Are They House Trained?

There  are a number of questions that every adopter asks, and without fail,  every person will at some point in the adoption process, ‘are they house  trained?’

The short answer is?  No, they’re not!  But don’t panic, they pick it up quick!

Greyhounds,  for the most part, have only ever known kennels.  Both during their  racing careers and retiring into rehoming centres, which unless fostered  until adoption, they’ve never been in a home before.

This  can come as a bit of a shock to a lot of people as they assume, in  being adult dogs, that they don’t need house training.  The association  with the term having always been in relation to puppies for most people!

In  having a very structured lifestyle in kennels, they learn and  understand to wait to be taken out of their kennel to toilet, or if they  have access to runs, they will take themselves out!  

So,  although they are not house trained in the traditional sense,  greyhounds are generally very clean dogs and don’t want to go indoors if  given the option.

This  cleanliness in kennel, and the fact that they are adults, means they are  quick to learn and pick up on routine.  Thankfully, it generally bodes  well for house training in the home environment and they take to it very  well…but it doesn’t mean that the initial settling in period will be  without accident!

Don’t worry,  house training a greyhound is pretty straight forward, but it is pretty  much inevitable that there will be accidents in the early days!  This  also applies to hounds that have been in foster or other homes  previously.
It isn’t uncommon for applicants to  specifically request a house-trained greyhound when applying to adopt,  but while they may have been house trained previously, they still need  to learn the environment and routine of the new household.  They don’t  know where the back door is, or they may not have lived in a flat  without a garden before!  They will have to re-learn what they already  know.   

Regardless of their  previous situation, they all need to be house trained to some degree as  you want to treat every new hound into your home as if it’s their first  time in any home!  

Take them out  to the garden (or your designated toilet area should you not have a  garden) as soon as you get home on that first day and reward them for  toileting.  Allow them frequent access out thereafter for the following  days so that they start to learn where the back door is and continue to  reward as necessary!  

So long as  you then let them out last thing at night before you go to bed and  first thing in the morning before you do anything else…you should,  theoretically, get away without any accidents!

The  early days are quite stressful for a hound, and sometimes there can be  some back tracking with house training at times!  This can vary and may  happen either after the initial few days where you feel you are in the  clear or even after a few weeks in the home!  We’ve even seen hounds’  relapse on house training 6 months post adoption and after a couple  weeks they go back to normal…

This  can often come about for various reasons, but quite often it’s just a  little blip and a quick return to the basics to reinforce the original  house training will have it all come good again!  It’s all perfectly  normal!

If you are really  struggling in house training your hound, particularly if they’re female,  there is a chance they could have a UTI which can come on as a result  of stress.  This can make house training difficult for them,  particularly going through the night!  So, if in doubt, take a little  sample to the vet to get checked!

Make  sure to have a good odour remover handy in the cupboard for when there  is an accident, while holding onto hope that you don’t need to use it!

Don’t  be afraid of the prospect that they aren’t house trained, a greyhound  will bring so much joy to your life that this is a minor point!