Greyhound 4 Years Old

[Guest Klawrence]

Can anyone give me advise on my 4 year old greyhound. We have had him about a month and take him between 3-4 walks everyday. He is weeing in my house quite a lot. We tell him off and he knows he's done wrong but does it again. We are firm when we tell him off also. On occaisions we have even taken him outside and when he comes in he still has a wee. This is not all the time.

[NeedlenoseJake]

Can anyone give me advise on my 4 year old greyhound. We have had him about a month and take him between 3-4 walks everyday. He is weeing in my house quite a lot. We tell him off and he knows he's done wrong but does it again. We are firm when we tell him off also. On occaisions we have even taken him outside and when he comes in he still has a wee. This is not all the time.

I'm sure other people will have more extensive advice, but I think you need to start training 101 again. Take him outside very often. Praise and treats when he goes outside. You reprimanding him when he goes inside probably doesn't help at all because he doesn't know what he's being yelled at for. It could even make him more fearful and therefore likely to pee. If he goes inside and you catch him at it, say no and lead him outside. Where again, you praise and treat. If you see a spot and didn't catch him, clean it up with an emzymatic cleaner (like Nature's Miracle) and move on. He will get the idea.

[Time4ANap]

Telling him off after the fact serves no purpose. He has no idea what he's done or why you are raising your voice at him.

 

A stern NO and getting him outside as it's happening should help send the right message, but there may also be something going on that's not in his control. First I would have him checked for a UTI. Once you've either treated that or ruled it out, you can take next steps on a behavior correction.

[fionasmom]

Is he crated at all? When Fiona first came home she crated most of the time. When she came out of the crate she went directly outside. She came inside only after she took care of business. Free time after coming in, then back in the crate. Gradually the time in the crate is lessened and free time is extended.

 

Don't expect that he only needs to go out when you decide to walk him. He is probably giving signals he needs to go out but they are too subtle for you to notice.

[rsieg]

Second cleaning with Nature's Miracle or something else that completely removes the urine odor. A dog urinates where he or other dogs urinate, as long as there is urine odor detectable by that fantastic canine nose, he sees it as the bathroom. (If you have it, you can even sprinkle some dog urine outside where he is supposed to go).

[juliemac]

And see if you can easily get a belly band for him while he's loose and unsupervised. It's basically a wrap around his waist that works like a diaper. You can get them at pet stores, but there are quite a few groups that sell them as a fundraiser.

[GeorgeofNE]

I can't believe no one else has said take him to the vet.

 

He could very well have a urinary tract infection. After you eliminate that as a possibility, if it keeps up, you need to treat him as if he's a young puppy and housebreak him. They don't (mostly) arrive in our homes understanding it's not ok to pee in the house. You have to train him!

 

A housebreaking schedule should include a walk as soon as you get up in the AM. A walk after each meal. A walk after the dog has been asleep for a long time. A walk after the dog has a play session. 3 or 4 times a day isn't enough until he's got it down pat that OUTSIDE is for peeing.

[PatricksMom]

Once you've done a vet check to rule out UTI's, etc. and you've cleaned everything that could possibly smell with Nature's Miracle, if more frequent trips outside and praise don't work, you might try attaching his leash to your pants so he stays with you all the time, and that way if you see him about to pee you can get him right outside, eventually breaking the in the house = peeing mental association.

 

Yelling is really tempting when they've peed (I was thrilled that Henry waited a week and then peed on the Christmas tree this year), but they really don't connect that to what they've done earlier and you may well be making him anxious, which can lead to more peeing.

[rsieg]

On the not connecting, I recall reading a story by a dog owner who would yell at her dog whenever she found a pee puddle in the house, with no effect. Then one day she was watering the houseplants and accidentally spilled some water on the floor. The dog, who was in the room at the time, looked at the water puddle and ran out of the room. She realized all she had done was train the dog to fear puddles :-)

[Guest GreyOrchard]

It is always good to clean the spots he pees on with something that not only eliminates the odor, but also has a scent of its own that he will find distasteful and can act as a deterrent. Here in Europe there is a type of all-purpose cleaner called Flash that has several scents. For some reason, the lavendar scent has worked for most of the dogs I have had through the sanctuary.

 

I usually would clean up the pee with a heavy concentration of it, and then when it was dry, give the spot a light wipe-down of the lavendar cleaning fluid again.

 

I always have a bottle or two handy, already diluted, in a squirt bottle. I don't "punish" the dog BUT I think it goes a long way for the dog to see me squirting over his pee spot - I am, in his eyes, peeing on top of his pee - and saying "ah ah aaaah" in a sharpish tone of voice (depending on the dog). If I catch the dog in the actual act of peeing, I react very swiftly with that sharpish tone of voice and whisk the dog outside immediately.

 

Several times when I have been completely surprised by a dog peeing right in front of me. I would express my "horror" and bustle them outside immediately.

 

Another thought is that the more they connect with you, the more they want to please you, and this makes housetraining go a bit more quickly.

 

If a carpet is peed on, I clean it first with diluted liquid laundry detergent (good for getting rid of the smell) and then do the lavendar scented routine.