WWYD tonight?? Pointy owners and others please advise....

[YourHandInMyHand]

We have a greyhound girl, been with us about 3 weeks and has been fine in the kitchen on a night. However the last few nights she has cried and howled when I've gone up to bed. The first 2 nights it lasted less than 5 minutes and she settled but last night she just kept at it and I was worried the neighbours would get annoyed. I ended up sleeping on the sofa!

Am I right in thinking it is because she has now settled in and bonded with me that she is now not happy with me leaving her and buggering off upstairs for the night??

I couldn't even just take her up with me as she can't fathom the stairs!

So - what would you do for tonight?
Sofa is not designed for sleeping on so not keen on that idea, can't let her howl or bark for ages as we live in a row of terraced houses.
Shall I work on the stairs with her this afternoon? Not sure what to do for best.

Not sure if this is good advice or not, but it's working for us with our lurcher, who started howling at night when we lost our old lady dog just over a week ago. Dh went down and slept on the sofa the first two nights, (purely because we didn't want to upset the neighbours) but didn't interact with lurcherboy. He just quietly opened the kitchen door, leaving the child-gate shut so that he knew he was there, but wasn't directly rewarded for the howling by getting some attention.

We are now using DAP spray on his bedding and have set up a baby monitor with the baby part in our bedroom and the parent/receiver by his bed. That way he knows we are there, because he can hear us moving around, breathing etc, but we are not reinforcing the howling by interacting with him. He stopped howling the first night we did this.

We did the same when he first came to us as a pup and eventually we were able first to turn the sound down on the receiver and then switch it off and finally remove it from the kitchen and he's been fine for 7 years - until he lost his friend.

The other thing we have done is reduce fusses/attention for the last hour before we go up, so that it's not a sudden departure and loss of attention.

Aaw poor thing losing his friend.

Yes last night when I came down I didn't turn any lights on or talk to ShyDog I just opened the door between living room and kitchen and got onto sofa with my duvet. She doesn't want a lot of fuss in an evening, she's a typical snoozer GH . She'd gone out for a wee just before, and I'd said good girl for weeing but that was about it.

Not sure if a baby monitor would work. If I go upstairs in the day she frets and paces even if she can hear my voice. :-/ Could ask around to borrow one and give it a go I guess. I'd be talking to myself though and might wake DS up!

I might get some dap as she's quite shy with DS so it might help with that too. Been putting off buying it as it seems to have mixed results but worth a try.

Want to try again with her downstairs really as she's in season and I've got all carpets upstairs. Will probably end up on sofa again, but it's not good for my back.

Just had a peek at your profile - your girl has such a gentle face.

As I said, not sure a baby monitor would work for all dogs, it did the trick with our boy though, so thought I'd mention it. We don't talk to him, we just make plenty of noise getting our pjs on and getting into bed etc, so that he knows we're there and then between dh's snoring and me needing to change position every few minutes he seems to be reassured by those sorts of noises.

You're right about the DAP, it seems very variable as to which dogs it works with and it's not cheap to try. Pets at home had an offer on it when i checked last week though - 20 or 25% off iirc. We had a diffuser when he was a pup, but we're just using the spray on his bedding this time.

She does sound like she has a some separation anxiety going on, if she can't cope with you being upstairs during the day as well - how is she if you are in another room during the day, rather than actually out of sight?

This happens from time to time always with pointies. They're not always used to being in a house, so are generally very, very quiet to begin with and then once they get used to you they turn into cuddle monsters and want to be with you always.

If you don't want her upstairs, ignore, ignore, ignore. It will get worse before it gets better. It's called 'an extinction burst' eg. they realise their attention seeking behavior is no longer working, so they up the ante.

If you're not bothered just let her upstairs, I find most greyhounds are happy to sleep on a duvet by your bed. Some try and get on the bed, but removing them a few times is enough for them to get the picture and stay down. I wouldn't worry too much by the blood, from experience once they have a comffy duvet upstairs, they tend to get straight on it and stay there all night and all morning too if you let them

Another option would be to get a large crate, place it by your bed and once she is happy slowly start moving the crate out of your room and eventually downstairs.

If she's a smallish grey I have a crate that might fit, unfortunately it has no tray, but you could cover the bottom with a duvet, that would work. Our first grey used to fit in it but every one we've had since then is ginormous.

DAP might also work, Thundershirts get great reviews. I sometimes leave a stuffed kong with noisy dogs, however this has only worked once, so it depends how greedy your girl is.

Wrt the stairs, luring her up with a bit of stinky cheese right under her nose will work, although be aware, once she has figured it out she will sneak up while you're not looking to have a turn of the big people bed

I think the thing when I go upstairs during the day is that although I've popped up for only a short while (say to brush my teeth) she suddenly has two whole rooms that she's all alone in and she doesn't know what to do with herself! I've started putting her in the kitchen when I pop up and she's fine with that, or if DS is sat downstairs on the sofa again she's fine with that.

When I go out of the house during the day she is okay in the kitchen. I tend to leave her with a kong or bone.

I think I will just try to lure her up the stairs (I reckon a piece of garlic sausage will do the trick) and I agree I think she will be fine on her own duvet next to the bed.

Doin that sounds familiar, she was shockingly shy and quiet at first and is starting to come out of her shell now. She definitely likes my company now. She's asleep on her bed at my feet at the moment and follows me all over. Moosemam thank you, she does have a lovely sweet temperament - I have fallen for her already!