Help needed - New dog - Very unclean at night :o(

[lilllysa]

Hi All

Hoping someone with more experience can help me with this

We got a rescue greyhound 2 weeks ago now and he's great! We adore him but there is just 1 small (HUGE) problem!

At night he just wee's and poo's EVERYWHERE! . . I mean he has done it since day 1 (had 1 clean night) and its starting to get us down now as we really don't know how to help him

We are at the moment checking throughout the night and letting him out but he still manages to soil everywhere.

Like last night I checked him at 2am. All ok. Put him out, he pooed and wee'd and asked to come in, great I think. Get up to check him at 5am and he's done 4 HUGE poo's and wee'd

Its a horrible thing to have to deal with and its really tiring. He is quite nervous and still getting used to family environment.

He's about 5 and was picked up as a stray about a year and a half ago and has been in recue centre ever since.

Thanks for any help offered x

have you considered crating? i dont know how it works with older dogs, but my boyshave been crated at night sicne their first night here and not had an overnight accident at all.

I would also consider crating him at night. another thing I'd be concerned about is the amount of poo! What is he fed on at the moment?

ditto the crating. we used it for our labrador puppy when we got him from a rescue centre. they like to have their own safe little den, and they also instinctively keep it clean so rarely go to the loo in the crate. he is probably feeling quite anxious at night when you all go off to bed and he doesn't know what's going on.

some of our friends came to visit with their two dogs not long after we got ours, we took our dog outside to meet them but he was terrified, ran back indoors and straight into his crate where he felt safe. proved to me once and for all that it's not cruel, they need to have their own little space where they feel safe.

good luck, might also be worth getting some pet spray to cover the areas where he's already been to the toilet as they tend to keep going back to the same place.

Firstly, feed him in the morning. If he's pooing that much at night then he's surely eating late enough in the day that he has no option but to poo at night.

Secondly, you need to change your mindset, and start treating him like an 8 week old puppy. Your expectations need to be lowered and you need to start from basics. Some good info in the thread called "Advice on housetraining" ... I'll come back with a link.

You will get there!

good thread here

definitely crate him at night. it solved our wetting at night problems straight away. we never had one accident in the crate. but make sure you introduce the crate properly. you must create a positive association with the crate. lots of advice online about how to do it successfully.

Thanks alot for the help.

He was and still is severly underweight so on the vets advice is being fed morning and afternoon (gets last feed at 4.30)

Will check the thread posted and google grating. Hadnt thought about that!

Thanks again

For once I am saying be careful with introducing the crate! I am an avid crate fan but in this case it sounds like you have a dog with anxiety issues and you will need to be careful and take time to introduce the crate.

I love crate games by Susan Garrett who with the use of a clicker gets all dogs to love their crates. There are links on youtube to b help with this.

I think you need to introduce the crate over a period of days and do not lock the dog in it straightaway at night.

SO prepare yourself for a few days of poo yet. Do not say anything when you clear it up and do not tell the dog off. It doesn't sound to me as if it has anything to do with food. It is amazing the amount of poo an anxious dog can produce! If he is pooing all day as well then it may be the case of food but if he poos only at night on his own It probably is behavioural.

So get a crate and put his blanket in it and also drop titbits into the crate. Feed him in his crate with the door open for a few days.

If you do use a clicker click when he looks at the crate and treat; when he moves towards the crate click etc until he is happy to go in it on his own.

Never ever ever lift a dog and put him in the crate - he must always walk into it himself.

Good luck just think of the adjustments this dog has had to make over the last few years - I think you are doing well to take him on and within a short time he will be a delightful family pet.

He's been in rescue for 18 months until very recently and yet he's severely underweight??

I'm tempted to say WTF? but I know from personal experience that the best of rescues can struggle with some dogs, whose weight will drop due to kennel stress... do I presume thats the case with your boy?

I'd agree with the suggestion to crate him, without a doubt. Make it somewhere he wants to go to, leave the door open during the day so he can sneak off there, give him treats, toys and a cuddly blanket in it and NEVER use it as a punishment.

What are you feeding him on? You might like to consider/discuss with your vet a change onto a high protein diet like Naturediet (works wonderfully on my formerly hard to get weight on, once skinny GSD, recommended by lots of rescues for that reason), or a high protein dry food.

Hi, we've got three greyhounds and are active volunteers for our local greyhound rescue charity. A few points. Firstly, you'll be so glad you adopted a greyhound - they are wonderful dogs and quite addictive. Please contact the resuce charity your dog was from -most reputable greyhound charities have in house behavioural experts and can help you through the process of getting your dog settled in, especially as they will know a great deal about the dog's circumstances and yours. There are also some very good greyhound forums on the web - a good British one is Sighthounds online, and there is also Greytalk - both of these are brimming with expert greyhound owners who will be able to give you help and support.

I'd look at diet and rather than feed just kibble I'd give some cooked chicken or other similar meat - just plainly poached in a slow cooker is great (we've got a difficult feeder here). Please do be patient - I'd suggest six months is a reasonable time for a hound to be fully settled in and to really reach a good condition especially if they are recovering from abuse or poor diet previously.

As well as diet, it does sound like your hound is quite stressed. You don't say how old/how many children you have - is there a quiet spot for your dog - greys like plenty of peace and sleep during the day and aren't really up for a huge amount of interaction. Too much attention might be hard for him to cope with. Also, ex racers are very sociable dogs - they have been brought up with other greys and some find it difficult to adjust to life without other greys around. Contact your local rescue charity and see if you can get some greyhound playdates, greyhound walks etc - your hound will love it and you will also make some grey friends. Good luck and hope things improve soon.

A dogs digestion roughly at maturity is 6 hours from ingestion to pooing. however that many poos from 2 meals sounds a lot? What is the dog being fed?
for fattening up try raw green tripe, available from pets at home or good local petshops in frozen blocks quite cheaply, or cheap fatty beef mince from the value shelf at tesco...

If he is nervous about pooing and trust me some dogs who have been punished in the past for pooing, hold until no one is there too watch, making the connection that if they are seen pooing they have done wrong...
High praise, food/clicker training maybe for the poos he does correctly.
Def crate, but as he is older it will need to be carefully introduced
Dogs rarely soil their bedding.

second the raw tripe in frozen blocks (if you can't stand the smell of microwave defrosted tripe, left to defrost overnight..) lovely fatty stuff that gets dog appetite going...with a bit of biscuit

crate overnight - but can you sleep next to it incase he is desperate to go out overnight? although that is what we do with puppies for a week or two max, it may help through him adjusting to being housetrained.

also heavy praise for outside poos!

i took a 6 month old rescue cavalier king charles pup who soiled everywhere on a night. the rescue gave me a towel with her!

first night i crated her, and she never has soiled since. her crate was her bed, somewhere safe and warm, a quiet safe space.

when we moved house there was no room for the crate but she was well cured of her problems anyway.