Housebreaking - How Am I Doing?

[Guest Frannie]

Yurtie has been with me a little over a week now. What a WONDERFUL boy!!!

 

I have a couple of questions about housebreaking for those who have done it successfully with their greys. Here is where we are at:

 

Yurtie is crated when I am not home. He has had, thus far, just four pee accidents in the house (no poop accidents). I have only caught him in the act once, and I probably overreacted by staging a hissy-fit that may have scared him. I don't scold or correct after the fact, I just tell him "No", and "I am very disappointed in you" while I clean up. Outside, I am teaching him "Get busy" for, well, getting busy. When he gets busy (pees), he gets hugs (which he loves), praise, ear and neck rubs, and liver treats. Best of all, he gets to go in and get warm (he hates the cold.)

 

The pee accidents have happened when I thought he had emptied his bladder recently enough not to put him back in his crate. (I reward him for peeing outside by giving him time outside it.) This leaves me wondering what I am missing; I don't want to confine him to the crate any more than necessary, but I also want to minimize the slip-ups. (I'm using Nature's Miracle and Nature's Miracle Urine Destroyer and No More Marking spray.)

 

How long have people found it takes to housebreak their greys? (I've done it, but I lived in a much smaller space; my whole apartment was kind of den-like).

 

Thanks!

Frannie

[Guest Firedancer]

We got our girl, Dancer 4 months ago. Housebreaking has been an ongoing issue for us. I did everything like you- praising for peeing outside- crating her when we left- using natures miracle. She peed in her crate, on her bed, on our bed, and on our couch. Needless to say I was very frustrated. We decided that we gave her too much freedom and was feeling insecure. We took away furniture privileges, purchased easy to wash beds for her and figured out one of her triggers was the vacuum. She has done really well over the past few weeks with only one pee incident on her bed. I really do think giving her too many privileges in the beginning was our biggest mistake. I took more of a leadership role and she seemed to respond positively. Don't know if this will help you or not.

[Guest Clawsandpaws]

Are you sure he is emptying his bladder? Sometimes my guy has to go a few times before he is really done, I guess he saves some to mark the bushes along the way! During turn outs in the kennel, we leave the boys out a little longer, as they pee a lot more, I usually wait until I see each one pee at least twice, but usually 3-4 times before they come back in.

 

How frequently do you take him out? Do you take him on walks, or just the yard? You may want to try walking him and see if he pees more.

[turbotaina]

Look up "tethering method" on this forum and you should get lots of good advice. Reward lavishly when peeing outside (chicken!) and take him outside A LOT until he gets the idea. When not in the crate, keep him tethered to you so you can read his signals.

 

One thing to note: many dogs, especially greyhounds, don't know how to ask to go out. They were on a schedule at the track and and never needed to learn this skill. My old boy probably went 6 years with me before he'd tell me he wanted to go out. We had a schedule and he was good with it. My current boy had maybe two potty accidents in the first few weeks we had him, one drunken anesthesia potty accident, and one accident where I thought he was playing around and being hyper, but he really just had to pee very badly. Totally my fault

 

Also - for general training stuff, check out "Love Has No Age Limit" by Patricia McConnell, PhD and Karen London. It's a great, quick read, you can get it on Kindle and it's inexpensive. Will give you all the right tips for settling in an adopted, older (as in, not a puppy) dog.

 

Good luck!

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I would tether him to you while he's out of the crate for a while. That way if you've missed that he didn't quite empty, you'll be able to redirect if he show signs he's about to go in the house.

 

My grey took a few weeks to house train. Once she learned how to use the stairs she seemed to decide that the basement wasn't part of the house and went there. It became her first signal that she needed to go. If she went to the basement we would retrieve her and put her outside. Eventually she learned how to ask, and I got her to ring bells at the back door.

 

Three years later we still holler "No pooping" when she goes to the basement, even though she hasn't had an accident down there in forever.

[Sambuca]

If you aren't seeing him have the accidents, he has to much freedom. He should be tethered to you or locked in the room with or crated until hes reliable. You can only correct him if you catch him in the act. If you find the pee later, he won't understand what he did wrong no matter what you say or do.

Edited March 26, 2013 by Sambuca

[a_daerr]

If you aren't seeing him have the accidents, he has to much freedom.

 

[Wonder]

If you aren't seeing him have the accidents, he has to much freedom. He should be tethered to you or locked in the room with or crated until hes reliable. You can only correct him if you catch him in the act. If you find the pee later, he won't understand what he did wrong no matter what you say or do.

THIS!

 

And when you do catch him- don't scold! In a cheerful voice, say let's go outside (or whatever phrase you use) and take him out to potty. When he's done peeing, praise him.

[tuff]

If you aren't seeing him have the accidents, he has to much freedom. He should be tethered to you or locked in the room with or crated until hes reliable. You can only correct him if you catch him in the act. If you find the pee later, he won't understand what he did wrong no matter what you say or do.

 

This.

 

Assume if you can't see him, he is peeing somewhere. He can't be out of your sight unless he is crated. If he leaves a room you are in, run, don't walk to find him. When you catch him in the act, make just enough noise to interrupt him, but not enough to scare him and immediately bring him out and give him your "get busy" phase in a happy voice. Clean up afterwards. While cleaning up don't use any "disappointed" voice towards him. He will feel bad due to the tone of your voice and not connect your cleaning up with the prior act.

My three were very easy to housetrain, but we went out a lot. Just standing up from laying down or looking funny at a couch was enough for me to haul them outside. Good luck. Your guy will get it.

[Guest EvanstonGrey]

We had a bit of a tough time housebreaking our boy - first dog we had to train - so I am no expert. Best advice I can give is to try to be patient and not to get too frustrated! I was at my wit's end and so irritated with the pee cleanup which did not help. It will improve, and plenty of play and bonding time is important too!

