Can't Leave Our Grey Alone, How To Stop Him From Crying?

[LadyGrey]

My solution??? HAVE ANOTHER BABY!!!! LOLOL -- I love them so much, the more the merrier!! This may not be as educational advice as others, but it provides more roos, more kisses, and more Greyhound loves!! LOL

 

 

 

 

[cleptogrey]

excellent advise,but i have an question to all.....am i the only one who gives their dogs a couple of kongs, raw marrow bones, frozen hoofs lines w/ either peanut butter or canned food, interactive toys by premire and stuffies when i leave? either my dogs pass out from exhaustion after attacking all of their goodies or have a grand time all day long. their crates, now their beds are littered with stuff to keep them occupied.

 

also, a good stiff walk or a run in a fenced in area prior to leaving will help get clark tired before you leave. the leaving ritual may get a little long adding the exercise but it helps. also remember, if you hare crating there should be a water bucket hanging in the crate, very important. your dog can also be thirsty, especially in this hot weather.

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

clepto,

The only thing I can say about all the things you give your houndies is that with all those high value treats, they need to be separated when you are not home, as well as what I have been led to believe is that with the raw bones you should not allow them out of the freezer for more than 30-45 minutes before you put it back into the freezer. Bacteria will begin to grow on a raw bone within 1 hour. The bacteria is not that bad for the hound (not all that good either especially if you have a immune depressed hound), but for the humans it could cause problems.

 

Chad

[Guest mike04gt]

Thank you all for the great advice so far.

 

Week 1 is down finally, he didn't make many good steps, but now while I'm at work, my wife has a regular routine with Clark.

 

6am - Pee time

7am - Food

8am - Walk outside, possible poop

Back in crate

12pm - Pee time

Back in crate

3pm - Pee time

Back in crate

6pm - Walk outside, possible poop

730pm - Food

10pm - Pee outside

Back in crate

 

We have been doing this just to get him comfortable with his crate, he seems to be doing well in there now. My wife hasn't been leaving the house still, but she's been avoiding him and not paying attention to him when he cries.

 

This weekend, probably starting Saturday morning when I'm off for the weekend, we will try to do the Away crate work.

 

How does it work? 5 minutes away, 5 minutes back home, 10 minutes away, 10 minutes back home? What is the minute breakdown, any certain number?

 

Also, say we are gone for 5 minutes, do we just walk back in and avoid all eye contact with him even if he is crying? Or do we have to wait until he stops? He really doesn't stop crying when we step out together, thats why I ask.

 

 

Also, should we give him stuff to occupy his mind when he's in there even though we are In and Out or should that be just something we start giving him when we are actually going to be gone for a few hours?

 

 

I'll be honest with you all, i'm very VERY nervous about starting this training. I have been having major stress/anxiety when i come home from work and hear him cry. The sound just makes me very anxious. I try to not pay attention to it when he's in his cage but its just there picking at my brain.

 

Thank you all for the comments, everything is very helpful to us.

 

I hope he gets this going and coming soon, we both are VERY restless being stuck at home 24/7 now.

[jenn8]

Why does he have to be in a cage 18 hours a day? That is way too much.

 

Jenn

[PrairieProf]

Yeah, I have to say I don't get this at all, the idea of crate training is not to have him living in a crate with someone at home -- that isn't how he's going to get used to home as opposed to kennel life, for one thing. Maybe a couple of short sessions a day, make it fun -- Patricia McConnell talks about putting him in the crate with a stuffed Kong or whatever and then *opening the door and taking the Kong/letting him out before he's done*, so he's like "hey wait, I wanted to stay in here to finish it!"

 

But the real point is the alone training, which begins with *seconds,* not minutes. Or begins with you (or your wife) first just picking up your things, then putting them down again. Then later, going to the door. Have you ordered "I'll Be Home Soon" yet? There's a really precise protocol for doing this right in small increments. Five minutes is way too much to start with ... if/when he's fine for five minutes, he'll probably be fine for much longer, it's the leaving that's the thing. I haven't had to do this training myself, though, beyond what I practiced the first couple of days when I brought my hound home, so I think I should defer to those who have.

[Guest Tes623]

He's in the crate waaaay to much. If I were him I'd be crying too especially if your wife is home with him during the day.

[Guest mike04gt]

Thanks all,

 

It's really hard because we have read so many different ways to do it. Some adoption places say his first week to crate him almost 20 hours a day, others say to leave him out all day. He seems to be doing ok in the crate when my wife is home with him now. Seems like alone training is key now. We want him to be happy in his crate while we are home too, so he doesn't think the crate is just his place to go when we leave, adding to his separation issues.

 

So for alone training though, it's mainly is both grabbing keys, walking out the door and letting him watch us, then coming back in? Starting with seconds and not minutes?

 

We actually just got that booklet in the mail, my wife is reading it today.

 

Thanks everyone

[Guest manders4]

I'm new too, but I thought I'd chime in. We had Daisy stay in her crate most of the day on her second day home because she didn't yet understand that she should not pee in the house. Once they understand the basics like that, they probably don't need to be in the crate all the time.

 

What we do is allow her to be in her crate when she wants to when we're home. We leave the door open and she actually prefers to lie and sleep in there. She also sleeps in our room on her own bed at night. That way she isn't in the crate as long.

 

When we leave, I turn on the radio a little while before we go and make sure she has water in her crate dish (we got on of the stainless steel bowls that attaches in the crate). Then right before I leave, I give her a kong with peanut butter or something else she likes. So far, this has been working, but she really likes her crate to begin with.

[Guest Lgyure85]

Yes, the book mentioned above is a good book, another book is "Greyhounds for Dummies". There is an entire chapter devoted to "alone training". This training is something that will take time, patience and determination. There are other things you can do such as getting a xl kong, filling it with kibble and capping the hole with peanut butter. Give this to him when you leave. You can leave a tv or radio on so he may think you are still around. DAP diffusers. There are a lot of things you can use as tools to help the situation, but when it comes down to it, you need to do the training. Do a search here on GT "alone training" and you will have a multitude of suggestions. Basically you need to crate your boy, and walk out of the room, then back in after a few seconds, but BEFORE he starts to get worked up. Then what you do is to slowly increase the time you are out of his sight. Then when you can be in another room silently for 5 minutes or so, you then move to the outside of the house. All the while you need to be very cognizant of his attitude. If you return when he is crying, you will actually be reinforcing the crying behavior, not the quiet behavior. If you have stayed away too long and he is crying, you need to make noise in another room and get him to be quiet before you re-enter the room. Remember when he cried and make sure you don't stay out that long the next time. As you can see, this is something that will take time. Another thing, don't make a big deal when you leave or return. Good luck, this is something that can be fixed, it just takes some work. Your boy is new, and has never ever been alone in his life, have patience with him. Good choice in finding this site and asking for help.

 

Chad

 

We had a TON of luck with the DAP collar. We got it at our vet, and was only about 35$. They are supposed to be more effective, since the dog wears it 100% of the time, instead of having it only sporadically. Good luck!