Toilet Training & Separation Anxiety

Here are some notes that I previously had on my knitting blog about our Missy's separation anxiety behaviour when we first adopted her in 2016.






In 2016, we adopted a new little girl, Jive Mistress (racing name) or Missy (pet name). Not only is she the cutest little greyhound I've ever seen, but she is our beloved Lily's niece and has a lot of similar - but worse- behavioural problems that Lily had. I often find it difficult to give people the full details they need for benefiting from our experiences with rescuing and retraining dogs (as there is rarely a problem we haven't experienced here with the 4 greyhounds we've adopted since the mid noughties). We choose difficult greyounds that have been returned with behavioural problems so I'm always answering calls for help online, and repeating myself, or I take notes and can't share them because of the details or a moderator thinking it isn't relevant. I've started to keep notes and will post them on this blog and link to them. I'm not an expert and would always encourage someone to take a dog to a vet to rule out medical causes but here are my notes on what we have done for our dogs.

Advice on Toilet Training From A Non Professional

1. VET CHECK OR BEHAVIOURIST
Firstly double check with the vet that the dog is in full health with no urinary infections, no inflammations inside the urino-genital openings nor fever or excessive drinking. Take a sample to the vet of pee done first thing in the morning before food and water and hand it to a reception nurse to run a test so there are at least some immediate results as soon as you get called in for your vet consultation.

2. PEE CHECKLIST
Discuss all the physical or behavioural reasons your dog is not learning your toilet training with the vet or behaviourist, they might help or suggest something.
About 7 days before visiting the vets, chart the time and circumstances in which your dog peed. E. G.
Did they pee while left alone?
Did they pee with you supervising? How close to their last garden trip?
Did they pee when any visitors came, or when a family member entered a room?
Did they pee when entering a new or different room? At night with you in bed? Was it muddy/raining/cold/windy outside?
How much wee? Was it concentrated or odourous, watery or thin?
Where did they pee, was it near an entrance/exit? Where you last sat or stood? Any other significance to that spot like a previous wee or previous pets?

3. RECORD IT AND FILM IT
DIARY: I would write down every pee incident. From experience my OH was too close to the problem and anxious and in his perception thought it was getting worse as every new pee incident just negated any previous good/dry days. A scientific record showed that actually after several pees a day within 7 days, we had one pee a day for a couple of days then 5 dry days, followed by another pee incident. But my OH said "she's doing it all the time, it's never going to end! ". In my experience (although we've only trained 8 dogs total, 7 of whom were adult) if there is a dog behaviour problem that is improving often you can't quite see the tiny steps of improvement right up close and it means you only see it in retrospect and it's hard when you're going through it to see whether your training is working. If it's not working, and you have a clear record of statistics then at least if you have to get a consultation with a pro behaviourist you save weeks of them trying to get you to repeat a process you've already tried.

PETCAM: When making a record of peeing it is very useful to use a pet cam. Without that we wouldn't have been able to understand why our girl was doing it but the time she was doing it was a giveaway. You can mistakenly think it's a case of them being left alone for a few hours and going at the end of the period because they just can't hang on any longer. However many dogs who pee/poop when left alone do it near to the time the owner left rather than at the end of a longer period. It's the event of leaving that upsets a dog with SA.

As we could see on our PETCAM, our girl peed:
Around 90.secs after we'd gone to bed
2 to 3 mins after her last bedtime pee, but we realised she was doing a short pee to satisfy us she'd been, but was not fully emptying due to anxiety
At the foot of the stairs where we exited out of sight
Missy was peeing because being a new girl, she was anxious about us going to bed but peeing comforted her to appease us/her and diffuse the situation. Dog logic, not human logic. You can't guess what's in their doggy brain but you can record the incidents and see a pattern. We were able to keep taking training back to absolute basics.
And if you use a webcam you can retreat to a different room and if you see them sniff, circle, or build up to a pee you can interrupt them and take them right outdoors.
My girl learned that if she wants to go, she can ask me. In weeks she went from peeing everywhere every day indoors to going and scratching on a piece of wood to make a noise, and coming to get us.

