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Rescue Greyhound Toileting Inside At Night


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I've had Finn, a 3.5 year old Greyhound with me for about 4-5 weeks now.

He has slept in a small puppy pen in the dining room (by small, I mean with enough space for him to turn around and lay down, like a crate), and in the laundry (also small by greyhound standards).

I have a problem with him urinating and defecating at night. About 70% of the time, there is pee or a stool or both in the laundry when I go to let him out.

I thought I had this solved (until this yesterday and this morning!) - it seemed like he was going when he realised someone was awake and he got excited. So, I would make sure he was the first dog I let out in the morning. He hadn't gone overnight for about a week, but the last two mornings, he has gone.

I'm not sure what to do.

He has an opportunity to toilet before we go to bed at night (9:30-10:30pm), and then I get up at 5:30am most mornings.

I am assuming that Finn had to sleep with his own filth as a racing grey, so has less of an aversion to his waste than most dogs.

Finn has been 'ok' with toileting otherwise. He is only in the house supervised, and he has gone to pee on the puppy's pen about thrice and has been caught in the act each time. Otherwise, he's been good.

Any suggestions? I am not really inclined to get up in the middle of the night, but I'm thinking I might have to.

Edited by Leema
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He doesn't have access to water overnight, but he does have access to water until he goes to bed.

I am more inclined to feed him in the morning, and can do, but I doubt it will have an affect. I think he CAN hold on, he just chooses not to.

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Perhaps take the water away at 8-9pm and start feeding him in the morning instead. I would also try getting up half an hour earlier (as hard as it may be!!) and tip-toeing to the laundry and taking him outside. For what its worth, my Greyhound took ages to grasp toilet training. :( She is great now though. :)

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I thought you guys might've been on to something feeding him earlier, but this morning there is a huge pile of mess in the laundry again.

He was fed at about 6pm and had water taken away at about the same time.

I keep meaning to feed him in the morning, but I just don't feed dogs in the morning and I keep forgetting. I'll keep trying but, as I said, I don't think he's having trouble holding on - I think he just chooses not to.

This was also a late night - he was out at 10:30 at night for the last chance to toilet, and I just got up now, at 5:30am. My 8 week old puppies hold for this time (getting fed 4x a day, including a last meal at 10:30), but not Finn!

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Does he do it in the crate as well? If he is OK in the crate, but not in the laundry perhaps he might need to do some remedial toilet training until he gets the idea.

It must be hard if he has no problem at all sleeping in his own waste...

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When we got our grey she routinely woke us up between 0500 - 0600 for the first couple of months and it drove me crazy. I also found that she would not toilet unless I went out with her.

If I let her out she would just lay down on her outside bed. When you let Finn out, do you actually see him go to the toilet?

I also noted ours would toilet more often when she was on lead, even in the back yard.

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I don't have a greyhound sized crate! I have a puppy pen that I confine to 'crate size'. But he will pee in the puppy pen, as well, and it's normally more spectacular because the urine splashes all around the dining room.

Though I could, theoretically, have him puppy-penned in the bedroom, there is not really enough room to have it in there, and, if he does go in there, it's a lot more mess to clean up off the carpet if we fail.

What I am thinking of doing is leaving the laundry door open... The two concerns with this is, 1, security, but 2, Finn barks at the chickens and I don't really want him to do that overnight. I am also concerned that he'd be cold. :(

I will keep trying with the morning (or at least lunchtime!) meals. It's mostly because I have the puppy pen (8 week old and 6 week old rescue pups) to clean each morning that I don't think about other morning jobs. But I'll keep trying to remember.

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When I let Finn out in the evening, I don't watch him go. Though he is a wild marker, so I'm pretty sure he is peeing when I let him out in the evening before bed. :laugh:

In the morning, if he has strangely decided to hold on, he will go pee straight away in a torrent. I don't watch him go poos in the day, but there are plenty of greyhound sized poos around - so he does know it's possible to poo outside. :p

Edited by Leema
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So last night I gave up and left the door open of the laundry. I put two jackets on him to try to keep him warm, but this morning I got up and his body felt cold (especially his ears). :( And then he didn't want to eat his breakfast. :(

He didn't toilet in the laundry, but still don't really know if it's the best solution.

I'll keep feeding him breakfast (or lunch, depending on when I remember) and go back to closing the laundry door later this week... Maybe this will break the habit of toileting in the laundry at night.

I should also mention that I am only fostering Finn - he's listed with GAP SA waiting for his new home, but would like to get this issue sorted for his new family.

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Can you arrange the puppy pen in the laundry so he only has access to his bed? Hopefully he won't want to toilet on his bed. And on the mornings he does hold on, I would take him outside and praise like mad when he toilets outside.

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  • 2 weeks later...

If anything, this dog has gotten worse.

We have solved the toileting in the laundry/on his bed at night by leaving the door open to the laundry.

But now he has started cocking his leg inside a bunch. In the past 24 hours he's cocked his leg on things thrice!

I caught him in the act twice (and stopped him once, a fourth time, before anything came out), and put him outside each time (which he doesn't like). He was a bit pee-y when he arrived 5-6 weeks ago, but he had this huge lull with no interest for 4 weeks or so, but it seems like we're back to peeing! He's only peed inside without being 'caught in the act' two or maybe three times in the whole 6 weeks - I don't get why he still wants to do it! I do praise him when I see him pee outside, but I don't go out and deliberately wait for him to pee.

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He might need a belly band for a while. Take it off when he goes outside, put it back on when he comes inside. (BTW this is a monotonous task if you have a dog door and they come and go as they please.)

Of course you already know to use an enzyme cleaner on the spots where he has peed inside (but I'm putting it in for general interest).

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I'm not sure if a belly band would even collect the enormous amount this dog pees? When he cocks his legs, it's a gush, and it splashes everywhere!

I use vinegar to clean up pee, but he is not returning to the same spots. Anything vertical is fair game as far as he's concerned.

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