Going out A LOT helped us a ton, and we were able to scale back to a more reasonable number of potty breaks per day fairly quickly.

Hang in there

[sobesmom]

You'll get it. Just be super vigilant. One little thing - saying anything while cleaning up the mess means nothing to him. If he's laying on the floor while you're doing it he'll think "Am I wrong to be laying on the floor?", if he's watching you he might think "is it wrong to let my human kneel on the floor?" He's not going to "get" that what you're doing has any relationship to him having peed a while ago.

 

If your house is too big - get some babygates so he's never out of your sight. I never managed tethering myself, I move around too much, too quickly so my one attempt becaume a dangerous tangle of legs and scared dog! LOL!

[Guest Frannie]

Thanks everyone! I tried the tethering -- fortunately, Yurtie's a velcro dog, so he thinks it's fun to follow me everywhere anyway. I have also been experimenting with babygating him in the room with me, or shutting the door. No new accidents. But here are the problems:

 

He has a bladder the size of Texas. His pee-habits are three big piddles per day, and pretty much that's it! Thing is, I work. I'm out with both dogs at 6:30 a.m. (both a walk around the block and "yard time"); we repeat this before I leave at 9:20 a.m. Then, he's crated and I am gone until 2ish, at which time we go around the block again and hang out in the back yard. Then I'm home around 7; we take a longer walk and spend time in the yard; before bed we hang out in the yard.

 

I always tell him, gently, to get busy. Sometimes he pees within ten minutes or so (pooping isn't a problem); sometimes much longer; sometimes not at all. I am rewarding his peeing with liver treats and since he LOVES my hugs, I get down on my hunkers and open my arms and call him to me telling him "Good get busy". This makes him VERY happy. It is awesome to have a dog love me so much. Then, we go back inside to get cozy, which, for him, is winning the lottery.

 

When he doesn't get busy and follows me around like a little beggar asking for a hug, I don't give it to him. I tell him to go away and get busy. It breaks my heart. I love hugging Yurtie. I love Yurtie's chin on my tummy and his enormous brown eyes saying "You are the sun moon stars and that ain't the half of it." But the hug is part of the prize for peeing outside.

 

So, that's our routine, chapter and verse. He is coming to regard the crate with real apprehension, even though I give him yummy treats (BEEF!) and kind words for going in. It breaks my heart to have to butt-shove him in there, and I don't want him to start equating the crate with punishment, or mom's leaving, or there-goes-my-freedom.

 

During weekends, i can certainly take him out more. During the week, I'm pretty tethered to my work schedule.

 

It really helps to read through all your responses - I haven't tried them all, but clearly you've shown me some of my mistakes and I'll keep going!

 

Frannie

[Guest Greyt_dog_lover]

Hire a dog walker to take him out during the day, problem solved.

 

Regarding the crate, feed him in his crate. he is used to eating in the crate anyway, so keep it reinforced.

 

Try using positive reinforcement as others have said. No need to brow beat the guy when you are cleaning up, he doesnt understand why you are mad at him. You have 2 seconds to correct behavior, after that, they dont associate the two actions.

 

Above all, enjoy your new boy and realize it is a huge change for him, he's never been a pet. Things will get better.

[Guest larock]

Hire a dog walker to take him out during the day, problem solved.

 

Regarding the crate, feed him in his crate. he is used to eating in the crate anyway, so keep it reinforced.

 

Try using positive reinforcement as others have said. No need to brow beat the guy when you are cleaning up, he doesnt understand why you are mad at him. You have 2 seconds to correct behavior, after that, they dont associate the two actions.

 

Above all, enjoy your new boy and realize it is a huge change for him, he's never been a pet. Things will get better.

We hired a dog walker when we adopted Ward in 2004. He was on prednisone at the time and needed a lunch pee break, or he peed on the mat at the front door. We loved Eunice our dog walker so much we kept her on for 8 years until we sold our house last year. We now have a new dog walker and knowing they get a pee break at lunch probably relieves me as much as them... Edited March 27, 2013 by larock

[RaineysMom]

We got our girl, Dancer 4 months ago. Housebreaking has been an ongoing issue for us. I did everything like you- praising for peeing outside- crating her when we left- using natures miracle. She peed in her crate, on her bed, on our bed, and on our couch. Needless to say I was very frustrated. We decided that we gave her too much freedom and was feeling insecure. We took away furniture privileges, purchased easy to wash beds for her and figured out one of her triggers was the vacuum. She has done really well over the past few weeks with only one pee incident on her bed. I really do think giving her too many privileges in the beginning was our biggest mistake. I took more of a leadership role and she seemed to respond positively. Don't know if this will help you or not.

is she peeing when she's sleeping? If so, she may have urinary incontinence. You should first test for an infection and if none is found, try DES. Our Rainey would let go in her sleep (flood the bed, literally) and that was the issue. It is quite common with the girl houndies. Proin is another choice but several hounds have died using it so I don't recommend it. DES worked great for Rainey.

[Guest Frannie]

Dog walkers in Boston are INSANELY expensive (right now mine charges $32 for a walk for both houndies), but yes I do use one for days I have meetings at work. I just can't swing it on a daily basis. My walker, who also is pretty well-versed at training, suggests that Yurtie not have water when he is in his crate. This goes against the standard practice of having fresh water available at all times, but should I try this until he is housebroken? (He is currently capsizing his water bowl daily - the attachment mechanism got warped somehow - and I have to do a dryer load every night.)

 

Thanks,

Frannie

[Sambuca]

If you are only gone 8 hours or so, he should be fine without water. Just make sure that he has access to water the rest of the time.