4. INITIAL TOILET TRAINING SUITABLE FOR NEWBIES, FOSTERS AND DOGS PREVIOUSLY REHOMED/BOUNCED BACK
We have a routine that has worked for my previous 6 dogs, and my partners previous 2 dogs. That routine stands even if a dog is coming from a different home where they had training. New house means new rules. Its all about reducing the opportunity to have an accidental pee and forming good habits. Greyhounds love to please and they like routine. They're happiest when we communicate what we need and so here we don't leave things to chance and hope. Our hounds though are ones that got returned and ones with known behavioural issues and they can relapse on their training but that's OK, we just step back a stage or two and reinforce good habits as if they're new again and they pick it up.

DAY 1:
BEFORE COMING HOME
Before putting a new dog right in the car we walk them. If we have 2 dogs, the new one gets introduced to the old one away from the car outdoors in neutral territory a few times before we ever bring them here. Then we ask our older one to pee/poop in front of the newbie so they get to see how excited we are when dogs do their business outside. Greys are good at copying other greys. When Newbie has had a pee/poop they're praised too. Then we open the back of the car, allow oldie and newbie to get in together and sit with the back open. On adoption day it's the same process but then we make the journey home but we stop off at the local park that newbie will go to daily if our journey is longer than a few mins.

ARRIVING HOME
I believe its a lot easier if you can, to pick up a dog as early as you're allowed so there is a good amount of time to start good habits before it's bedtime. That first night can be awkward. The preparation before coming home is so important to us because how the newbie feels entering a house with strange smells of previous people, pets or current dog will affect their alertness or anxiety level and drive a need to pee. As soon as a newbie arrives, one of us opens the front door, goes through the kitchen and unlocks/opens the back door. One of us stays near the doorstep, letting the dog have a sniff of the air and when the back door is open and the route is clear, we walk Newbie and Oldie into the garden on their leads then let them off in the garden, encourage to wee and praise using the words "Good Boy/Girl, Wee Wee!" .

COMING INDOORS
We note the time of the last pee, then we take newbie out for a pee every single hour. If we feel it's necessary we might keep them on a double length lead and let them explore the house with us attached. I even take them to the loo with me. It helps to bond.

FIRST BEDTIME
As I have a med condition, and need quick access to go to the loo downstairs multiple times at night plus our stairs are too steep, it's not practical to have dogs in our bedroom. They stay downstairs and there is a gate. First bedtime is usually just before 1 am, and if I can go upstairs fine but my girl was awake all night, had Separation Anxiety and my neighbours chose her 1st night to rip off their doors and windows and gut the house of floorboards without warning and she was terrified. We had weeks of "the world is ending" types of renovation noise at evenings/weekends as the neighbours didn't live there and had work done in their spare time. I had to retreat slowly up the stairs, a few at a time and provide my girl with toys and supplements (more below about extra help).
I'm sometimes amazed when I hear that adopters got their dog at a weekend, slept in until 9 am but they wondered why there was a puddle on the floor on

DAY 2.
Kennels I adopt from start waking dogs from 6 am, it varies, but dogs are used to having a morning wee and sometimes they'll do it at the door of their Kennel which "magically has cleaned itself" by the time they get back from a paddock (staff of course). If you want a dog that lies in a bit later you have to try to increase the waking time a couple of minutes every day. Some respond to that, my boy can lie in til 9, but my girl is still an early riser (7.30 am but gets disturbed by neighbours shift work).
On DAY 2 of a newbie's routine they go into the garden every 2 hours

DAY 3
Newbie goes every 3 hrs.
If at any stage there are accidents and they're not getting it, we go back a stage or two. Sticking to the plan, not getting overconfident, reduces accidents.

DAY 4 ONWARDS.
Inc time between pee intervals.

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT
REWARDING THE GOOD AND A LITTLE BIT MORE
From the moment our dogs arrive they are taken into the garden immediately and when they do go, we give them a huge fuss and a small treat. They know peeing in the garden, on the lawn, makes us very happy. At the same time we attach a word to the act "Good boy for doing a Wee Wee!" or "Good Girl for going a Poo Poo". Firstly they learn that it's right to go n that place and secondly they pick up the words you use for pee and poo. It's so useful because I can take her anywhere and say "Do a wee wee" and she goes.
She doesn't get a biccie all the time now, but she always gets a cuddle, a kiss. She even waits by the back door, puts each paw in the air while I wipe them.

