you dont rub your lotto ticket on him for good luck hey
I really do hope he gets better in his head soon the poor little mite.I feel sorry for anyone who has got a dog that really is unable to go to the loo in the normal way or place. I myself know a lady with a bullie, that, when the dog was a puppy, she had a very bad thing happen to her, and now doesnt know when she neds to go to the loo. This is a medical problem, and wether its medical or psycological, its not a nice thing to have to put up with.
I am glad for the pooches though that Victoria managed to turn them round, and at the end of the day... it makes good veiwing
Again sorry if I caused anyone any offence I honestly didnt mean to, and will try and watch how I frase things in future
Cheers Maggie
really enjoyed the episode - loved seeing the beautiful greys free and off lead - I thought it was a positive programme - would have been nice to have had greyhound gaps number at the end!!! but I understand that it is not the nature of the programmes - they are about training 
Who did the blue older grey/lurcher at the beginning of programme belong too????
but I understand that it is not the nature of the programmes - they are about training Who did the blue older grey/lurcher at the beginning of programme belong too????
Thanks Maggie,
No, lol hes not the luckiest of lads hehe! Poor little bean, still hes taught me a lot about neurotic, phobic dogs so without him I would never have learned that.
I can forgive him a lot of frustrating things because he is such a lovely cuddly boy.
I do wonder if the couple featured last night fell into a certain trap... a lot of people are lead to believe that greyhounds are terribly easy dogs to look after, (and im not saying they arent, but)...
But this is generally the case in ex racing dogs who have lead a very sheltered life, they come out of kennels often very quiet, reserved even mentally shut down, so they ARE quiet undemanding dogs because they have never had the opportunity to learn they could be demanding.
Its frequently heard that greys are good in pairs, can be left alone for fairly long periods and only need 20 minute walks...
And that most certainly does not apply to greyhound puppies, but since greyhound puppies are not that common, thats not a particularly well known fact.
So i would imagine if you believed all the commonly heard 'facts' about greyhounds it would be easy not to realise that this wouldnt apply to puppies, who are extremely hard work just like any other breed.
When things are suddenly and often shockingly, not what a person expected its very easy to be overwhelmed by whats going on, and it does often take a third party to come in and clear things up, which in this case Victoria did really well.
No, lol hes not the luckiest of lads hehe! Poor little bean, still hes taught me a lot about neurotic, phobic dogs so without him I would never have learned that.
I can forgive him a lot of frustrating things because he is such a lovely cuddly boy.
I do wonder if the couple featured last night fell into a certain trap... a lot of people are lead to believe that greyhounds are terribly easy dogs to look after, (and im not saying they arent, but)...
But this is generally the case in ex racing dogs who have lead a very sheltered life, they come out of kennels often very quiet, reserved even mentally shut down, so they ARE quiet undemanding dogs because they have never had the opportunity to learn they could be demanding.
Its frequently heard that greys are good in pairs, can be left alone for fairly long periods and only need 20 minute walks...
And that most certainly does not apply to greyhound puppies, but since greyhound puppies are not that common, thats not a particularly well known fact.
So i would imagine if you believed all the commonly heard 'facts' about greyhounds it would be easy not to realise that this wouldnt apply to puppies, who are extremely hard work just like any other breed.
When things are suddenly and often shockingly, not what a person expected its very easy to be overwhelmed by whats going on, and it does often take a third party to come in and clear things up, which in this case Victoria did really well.
Field Roxy and Rio went to?
Does anyone know where the enclosed field is that Roxy and Rio went to near Northampton? I live near northampton, but currently have nowhere I can safely let my dogs off the lead.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Hi Victoria here. Good to read your posts about the last show. Roxy and Rio were the sweetest dogs and we had a good time working with them. The owners had rescued them as they weren't going to be raced and that is how they aquired them. It is unusual to rescue greyhound puppies but the owners previously had adult greyhounds and couldn't resist the sisters. One of their older greyhounds was still with them. Again these were people who were willing to work really hard to rectify the problems they were having and to admit that their inconsistency and different ideas for handling the dogs was a major part of the problem. They were not used to puppies and believed like so many people that the pups would learn to toilet appropriately in time, so didn't spend a lot of time on the housetraining. We might laugh but so many people think that dogs come prewired knowing that they shouldn't pee in the house and knowing what the word sit means. As soon as the girls were put on a schedule the peeing and pooing in the house stopped and the results happened virtually overnight.
