When I’m gone

[ShotofJameson]

My greyhound Jameson use to be awesome while we were out of the house. When we first adopted him we had him in the kennel and apart from the longer than expected leave, He was fine. We stopped crating him because for several months in our new house he was fine. Now that we work from home, an hour away equals at least pee And anything longer equals pee and poop. Today we were gone four hours and we had multiple poops and pee after taking him out twice within the hour of leaving. We have no other dogs and two cats, and can’t understand the change. Any advice is welcome and helpful as none of our previous dogs have ever had this problem and I would hate to have to kennel him again unless it’s for his best interest.

-Mike

[HeyRunDog]

From what I understand from your post is that Jameson is now peeing and pooping when you leave him alone despite taking him out before you go and that this is a recent problem.

A lot of dogs and greyhounds are suffering from separation anxiety because their owners, who have been around all day working from home because of Covid, are now being recalled to their place of work. You will need to start the home alone training again but hopefully he will pick it up quicker this time.

[Toffeesdad]

You might consider giving your dog something like compose (a treat that calms nerves it’s available at pet stores and on Amazon) about 30 minutes before you leave and establish a routine for leaving.  Our dog knows when country music is turned on and a Kong is brought out we’ll be gone for a bit. Alone training is likely to help a lot.  Greys are true creatures of habit and don’t like change. Good luck

[BatterseaBrindl]

A lot of dogs are now going through separation anxiety this year.

 I think you will need to start 'alone training' with Jameson.

Patricia McConnell has an awesome booklet 'I'll Be Home Soon' to guide you through the process, in case you need a refresher course.

[Anya]

I'm a stay-at-homer and when I initially left Cleo she shredded my "Retired Greyhounds for Dummy's" book. There were minuscule bits of paper all over the floor and a very sheepish looking dog! I got a Kong, stuffed it with peanut butter, froze it and gave it to her next time I had to go out. I also put the radio on and so far so good. I'm never gone for much more than an hour at a time, so I don't know how successful the Kong will be if I'm gone for longer.