IGNORING THE BAD AND ABSENCE OF PRAISE REINFORCING THE GOOD
Its easy to reason that when dogs are good you praise them, so equally if they're bad they should be told off. It's also easy to get your wash bucket, Bio Washing liquid and sponges out with a face like thunder and look at your dog with a "Yes, you did this to Mummy you little nuisance" face on, or even have a fed-up body posture of annoyance. But in the case of a separation anxiety pee dog, us being even mildly put out and exasperated, or shouting at the OH cos he's making ridiculous comments that don't help, just makes an anxious dog want to piddle more to stop Mummy being angry.
We never reprimand nor even look from pee to dog as if we've connected it and are annoyed with their peeing, we act like we haven't noticed it. I sometimes get my OH to take a dog out so they can't see me clearing it up. The dog then doesn't attach anxious emotions to the act as, ironically, they will pee again to appease you.

WHY ON EARTH DOES MY DOG PEE AGAIN IF I'M UPSET WITH HER PEEING?
It's natural for dogs to pee in stressful situations in order to release stress busting pheromones that appease anybody present. A peeing dog can be like a tearful human.. That can be observed in packs. One dog might snap at another to establish dominance or show displeasure and everyone in the pack might cower cringing and piddling to diffuse the situation. Scientific thinking has moved away from the one pack, one top dog, rigid hierarchy and submission etc. It appears that relationships are dynamic and leadership isn't forced but dogs do squabble a bit and if they see anger in another member, they'll pee and say "smell that, it's not me who's angry, I concur" etc.
Obviously we have to communicate what we want and show leadership as humans, as carers, and we do control food and environment, so their only resources are with us and that is going to make a dog a bit anxious already. saying "oh no, mummy is angry, have I blown my chances of getting dinner? What's going to happen? Will I get a punishment?". Hounds are more sensitive than some breeds we've had. They easily think you just don't like them peeing at all so will then do secret peeing indoors and be too shy to ask.
The only time we would acknowledge an indoor pee is if they are interrupted and just about to do one. We would say "No, no, not there, in the garden..." very cheerfully and lead them out to the garden to finish and praise there.

5. EXCEPTIONALLY DIFFICULT CASES AND GETTING HELP
Our girl was a genetic "spook" not suited to racing. She'd had her side ripped open by her racing kennel mate but was locked in with him all night afterwards. On her first night we had our neighbours completely gutting the house. She was too scared to empty her bladder completely in the garden due to noise and was peeing in the house but even outdoors needed to go too frequently. And there were fireworks constantly after she arrived. Despite training we worried about the peeing forming an entrenched habit.
So we did the following in partnership with vet advice.
- Tested her pee. Ruled out any medical reason for frequency
- Put her on natural supplements that with behavioural training supported it without drugs. She had Valerian and Skullcap, natural calmer. She also had Zylkene, a milk extract Tryptophan that acts as a natural tranquilliser (sends babies to sleep!). It actually worked but takes about 10 days to be fully effective. My vet felt the need to advise these herbal remedies in order to get her over the anxiety and avoid peeing becoming a bad habit. We tried weaning her off after a month trial and she had a little relapse in behaviour so as they weren't medicine, my vet said keep her on for 6 mths if necessary. We kept her on Skullcap and Valerian for a mth, Zylkene for 3½ months then weaned off and she was fine.
- Temporarily changed her diet. We reduced the amount of protein in her diet. This is because proteins can increase urine frequency as out of all basic food groups proteins are not converted to fat to be stored under the skin, some that is needed that day is extracted and used, then the rest is waste and peed out in urine. Also proteins increase the rate at which Seratonin, the "happy" hormone in the blood is depleted and can lead to anxiety or a state of being too alert. Our vet got us to remove about 15-20% protein and replaced with carbs. She had a dog muesli mixer for a couple of mths then got weaned off as ideally my dogs are on grain free diets.
I am careful about treats too. For a while she had no food, nor any treats, after 3pm and no water down between 1am and 5am. She was lapping up water from a habit and needing to pee not long afterwards between 12am and 6 am.
- Exercised her a little more and on her own. I took her to see something new every day. It helped cure her anxiety of new things, mentally tired her and so she was more snoozy and less active indoors. A lot of behavioural problems stem from lack of exercise or stimulation.
-Devised intellectual games. Missy was disqualified from Romford track because she kept playing like a puppy. I noticed she used play as a comfort activity. So I left her for short spaces of time on her own with a Kong ball filled with kibble. She learned to redirect her nerves into an enjoyable game. I also taught her new words and she's a clever little thing. Her favourite command is "Go and lie on your bed and ill put your blankie on"
Missy was my most difficult case with regard to anxiety peeing. She gradually got better and she's been with us about 18 months. Her last pee accidents were once on holiday in Feb 2017 (didn't understand the layout of our cottage 1st morning there as windows were doors), once on hols Sep 2017 (was a massive electrical storm outside) and once on hols Oct 2017 because she sneaked into a room unnoticed while we were asleep, shut the fire door, then couldn't get out, didn't bark as she got to sleep on a cosy sofa all night and had a pee in there in the morning).
My partner collapsed and was unconscious at home with blood and vomit all over the floor and Missy and Harry were so freaked out when Daddy got carted off on a stretcher by 6 paramedics with flashing lights, they peed and pooped on top of Daddy's vomit and blood...
Here is Missy being Pissy caught on the Petcam the little Minx!

