Rescue greyhound separation anxiety

[Elizabeth0712]

Hi there,
I wondered if anyone had any advice. We’ve recently adopted a retired racing greyhound, he’s settling in well but the biggest problem we have is separation anxiety. If left alone he gets distressed, cries constantly and makes light work of clawing away at the wood on the door.
My husband is currently sleeping downstairs with him 🙈 which I feel has probably made matters worse but who knows. Has anyone been in a similar situation? I’m getting mixed advice from either leave him and he’ll get over it after a few days or move his bed into our bedroom. Not sure what the right thing do is! Did kind of not want him upstairs tbh as not sure it’s great for his legs.

Does he have any particular treats he likes? I would give him a likimat or kong with a form of his favourite treat smushed into it, give it to him and walk out of the room for a second to see if he's more interested in that than you leaving. If yes, then do that every time you leave, but leave him only for a couple of minutes at a time and build it up slowly.

When I had a puppy I was also told to not come back when they are crying and to wait for them to be quiet (even if just for a second or two), but that was quite some time ago and also very tricky for a very distressed dog who won't settle!

I’d do what works for you. Greyhounds are great sleepers so I’d be tempted to just put his bed in your room (do not let him on the bed or you will never sleep well again!) but if you don’t want dogs upstairs then you’ll have to work it out with him downstairs. In which case I’d get another dog, but that may not be the right answer for you either.

How long have you had him? He will have been used to being kennelled with another dog and will be looking to you for reassurance. Have to say my Sighthounds do sleep in our room and got used to the stairs really quickly, I just think it’s easier to have them with you. When a new dog comes home we took the leaving them during the day really slowly. Leave the room for a minute or two then came back in, same with leaving them in the home whilst we went out. Started off with a few minutes, then 10, then 15 etc. If you haven’t already it’s a good idea to leave a radio on, we also didn’t shut ours in one room, allowed them to have the runof the house. The work we put in in the early days has paid dividends and now they just sleep for a couple of hours if we go out. Greyhounds are wonderful dogs, so lovely you have adopted one!

We had 2 sighthounds.. Inseparable..
Would you consider a second ddog?

Generally greys don’t like being alone. He wants to be with you at night. Put his bed with you. Or you can get him a friend. We are on our 5th grey now. Enjoy him.