New Hound Peeing In Crate

[Guest bborman]

Hi everyone. I am new here.

 

I have always heard and read that greyhounds are crate trained at the track. Well, I think I have the exception.

 

We have one hound, Sunny, a female who is almost 12 years old. We recently adopted Ike, an 80+lb black male hound who just turned 2 years old this week. We have had him in our home for about a month. He was in a foster home for a week before we brought him here and he peed in the crate during the day there.

 

In the first two weeks here, we dealt with horrible diahrrea caused by worms. That is now cleared up but he is still peeing in the crate every time we leave the house. We have tried leaving him out of the crate thinking he would be happier and he still pees and poops in the house while we are gone.

 

We are at our wits end and we aren't sure what to do. Help, Please!

 

Oh....he will also poop in the crate occasionally.

[Guest Samantha]

Hi everyone. I am new here.

 

I have always heard and read that greyhounds are crate trained at the track. Well, I think I have the exception.

 

We have one hound, Sunny, a female who is almost 12 years old. We recently adopted Ike, an 80+lb black male hound who just turned 2 years old this week. We have had him in our home for about a month. He was in a foster home for a week before we brought him here and he peed in the crate during the day there.

 

In the first two weeks here, we dealt with horrible diahrrea caused by worms. That is now cleared up but he is still peeing in the crate every time we leave the house. We have tried leaving him out of the crate thinking he would be happier and he still pees and poops in the house while we are gone.

 

We are at our wits end and we aren't sure what to do. Help, Please!

 

Oh....he will also poop in the crate occasionally.

 

Hello & welcome from the UK

 

It sounds like seperation anxiety, maybe you could start leaving him short periods and build up?

 

I haven't had to deal with seperation anxiety, but im sure you will get some great advice here from people more experienced in this than myself.

Edited June 6, 2010 by Samantha

[Guest LindsaySF]

It could be separation anxiety, or he could just really have to go and can't hold it. Can you tell us more about his behavior and your schedule?

[Guest boondog]

Welcome! It could be SA, but I would take him in to the vet for a check-up. It is possible he has a urinary tract infection.

[Guest bborman]

He is currently on an antibiotic for a penis discharge but he is almost done with that. If he is still peeing once that is done, I plan to have him checked for a UTI.

 

He is a goof. He is big and he constantly runs into things. When he is happy, he jumps all over the place and tries to "bite" our hands. He gets into the trash can. I was up at 1:30am cleaning that up this morning, not sure how he got out of our bedroom since the door was closed when I went to sleep. He grabs anything that is soft and calls it a tyy. And he has been known to hide his accidents under things.

 

We leav efor work at 8:30am and I am homearound 4pm. So he is not left for an excessivly long time during the day.

[Guest mountain4greys]

Welcome! It could be SA, but I would take him in to the vet for a check-up. It is possible he has a urinary tract infection.

 

My thoughts also.

[Batmom]

How often does he go outside to potty?

[Guest KennelMom]

I'd rule out a UTI.

 

Also, some dogs are just crate pissers (even at the track). Maybe due to the anxiety of not liking the crate...some just never really get used to it.

 

We're missing a lot of details, ie the question Batmom asked. So it's hard to give more than just general advice.

[arandomchic]

Is it only during the day when you are gone? What's the morning schedule --- feeding, walks, turnouts and the approximate times? Does it go into his crate freely? Does he get a Kong or something when you leave? Is he crated at night? Does he soil his crate at night?

 

I think as the others said to be able to give good advice, we'd need some specific details on his schedule and behaviors. These folks have seen it all and can usually give a lot of great advice.

[Guest bborman]

Is it only during the day when you are gone? What's the morning schedule --- feeding, walks, turnouts and the approximate times? Does it go into his crate freely? Does he get a Kong or something when you leave? Is he crated at night? Does he soil his crate at night?

 

He has occasionally gone into the crate freely but usually he will not go in there on his own.

 

He pees in the crate any time we are not at home. He does not pee in the crate during the night because we hear him during the night and we will get up and let him out. He has peed during the night if he was not crated.

 

He has pooped in the crate, also, but not on a daily basis.

 

Schedule -

6am - gets up with my husband, goes outside, eats, goes back to bed

7:30am - gets up with me, goes outside, plays

8:30am - kids and I leave for the day, he goes into the crate

4:00 - we get home, he is let outside, dinner time.

He is free to go outside any time we are home in the evenings. We usually keep him where we are. He spends a lot of the evenings sleeping on my bedroom floor. We do sometimes go out during the evenings and he would be crated then but that is not every night.

