House Training Routine

[Silverfox]

 

Hope it's ok to make a separate thread for this. It touches on a problem we had with Harry waking earlier and earlier, although now he's learned the stairs that's not such a problem for us. He still sleeps downstairs but comes to join us at around 5am and then snoozes until we get up.

 

The issue we haven't managed to iron out yet is house training. We often come downstairs in the morning or home from work to find a poo on the rug by the dining table.

 

I can understand why he's doing it but I'm just not sure how to tackle it. Myself and my partner work full-time but are able to work from home two days a week. The other days we have either a neighbour who calls round for 45 minutes or so, my OH's mum who stays for around an hour or a dog sitter who comes for an hour. We also have a cleaner (who loves dogs) who comes for 3 hours every two weeks.

 

All in all, lots of lovely ladies coming and showing Harry attention but because of his fear of the garden and walks, none of them can get him to go outside.

 

It's understandable he's a bit confused because different visitors come on different days so it's difficult to establish a routine. It's unavoidable though and I'm hoping eventually he'll get to enjoy his different visitors calling by.

 

When me or the OH are home, we just go and sit outside and Harry usually follows us to do his business or we nudge him out last thing at night. He obviously doesn't trust other people to go out there with yet.

 

The problem means that some days we come home to a poo on the rug. Some mornings we find this too which confuses me because he eliminates on his walk at 7am and 8pm and then we let him out at 11pm before bed, although he usually just pees then.

 

We clean the rug with a special pet spray to discourage him but it's not helping. Luckily that's the only place in the house he does it though.

 

Has anyone got any ideas on how to avoid this? Unfortunately, because he's so reluctant to go into the garden he would need to be physically taken out there and we can't really ask our visitors to do that.

 

Apologies for the long post. Just wanted to spell out the full situation!

 

Thanks,

Matt

[Batmom]

It sounds like it would help a lot if you could get him to "go" one more time before bed and before you leave for work. A brief extra walk at those times, maybe?

[GeorgeofNE]

A Greyhound, left to his own devices, will happily sleep the entire day while you're at work. Having a visitor is just waking him up, making him more active, and activity gets the bowels and bladder going more.

 

I would skip the visitors unless he has someone he will go out for. There's really no benefit to the current routine.

 

I have cameras in my condo that I can access via my smartphone, and I promise you my dog does absolutely NOTHING all day while I'm at work! Some days when I come home I think I startle him awake!

[Hawthorn]

I think the issue isn't so much that he isn't house-trained, but that he's reluctant to go outside when he has the opportunity, and then just can't hold it. In other words, he may know that he's supposed to go outside, but because he doesn't have the opportunity to go outside when he feels the need, he has no option but to go indoors since they can't hold it forever. I agree that it may help if you can get him to eliminate at 11pm, and again just before you go to work, either by taking him for a short walk round the block, or by going out in the garden with him and encouraging him to stay out there until he's been (but a walk would be much better).

 

I think it's great that you've arranged for people to visit him during the day to check that he's OK and provide him with some company. Not all greyhounds sleep all day and hopefully in time he will trust these people sufficiently to allow them to take him into the garden or out for a walk. It may also help to put a command to his eliminations so that he will at least have some idea what you want him to do. It's very easy to teach: simply choose your word/s (carefully, since other people may have to use them too!) and say them just as you see him begin to eliminate, then gently praise him. Eventually he'll pick up what he's supposed to do. Obviously he can't go if there's nothing in the tank but it will at least give him a clue as to what you want. I always go out into the garden with mine to check that they've both done everything they're supposed to, but even so sometimes one of them will try to sneak back in the house after just doing a wee. I just ask them if there's anything else they want to do (this is my cue for a number 2!) and they know exactly what I mean and will usually come back to the grass and wander around for a while until they go.

 

Do you have any idea why he's afraid of the garden? Have you tried any calming supplements, such as Zylkene? I used this with good results with one of mine for about a year when I first got her.

[Feisty49]

As said above, having a few different people visit him during the day is probably overkill. Every dog is different, and Harry may feel overwhelmed by all the company. Having one person visit him halfway through the day would give him the opportunity to bond and trust that one person and then he will probably go out in the garden with that one person. I did read that's not possible, but it is worth working on to establish the trust.

[Silverfox]

Thanks everyone. I think the solution might be somewhere in between.

 

The visits aren't doing him much good at the moment. He only gets one visit per day but unfortunately it can't be the same person each day so it will take longer to build that bond with his little helpers!

 

We take him out for a walk in the morning, he eliminates twice usually and then we bring him home, he has his breakfast at 8am and we leave for work. There isn't any time to take him out another time unfortunately. We could take him out before bedtime and under other circumstances, we would but he's so reluctant to go on walks, it's a real struggle to get him out the door and in the evening he can get quite jittery on walks so wend rather stick with the garden last thing at night. We'll definitely stay out there for longer though!

 

I'd be interested in some kind of supplement to help him cope with stress. We've tried rescue remedy and adaptil pheromone collar but they haven't worked. We'd love him to enjoy the garden and walks with us more! Any suggestions you have would be well-received. How does Zylkene work? I'll do some research.

[GeorgeofNE]

Most dogs have to eliminate after eating. Please try to find a way to get him out a second time before you go. If you have to get up earlier, so be it.

 

My dog it taken out five times a day, four at the absolute minimum.

[Batmom]

Yep, I'd add 30-40 minutes to your morning schedule and get him out again after breakfast. Eating gets peristalsis (digestive tract movement) going, so he NEEDS to go at that time. For many dogs it can work to have just a quick "out" BEFORE breakfast and a longer walk after.

[Silverfox]

Thanks for your advice. We've increased the number of times we take him out and it's helped a great deal. In fact, we've had no accidents.

 

We now walk him in the morning, feed him later and take him out in the garden before work. Then after feeding him at 6pm, we take him out in the garden again. At 7.30pm we walk him and then we take him in the garden a last time at about 11pm for a last time before bed.

 

It's worked brilliantly. Our only problem now is how to get him out the door willingly! Even in the garden, he gets stressed, pacing up and down and running to the back door.