Greyhound Toilet Training

When a rescue greyhound or lurcher (or any dog) is first adopted, it is common that the new owners will have to undertake house/toilet training.

Greyhound Toilet Training

When a rescue greyhound or lurcher (or any dog) is first adopted, it is common that the new owners will have to undertake house/toilet training. 

Adopting from a foster home

A dog being adopted from one of our foster homes will be housetrained.  But please do not expect them to be perfect from day one. A change to his routine may confuse him and he may not know what his new family expect from him.  So, be prepared for accidents, and be prepared to reinforce the training he has already received.

Adopting from kennels

If you collected your greyhound directly from our kennels,  he may not be housetrained.  He may never have ever lived in a home environment. Greyhounds are generally very clean animals and it should only take a short time to succeed with the housetraining.  But you need to work hard, are consistent, patient and give him clear guidelines.

How to house and toilet train your greyhound or lurcher

Never punish your dog or raise your voice if he goes to the toilet in the house. Your dog is not being naughty, he just does not understand what you expect from him. It is up to you to show him where to go to the toilet and to praise him when he gets it right.

If you don’t show him where to go to the toilet and tell him off for going indoors, the chances are he will just go when you are not looking.

When you first arrive home take your new dog into the garden straight away and stay with him until he has been to the toilet. Then give him lots of praise and a treat or two. Let him have a good sniff around to get used to his new territory. You may find he wees quite quickly, but it may take a little while for him to be confident enough to open his bowels.

However tempting, never ‘pick up the poop’ in your garden immediately – this will confuse the dog and he will think that you are telling him not to toilet in that area. Try and always leave a fresh poop in an area of the garden that the dog can learn to recognise as his ‘place’.

Once he has arrived you will need to start the toilet training straight away. Put his lead on and take him into the garden, again staying with him until he has been to the toilet & again praising him. Do this every 3 hours or as soon as:

  • You see your dog wandering around, or crying or scraping at the door
  • After feeding
  • When he first wakes up and before you go to bed at night   

Feeding and house training

Don’t feed your dog after 7pm in the evening (an odd treat is fine!). Until your dog is housetrained take the water up by 10pm, but don’t forget to put it down again first thing in the morning!

Greyhound house training – cleaning after accidents

If your dog has an accident in the house it is vital that you clean up and get rid of the smell. Just because you can’t smell it anymore doesn’t mean that the dog can’t and will return to the smell as a safe and familiar place to toilet again. Never use products that contain ammonia to clean up after a dogs accident – to the dog the smell is similar to his toilet smells and it will encourage him to soil in that spot again! Use a detergent based cleaner – either washing up liquid or washing powder is ideal.

If the dog does poop in the house, pick it up and put it in his ‘place’ in the garden – this will reinforce the good toilet place. It may not sound like the most pleasant thing to do but it will be worth it when you have a happy housetrained dog!

If you have adopted from us, remember KGR are always willing to provide help and advice. We have all been there!

Everyone at Kent Greyhound Rescue is a volunteer.  We receive no funding from the racing industry and have to fund everything in house.  Shopping with us is a great way for you to help us help more dogs.  We sell toys, coats, beds, harness, collars, leads and lots more in our online shop

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