Spend any time around greyhounds and it's apparent that most of them love being around people and other dogs. But some are actually very shy—and shy dogs can be hard to place for adoption. Curing that shyness has become a pet project of GAC volunteer extraordinaire Gigi Blaikie.
Last year, Gigi visited the Best Friends Animal Society Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah. The society's goal is to create no-kill cities where healthy or treatable pets will not be killed for the sake of making more space in shelters. She came away impressed with how the Best Friends staff worked with difficult dogs—and with ideas for working with some of our shy greyhounds.
In addition to volunteering with turnouts and the GAC profiling team, Gigi has begun holding Shy Dog Classes at the kennel. The weekly sessions (mostly Sundays at 1pm) are held in the Green Space and involve dogs that have been identified by kennel volunteers as being very shy. She began in early December with a group of girls and has recently introduced shy boys to the program.
Here's how it works: volunteers sit in a circle and a small group of dogs is introduced to the Green Space. The humans do not approach the dogs, but rather let the hounds come to them. There is an enticement—pieces of grilled chicken—which the humans will give to any dog that approaches them.
It helps that Gigi has an undercover operative in the group of dogs. Her ringer is Wind, who readily approaches the humans, greeting them and getting treats in return. The others learn by watching and, slowly but surely, their shyness begins to fade.
Gigi says she's seen decent results. "At first, some of the dogs would have nothing to do with us. They'd wait by the gate to be taken back to their crates or condos." But bit by bit, each dog is beginning to come out of his or her shell. Once the dogs have progressed enough, the next step is to take them on walks, either individually or in pairs, to further bolster their confidence and get them closer to being ready for adoption.
In real life, Gigi is a pharmacist with Option Care, a leading provider of home healthcare services. Thank you, Gigi, for making such a difference at GAC!