female dog urinating in the house

Question
Dear Mr. Turner:  We just adopted a 4 year old female, spayed greyhound and she is wonderful. She is our 4th greyhound so we are familiar with this wonderful breed.  However, she was a "bounce back" from a previous adopter because they said that "she urinated on the rug." We thought no big deal. Well, since we've had her only about 6 days) she has had several accidents (urinating--once in our bedroom, the living room when nobody was home for about 60 minutes and again tonight on the top of our bed upstairs (of all places) while she was left alone with our other male greyhound (who loves her and accepted her right away) for 2 hours.  The rest of the time I have been home with her and the other greyhound while she gets a adjusted, giving her lots of love and attention and plenty of walks in the yard as well as rides in the car.  Just to be sure, i put her on some urinary track infection medicine that I had recently for one of our other older female greyhounds (who we recently lost).  When I was here yesterday all day with her, she didn't have to urinate for about 5 hours or more so I don' think it's an infection.  I believe it's separation anxiety.  Going on the bed though, she has her own bed on the floor next to our bed, but for her to urinate on the bed spread while on top of the bed is a new one to me.  Can you please help us figure out the problem and what to do?  Thank you very much.  

Answer
Dear Tara,
Thanks for the questions. Urinating on the rug is not necessarily a sign of separation anxiety. Urinating on the bed is a sign of anxiety.

It may be that your girl is having a tough time adjusting. The hallmarks of separation anxiety are:
inside elimination (defecation and/or urination), drooling, destructive behaviors directed at entry and exit points (including crates), and excessive vocalization. All these happen only when the people are gone.

Greyhounds are usually accustomed to being kenneled. Perhaps  her recent release into whole houses of territory are contributing to her anxiety.

Make sure she's eating a high quality diet- no corn (anything), no processed grains and no by-products.

That's great that you are interacting with her. Keep taking time each day to interact with each dog, one-on-one.

Decrease the amount of territory available - you could move her bed out of your bedroom (unless it's bedtime), close your bedroom door, et cetera.

Have her checked out at the vet, just to be sure.

Follow all protocols as if she were never housetrained. IF she starts to exhibit the other signs of separation anxiety that I mentioned, you'll need to learn all about separation anxiety. You can do that by reading a good book by Patricia McConnell or by hiring a professional.

Good Luck! I wish you great success.

AT

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