[christabird]

To start, me and my husband have had our dog for about 9 months now and he is 11 months old. He is very well house trained when we are at home with him, knows several tricks, etc. He's a great dog. We have a few concerns though. Let me start with his history a little.

When we first got him and started crate training him we had a very difficult time with him. We eventually found a simple solution but the problem was that he would poop in his crate almost every night when we went to bed and during the day when we left for work. I know it is hard for puppies to control their bladder and need to be let outside to go to the bathroom more frequently. He would do this even if we were only gone for two hours though. He would not JUST poop in his crate he would smear it EVERYWHERE! All over the bottom, sides, top, and he would be covered in it. We thought this was an extremely odd behavior for a dog. We stopped that by having to get a crate for him that was almost too small for him. So he wouldn't have to room to do such a thing. He eventually learned he can't do that in his crate and we let him have his bigger crate back and we no longer had a problem with that. Oh and Along with soiling his crate he would cry and whine very loudly and scratch at his crate door like his life was in danger.

I feel very badly because I know that he spends too much time in his crate. He's in it for about 8 hours while we are at work and at night also. We have tried putting him in our bathroom while we only left for about 2 hours to see how he would do. We left him with toys, food, water, etc. So he wouldn't be bored. We come home and he pooped in the bathtub and ripped up the carpet from the other side of the door, there is a big enough gap for him to reach his paws under there and scratch at it to his hearts desire.

We would LOVE to let him have more freedom around the home but we are afraid to let him have it. We are in fear of what he would do to the rest of our home when we leave. Could this be an anxiety thing when we leave him alone? Is it an age thing?

He does very well in his crate and behaves very well when we are at home and around him. We just don't know where to start or what to do about his pooping problem and destructive behavior when we leave. Please help us!

[happylady123]

I know you posted this a while ago, but I would like to respond anyway. I have an Italian greyhound as well. She is almost 17 and still going strong. When we got her as a puppy she was under 8 weeks old. We took her out every hour or so and would praise her every time she went out. She caught on very quickly. But I have to say I don't agree with the crate training. I think it's almost cruel for a dog. You should try letting the dog out for 20 min alone and see how he acts. It sounds like your dog is bored and does not have enough socialization or play time. Dogs need exercise, and puppies especially need a lot of attention and should not be left alone for more then a few hours. It's not fair to the dog to be left in a small cage all alone for 8 hours at a time. Dogs are social animals.
You really should have someone come by during the day to play with the dog and take him out. Italian Greyhounds crave attention and often like to just be touching a person.
I am no dog expert but I know a lot about my I.G. and she is very happy and healthy. Please don't leave the dog in the cage for 8 hours there are other options.