So although I'd still be a bit wary if circumstances are stressful, day to day Missy is very good. It was driving us potty and we used to feel like we'd never get there but I felt like all the effort we made came together and did make a big difference. When you've had 6 dogs with mild wee problems, and then a dog like Missy, you can easily think "Why on earth could I cure the others quickly but not her!? " But in retrospect, it was not that long before dramatic improvement I just couldn't see it close up and was getting so little sleep

Reactive Greyhounds

Here are some notes that I previously had on my knitting blog about my Harry and how we settled his wild behaviour when we first adopted him in 2013.

What is a Reactive Greyhound? 

A reactive greyhound is a dog that is only used to other greyhound breeds and so is badly socialised with other animals and other breeds. It can be a case of reaction by barking, yapping, whining, stamping and spinning when seeing small breeds, all other breeds of dogs or like our Harry it can be to anything that is living and breathing and non human. He used to kick off at a shopping carrier bag lien by the wind up an alley. He was OK with humans unless he heard babies crying or young kids shouting and he was even reactive to some greyhounds too. In fact, he was adopted on a Sunday morning and brought back Sunday afternoon by the family of adopters saying he was too uncontrollable and dangerous. He was spinning snarling and snapping at a spaniel on their first walk. We love a dog challenge and as we've had many problem dogs rehomed with us, we offered to foster Harry to see if we could make a difference over 10 days. That was in 2013! We fell in love with his sweet nature at home and cured him of that apparent "aggression" outside. This is our approach which was also validated by several qualified dog behaviourists. I wouldn't take our word for it. I'm Erssie, a knitter and regular adopter not an expert but you might find some interesting tips here.
Firstly its important that however loud and aggressive the behaviour is, it's frequently not true dog aggression as you'd imagine it and rather than from a position of strength and dominance it's often coming from a place of fear. But fearful dogs can bite and snap. It's important that reactive dogs wear muzzles so you can be confident that nothing can go hideously wrong if the trigger animal gets too close. Poorly socialised dogs will look at another breed of dog and start alerting their human as well as warning off another dog. The frantic barking often means "What the f*** is that thing Mummy?!?" or "Can't you see it? I'm trying to tell you there's a threatening looking shape up there and it's got fur and teeth!" and even a warning to the thing "Stay away from me, I don't know what you are, but you're not coming near me. I'm big and I'm scary and attached to my human!". Ex racing greyhounds aren't usually fearful as a result of a previous fight or encounter with another breed like some dogs who acquire aggression through experience. The racing life usually means that greyhounds spend time only with greyhounds and walk in paddocks or fields with little upfront contact with other breeds of dogs. Once you can understand why your dog would be fearful of another breed then you are truly listening to what they are trying to tell you, and it's then not as scary or daunting to tackle the problem.

Training reactive dogs
The training for a dog who has behavioural problems when encountering specific triggers is to find a way to desensitise the dog. They need to become familiar enough with a trigger that their experience of it brings no bad results. However whilst introducing them to their trigger its important that they are not so overwhelmed by it that they learn to be more wound up. At a certain level of excitement, a dog reaches a point where they are consumed by the experience and won't learn anything. Introduction of a trigger needs to be gradual and your behaviour has to be consistent, calm and steady as a rock. It might not look like it but your dog, as he bonds with you, will look to you to find out how to react. If you appear unflustered with a situation, then so will he eventually.

Positive reinforcement
Greyhounds respond well to positive reinforcement of good behaviour and do not react well to negative training. Therefore shouting at your dog, shouting No!! or Leave!! and trying to pull him away in an angry way is only going to teach him that you're wound up by the trigger too. Whilst training, don't tell him what he shouldn't be doing. It's best to say nothing until your dog is behaving well then give him praise and encouragement onto him.

