New Owner Looking for Reassurance!

[EW93]

I adopted a very sweet greyhound girl on almost a week ago. She's 7 and was raced until she was 4 but quite what she has been used for by the kennels for the last 3 years isn't known as she ran her last race on 2017 and has not had any litters. 

I'm new to owning a greyhound, I've followed this site and its forums closely and was looking for some advice/reassurance that I am doing the right thing for her. 

When she arrived, she slept in my bed on the first night and it became apparent quite quickly that she had quite bad sleep startle. As a result, I felt it was best for both of us if we slept separately. The second night she remained downstairs and seemed to sleep through until 5.30am at which point I let her out into the garden. The third night she woke up once during the night and I could hear her howling and went downstairs to let her out as we are currently working on housetraining. She went out and around an hour later she began howling again. This time I ignored her and she eventually settled but things have deteriorated now to the point where she howls every few hours during the night. I'm exhausted from the lack of sleep and becoming concerned the neighbours may complain as she is extremely loud! 

I'm considering moving her bed back upstairs into my room and training her to sleep on her own bed as I am hopeful that if she can see me from her own bed this may alleviate the problem - does this sound like the right way forward? 

During the day, I have been following the advice on this site by trying to get her used to being alone for short periods. The most she has been left is an hour. During that time I went upstairs and she had 3 short crying outbursts over the hour which I didn't respond to and she seemed relatively relaxed when I returned. She did however, continue to cry for short time when I returned which has got me wondering whether the cry she makes is in fact distress or whether she is just being 'vocal'? 

Generally, I am trying to keep quite a strict routine (feeding and walking at same times each day and leaving her alone for an hour after her morning and lunchtime walk)

Sorry for the long post - I have fallen completely in love with her and I'm desperate to make this adoption work. 

Thank you all in advance for your advice!

[ragsysmum]

All ours fostered or adopted, have always slept on a duvet or in a dog bed at the side of our bed. Never had a problem with that after the first couple of nights settling in.

For 'alone training' we normally leave them for a couple of minutes initially, then 5/10/20 if they remain quiet until we have built up over time to 3 hours or so. There is a good article on this forum about alone training too at the top of this advice and help section.

[greybeard]

No advice regarding upstairs beds - since we have had hounds,they've took one look at the stairs and refused to set foot on them.Our little girl has no problem with them but has always slept downstairs with her boys - her choice.
Could she see your bed from the landing,if you put her bed there? Child gate across the doorway,so she could still see you and be reassured?

[EW93]

Thank you for your replies!

I placed her bed next to mine last night and after a few attempts to get onto the bed she settled on her own bed and was settled all night so I think I'll stick with that approach going forward!

I've read the article about alone training and found it incredibly helpful. I'm finding the training a bit strange though as sometimes I will go upstairs for around 30 minutes and she won't make a sound and doesn't appears to show any other signs of anxiety but then the following day when I try it she cries every 5/10 minutes so its hard to determine whether she is crying because she is alone or for another reason. The rescue I got her from said she likes to "talk to herself" so I'm wondering whether this is what was meant and she isn't actually experiencing anxiety. If it is anxiety, I'm not sure why it appears more in some instances than others as I have been going upstairs (keeping her in the living room/kitchen with a baby gate) at the same time after her walk and feed each day as I'm trying to get her used to spending some time alone after these events as these are the times she is most likely to be left alone.

[alfiemoon]

I'd second having a bed for her in your room, nothing wrong with that at all. You might want to consider investing in a fleece jumper for her to sleep in when it gets colder otherwise you may find she's restless and/or tries to join you again! I found with my lurchers that blankets just fall off when they change position and you end up waking yourself and recovering them.

With leaving her, are you able to set up a camera to see what she's physically doing when left?

The other thing you could do it speak to the rescue and ask them about the 'talking to herself' and see if it matches what you're experiencing.