Most of the people, like Roxy and Rio's owners, who appear on the show are dedicated dog owners and work very hard to change things. A few think that I am going to come into the home and wave my magic wand to make everything ok so they don't have to lift a finger. I mention no names but keep watching!
Most of the people, like Roxy and Rio's owners, who appear on the show are dedicated dog owners and work very hard to change things. A few think that I am going to come into the home and wave my magic wand to make everything ok so they don't have to lift a finger. I mention no names but keep watching!
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MEL AND ZULU
- Posts: 88
- Joined: Sun Jul 29, 2007 5:39 am
- Location: heathrow
The show series 4 - hunt for Zulu's new friends in UK
Those greyhounds were gr8, and how brilliant was it to see them running free!
Well we have had first hand experience with Its me or the Dog, our show is being aired in autumn 2007, its a boxer called Zulu.
Victoria is terrific! straight to the point and the dog comes first. I have had Zulu since he was 7 weeks old and lived in africa for the first 3 years.
My boxer was brought over to england from south africa in nov 2005 and in South Africa there were no socialisation classes that we could find after the puppy classes had finished. Did find a couple but some of the other dogs were quite mad and the trainers seemed to be living in the methods of the 19th century. So i did most of the general training myself. The socialisation was brill at first but as we lived on a plot and he was left to roam he kind of went the other direction. Now we have some problems with this. All the other things victoria managed to point us in the right direction and he has come along leaps and bounds. We were the typical "my dogs not listerning" people but turns out we were the ones not listerning. . . lol. . . .
So this is to anyone living in the heathrow area of England, that has a calm submissive dog, pref female that may want to do some socialisation with him. just general walks as he cant be let off the lead or does anyone know of an enclosed secure small field or even a large area of unused land, must be fenced by at least 6 ft as he is a jumper (as you will see on the show) that we can rent just so i can let this beast of mine feel the wind through his coat and have some serious burn out time.
all info will be really appreciated!!
Well we have had first hand experience with Its me or the Dog, our show is being aired in autumn 2007, its a boxer called Zulu.
Victoria is terrific! straight to the point and the dog comes first. I have had Zulu since he was 7 weeks old and lived in africa for the first 3 years.
My boxer was brought over to england from south africa in nov 2005 and in South Africa there were no socialisation classes that we could find after the puppy classes had finished. Did find a couple but some of the other dogs were quite mad and the trainers seemed to be living in the methods of the 19th century. So i did most of the general training myself. The socialisation was brill at first but as we lived on a plot and he was left to roam he kind of went the other direction. Now we have some problems with this. All the other things victoria managed to point us in the right direction and he has come along leaps and bounds. We were the typical "my dogs not listerning" people but turns out we were the ones not listerning. . . lol. . . .
So this is to anyone living in the heathrow area of England, that has a calm submissive dog, pref female that may want to do some socialisation with him. just general walks as he cant be let off the lead or does anyone know of an enclosed secure small field or even a large area of unused land, must be fenced by at least 6 ft as he is a jumper (as you will see on the show) that we can rent just so i can let this beast of mine feel the wind through his coat and have some serious burn out time.
all info will be really appreciated!!
Hi Mel. We filmed with Mel, Bucks and Zulu last year so it has taken a while for the programme to air but I look forward to seeing the process again. Zulu has made a lot of progress only because of dedicated owners. It is always a real pleasure to work with people who want to change and you guys worked very hard. Zulu had a lot to put up with coming over to england and I think the change was difficult for him but what a great dog and well done for sticking with it. The programme will air in the Autumn.