Feeling disheartened
Training like this does take time and there's no overnight fix. Often it feels disheartening and I've heard people say "But I've tried everything for a couple of months now and he's still not improving!"
The important thing is to believe it will and is getting better and trust that even if you can't see the tiny improvements on a daily basis, it is only when a significant amount of time has passed that with the benefit of hindsight, you'll realise training has paid off. Dogs aren't machines and can have bad days where they "plateau" which means their learning appears to hit a point of no improvement and an impasse. It can occasionally regress as well. That's usually temporary but just think, it's a lot better than when they arrived. They might have a bad day and regress or they might test you, which is where you don't give up but just remain consistent and they'll soon fall back in line to your behaviour training . As every dog despite being the same breed has a very distinct personality, just like kids in school, the majority will progress with generalised training but each will be at a different speed or have parts of it that just don't stick. Once again, this is where your positive thinking should be telling you "any improvement from the dog we took in, is a bonus"


Don't restrict yours or your dog's life
The worst thing you can do with behavioural problems that are trigger based and the triggers are common is to build a whole regime around your dog's phobias that attempts to avoid all contact with that trigger. A lady who lived in our next road had a very reactive greyhound who would kick off on the sight of every living thing and spent nearly a decade having to run out of a road where a dog or cat was walking, couldn't walk her dog unless it was dark or 5 am, and would often have to let her dog pull her around a winding route so that the 5 mins journey to the park would take anything up to an hour or more. The lady could have beeen walking with me and letting me help but she wouldn't let me. She also became sick and wasnt up to walking but nobody else could handle her reactive dog behaviour. I could have been walking the dog but I couldn't even get close enough to help out. Then I heard that she had taken her dog to a rescue service, but nobody really knew what happened. I did knock on her door but she said "I've tried everything dear, nothing works, she's always been like this, there's no point trying to change her" The lady had constructed a whole life based on her decision that a problem couldn't be solved so was best avoided. And this was one of those cases where you feel its the human who needed that training and not the dog! But humans have to invite help and not have people imposing on them.

Support
If you need extra support and introductions to other breeds in a controlled manner find a local dog group that can help or contact a behaviourist. Our local dog group had an outdoor class and dog shows and we took him to a few dog shows and walked around the edge of it in a very wide berth. If he reacted, we would face him outwards and walk away a bit when he stopped his aggressive barking and gave him huge praise. Eventually, he'd let us get closer and closer, but if he reacted again we'd take him out a bit until he was OK again.
What we found useful was not getting wound up or anxious ourselves. You don't want to ruin walks by thinking "Oh my God, there's another dog coming!!" Here we go again" What you need to think is, every time your dog gets exposed to a trigger, it's an opportunity for him to learn. Bring it on we'd say, because the more practise Harry had the faster he'd form good habits.

Daily exercises
Every day my partner took Harry to the park and did not alter or avoid his triggers. If he saw a dog ahead and Harry started to react, he would say nothing, act like there wasn't a problem, keep a short lead and walk around the other dog and onwards, giving praise if he wasn't reacting. If we were not moving fast we found turning to face the other way and preventing Harry from seeing the dog really worked. So we would step off a path and away and that might mean keeping the head steady, facing your dog into a bush or tree if the path is too narrow to take a circle around a person. They are so often triggered by sight and removing the view can work. But, we didn't push it and overexpose him or overwhelm him. If a dog approached us off-lead we would shout a warning to the owner if they were in earshot and walk briskly on as if we hadn't noticed the dog, all the time encouraging Harry on. We would keep a short lead and full control of head and body. We would praise him all the time he was not reacting. If he reacted, we would cease any praise and just continue moving not looking at or facing the trigger. If we were at a dog show, and he reacted to one dog then obviously we'd turn him away calmly to face a dog that he wasn't reacting to.

Equipment
There are a few pieces of gear that help with a reactive dog. Often it's the other dog who causes a problem by coming too close and you need to be able to move along quickly and feel safe.

