New Greyhound peeing when separated from us

[blackgreyhound]

I recently posted about rescuing our first greyhound, she's been home for 2 weeks now and she's fantastic. No longer nervy when out and about, she's unmuzzled in the park, toilet trained, doing very well with the cat and is unleashed around him (one incident where she 'chased' after stepping on his tail and causing him to run which put us back a bit but DH was right there chasing her chasing him and she left him and returned when he properly yelled at her to stop- this put us back a bit but we're going very well again now). She's clean overnight every night and is toileting more in the park now as she's becoming less nervy there. We adore her.
BUT... she's quite anxious about being separated from us (me really, I think) inside the house when we're there. We have gates up at every door and can shut the kitchen door. We needed the gates because of the cat and the children. Examples are:
Daughter jumping about a bit and being a bit shouty one morning. Gated dog off so she had hallway, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen to roam in. Dog was fine whilst I was in the bedroom putting my face on/ washing away. Laying quietly and perfectly happy. I went into the living room and closed the gate behind me and the dog went and peed in the bedroom (daughter was calm by this point, I was dressing her).
Shut the living room gate and bedroom gate (we have carpet in there) for 5 mins whilst I sorted the cat out, dog peed in hallway.
Today's was the worst, fed dog in kitchen, closed kitchen door as she was obviously unmuzzled as she was eating. Baby started falling asleep on me in the living room so I heard the dog tapping about (it's half open plan) and couldn't lock the cat away. In the 5 minutes she was alone in the kitchen she peed on the floor! We'd been out less than 30 minutes before for a 1.5hr walk and she'd done 2 wees and a poo, she didn't need to go! I don't know how to stop her, she will at some points need to be separated from us. It doesn't happen ever when I go out, she sees me go on the school run in the morning and 20 mins later I'm back and nothing. She'll happily lay on the bedroom/ kitchen/ hallway floor if I'm there or if she wanders off on her own but isn't locked out.
How do I tackle this? I've caught her at it once and running towards her shouting 'no no no!' Stopped her, I took her straight out and she did nothing outside. I don't know how to show her it's fine when she's ok being left alone when we go out! Any advice?

If you can confine him to a smaller space he’s less likely to see as they don’t like messing their bed. You need to build up from leaving him for a minute at a time. You have my sympathy, one of mine has separation anxiety and will wee in a crate, it’s a nightmare!

We had some success with an adaptil diffuser with our greyhound - but do still get a tendency to pee and poo when she's left in the house (thankfully on a tiled floor). Lots of boredom toys that only come out when she's being left alone are our current tactic and seem to be working - after her initial utter disgust at the idea of having to WORK for her food (things like Kongs, Kong wobblers that I just put her breakfast into and the like). Ours is different since it only really started after our other dog died so we're cutting the poor gal some slack with it at the moment since she has lost her minion she used to boss around outrageously!

Thanks for the replies! It's just so sporadic, I left the house with the kids today with the dog having free run and she really wanted to come so I thought I'd come back to a wee on the floor but no, nothing! She was gated off for a few minutes again whilst she ate and I heard her leave her bowl and start tapping up and down the hallway so I went to see what she was doing and she was just about squatting on the doormat, I shouted no no no and let her out into the garden and she did a wee and a poo even though she'd been in the garden 10 mins before! I think I'm starting to understand why but stopping her (forcing her when I know she'll need to but she doesn't know why) is the problem! It's a good thing I love the (many, prominent, supermodel-esque) bones of her or I'd be sending her back!

You and your lovely girl are doing really well but it is still very early days. When you close the gates can she still see you? My boy (who I have had for nearly five years now) just wants to be with us, so if we move rooms he usually follows, he has beds in various places around the house although I realise this may be hard with your cat and I have no experience of how to manage that. When he is left, which isn’t often, he just goes to a bed and accepts it. Some dogs do need to go straight out for a wee after eating too. Can you try leaving something like a t shirt you have worn in the room where you are having to restrict her so she can snuggle up to it? Hopefully somebody else who has more experience of this may have more ideas. Have you asked the rescue for any advice too?

