Pooing In House?

[Guest jeffexpress]

Hi everyone! I posted earlier about our new greyhound (we've had him a month now, tomorrow) barking at us when we have been sleeping. The advice that we were given -- ignoring him, tiring him out before bedtime, using a spray bottle -- has worked really well.

 

But now we have a new problem: he poos in the middle of the living room floor whenever we leave him alone. For example, this was our schedule today:

7:30 am: potty/walk (1/2 mile)

8:00am: breakfast

11:00am: potty/walk (1/2 mile)

11:30am: leave home

2:00pm: return home, discover poo --> potty break

6:30pm: potty/walk (1 mile)

7:00pm: dinner

7:15pm: leave home

11:15pm: return home, discover poo --> potty break

 

In other words, despite the walks, he went to the bathroom in the house twice in one day. He has no problem going outside; in fact, he went twice outside today, in addition to the two times he went indoors. We were not gone for more than 4 hours at any one time. It is rather obvious, too, that the "accident" has not happened in the period right before we return home.

 

We recently stopped crating him, since he seemed to bark and whine whenever we left him there (although, again, he did not mind being in the crate when we were home). We would prefer not to crate him again; we do not want to risk any more noise complaints from our neighbors (who have already warned us once).

 

Does anyone have any advice? We are thinking about baby gating him in the room where he sleeps, in the hopes that it would prevent any spiteful bathroom breaks.

Edited January 2, 2010 by jeffexpress

[Guest secondchance]

I also have a new greyhound, and we were having a similar issue with the bathroom breaks in one room. We got a doggie gate that blocks that room. We also move the doggie gate to our room at night so he can not leave us at night. His crate is in our bedroom and we do not crate him when we sleep. We do crate him when we leave the house but we plan on starting tomorrow by keeping him in the bedroom with the doggie gate(for limited intervals of time at first). Try limiting his area of free reign, and then he might slowly learn respect for the whole kingdom. Good luck!!

[GeorgeofNE]

How frustrating! All I can say is hang in there!

 

Here's what I've done (for the past 17 years--I have no yard, so I'm am a 100% leash walker!):

 

Upon rising (time is irrelevant): take dog out immediately. This is strictly a "do your business" outing. No "walk," per se. Some dogs will actually hold it if you walk them every time you take them out because people TYPICALLY end the walk as soon as the dog goes! Dog logic: if I DON'T go, I get a longer walk! So take him to where you want him to go, stroll about a little, encourage him to "do your business" or "let's go potty," whatever and PRAISE PRAISE PRAISE when he goes. Back inside for breakfast!

 

About 15-30 minutes after eating, LONG walk. This is the walk/exercise portion of your morning! DO NOT under any circumstances stop the walk after the dog poops! Keep going for a while. That way you avoid the dog learning that if he poops, you go home!

 

Back inside--right before you leave, another potty break. This is ALL BUSINESS.

 

Then I'd consider baby gating this particular dog. They really DON'T like to poo where they live, so to speak.

 

Upon returning home, immediately outside.

 

AFTER DINNER another walk. This is your second round of exercise.

 

Finally, just before bed, out for his business.

 

I do five times a day--you can see I've suggested a sixth until your dog is reliable.

 

The key is that he has to UNDERSTAND that going outside is to go to the bathroom, not tour the neighborhood.

 

And FYI, a half mile is not going to tire out a healthy dog. You need to build up to a longer walk to "tire him out."

[Guest shanesmom]

When Elton first came home, he pood in the house every time he was left alone. For him it was because of separation anxiety. He became so worked up and upset that he couldn't control his bowels and would poop. It did not matter if he had just pood outside either. I had to work hard with him on alone training (leaving for just a couple minutes at a time, pretending to leave and not really leaving, etc.) until he became comfortable with staying home alone. Also, he requires more excercise than my first greyhound did. I started taking him for long morning walks and then my son would walk him too to tire him out. He never pood in the house again.

[Guest BiancasMom]

I agree is sounds like separation anxiety. My grey used to do this too except she would pee, even if she just went outside. I even tried crating her and she would just go in the crate and lay in it. I worked with her using a Kong stuffed with peanut butter and slowly increasing the time I left as mentioned above. Now I still give the Kong stuffed with something (peanut butter, dog biscuits) or a chewy of some kind (pig ear, snout) before I leave but she does not have accidents any more.

[Guest KennelMom]

Sounds like separation anxiety. Do a search in the training section and you'll find lots of advice.

[Guest jeffexpress]

Hey everyone-

 

Boyfriend & coowner here. Part of the problem with restricting him to just one part of the apartment is that either bedroom we can conveniently gate him into is also right next my neighbors. So if we gate him and he starts barking then we will get another noise complaint. Three noise complaints gets our dog taken away.