Muzzle: I'd advise using a muzzle but because a reactive dog can get into a frenzy and the muzzle can easily be pushed off. Strap the muzzle through part of the collar and it won't fall off so easily if you make sure it's snug. Be aware that even with a muzzle on a greyhound can still stamp on a small dog or animal. If one approaches and you're dog is not taking it well, do shout a clear warning to other dog owners. You can also get vests or scarves with In Training printed on them that sometimes makes it obvious. Don't underestimate the ignorance of some dog owners though. There's no owning licence for dogs, no exam or test to pass before ownership. Usually if you have a muzzle on your dog owners are slightly better at understanding your dog might be reactive.

Collar: However tightly you strap a normal hound collar or fish shaped collar on, a greyhounds' necks are wider than their head and a collar can easily slip off. It's a lot safer if you use a wide martingale (looped) collar which tightens if there is any pulling but spreads the pressure.

⚠ Warning!: If greyhounds have poorly fitting narrow fixed size collars and are pathological pullers even for a few years, they can develop a couple of problems in the throat like a collapsed trachea or laryngospasm later in life. Those conditions can be serious and cause breathing difficulties, so train early and use wider collars with harnesses.
Harness: One of the problems of having a lead attached to the dogs head is that they have the strength in the neck to keep pulling and spinning. You'll want to face your dog away from the trigger but he will just keep trying to spin around again and it's a struggle to even get him away from his trigger. However, if you use a harness you can use two leads. One attached to the dog's collar and controlling the head, and another attached to mid-back and harness. So not only can you stop him spinning but you won't choke him by pulling hard and like a Puppet Master you'll be able to walk him along and away. A harness is easier to grab than a silky furry body should you need to.

Leads: Leads that are rope and plaited nylon slip through your hands and can really hurt if you have a reactive dog. The nylon flat ones also hurt and aren't secure. A 1¼ inch double sided leather lead won't slip through your hands even if wet. They're not cheap but have lasted over a decade on 4 dogs with us. To ensure they are strong, it's best to purchase from a saddlery used to making horse reins and the triple stitching won't come undone easily. I like to have leads that have a buckle at each end. At the collar end a buckle is better than a clip. Often, even chunky clips can come undone with a dog wriggling their head and become unreliable when rusted. It used to happen once in a while with my collie but as he had perfect recall it didn't matter. I like to have a buckle at the other end of a 6ft lead because I can attach that end to a harness which gives me in effect, two leads. Or I just use two leads. When holding a lead I put the handle over my right arm up to the elbow then with the strap crossing my body I walk my dog on the left side of my body. Two leads, or one extra long lead doubled up and attached to two points on the dogs body means even with my disabled and weakened arms/hands can still control my dog.

Looking After Greyhound Teeth

Finally, we can breathe a sigh of relief as our 12 yr old hound got through his surgery OK and even with a slight collapsing of trachea and laryngospasm he was just fine with anaesthesia (thanks to our amazing recent vet who refused to do it 2 weeks ago on a very hot day, he never takes chances with it like our old vet used to). 

I've written these notes on dental hygiene to give people the benefit of our 13 yrs experience of owning greyhounds in the hope they will not start the dental hygiene regime too late. 

Dental disease often starts a long time before a greyhound is adopted

When we first got Harry his teeth had been neglected with a dental pocket, terrible dark brown plaque, so the RGT cleaned them, and we had a dental every 18 mths and used antibacterial gel on his pocketed area. However, even with all that, he still lost a couple of teefies today where the pocket was and had to have some bone removed. The vet said for a 12 yr old, we've done an amazing job as all his other teeth apart from the pocket we inherited are great and he thinks we are the, ost the meticulous customers in his practice. Sometimes greyhounds have 30+ teeth upwards removed and its not the adopters' fault but it is important to minimise further damage. We have had 4 greyhounds and today, this was our first extraction and root canal debridement. Our other 3 greyhounds have had zero teeth removed in their lifetime. We are proud of that but ts difficult to get other dog owners of sighthounds to listen to our lengthy description of a multi-approach when most are wanting to find, and often do find, a one word tip. 

Today, the teeth were fine, no decay at all, but his gum was soft and a hollow pocket allowed food to get in near his jawbone. In case you think your dogs teeth look clean, so don't clean regularly because of that, and haven't heard of periodontal disease here are the facts. 

