Bizeebee

We've had our hound for a bit more than a year now, but lately we've had more and more trouble with messing in the house, despite a year of being pretty well potty trained (he can even ring a bell to go out!), so we're kind of at a loss for the best thing(s) to do. Since the holidays he's been peeing and now pooping more in the house (despite thorough enzymatic cleaning of affected areas), always when we're out of the house for work or errands. Last winter he was experiencing some medical issues that caused peeing in the house, but he's been on meds since spring and that particular issue (being unable to fully empty) has pretty much resolved. He'd had a few #2 accidents along the way, but it always when he'd broken into his food and gorged or had way too many treats the day before - the cause was never a mystery. So, of course we've had his urine checked (no sign of infection/crystals) and his stools are great, he's on maintenance dose of moxidectin (no hooks for quite some time), and since figuring out that he can't do chicken his gut has been healing up nicely and poops greatly improved. It's also pretty clear that he is able to hold it (#1 & #2), because he can make it overnight and on the weekends he is one lazy hound. All that to say, that with the exception of a minor ear infection (treatment in progress) he's pretty healthy. With a pretty clean bill of health we're convinced this is behavioral, but dont have a great idea of how to deal with it, other than the obvious "praise when he goes outside". We give him lots of chances to empty before we leave and he's never alone for more than 4-5hrs, but swear to dog this guy can create waste from thin air. He still rings the bell and does his business outside during normal turnouts, and since it is happening when we aren't home there's no great way to catch him in the act and do anything about it at the time. If this is some kind of delayed separation anxiety - he has no reaction when we leave the house - how do we deal with that? Besides the first few weeks of settling in, he had never exhibited anything close to SA - no messing no destruction no panicking when we left. He hated the crate so we never bothered with it and he never really needed hard core Alone Training. Any tips from anyone with experience with this kind of backsliding are more than welcome

We switched to PPPSSS very quickly (no transition period) because our dog had been having worse and worse stools (diarrhea and had started to see red blood) despite being on quite a few meds and chicken-flavored hydrolyzed food. Some kind of IBD and poultry sensitivity is what we assume was/is going on. The vet figured we couldn't get worse than where we were, so she recommended we just start the new chicken-free food. The difference was night and day, almost immediately his stools returned to a much more acceptable consistency and no more blood. Quantity did not reduce much, but he's on a lot of calories (and thus volume) for his issues. All that said, he had a great coat/breath before and after, his issues were purely digestive. Unfortunately the salmon food makes his poop extra delicious (in his mind) so we're dealing with that a bit, but kind of chalking it up to ongoing gut issues.

My first thought would be to have him checked out by your vet. He may be in pain and the only way he's expressing it is by being in a very bad mood. Or he could be having issues with his eyes, which could explain why he's startled and on guard with people he used to like and know. Probably unlikely, but he may have been scared by something that happened when you werent there - maybe someone attempted to break into your house, or he was in boarding for a few days? Sometimes all it takes is one traumatic event for dogs to get funny. If the vet doesn't find anything I would definitely find a local behaviorist to help you; this definitely sounds like a situation that can be remedied, with the right strategies and cautious behavior being implemented.

We did the as written Prison Protocol. On the one hand, I can appreciate wanting to do the least amount of meds you can, but at some point doing an intensive protocol for a shorter time vs a slightly less intensive one for a few months longer, kind of works out the same. It's still more drugs than you'd want to be giving forever; we wanted it over and done with as soon as we could (and our dog tolerated it fine). Whether you do a flea/tick along with Coraxis is really up to you and what your vet recommends for your area - I know some ppl just dont worry about ticks bc of geography (maybe?) and feel their dog isn't at risk for fleas. We use Credelio for flea/tick control now that we're off the protocol, and use Coraxis for his monthly all-wormer. I know many like the Seresto collar during the protocol for fleas/ticks since it isn't absorbed or eaten like other drugs.

Someone here recommended RxClay (maybe it is ClayRx) to us for some IBD issues, helped tremendously!

Awesome to hear! We also had good luck with the unmodified Prison Protocol. Depending on where you are and your flea/tick needs, you could switch to Coraxis (instead of AM). We did that so that we could do a flea/tick combo oral and not be doubling up on meds (since the Coraxis keeps most worms in check).

I just wanted to piggy back on this that we had a dog develop a mysterious limp and when nothing showed up on first set of xrays we assumed a soft tissue injury. However, after a couple weeks the tumor grew large enough to be seen on scans. I'd suggest another set of xrays in a couple of weeks if nothing shows up right away.