 

So in this case we seem to be stuck with just two options: 1. Crate/gate our dog and have him bark and disturb the building (& get kicked out) or 2. Let him have free reign and always come home to poop in the apartment. It is so frustrating.

 

We know that this is all a case of separation anxiety with our little guy, but it has been hard to deal with. He was so good to us that first week and now it is like every week there is another unpleasant action that keeps coming up.

 

We just got back from a long (bitter cold) walk so we're hoping today may go a little better. Thanks for all your suggestions. Please them coming.

[Guest shanesmom]

Even if you can't restrict to one room, working on the alone training helps. My condo is like an apartment really with 7 other families in the building so Elton barking all day was not an option either. They fine here 50.00 for every complaint after an initial few warnings. What helped with that was leaving the TV on loud enough so he wouldn't hear the neighbors come and go all the time. My neighbors told me that he would finally quiet down and then hear the door and start all over again until I started to leave the TV on for him. A kong helps too. Helped him stay busy and it was something positive for him to associate with my leaving. It took time but he did stop pooping in the hallway and he did stop barking and crying. when h

[2ndChance]

I haven't done the "out of crate" while I'm gone yet. He doesn't seem to mind the crate...and the few times I allowed him to have free reign..he peed.

 

Anyway, when I DID let him out of crate while at work...I babygated him in the kitchen. I dont have a noise issue...but if he had an accident he'd do it on the linoleum (which is no big deal...and easier to clean). I just put his dog bed and toys in there, so he was comfortable. My problem is not being there to correct that behavior and he'll just do it everytime. You dont have the crate option like I do...so for now...till the problem gets better...baby gate him elsewhere besides the bedrooms.

 

Is that possible?

 

Another suggestion is putting puppy pads everywhere....maybe you'll get lucky and he'll do it on one of those

 

I feel bad for you guys...gotta be frustrating...but I'm sure it is too for your grey. Best of luck!!

[Guest houndhome]

The pooping is one issue, and you have some great suggestions, but the barking is probably a bigger issue. Have you tried a citronella bark collar? This might be enough to encourage him not to bark. He likely will calm down and not poop if he is crated or baby gated in a small room, but you might want to try the citronella bark collar also. Good luck - you sound like wonderful parents for your greyhound.

[Guest jeffexpress]

It is true...the pooping issue is definitely a secondary issue to his barking.

 

This weekend we decided to setup the crate again and did some alone training. And today he was back at it barking again. So loud that my girlfriend can hear it on the street outside of our building (we're on the 2nd floor!)

 

We also started giving him a few drops of Rescue Remedy with a treat in the morning.

[fsugrad]

Have you ruled out worms? A few months after we got Robin, all of a sudden he starting pooping once or twice a day in the house, in addition to his poops in the yard or on walks.

Took a poop sample in to the vet. He had worms. Once he was de-wormed, the inside pooping stopped.

[Guest jeffexpress]

We know it isn't worms. He got checked out by the vet when we first adopted him a little less than a month ago.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Worms can hide. Just because his fecal exam was negative, doesnt mean anything. I would suggest you run a round of worming medicine anyway. It doesnt hurt the hound. Also, it seems that you are not taking him out immediately after he eats, is this true? It normally takes about 24 hours for the food to run its course through the dogs system, so yesterday's breakfast, is ready to re-visit the world the next day. Personally I would suggest you take him out at least every 2 hours to eliminate, take treats with you and give treats as soon as he eliminates outside. I would also suggest a Kong or other treat dispensing device when you leave to help with his anxiety while you are gone. A Kong with kibble inside and capped with peanut butter works wonders for a lot of hounds. Good luck.

 

Chad

[Batmom]

Alone training *and* extra potty trips will be your good friends in this endeavor. Extra potty trips because at this point, you know he's got two more in there, right? So your mission is to get them out before you leave . If it's bitter cold outside, you might try playing with him with a toy for a bit inside -- can help get things moving -- then take him for his walk.

 

Amongst the alone training techniques you'll find in a search here, one of those I like best is "serial leaving." Go through your "going away" routine (gate dog in room, give Kong, etc.), leave for 2-3 minutes, and come back. Pick up Kong, undo gate, etc. Stay home for 5 minutes. Repeat. Repeat. Spend 45 minutes or an hour repeating that whole thing, once or twice a day. You could focus on the times of day you're most often gone in the beginning but I like to mix it up among different times of day. Most dogs will start to get bored with this pretty quickly.

 

Hugs and best luck.