Help! Escaping And Stressed Greyhound

[Guest peachroomtom]

This is a very long story but i'll try and keep it succinct. Problems with our Grey Holly started about 6 months ago when she would frequently urinate inside the house on the carpet and on our bed despite having access to the back garden. When she was left in the conservatory and the garden to prevent her from peeing inside she would jump over an 8 foot wall around our garden and escape into the neighbour's yard or roam the neighbourhood, extremely dangerous as we live on a main road that gets very busy. We managed to find out the source of the issue, Holly is petrified of the sound our conservatory makes when it expands and contracts in the heat (a tapping/creaking sound) and we believe that this fear stemmed from when she was in there and some water was emptied onto the roof from upstairs. We paid for a dog behaviourist to come and see her and he told us to ignore her unless we wanted her to do something for us - not the most helpful of advice at the time. We also tried crating her but she is really stressed and anxious in the crate and will tremble and cry, but only when the crate is downstairs. It seems that when this noise happens she has to get as far away from the conservatory as possible so that's why she runs upstairs. We took her to the vets at the same time as we saw the behaviourist so Holly could have a check up, she was cutting her legs when vaulting over the garden wall. The vet placed her on Clomicalm (40mg x2 a day) and that was 3 months ago now. She has not tried to escape in the past two months but we are now starting to run out of ideas as to how to help her. She is so unhappy which is very uncharacteristic for her, we have had her for 3 years and she is usually such a happy-go-lucky dog. She has been kept in her crate upstairs whilst we were at work until I started the summer holidays a week and a half ago. Since I have been at home I have been crating her in the conservatory to try and desensitize her to the noises. I have 3 weeks left at home and would love to help her overcome these fears, otherwise the vet has suggested sedation or if not rehoming her. If anyone has any ideas/suggestions/advice it would be gratefully received. Thanks and sorry for the length of the post!

Edited August 12, 2011 by peachroomtom

[JohnF]

Right away please read this little article on Calming Signals and start putting the ideas to work immediately. It is highly likely that you are inadvertanly reinforcing her fears by showing anticipation of problems and with it giving off 'stress energy'

Conservatories can be scary places for dogs not just because of the creaking but because of the light and openeness, and also that they heat up very quickly, and smell 'wrong' too.

Holly needs a big comfortable crate underneath something, even in an open closet. My Grey will go under my computer table if she's scared and letting her without comment or punishment helps a lot.

[GeorgeofNE]

Wow. She sounds pretty miserable.

 

I cannot personally imagine caging my dog in the area that most frightened him.

 

Many folks, including me, have found that the crate is actually what makes our dogs most unhappy. My dog was miserable when I first adopted him. It was only when I got rid of the crate that he relaxed.

 

You might try letting the dog be where she's NOT terrified.

 

Have you looked into a medical problem that might be causing her to urinate? I feel your pain on that front--I've had that problem with my dog as well. He now wears a belly band in case of accidents. Perhaps you might consider doggy diapers for your girl if you've already tested her for a UTI?

[Guest peachroomtom]

Thanks for your replies so far.

 

We have kept her crate covered when she is in the conservatory. Placing her in there was suggested to us by our vet so we thought it would be worth a try.

 

She has had UTIs in the past but they have always been caught and treated, the problem seems to be that she is so scared of the conservatory when it is sunny (when it makes the most noise) that she urinates inside because she has to go through the conservatory to get to the garden. But outside when she hears the noise she can get so anxious she escapes.

 

Thank you for the link you posted we will put those strategies into place right away.

 

Any more thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Edited August 12, 2011 by peachroomtom

[turbotaina]

I agree that she should not be kept in the conservatory, if that is what she fears. What you are doing is something called "flooding" and it's not terribly helpful. If you want to get her to not be fearful of the conservatory, you have to do it in tiny steps by counter-conditioning and desensitizing. Examples of what you may do are: approach the conservatory, but do not enter it. Give the dog a treat. Retreat from the conservatory. Repeat ad nauseum until she is relaxed. Then you start to take a step in, give her treat, step back out. If at any time she is not completely relaxed when in the conservatory, you've gone too far and have to back it up. It will take some time.

 

I'm sure you've discussed the peeing with your vets - was a medical issue ruled out? Is your dog getting a lot of exercise to make sure she's completely relieved herself? By exercise, I mean walks, not turn-outs in the garden If she doesn't get over her fear of the conservatory, is there any reason you cannot continue keeping her crated in the bedroom when you're not home? It seems to me that if she is comfortable there, that should be where she stays.

 

Edit: you posted when I was responding. Is there a way to access the outside without having to go through the conservatory? If this means using the front door (I obviously don't know the layout of your house, but I'm guessing the conservatory leads to the back yard), then I think you should just give her leash walks until the fear of the conservatory is addressed.

Edited August 12, 2011 by turbotaina

[MaryJane]

Does she have to go through the conservatory to get outside? If yes, then what she is doing is urinating inside rather than going through the room that scares her. At some point maybe you can work on getting rid of the fear but, maybe now you might want to remove all things that are causing fear so that she can relax -- so keep her completely out of the conservatory for any reason. Can you take her out another door? Can you use doggie diapers or maybe put down pee pads in one room (like the kitchen). My dogs do not do well at all in crates and would hurt themselves trying to get out if I left them in one - if your dog is like this you might just want to close in one room and let her jbe in there.

 

Later when her fear is more manageable you might be able to work on having her face the conservatory but, now it sounds like she is in a panic mode (flee/run) and you just want to get her calmer.

 

Good Luck

[Batmom]

Some good advice above.

 

I would get her checked for a UTI this time, too. If she's had them in the past, she could have one again. They can make a dog behave very oddly due to the pain and/or attempt to avoid pain. Unless there's absolutely nothing in her urinalysis and nothing on the microscopic exam, I would recommend doing a culture to make absolutely certain there is nothing wrong.

 

Hugs and best luck!

[Guest peachroomtom]

Thanks again for all your swift replies. I will be moving her back upstairs and getting her happy again before I try to challenge the conservatory issue. Unfortunately the only entrance/exit we use is through the conservatory but I am not going to force her to spend any time in there. The spare bedroom is where she is happiest so that can be where she goes when we're out. I will also be taking her to the vet again to check for UTIs.

 

Thanks for helping!

[Batmom]

Let us know how things progress as time goes by, OK? Your experience could be a huge help and comfort to someone else.