Chews, toys, bones, animal parts are unlikely to eradicate all dental plaque 

Chews and toys or bones etc, might clean the enamel surfaces of teeth on the ends,but there is still an unhealthy biofilm of food and bacteria collecting near the gum. Gums become inflamed (gingivitis) and bleed. Eventually with gum disease, the gum shrinks back from the tooth exposing part of the root of the tooth. It's here that a pocket might form. Advanced pockets will show a darker, brown patch or even go grey and black. The root of the tooth doesn't have thick enamel on, chewing bones or chew toys, etc don't help here and can cause further impaction or injury to gums. Bacteria on the softer tooth root eat away and can cause infection in the bone. The bacteria that collect on hounds' teeth can cause cardiovascular disease too, especially in heart valves, and can lead to death. You can't always see pockets or infections clearly unless you peel back lips, look at the back teeth with the mouth open as back teeth fit together like scissors and hide some surfaces. These pockets are definitely preventable if you have a dog young enough or start your regime right away and remember there are no shortcuts. We've had 5 dogs and Zero extractions on teeth we've kept clean. Our Harry was 2 when he retired, 5 when we fostered him and noticed a horrid smell and I think some adopters might've been put off. I recognised the smell as Staphylococcus as my arm had been previously rotted down to the bone by Staph. A. But we could only maintain hygiene and slow down existing pocket development and we adopted too late to get rid of it. 

Greyhounds have notoriously poor dental health. But why is that? 

So why do greyhounds get bad teeth so easily? Some people say neglect, or the type of food given in the racing industry is to blame, but plenty of other rescue breeds don't get bad teeth like greyhounds. But that isn't the whole answer. However, trainers with big kennels do feed dogs chews and pigs ears but don't usually brush greyhound teeth often enough to get rid of food particles (some don't bother at all) or notice the gums that high up or back in the mouth if they've got a lot of dogs. My dogs' previous owners relied on full dental hygiene being done once retired. However, RGT haven't got resources to clean teeth as often as I do. The best reasons I've heard from my vet. He knows customers like to point to one clear reason to simplify matters but it's a bit more complex. These things can affect teeth: 

• Sticky or sweet food as young adults can cause plaque and bacteria to stick to teeth and gums. Of course we let ours have the odd bit of sweet potato mash and other human food. They like those foods but if they are messy, they squeeze up into spaces between teeth, onto gums and can sit in cheek pouches and so chews like dental sticks, chicken feet,bones or toys just aren't reaching those areas. 
• Acidic foods (like tomato sauce) and acid from sugar being acted on by bacteria eat away enamel coating on teeth. It is vile but bacteria love eating sugar but bacteria poop out acid and its often that which is pathological in biology. The root and higher part of the tooth has little or no enamel and bacteria eat at the surface which becomes rough, pitted, and even easier for dental plaque to sit on it. 
• Anatomy. Greyhounds have long, narrow jaws and after eating a meal, they can't quite reach all areas with their own tongue to lick clean and when they drink, they tend to throw water right back to the back of the throat not touching teeth. The teeth worse affected are the ones at the top back, and where they overlap the bottom back. 
• No brushing at all. No attempts by their people to brush food particles out of teeth and plaque off surfaces daily. Ideally it should be done about 1 hour after each meal (so that their enamel hardens a bit and remineralises) 
• Not brushing frequently enough. We brush thoroughly once or even twice daily, we also wipe off teeth and gums with dental wipes once daily (or after sugary food... Veggies, or starchy food like potatoes, peas, beans or fruits like tomatoes can have sugars even if natural) and we add vet dentisept, an oral antiseptic containing Chlorhexadine (like Corsadyl for humans but much more dilute ) inside back teeth and rub along gums to keep mouth healthy at night when they might get dry mouth. 

WARNING ⚠ NEVER USE HUMAN OR OTHER DENTAL PRODUCTS NOT MEANT FOR DOGS. THEY MAY CONTAIN XYLITOL OR OTHER CHEMICALS TOXIC TO DOGS. IN FACT, EVEN IF WE DON'T BUY STUFF FROM OUR VET WE NEVER USE ANYTHING WITHOUT ASKING OUR VET WHO KNOWS OUR ANIMAL THOROUGHLY (NOT A VET NURSE OR VET RECEPTIONIST IF THEY DON'T KNOW OUR HOUNDS) IF IT IS OK TO USE A PRODUCT

