Need B4 Tomorrow- Schedule & Location Of Sleep & Questions

[Guest NewGreyLove]

Hi!

I'm new and all week I've been reading as much as I can on Greys and dog ownership. We are picking up our first rescue Tomorrow at 11am. Gemma is a sweety and our family of 4 is already super attached. She was already roaching for us and staying close by our sides when we first me her. Since we decided to take her they say she is already doing better there where before she was hating every moment and at high stress. She is very special. When other's heard we were adopting her on a Facebook group for the Project/kennel, everyone has told us how loving and sweet she is.

She is 8 years old and used to belong to one of the volunteers at the Project we are getting her from. Her owner passed away, and Gemma has been at the Project/kennel for a few weeks now.

We are homeschoolers and will be at home with her every day, all day, most days, we plan on bringing her on lots of adventures with us too.

Once we pick her up we plan on spending lots of time with her, come sleeping time this may be the challenge. We are told that the only issue we may have was that she always slept in the bed with her owner. We have all strongly considered this, but for a number of reasons feel that it is best that she learn to sleep in one of the 2 or 3 beds we have for her at the foot of our bed instead. (one being if we get more Greys we do not want them all in our bed, another is that it would really impact my time with my husband, and our sleep temperatures, I'm prone to allergies, etc)

What can I do to show or teach that this is how it has to be from the very begining? Treats? lots of love? a nice walk before bed and leading her to her bed and a massage/tuck in? A command to stay and sleep? and just keep drawing her back to the bed? any and all tips are helpful! I need to be fully prepared with how to do this.

I want to be prepared for any way she may respond to this and not have to come up with strategies in the middle of the night. SLEEP is VERY important to me functioning and my stability. I am told she doesn't really have a history of training when I asked about it though.

I'm told she have some fears of storms, and as stated before previously hated her crate, and wasn't doing well at the Project.

ALSO I'm setting a tentative schedule for her... We currently do not rise early, (maybe 6:30am right now) but I have been wanting to start waking at 5am... to talk her for a walk right away, feed her at 6am then taking her out again around 12noon (give or take this time has to be more flexible for our schedule) and then again about 4:30pm another walk with dinner at about or 5:30pm? Then a final walk at 8:45pm?

5am walk
6am food (then letting how how much after food?)
an afternoon let out
4:30pm walk or play outside or just let out
5:30pm dinner (then letting out later? we eat dinner and clean up btwn 5:30/6pm)
8:45pm final let out/walk before bed

How long after she eats do I need to let her out again?

Does this sound like a good schedule? Should I not attempt to commit to waking that early? I just don't see though how I can do everything I need to do in the mornings before we start school consistently unless we are up that early. 'm struggling with having to do so much in the morning and am currently tired. lol so... this is my indecision about the wake-up time. haha. Maybe I should first see what time she wakes? Or really how long she can go in the night? I heard they could only go 8 hours without...but maybe that was just a few dogs, maybe there are others who can go much longer without having to go out. she is 8.

How far apart do her meals have to be?

I'm told it is best for them to eat a bit after exercise. Sometimes we may run, sometimes we may walk, so this is why I want to have those times set in preparation for anything.

I understand that she is going to come into our home with her own needs and expectations from her history, and I want to be sensitive to that but guide her to times that work within in us needing to start and end and do different family tasks too. We live in a 4th floor loft apartment so just letting her out the back door isn't something we can do.. we have to walk down a hallway, take the elevator and go through the small lobby, or another hallway and out the door, then to a spot to go. But we do have lots of trails and side walks all around, so it is great for dog walking.

I think this may be it... I'm so thankful for this forum! I have already learned so much by reading many posts here!

Thanks again, in advance!

[Guest NewGreyLove]

I posted this on the Facebook group and getting lots of responses there! I had forgotten about it!

[GeorgeofNE]

Switch around the morning schedule: quick pee break, then food. Then a walk in about 40 minutes or so. A dog needs time to digest their food but will typically need to "void" within an hour of eating.

 

Why can't the dog sleep with one of the kids? I mean the dog doesn't HAVE to sleep in YOUR bed!

 

I personally think an 8 year old lady dog bounce should sleep wherever she darned well pleases, but your desire is not at all unreasonable, and I suppose just showing her where you want her and leading her there EVERY TIME will eventually work.

[fastpointydoge]

I just skimmed your replies on Facebook. Glad you are getting so much good input and welcome to the forum!

