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House Training For Boys


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We adopted our galgo boy Rhythm on July 30. He is our very first male dog after 4 female greyhounds and 2 galgas. He is a senior boy that likely never lived in a home until recently. We were warned that he lifted his leg in his foster home, despite having people around during the daytime. He really doesn't give cues and that leg lift happens fast!

 

DH and I both work full time. I walk the dogs twice before work - once when they get up and then after they eat breakfast. Rhythm pees A LOT on our walks, whereas our galgo Encarna pees once maybe twice. I've been putting a belly band on him during the day. When I come home to do a midday walk, the Poise pad is completely soaked. Ditto for when I come home after work. During the evenings, he gets about 3-4 walks before bedtime.

 

DH is taking him to the vet today for a general wellness check and to see if there are any physical issues. However, any tips on house training a senior male hound? We're just not used to such frequent peeing from our female hounds.

 

ETA - Crating is not an option. Galgos aren't crate trained like retired racers. He's a very good boy around the house - not the least bit destructive. We do limit the number of rooms he has access to when we're not home using baby gates (as we've done with all our hounds). A doggie door is not an option either - due to home security and the fact that he has a high prey drive. We're committed to keeping him. It's just that male dogs are a new thing for us. Thanks!

Edited by winnie

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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You have to housebreak him like a puppy. It's no different for males dogs than females UNLESS he isn't "peeing," but marking.

 

However, soaking the belly band indicates to me that he can't hold it.

 

You need to do the urinalysis routine before stressing too much.

 

If it all comes back clean, there isn't much you can do when you aren't there, but when you are, the tether method seems to work well for older dogs.


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Susan,  Hamish,  Mister Bigglesworth and Nikita Stanislav. Missing Ming, George, and Buck

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DH got home to walk dogs before vet appointment. He said the Poise pad in the belly band was filled, plus he peed about 5x on their walk. It had been approximately four hours since his last walk.

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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Sounds like he's peeing much more than he should be. How's his water intake? Do you leave water down and accessible all the time, and do you find the bowl empty regularly? He might be nervous and tanking up on water, which will lead to more output. He hasn't been home all that long, so nerves could still be a factor. Urinalysis is definitely a good call. I assume he was given a medical workup prior to adoption, so you'd know if he had diabetes?

Mom of bridge babies Regis and Dusty.

Wrote a book about shelter dogs!

I sell things on Etsy!

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I just don't know how much pee is normal for male hounds since we've never had one. It doesn't seem like he tanks up on water, but who knows. We do leave out a big bowl for both hounds, but they don't empty it. Rhythm is extremely chill - certainly doesn't act nervous if he is. He's a confident, happy boy. I'm not sure the extent of the medical workup they do in Spain. They test for a few required diseases and give vaccinations. DH is at the vet now. They're doing a urinalysis and senior blood panel. Hope to have answers in a day or two.

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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This is our third galgo. We've never crated any of ours.

 

Urinalysis didn't turn up anything. Guess we'll see what turns up in the blood panel.

 

Vet confirmed he is a senior, but we don't know his age.

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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Laura, I'm going to tell you about our Hero also from Charlotte (although that has nothing to do with it :) ) Hero (age 2 3/4) needs to pee often. During the day he goes out as needed as hubby is retired. In the evening, after his 4:30 supper we have to really watch his water intake, he will drink everything in sight and need to go out every 15-20 minutes to pee quite a bit, no kidding. This does not happen after his breakfast or during the day, just in the evening. We do put a belly band on him at night just in case, especially with the hot weather we've been having since we do let him drink some after supper. Most of the time he is dry.

 

What are we going to do about it? Don't know, we just let him outside as needed.

 

Our Greyhound, Ambi had stomatitis and had all of his teeth removed due to this. He may have some kidney damage due to the infection, but it's not showing up in bloodwork or urinalysis. When he needs to pee it is right NOW, not 30 seconds from now. He will pee a lake (a good stream for 45 seconds or more). He does wear a belly band with the most absorbent pad in it at night he needs it to catch all of this urine.

 

Just some information for you, I hope it helps.

 

I hope Rythym's bladder will improve.

Tin and Michael and Lucas, Picasso, Hero, Oasis, Galina, Neizan, Enzo, Salvo and Noor the Galgos.
Remembering Bridge Angel Greyhounds: Tosca, Jamey, Master, Diego, and Ambi; plus Angel Galgos Jules, Marco and Baltasar.

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Xavi has been known to pee in the house, even when I put him in a disposable belly band (he pushes it out of the way and pees around it). After a normal urinalysis, we decided to treat it as general anxiety. He does well with milk thistle.

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Xavi the galgo and Peter the cat. Missing Iker the galgo ?-Feb.9/19, Treasure (USS Treasure) April 12/01-May 6/13, Phoenix (Hallo Top Son) Dec.14/99-June 4/11 and Loca (Reko Swahili) Oct.9/95 - June 1/09, Allen the boss cat, died late November, 2021, age 19.

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I'm going to suggest that you bring a first morning urine specimen into the vet and have it checked for specific gravity. If it is between 1.020 and 1.030 then, your boy may have some trouble concentrating urine and might be drinking more water because of that. One of the reasons that they drink more water is that it takes more to filter out the protein they they digest - so you might want to check to see the protein % of what you are feeding and maybe dropping it to a lower % and see if it makes a difference. It can also be caused by a food allergy usually to a protein in the food so you might want to try a Limited Ingredient dog food and see if that makes a difference.

 

One of my greyhounds could only have a certain amount of protein a day and if I gave him more - he would be drinking and peeing up a storm. He also had food allergies and that would also cause him to pee all the time.

