Hi everyone! I just adopted my first greyhound, she is a fawn girl named Bambi! I've had her for a little over a week and I love her so much already! I do have some concerns as far as leaving her alone, though. The first day I left her alone in my apartment, she was confined to the living area. I felt comfortable leaving her outside of the crate because her 2 foster moms told me she was never destructive and they had no issues with her. I left her about 4 hours and came home to a disaster. She didn't destroy anything, but she peed and pooped EVERYWHERE.
The next time I decided to crate her. She did fine for the next couple days. As of recently though, she has been peeing or pooping in her crate when I leave her. For about 2-3 hour intervals. I take her out to pee/poop before crating her EVERY TIME. She is positive for hookworm, so at first I was thinking it was because she couldn't hold her bowels due to diarrhea, but then she started urinating her crate as well. She doesn't show any signs of disliking the crate. She'll lay in it while i'm home without an issue. I also give her a frozen Kong full of peanut butter and yogurt so work on while i'm away, but I think she goes through it in a matter of 30 minutes.
I live on a third floor and going up/down the stairs has been a challenge for her. She has finally learned to come up (with treats of course) and I will soon be training her on how to go down. For now, I have to carry her down. I don't know if maybe the stress of the stairs is also a factor. Whenever we finally get downstairs and close to some grass, she will statue for at least 10 minutes before she starts sniffing and finally moving closer to the grass to relieve herself. It never takes her less than 15 minutes. I try to get her to run/jog with me to tire her out, but like i mentioned, she will statue until I finally give in. The longest I've waited has been 30 minutes, where she will not move no matter what. Completely uninterested in sniffing, running, jogging, anything. Maybe she is getting some anxiety from being outside?
Please help me with some suggestions/ideas! I hate for her to be so anxious, not only for myself, but I can imagine what she is going through.