Housetraining

[Guest NJgrey]

So we've had Ellie a bit over a month now and she's settling in. We started off crating her while we were at work for 8-9 hrs and she did fine - no accidents etc. The past two weeks we've been working on giving her run of the house and for the most part she's done well. She'll chew certain things she's not supposed to, but for the most part she's been a pretty good girl. Only problem is that she hasn't been able to hold it the full 8-9 hrs while out of the crate.

 

We've had some mild SA issues with her earlier but I don't think this is related to that. One day this week I came home at lunch to let her out and that was the one day she didn't pee. She's gone 5-6 hrs alone without going, she holds it just fine over night and isn't bursting at the seams in the morning, and she's held it for 8-9 hrs while we were home so she CAN do it, we're just stumped as to how to train her to do it while we're not there.

 

We're in a townhouse and right now she has free reign of both the downstairs and the upstairs. She's only been peeing upstairs in the carpeted part of the house - of course

 

I know it simply may be the case that she can't hold it that long on a consistent basis and we'll have to get a dog walker, but before doing that we're wondering if there's anything else we should try? Maybe babygating her off from the upstairs, or babygating her into a smaller area of the downstairs, say the kitchen/ living room where she spends most of her time?

 

Thanks!

[GeorgeofNE]

If you've only had her for a month, I'd consider using the crate if she was holding it in the crate!

 

This may simply be a case of too much, too soon!

 

Have you actually WORKED on house training? You know, making a BIG DEAL out of it when she goes outside?? You know, "Good girl!! Good tinkle!" and such with MUCH enthusiasm?

 

If she was happy enough in the crate, and dry, seems like an easy answer!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Ditto, If she could hold it in the crate, and she showed no signs of SA, why change? And if she suddenly changes when she is out of the crate, why not go back? There is nothing crewl about crating your greyhound. Of course that will get me flamed as there are people here that are opposed to crating such as the plague, but I am of the opinion that crates are a good thing for certain hounds.

[Guest jharr]

Has she slept much upstairs? One of the first things we noticed with house training Boris was that once he had slept in a room a couple of times, he stopped having 'accidents' in that room. So we moved his bed around over the course of a few days and now the whole house is his 'crate' and he has no more accidents. I am a total noob, so I am just passing along what worked for us. Good luck!

[Guest isntitgreyt]

I agree with using the crate too. Foxy and Molly are both crated during the day. They find the crate their safe zone and lay it in a lot with the door open when I'm home.

[Guest NJgrey]

thanks for the replies!

Just to answer a few questions, yes we have been working at house training. We praise a ton when she goes outside. Earlier when we caught her going in the house we corrected her, brought her right out and praised when she finished.

 

She also sleeps upstairs with us, shes been going right in the doorway between our bedroom and the hall.

 

She did fine in the crate but we felt like she was ready for some more freedom. She stopped going in easily like she did at first. And like i said, besides the peeing shes fine. She eats her kong and bullysticks, snoozes a lot, plays with stuffies, chews the occasional loose paper or tissue box and calls it a day. I know its not cruel, i just didnt think she really needed it. shes only done two full 8.5 hr days and she goes later in the day. is it normal to have a few accidents at first?

[jenn8]

I think it could be normal if she hasn't quite got the whole concept yet. I am one of those crate haters, so naturally my suggestion is to work on her housetraining a little more. She may know that going outside is the right thing to do but may not know that inside is wrong when nobody is there. If you can devote a whole weekend and keep a constant eye on her, catch any accidents before they happen and reinforce the good behavior, that may be all she needs.

 

I am so glad to see you giving her a chance to live in the house instead of a crate. I really do believe the dogs enjoy it more that way and I think it's worth the extra effort.

 

Jenn

[Ragsysmum]

I'm a crate-hater too (UK where it's not so common) so I fuly agree with Jenn8 and jharr. I would try to watch her when she has free run of the house and spend time with her in every area till she catches on to the idea of the whole inside being her 'crate' and learns that all pottying is done outside.

[Guest giantsfan]

How about gating her off in one room instead of giving her run of the house? It's a compromise between crating and free run of the whole house - then maybe when she's accident free in that one room for a while, you expand her area.

[dante2zoe]

We have one like that. However, he did horribly in a crate. His issues seem to be psychological. His urine was tested a kazillion times, he was placed on different antibiotics for weeks on end (just in case), he was placed in one room (with gates), exercised like crazy in the morning, music on, lights on, etc. I finally put him on cranberry pills. That, plus time and his littermate, have decreased his accidents to once every other Thursday (no kidding). We just kept trying different things until we found a combination that worked. The positive thing out of this was that I got to get rid of the carpet that I hated! So, maybe he was just doing me a favor? Good luck and keep being patient with her. My stress would make things worse.

[Guest NJgrey]

Thanks again for all the advice.

 

We've decided to baby gate her into our living room/ kitchen area for the time being. She has access to her crate, two couches, her bed etc. It's where she spends 95% of her non-nighttime day. The other plus is that any accidents will be much easier to clean up - the only carpet is an old cheap area rug, so even if she goes on that it won't be too hard to clean.

 

After observing her this weekend I'm convinced she knows she's supposed to go outside. When she needed to go she'd look down the stairs to the front door, and at one point even went down to the front door and sat and waited. She was blocked off from the upstairs at that point, so I think she really knows not to go downstairs. Again, she just may not be able to hold it a full 8-9 hrs but I don't think I'm ready to make that call yet. We're still going to give her time to get used to this routine first.

[Guest NJgrey]

Just wanted to give a quick update. After a few days of being baby gated in the living room/ kitchen and getting let out at lunch without problems, we've now gone two full days where she's gone a full 8-8.5 hrs without an accident. Knock on wood, but looks like the gate did the trick. She has lots of space to move around but she doesn't want to "go" in that area. Good girl, Ellie!

[jenn8]

Atta- girl!

 

Jenn