• Not using a good quality enzymatic anti-plaque tooth gel. You do get what you pay for and the more costly tooth gels like Logic have enzymes that dissolve plaque or tartar (gardened plaque). We use Logic gel (currently around £8.28 to £14 per 70g). And we also use Dentisept gel with Chlorhexadine at around £13 for 20g 
• Not sufficiently training a dog to accept brushing. I've had greyhounds who really don't like the brushing but they learn. Two of my dogs didn't like any touch, not even a pat. They would've had my hand off just for a pat or stroke at times or putting a collar on. However from the moment they arrive here training starts and involves daily handling including mouth. If I have a bitey dog, a muzzle goes on, then a glove on me and for the first week I let a new hound lick an inch of Logic off my finger through a muzzle. As they get used to handling, I train dogs to "open up" meaning mouth, then have a pretend inspection and reward. Just a 1 second look is a huge deal on a bitey dog and doesn't happen right away and takes trust so we don't force it, but build up gradually . Eventually they'll let you hold the jaw, and pull back lips to inspect gums. That is really important because a lot of the nasty dental disease happens to teeth in their cheeks or high up where gums start. Practice just putting something nice and tasty like a small treat, with Logic on, into various places in the mouth. After this,we start putting Logic on a finger brush and build up to moving it up and down and in circles slowly. You can then move on to a longer brush with a small head if you find it easier. Whether it takes weeks, months or several years we keep up this progressive training because getting the Logic and Dentisept into the mouth helps even without brushing. 
• Not giving dogs routine dental scrapes. We get a dog in for a dental usually within 6 mths of adoption. We let them settle first but what we don't do is wait until teeth are bad then have them scraped under anaesthesia because that takes longer with a higher probability of extractions. It's a false economy to wait. Speak to your vet because if you agree to do a dental scrape on a regular basis longterm, with no other work, they will sometimes offer a discount. Prevention is a lot cheaper than curative surgery once there is extraction, and jawbone involvement. My Harry had root canal treatment to treat a pocket (he developed it long before we fostered him and started dental care) it has cost £1,100 so far, with 2 more vets visits, painkillers and antibiotics next visit. Once a dental pocket has formed its much harder to keep clean and normal brushing can't brush into the pocket and it does finally rot the jawbone.

A word about anaesthetics 

A lot of people do worry about putting a Hound under anaesthesia because greyhounds are "different". This used to be especially true many years ago because greyhounds reacted badly to barbiturates based anaesthetics and ketamine based vet meds. However, for at least a decade modern vets choose to use human based anaesthesia which is a lot safer, more effective and clears the system a lot faster. If you had a Hound years ago you'll remember that dogs used to be really wobbly and out of it post surgery for about 24 hrs. These days my dogs have had a number of surgeries and procedures and we've been quite surprised the greyhounds are quite lively when we pick them up. They might be tired and sleep more ftom painkillers or just the emotional strain but when they stand up they aren't wobbly or drunk.

Greyhounds on modern anaesthetics will have some risk, just like othe larger dogs, and those risks can increase with age but don't let it put you off having regular scrapes. If your dog needs a scrape with no extractions, then he will be under anaesthesia for less time and so risk is lessened. You can choose to prevent tartar build up at a younger age and its best not to keep putting it off and then need something big done when they are elderly. My Harry is 12 this year and still coped with surgery very well. There are things you can do to minimise the risk as well. If it's not emergency surgery and you get to choose when it's fine, choose surgery for a cooler time of year as many UK surgeries do not have air conditioning available for every Kennel and dogs might not recover so well if dehydrated too. A few weeks ago it was hot and Harry was panting a lot and had been NIL BY MOUTH so wouldn't have coped as well after surgery during a heatwave. So we deferred it until this week. If a vet won't allow you to change the day, and its not an emergency, then I'd question whether that vet has your dog's best interests at heart. Also, I'd talk your worries over with a vet. We did and we told them what to look out for in Harry's behaviour that showed he was struggling with heat or dehydration. And we gave them permisdion in advance to stabilise him with IV fluids if needed. Some vets might try to avoid it as it's an extra cost but we made it clear if in doubt, we're happy to pay a bit more. We are also careful about not choosing very cold weather for procedures if we can as hounds have little body fat and might get clinically cold post surgery and it's just better for them to have a cool, temperate day. They burn up a lot of energy keeping warm and will have had little food that day.

Even when we do all of the above, we can still get trouble with our hounds' teeth. But if we try as best we can we'll have minimised trouble with them. Sometimes despite all this you can find gum shrinkage, loose teeth and plaque bacteria getting into the jaw. We've had two dogs with no extractions, one dog with about 5 and our latest has had 10 with another 9 borderline teeth.