9-10pm - he usually goes outside for the last time at night. We try to get him out later than that and he won't budge.

 

We have been letting him sleep in our bedroom but he gets into trouble or pees and we crate him. I try to keep him in my room but I think my daughter opened our bedroom door in the middle of the night last night and that's how he got out to the kitchen trash. Twice he has peed in the living room in front of us before we removed the area rug because of the urine smell this weekend.

 

He has gotten bones in the crate but he still peed during the day. None of my past greyhounds have liked the Kong so I didn't think of that.

Edited June 7, 2010 by bborman

[jenn8]

Some greys need to be housetrained when you first bring them home. Have you tried that yet?

[arandomchic]

My first thought was maybe he needs more exercise? I don't see any walks in the schedule.

 

I know that with our girl she tends to hold her bladder a little and dole it out over the course of a walk --- so on a 30 minute walk she may actually pee/mark 4+ times. By the last time, she's usually straining to leave her mark. Also, when she walks she'll poop twice, once right away and then a smaller one later during the walk. I'm wondering if your guy could be the same --- a pee/poo horder. It might be that letting him out into the yard isn't enough to empty him out before you leave for the day or last thing at night.

[Guest bborman]

My first thought was maybe he needs more exercise? I don't see any walks in the schedule.

Unfortunately a walk in the morning isn't possible. My husband leaves very early in the morning and I have 2 young kids that I can't leave home alone while I walk him. We usually make it out the door barely in time for the kids to get to school and me to make it to work. We are trying to walk more in the evenings.

 

Gotta go clean the crate again. Bedding is in the washer already. And my husband is picking up a Kong toyu on the way home from work.

[Guest selori]

It does sound like you need to start from scratch with house training, just as you would a puppy, generously praising and rewarding the dog with treats every single time he "goes" outside. Re-housetraining also will have to involve giving him many more opportunities to "go" outside. You might have to enlist the help of a kind neighbor or friend (or hire a dog walker temporarily) to let him out once or twice while you are at work. I know it sounds like a headache, but relieving himself in the house is self-reinforcing, and the problem will continue or get worse.

 

I know there are many dogs who can hold it all day, but it sounds like your dog will definitely need to work up to having a "bladder of steel". It sounds like 8:30 - 4pm is just too long for him to hold it. I also agree that increased exercise will be very helpful. If you are having trouble finding the time for daily exercise, I would, again, recommend a dog-walker (if you can afford one and they are available where you live). I splurged on a dog-walker who took my dog out to a regional park for off-leash play twice a week right after my second child was born, and it was the best money I ever spent!

 

Good luck!

[Batmom]

I would make sure he's peed again shortly before you leave at 8:30.

If he's peeing in there during the 8:30 - 4:00 stretch, what about a midday dog walker? Many dogs can learn to hold it for that long of a time, but they have to kind of work up to it.

 

I usually take dogs out immediately before I leave (actually about 20 minutes before, unless I know they're quick pee-ers), even if they were just out an hour before that, immediately when I get home, and any time I see them up on their feet for no good reason.

 

 

 

[Guest LindsaySF]

Agreed with Batmom.

 

Also, if he's also peeing in your room at night then this is not really a crate-specific problem, but a housebreaking problem. I would start at the beginning with housetraining 101. That's assuming that this is not a UTI, which it could be if he has a penis discharge needing antibiotics.

 

Good luck!

 

 

 

~Lindsay~

[Guest brandi1530]

One of our greyhounds did this when we got him. We had to start from scratch with house training. He peed in the crate constantly, peed in front of us in the house, hid places he peed, got out of his cage, etc. Once we got him house trained we haven't had any problems, but it did take a couple of months. Our second greyhound didn't have any problems when we brought her home. Hope this helps!

[Guest bborman]

I finally got the urine checked and it was fine. No UTI and his kidneys appear to be working fine.

 

He has progressed to pooping the crate while we are gone also. This happens whether we are gone for 2 hours or 8 hours. However, he keeps his crate clean and dry all night.

 

Unfortunately, we don't have flexibility in our work schedules to work through this so he is going back to a foster home. The foster mom is home most of the day and will be able to help him better than we can.

[Batmom]

Will he come back to you later, or will you be looking for a different dog?

 

I think you said he'd peed in his crate at the foster home. Even if his urine checked normal the once, he could still have a UTI or other condition. It would be worth making sure foster mom / adoption group rechecks the urine and does comprehensive bloodwork as well.