Edited by MaryJane
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I adopted a 5 y/o male greyhound this April and had to house-train him. He is a marker, which I knew going into adopting him. Observing him at the kennel, I noted it seemed to be anxiety driven. I house-trained him like you would a puppy, used a crate for 2 weeks, and that with the combination of him becoming confident and feeling safe in the house was what led to our success.

 

As a marker, he will never stop peeing while on a walk. We've gone for 2 hour hikes and he will not run out of urine. When I picked him up, the kennel attendant said he peed 8 times before she brought him into the office.

Sarah with P Kay Ruger "Rogue"

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Well, blood work came back and all is normal. We will redo the urinalysis with a first morning sample since the initial test was done with a late afternoon sample. Rhythm is one cool dude - so laid back. I'd be surprised if this was anxiety driven. However, we have noticed that he seems to pee in the belly band in the time between one of us arriving home and taking him out for his walk. Excitement pee, I guess you can call it.

 

I do have one positive update to share... he made it from 10 p.m. until 7 a.m. this morning without a single accident!!! We returned from our evening walk and he wanted to go right to bed. DH normally falls asleep on the couch watching TV and then walks Rhythm when he wakes up - sometime between 1-3 a.m. He came up to get Rhythm early this morning, as usual, but he would *not* budge from his bed. I was totally expecting an accident this morning when I got up, but he managed to hold it until our normal morning walk at 7 a.m. Of course, he still peed numerous times on our walk, but I don't care about that as long as its not inside the house.

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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Good boy Rhythm!

 

It seems like boys are either markers (and pee on stuff on walks every chance they get) or not (and let it all out in one or two tries). I had one boy who would mark till he emptied himself, then keep trying to mark throughout the walk. If he couldn't pee, he'd try to poop. :rolleyes:

Mom of bridge babies Regis and Dusty.

Wrote a book about shelter dogs!

I sell things on Etsy!

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Rhythm is definitely a marker. He can't pass a vertical surface or a bush without leaving some pee mail. It's definitely a new experience after all the girl hounds we've had.

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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Glad he had a dry night. Whosagoodboywhosagoodboy!

 

All my new dogs get the 24/7 long leash tied to me for a couple of days. It makes the instant correction so much easier.

 

One of my boys, Baz, was very consistent about marking. Every mile to mile-and-a-half walk, he lifted his leg an average of 13 times. I always figured that was why greys/galgos have such deep chests -- someplace for the bladder to go when it's tanking up on all that urine.

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Ellen, with brindle Milo and the blonde ballerina, Gelsey

remembering Eve, Baz, Scout, Romie, Nutmeg, and Jeter

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We had another dry night last night. So, it's obvious he can hold it for up to 9 hours. We just need to get him on a routine during the daytime.

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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Well, I spoke too soon. Rhythm peed in the house 3x since his 10 p.m. Walk. DH took him out after the 2x he peed, but I was just awoken by the sound of pee again. So, guess who now has on a belly band for the rest of the night. GURRR

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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Might be worth trying a lower sodium food for him.

Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in Illinois
We miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10.

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One of my whippets used to go on hikes with the scouts. The boys made it part of the hike to count how many times he lifted his leg. I think the best one was 27 times on the way out, then they stopped and had a picnic and Rolo had a drink too then he did the about the same number on the way home.

Miss "England" Carol with whippet lurcher Nutmeg & Zavvi the Chihuahua.

R.I.P. Chancey (Goosetree Chance). 24.1.2009 - 14.4.2022. Bluegrass Banjoman. 25.1.2004 - 25.5.2015 and Ch. Sleepyhollow Aida. 30.9.2000 - 10.1.2014.

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Well... DH noticed blood in Rhythm's pee this morning. He called vet. They had him bring in a new urine sample, toon X-ray and sonogram. No crystals or stones, but he does have white and red cells in urine. So, he got sent home with antibiotics. Fingers crossed. Poor guy.

Laura with Celeste (ICU Celeste) and Galgos Beatrix and Encarna
The Horse - Gracie (MD Grace E)
Bridge Angels Faye Oops (Santa Fe Oops), Bonny (
Bonny Drive), Darcy (D's Zipperfoot)

 

 

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  • 2 months later...
Guest nicky604

I've house-trained 4 male greyhounds. It's a lot harder than with a female.

My boys all wanted to save up their pee to scent mark on their walks.

At first, it's best to focus on the house-breaking because having a 80 lb dog lifting his leg all over the house, well you just don't want that!

If you walk them they won't go in the yard. They'll hold it in because they know they are going for a walk and god forbid if they wasted any of

their precious pee-pee in the yard!

One of mine, held it in (during the day!) for 11 hours!!!

They have huge 747 sized bladders especially equipped for saving up their precious pee gold for all the pee-mails that they are planning on writing

when you give in and take them for a walk.

Get them to go IN THE YARD. The pre-requisite for the walk is that they have to have peed in the yard at least once in the morning.

And no, 1 ml of urine beside the back gate doesn't cut it!

I know that trick!

House-train them as you would a puppy!

You mustn't leave them unsupervised in the house!

You must watch them and catch them IN THE ACT, then scold them and take them OUTSIDE!

With a male, un-neutered or recently neutered, you will have to catch him IN THE ACT several times.

When you take them out the yard, make sure that they actually finish peeing out there.

Often, they won't. Nope! Not even after getting caught in the act inside. Better save up my pee-pee or the world will come to an end

if I have nothing to scent mark the neighbourhood with, right!

So yes, you must teach them that LIFE WILL GO ON even if they sprinkle some liquid gold around in the yard!

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