 

The one thing I didn't see directly addressed was your question about how long to wait after exercise before feeding. A good rule of thumb is to feed no sooner than one hour before or after exercise. Large, deep chested dogs can be prone to a condition called bloat. (Stomach twists and fills with gas. Can be fatal.) One of the causes can be eating too soon after exercise or running hard immediately after eating.

 

I have a 6 y/o greyhound and he is very laid back. Here is what our current schedule looks like:

 

7am - breakfast meal

30 min or so later - out for pee and poop

Between 12-2pm - out for pee

5-6pm ish - 20-60 minute exercise, will have second poop of the day

7pm - dinner meal

10pm - last pee break before bed

 

I generally have to rouse him from bed for the last potty break at night because he tends to put himself to bed early. He's easily drawn out by treats though! He doesn't have to poop after his dinner meal, which I found out after having him for a few months.

 

If your hound hasn't done much exercise (mine had a racing accident and rehabbed at the adoption kennel so he was pretty unfit when I took him home) you'll have to build up slowly. After a year, we're up to doing 4 mile hikes!

 

A fun part about bringing these hounds into our lives is getting to know them. As each day goes by, you'll get to know Gemma better and build a repertoire with her. Dogs are great at living in the moment, so don't worry too much if you have a bad day or bad moment.

 

Because she will be a family dog, try as much as possible to make sure every person is giving the same commands when it comes to training, and rewarding the same behavior. I am more training-minded than my partner, so I remind her of things I've worked on with Rogue when she is going to handle him so he does not get confused and frustrated. As a result, she just thinks that he's magically trained haha!

 

Last thing to note, greyhounds do not generally know how to let you know they need to go out to potty unless someone has taught them how to do so. If Gemma hasn't been taught, you can teach her to ring a bell at the door etc. or just take her out at certain intervals. Rogue will only whine if it's a poop emergency, otherwise he'll hold and hold and hold if I don't remember to take him out.

[Scoutsmom]

You are getting all sorts of advice. All I can add is relax and enjoy your lovely lady.

[cgs]

I've only been at this for 3 months and got a dog that had never been in a house, so this is just my very limited experience....

 

As much as I read that these guys need routine, we don't have a strict routine. Here's our loose routine:

--up between 7:15 and 7:45. Percy sleeps in our room (not in our bed) and I get up and shower while he and the other dog wait.

--outside for pee/poop first thing. He does usually poop first thing in the morning.

--breakfast. So this is now between 7:30 and 8.

--walk between 9:30 and 11. Yup, no routine. He doesn't need to go out an hour after eating. He just lies around until it's walk time.

--walk again between 3 and 5 (and it's now almost 5:30 and we haven't gone yet. It's hot, But we'll go soon).

--dinner between 5 and 6.

--short walk after dinner now that it's warm and light, but we didn't do this when it was cold and dark

--outside for final potty around 9:30.

 

So he goes from 9:30 to 7:30 with no problem. When I was trying to get a pee sample for the vet and followed him around with a bag in the morning, he wouldn't even pee. He didn't pee until our walk 2 hours later.

 

 

 

Should I not attempt to commit to waking that early? I just don't see though how I can do everything I need to do in the mornings before we start school consistently unless we are up that early. 'm struggling with having to do so much in the morning and am currently tired.

 

I thought an advantage of homeschooling was that you could have more flexibility and not be on that crazy schedule where kids have to get up at the crack of dawn and rush to the bus stop! I had a group of friends that homeschooled. I know everyone is different, but maybe you can start school later. Or if your kids are old enough, have them take the dog out for a quick pee or a walk while you get other things ready.

 

No advice about the bed. Maybe in a new environment, she'll choose to sleep at the foot of the bed if that's where you show her she should be. Or maybe with 2 people in the bed instead of one, she'll want more room for herself and choose her own bed.

[cgs]

How's it been going?

[fastpointydoge]

I, too, am curious about how the first week has been going, especially scheduling-wise. I did see a photo update on FB!

[MDBeland]

Here is Marty's schedule:

 

5am Breakfast.

5:45am Walk.

6:15am back inside to rest.

7:10am crate.

2:20pm out of crate and quick 10min walk/potty break due to heat.

5:30pm Dinner

630pm Walk for 30 min or so depending on temperature.

9:50pm 10 min potty break.

10pm upstairs for bedtime.