Sad Toast

[sharonhigh45]

my other lurcher was a bin fiend but not Moss thank goodness!

[mik]

update today, been leaving him alone for 5 mins each day. We are like clockwork with his toilets but when left alone today he peed in the room, I guess out of anxiety. He had been outside less than an hour before, and it's too much water to be him marking (I think).

At least today he didn't whine while being ignored.

[sharonhigh45]

Mik we had some peeing with Moss but it stopped very quickly,he weed on the sofa in the kitchen so we covered it when we went out, seemed to work.

[mik]

Hi, well 3 months later and he is still pooping and peeing in the house, we just don't know what to do. We've done everything the rescue center has told us to do and now they're saying to get a crate but when he has been confined / put in a crate at the foster home he goes mental and seems to really hate it.

[lurcherlot]

Sorry things haven't improved. I would suggest, if you haven't already done it, to go back to basics putting Toast out on the hour, every hour. Clean up after him religously with either stain remover or non biological soap powder - the smell, if still remaining, would encourage him to pee there again if not done properly.
I would think also that he is not a very happy chappie living on his own, usually he would have been kennelled with another dog and is probably missing the company.

[mik]

lurcherlot - yeah, we've brought it right back to square one and it doesn't seem to make any difference. We got a DAP and that had no effect, we tried confining him to just the kitchen to try and save our carpet and he just goes crazy in there, I think it's a smaller space and he can't look out the window, he's fine in the living room.

He's also fine being left sometimes, we've left him for over two hours before and no accidents but then we can leave for 30 mins and he'll do something, it's so unpredictable. It is very difficult to manage and we're worried about what we will do when my wife goes back to work - she's currently working from home for a while.

Every two hours we stand with him until he pees then congratulate him, we ignore him as we leave and when we come back home, making it all very matter of fact. We give him a buster cube or sometimes a kong when we are both in the house or when we leave him. He doesn't follow us round the house and actually spends most the day asleep on the sofa while Kerry works upstairs, so he seems alright in his own company.

It's such a shame because he's brilliant in every other way, super obedient, great with kids and other dogs...

[jodav]

Hi Mik I really hope that you can get over your difficulty with Toast and settle into a rhythm that suits you all. It's still early days for him. Just wondering if he goes out on walks to toilet, especially where other dogs walk, before he is left alone. As has been said, it is important to remove scents from carpets as this can attract a dog to the same point. Stuffed Kongs are good to work his brain as well as an old teeshirt with your smell to lie on as reassurance until you return. Try not to worry if at all possible, secure routines will come that Toast will learn to love.
Jo

[mtbbuxton]

Do you have more than one door in and out of the house?  When we first adopted Mayo, he was rather anxious and would howl when left.  Lisa suggested that we use different doors to leave when we took Mayo out and when  we went without him. This stopped the association of THAT door taking us away from him.  So this meant that when we took Mayo out we used the back door and when we went out without him we used the front door.

Also, when you leave him in the kitchen is he behind a closed door?  Hounds often cope better if you use a dog gate (like a tall baby gate) and they can still see out of the room.

Hope you can find a way to settle him.

Moira x