Oh bless her. Could it be the start of separation anxiety? If it is then you can't leave her any longer than she's happy with. Don't tell her off. All she will learn is not to toilet in front of you!

After food could actually be need. Both of mine normally need a wee and poo immediately after eating - even if they were outside just 5-10mins earlier.

The rest of it sounds like separation anxiety.

Thank you for replying! I'm just so so frustrated at this stage. She did so well for the last few days, fantastic. Then today DH took the kids out and I was taking her out alone, I was trundling about getting ready, putting a quick wash on, putting my face on etc. All with a greyhound constantly right next to me which I'm now used to, turning back to get something or opening and then quickly closing a door is a thing of the past! The back door was open, she wasn't gated off at all, the cat was locked out the other way, she was pootling along with me. Popped into the bathroom (with the door open!) back into bedroom and she's pissed on the bloody carpet again. I'm not annoyed with her, I'm just really frustrated because with my old rescue dog (who had been very very mistreated, left in squalor and had fag burns in her back when I got her, no toilet training or commands like this one but for very different reasons) I felt like I could always, even from very very early in, work out WHY she was doing something. I couldn't always work out how to stop it straight away but I knew why. I have no clue now. I'm not sure it is separation anxiety, she's fine when we actually leave her and overnight she's on her bed or the sofa with no access to us at all. I've now made sure that all food is given when she can go outside straight after, it's given later if needed and the other day she left it and started pacing the hallway so I let her out, she did a wee then came back in and finished. That's absolutely fine, I'll now watch or listen out during mealtimes, I'm perfectly happy to do that. But today again I'm stumped, I just don't know why she did that when she'll often take herself off outside in that situation! To answer the question about the rescue, we did ask and their suggestion was to squirt her with water, smack her with a rolled up newspaper or shake a bottle of pennies at her if we found she'd done it indoors. No. Nope. Not happening. If I catch her in the act I'm happy to shout the no no no to get her to stop and take her outside with LOTS of praise if she finishes out there but not to punish an already nervous dog. For context- the rescue has had very little input other than a home check. We arrived at the kennels thinking it was a rescue centre to find we were at the racing kennels she was being rehomed from. She was very clearly treated very well there and they have been fantastic with answering any questions we've had regarding feeding, bathing ('don't! Let her settle in first or she'll be too frightened, you'll never get her in a bathtub again!') and actively want us to bring her back for teeth/ ear/ claw/ weight checks. They've also offered to supply us with her food at cost. NO issues at all there, but I don't really want to bother them about this because I feel it's not their 'business' so they may not be well able to advise? Anything to do with her physical health I'd have no problem contacting them. We'll be bringing her back next weekend for a check so I'll ask then but as I say, training greys to be pets isn't really their game.

And just to clarify, my shouting no at her when I catch her in the act isn't a ''NO! BAD DOG!' Type of no, it's a 'no no no, not there!' Type of no. I'm not telling her off as such, just stopping the wee (which she does) and then shuffling her outside so she can and does finish out there. She is praised and rewarded with a small bit of cheese if she stops inside and goes outside. She's praised for going in the garden and rewarded with cheese in the park. Because she was holding until she got home at first, not going in the park at all. I've used the 'wee' word to encourage her to go where I want her to and she's done very well with that from day 1 really.

But she won't know that the NO isn't bad dog. She won't know why you're shouting. Just that you are.
Stupid idea. Definitely no UTI or health issues?

Well no, she won't understand the words, I meant the tone was not a harsh one, just enough for her to know I want her to stop. Which she does, and resumes in the garden. That wouldn't be a problem, it's that she's doing it when I don't know and if I don't know and don't know why I am at a loss as to how to stop her. No UTI as far as I'm aware, everything else seems fine with her.

Had a vet check?worth doing.
Spayed? Not spay incontinence?
If she's an ex racer and used to being in a kennel it could take weeks. There's a great FB group dog training advice and support with great toilet training advice. Run by qualified and experienced behaviourists.
(I'm none of those things!!)