I'm not new here, relatively speaking but I decided to post an intro anyways.
My name is Ed and I'm a dog-a-holic.
Xerxes is my male Pharaoh Hound's name, Gaia is my female. They are 1.5 yrs and 3.75 years old (respectively.) I've grown up around dogs. My first childhood memory was being in a garage with our family's 4 dogs (2 GSDs, a cockapoo and another one I don't remember the breed.) Our family has had several GSDs, a collie, a golden/gsd mix, two pekes, and an akita.
My training experience is limited to mostly classical choke chain methods, and a bit of dominance theory. I learned a tremendous amount about dogs from our akita. I think his size and intelligence coupled with his independence taught me more than I could have ever taught him.
I researched pharaoh hounds for about 8 months before I decided they would fit my lifestyle. After that I spent a few more months researching breeders. When I finally decided upon a breeder, I already had read just about everything published about pharaoh hounds and sighthound training. I decided upon using the "Playtraining" and "treat training" methods to train Xerxes, who I've had since he was 8 weeks. He knows around 30 or so commands- some verbal, some hand signals only. He's been socialized with dogs and other people from day one.
I adopted Gaia at the beginning of September and she's not from a good situation. She lived with Mastiffs and didn't get along with them. Her previous "owner" turned her into a kill shelter with instructions to put her down as she was dog aggressive. Turns out she's not. In fact she puts up with more shenanigans from Xerxes than I would. They act like they've been together forever.
I've learned that PHs do not react well to methods which include forcing your will upon them. They prefer to make their own judgement calls, and will side with you most of the time-that's what 5,000 years of breeding independent thinking, problem solving, teamworking dogs will get you. Even the best behaved PHs will cause trouble, keeping the owners guessing and/or going mad. The saving grace is when you watch them run-it's the single most beautiful sight in the world as they are doing something they enjoy and something that they do better than 99% of dogs. They are a breed that you either hate or fall in love with again and again.
So that's a little bit about me and my dogs. Feel free to ask questions, flame me or whatever.