Most greys don't need it, but I think a lot of that settling in anxiety is related to no longer knowing what they are supposed to do, or be, now that they don't have their job or normal routine. With training you reintroduce what they are supposed to be doing - even if it's just relaxing, in a way that is clearer to them then "you're home free! do what you want!" which seems awesome to us, but is pretty vague from their perspective.

From my read of this, it looks like tapeworms should be relatively easy to treat, since this doesn't seem to be working I think I'd consider changing up his medicine regimen. I can appreciate liking to treat every three months, but this might need the consistency of an every month treatment for a while. That's if the real problem is really tapeworm, which as others have suggested, it's hard to know without some stool tests.

I think you need to change your perspective here, you know how a lot of people compare greyhounds to cats? Sounds like you have one of those. Probably your previous have been more dog like; we've had one of each now and it is a dramatic difference, but it's not a behavioral issue, it may just be her personality. Our "cat-dog" liked to be in the room with us, but wasn't an attention hound or snuggler and once we moved to a house with a yard, we could just f' right off with going for walks as far as he was concerned. He literally just laid around all. the. time. New one, he's a lab in a greyhound suit, you never know what you're gonna get Now, all this with the caveat that it is still early days, and she could come out of her shell, especially if she seemed more confident when you met her, but being more aloof/not liking toys/being a bit of a spook isn't something you necessarily can or should try to fix. It's been a couple months, have you done any training classes with her? Some of what you're noticing - like not really coming when she's called and overall lack of confidence - can be helped greatly with formal training. Give her some time, and try to rethink what behavior issues really are - 'cause it doesn't sound like she has any. And unless she came from outside the US, you may also want to rethink the life you think these dogs lived while they raced. Many had loving handlers in their coaches and kennel keepers and were very comfortable and confident in that life, your life (while I'm sure very loving and wonderful) is very different and scary from that right now.

The thing I worry about when a vet prescribes a special food to "fix" the crystals, is if food caused the problem to begin with (with some crystals this is the case, but not all) then that original food should probably be avoided. And, maybe special or different food will be required forever. You can buy pH test strips to test his urine pH periodically as well - test more than one pee per day because their pH and concentration will change as the day goes on. Does the peeing only occur when you are gone? Or do you also notice more frequent need to go out on say a weekend day when everyone is home? There's a good book on Alone Training, by Patricia McConnell, I think the title is "I'll Be Home Soon." That is definitely a great place to start with alone training/SA stuff. I'm not sure what camera you're using, but some will let you talk to the dog from wherever you are, which might be nice for catching him in the act. Obviously all you can do is say "no, bad dog" but at least there would be some level of correction happening.

It's been a while, are you sure the crystals and their root cause are totally cleared? I can't remember what causes struvite crystals, but sometimes a supplement is needed to put their urine pH in the right place, or antibiotics need to be repeated. Also, you might consider getting a refractometer (like $25 on amazon) and testing his urine concentration periodically. If he's not able to concentrate his urine he's basically peeing out all the water he takes in, which could be a sign of a different health issues. Does he drink an inordinate amount of water? If your vet (and you) feel this is not medical, then I think the first thing to try to definitively figure out is if this is the development of SA. Did anything change at that six month mark when the issues began? Are you able to watch him with a camera during the day? What can you observe? Have you done hard core alone training? If this is SA that's probably what you need to search and work on. Have you considered fostering another dog, or even just babysitting one, to see if having a buddy solves the issue? Maybe grab some belly bands, for your own sanity and the sake of your floors.

Both hounds we've had/have were/are too lazy for this to be much of an issue for us, but there definitely is a risk of your guy hurting himself running full bore like that - especially because there could be hazards (mole holes, trash, who knows) in that field, unless you own and maintain it. You should also look out for this: https://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/pet-talk-put-the-brakes-on-ex-racers/article_403b9c99-1174-5e97-ae10-4624b758eaab.html?utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=user-share If your boy is 9 and still has that much energy I'd wonder whether he's getting too many calories. That's just a lot of big time running for a middle-aged guy.

We were having this same issue, except with breakfast - which meant the whining would begin waaaay before our morning alarm! Among a couple other strategies, we found that setting an alarm that goes off and means "time to eat!" was helpful because even though we can tell he's anticipating it, it's no longer the humans who are in control (and thus able to be manipulated by whining) of when mealtime is. And, since the alarm comes from the "magical" phone device, you can change it up to whenever suits you and he'll be waiting for the sound, not for you.

Is there a phrase or something that you do at home on a regular day that signals to her that you are leaving? In our house we always say "see you later, dude" as we're walking out the door. If she can connect a signal you give at home - when she's ok being alone - to the same thing when you're at work she might get the message that "oh, ok, they're coming back just like all the other times"