Housetraining Help

[Guest cwholsin]

Hello again!

 

It's Mom and Dad of Hermes the hound!

 

This time, I (mom) had a housetraining question.

 

Hermes is about halfway to being housetrained. He prefers to go outside to do his business, but he doesn't seem opposed to going inside if he's not near the back door downstairs (he'll start circling and searching for a place to go).

 

He doesn't soil in his crate (which is in our bedroom upstairs), and whines when he needs to be let out to go outside. When he's downstairs, most of the time he'll get up and go into our kitchen (where the back door to the yard is) and sometimes will stand at the door to go out. When we suspect he might need to go and when he gets up himself, we ask him "Outside?". He's not really responding to the words yet.

 

I noticed last night that he doesn't ask to go outside when he's upstairs in our room and not in his crate. We don't leave him unsupervised so there haven't been any accidents, but he either doesn't know to ask or how to ask to go outside.

 

So my question is: How do we teach him to ask to go outside? And how do we make sure he knows that outside is the ONLY place to go potty?

 

He's our first dog, so we're learning the ropes along with him lol. We've got a good start on housetraining, so how do we finish the education???

 

Thanks a bunch!!!

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

One method that is used is to tether the hound to you at all times when awake for the first few days you have your hound. Then take the hound out each hour. Bring treats with you and when the hound eliminates outside, make it a party. Praise in a high-pitched voice, pet, give treat. Do this for a few days, and your hound will know what to do. Also, when your hound is eliminating, repeat the command for whatever he is doing. I did this with all my hounds and they will actually eliminate pretty consistently when told to. This is very helpful when you are on vacation or at an event where you need your hound to eliminate quickly for one reason or another.

[mychip1]

If I remember, you said you were home a lot....so I would keep taking him out.....and everytime he does something out there, praise him lavishly. That way, you prevent the accident before it happens - and he gets the idea that he's being a good boy when he does his "thing" in the yard.

[Guest cwholsin]

Thanks for the replies,

 

We got him in August, so we've been doing this with him for a month and a half and he's still not completely housetrained. We go out with him every time he needs to go out, and give him the command 'go potty' and praise him and give him treats when he does his business. If he's downstairs, he'll usually go to the back door to be let out, but he won't hold it if we don't anticipate what he needs (he was circling upstairs when he needed to go to the bathroom--without trying to get us to take him out).

 

How long does it usually take for a greyhound to get it to where they won't go inside?

[GeorgeofNE]

Thanks for the replies,

 

We got him in August, so we've been doing this with him for a month and a half and he's still not completely housetrained. We go out with him every time he needs to go out, and give him the command 'go potty' and praise him and give him treats when he does his business. If he's downstairs, he'll usually go to the back door to be let out, but he won't hold it if we don't anticipate what he needs (he was circling upstairs when he needed to go to the bathroom--without trying to get us to take him out).

How long does it usually take for a greyhound to get it to where they won't go inside?

 

Ah, but he DID tell you. You just didn't understand "when I circle, it means I have to go out Lady!!!"

 

I say this while inwardly chuckling. I've had George for 2.5 years, and in HIS mind, pacing around the living room with his stuffed dog is a clear signal that he has to go out. Now that I understand HIM, I get it. But he did tinkle right in front of me once 'cause he was going his pacing thing, and I didn't know why.

 

Don't expect him to trot to the door for you--maybe one day, but not after 2 months. Remember--he's never had a choice on when he went out.

 

Sounds like you're doing fine, but don't be dead set on what you think is the appropriate notification!

 

It would be really nice if they'd automatically figure that if they went to the door, they got let out, but...

 

[jenn8]

If he hasn't had any accidents yet, you are closer to success than you think. Make sure you are quick to catch him circling and cheerfully lead him outside. Praise him to the high heavens when he goes. To the degree that you sound like Edith Bunker! Your neighbors may think you are nuts.

 

I cannot stress enough how important it is not to let accidents go unnoticed at this point. It is so much harder to break the habit once they think it's okay to pee in the house. This is why people might suggest tethering him to you for a couple of days. You just need to get the idea straight in his head with consistent repetition.

 

Do you think there might have been times that he circled around without you seeing it but didn't pee for whatever reason? If so, that may be causing some confusion. I am not saying that you will always have to watch him for these clues but this is the critical time that it is most important for you to be on top of it.

 

I usually plan to spend at least 48 hours straight, never leaving the dog out of sight. This means if I take a shower, someone else has to watch him. During the night, I keep one eye open! Just kidding, but I do keep him close enough that I will be woken up if he stirs. This is how crates can be helpful for those time you cannot watch but all the learning is done outside of the crate.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Jenn

[Guest Vers]

You're more than halfway and have gotten good advice above, but I didn't see any mention of a routine or schedule; apologies if I missed it. What has worked here is getting both hounds on a potty/walk schedule, and they both adapted to that easily. I'm of a mind that says (at least my) hounds seldom "ask" to go out, and I am liable to miss any subtle signals they might give. So, we started with a schedule that was close to what they were used to in the kennel, and gradually adjusted the times to work a bit better with my work schedule. They can count on regular "turn outs" at regular times and it has worked.

[Guest Jubilee251]

My dogs don't tell me when they want to go out - I put them on a schedule from Day 1 and stick to it. Rather than waiting until they give me a sign, I take them out every 5 hours or so (more when they first came home) and to this day, I still praise when they go outside for me. This way, they know that they have a potty schedule.

[Guest dee]

I also adhered stricly to a schedule similar to the one he was used to on the track. He didn't have accidents in the house because he was outside doing what he was supposed to do on a schedule. It worked for us and I think it really helped that we had two other dogs sort of showing hime the way. Good luck...sounds like your doing great!

[SPDoggie]

After 5+ years, no one beyond my husband and I would recognize Kingsley's "sign" that he needs to go out... he will just walk into the room and turn around and leave again, but have a subtle look in his eyes! We have always just tried to keep our dogs on a schedule, rather than trying to teach them to tell us they need to go out.

Sounds like you're doing great!

[Guest Bamn]

Great suggestions here! I will only tell you what my adoption coordinator told me - you just don't let him fail. Someone else mentioned taking them out and praising when ever you can. Eventually they will go to the door and "tell you" but still Auggie doesn't say anything. He just lays quietly in front of the door until someone notices. Good luck

[Guest cwholsin]

Update on Hermes' housetraining!

 

We seem to have had a breakthrough with him.

 

Over the last week I've been asking him "Outside?" and waiting to see his reaction. I say it once, and just wait and see what he does.

 

At least once a day, I will catch him purposefully walking to the back door when I ask him. He gets it!!

 

The next step is going to be putting a big jingle bell on both the back door and our bedroom door and ringing it combined with the 'Outside' cue word to teach him to ring the bell when he wants to go out.

 

The final step will be teaching him to hold it when he's home and nobody's there to let him out. We haven't really figured out how to orchestrate that--so he just spends time in his crate when we can't be at home with him. Fortunately, we got a greyhound who doesn't mind being in the crate one bit. It probably doesn't hurt that we piled pillows and blankets inside (he got to choose some of the pillows himself lol).

 

I appreciate all the feedback, and thankfully we've been able to shape his behavior and get it through to him that we want him to respond to/do a signal of our choosing when he wants to go out. We've had him less than two months and have been able to teach him quite a lot, all things considered!