How do I know when she needs the toilet

[Iloveivy]

Ivy came to live with us just 2 days ago. She's 4. She is so sweet and gentle and lovely. She has done so well, learning so many new things, the biggest of which are the stairs. We live in a townhouse, 3 storey. Living room and kitchen are on the 1st floor so we had to teach her stairs on the 1st day. She's not a fan, very tentative, but unsurprisingly going up or down is not a problem when I happen to be carrying freshly toasted lemon pancakes... But the rest of the time she is quite reluctant and coaxing her downstairs and out for toilet takes a while each time.

First thing this morning she had accident outside the living room - my fault as I realise I should have just made her go out when we first woke up (yup, I'm sleeping in the living room with her for now as I don't think I can cope with 2 flights of palaver in the middle of the night). So alld ay today I've been on alert whenever she strolls out of the living room... Does she need to go down for a wee? Or does she want her water in the kitchen? Or just a changé of scenery for a few minutes? ... I look out for circling but she does that before sitting or lying down too.

my friend's dog goes to the back door and scratches it when he wants to go out which alerts her to open it but Ivy  isn't going to go downstairs on her own to get to the back door. I don't want her to think I'm going to be watching every time she leaves the room. Any suggestions?.

Another thing is that she's quickly become super attached to me. She looks to me a lot for reassurance and when I say 'it's ok' she settles back again straight away. I'm so happy but there are drawbacks. When I stand up, so does she, even if she was sleeping. When I leave the room, she's on my tail. Is this OK? Is it healthy? (how will I ever leave the house unaccompanied again?!)

 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Iloveivy
Adding

[HeyRunDog]

Congratulations on getting Ivy.

Greyhounds are not very good at giving "I want to go out" signals so they need a routine. Take her out as soon as you get up and last thing at night as well as a couple of times in the day which includes her walks but don't expect her to go each time. Try and walk her at about the same time each day and she'll soon learn how long between toilet breaks and adapt accordingly

Females are usually better at holding their bladder than males so don't panic if she seems to go for hours without going. My Grace often goes from 5 in the afternoon to 7 the following morning without needing to go.

You need also to start alone training asap . There are others on here who can point you in the right direction for that.

[Iloveivy]

Thank you Heyrundog, that's really reassuring 😊

Alone training, ok... So much to teach!

[cleptogrey]

routine and since your really just just got her try keeping her on lead with you or crated. as soon as she learns the potty routine- getting out of the crate and a timed schedule with food rewards for doing her business then you can take the leash off and keep her on your floor of the apt. this way you can watch her. always take her to the same spot to potty- a quick in and out- utility walk as i call it. house breaking will be complete in no time. with in a short period of time you can start to extend her in home loose time and get her on a schedule that is more fit for her age. this is a puppy schedule. but it works like a charm for mature dogs.

my female paces in circles when she needs to potty.i taught my male to touch and ring bells hung on the door when he needed to go out.  they all figure out their way of communicating with you.

[MerseyGrey]

Hahaha be prepared to hear the tap of claws on floor wherever you go! Buddy, at two years past adoption, can just about cope when I leave the room, but usually if I’m out of his sight for more than a few minutes he will come and find me. I like to think that it’s mostly because he loves me so much but it’s just as likely to be because he is the nosiest dog that ever lived and can’t stand the thought of missing out on something. Anything. Eventually you will learn to ignore it and Ivy will learn that you moving around is no big deal.

I second the previous posts - get her into a routine as quickly as you can with toilet breaks, and she will start to go when you want her to. When we first got Buddy, we used the same word each time he had a wee (‘wee wee!’) so he would start to know what we wanted him to do when we took him outside. His request to go out for a wee was so subtle in the first few days - a glance to the back door - that we missed our cue a couple of times and we would be roused from our seats a few seconds later by the sounds of a yellow torrent trickling on the floor. We were very lucky as Buddy’s an older boy and we think that he had been in a home before he came to us. At four, yours might be fresh off the track so you are starting from scratch but puppy training should do the trick. Good luck!