New grey won't potty on the leash (3 weeks)

[Proctor]

Hello everyone,

I brought my 1yr old greyhound boy Monte home 3 weeks ago yesterday. He has adapted pretty well to apartment life, although he's still quite aloof. But outside is a separate story. He is very slow on walks, freezes often and will not go to the bathroom on the leash. As a result, I have had to take him to the dog park where he can go off leash every time we go out. He also has crazy control over his bladder - I've taken him out on the leash for 2.5 hours and he will hold it until I cave and take him to the park.

Any tips?

[stevevt]

If it's practical, you might try temporarily using a longer leash. I also suggest varying the places you are walking -- especially in terms of how close you are to the road and other noises, covered areas vs. open, dark corners vs. light. You might find some variable he prefers. Once the proverbial floodgate is open, you can work toward being comfortable on the shorter lead, in all kinds of places, doing it more quickly, etc.

You should also be ready to praise (including a high-value treat, if that's his thing) when he does potty on the leash.

He'll eventually get the idea. The fact that you were willing to be out for 2.5 hours is actually a great sign in terms of the patience you are bringing to this endeavor.

[HeyRunDog]

He's still getting used to his new life and the freezing and peeing problems will get better. It's just time, patience and a good sense of humour with a bit more patience. As has often been said the dog you have now will be nothing like the dog you will have in 6 months or even two years time.

Try walking him around the dog park on the leash and if he does go to the bathroom say "potty time" or some other command, give him praise and a treat. Hopefully in time he will feel more comfortable going on the leash and will try to go on command.

Just be careful of taking him to dog parks if there are other dogs around. Greyhounds skin tears easily if they get involved in play or a fight and their prey drive can suddenly kick in.

[SkellysPet]

This was the exact same situation that we had with our adopted grey Skelly. We were out for hours trying to get her to do her business and coax her out of her freezes. 

She is a particularly anxious dog to begin with so any slight changes in wind, cars driving by or sound would set her off and she just wouldn't be able to concentrate on doing her business.

She's good as gold now (we've had her for almost 6 months) but definitely took some perseverance. 

For the freezing we found that crouching low next to her and just talking to her calmed her down enough to unfreeze enough to coax her to keep moving. 

For the bathroom, we found that she needed really clear guidance and wasn't understanding what we were asking from her. We kept her two long walks on the exact same route so she could get comfortable with it and her short bathroom breaks in the exact same spot (standing there rain or shine until she went!). 

It does get better but it's a lot of changes all at once. Good luck!