Hi
Following on from the post with the photo of Ivy and the children it has now been a week since she moved in and it is like she has always been here. She has been enjoying her walks on the beach, visited her grandparents in Edinburgh and met our good friends' dog Dulston and they got on really well. The toilet training has taken a wee bit of a nose dive- she is not using the towel and has had a few accidents. This is partly to do with us learning to get her out in time but she also sometimes has peed immediately after going out and when she is sleeping on the pictured couch (thank god for fake leather and it's wipe clean properties!) so any ideas would be greatly received though I am guessing patience and time are the only answers,

However she is an absolute love and she is very adoring of her new family. I a m back to work this week so we shall see how her walks with the dog walker go.

Thanks again for bringing her to us.

Look out for when she starts sniffing around...and walking around - putting her nose down and sniffing - that’s a big inking that she is needing a pee...use code words like "come on lets go" - (get up and head to the door, open it!) and say "be quick" - then when she does it - lots and lots of praise..

If and when she has accidents - remember - just ignore her and clean it up - with biological washing powder or special cleaning stuff from the pet shops - don't tell her off or anything like that.

She will soon get the hang of things - and will learn to tell you when she is needing out, just takes a bit of practice.

Good luck!

Time & patience will pay off. Here's to many long & happy years together

Good for you, Molly - glad to hear Ivy's settling in well. She looks adorable from her photo! greyhounds are so great with kids - our two girls just love our dogs and they're so gentle with them.

Re the toilet training, we had a few hiccups (well, puddles, really) with Shandy but got him trained in no time. As has already been posted, when they start to sniff along the gound it's a sign they need a pee (or something more solid). Our three look as if they're trying to hoover something up with their noses before stopping and depositing!

With Shandy, to get him trained we used to praise him to the skies when he eventually "went" outside and we'd give him a biscuit as a reward, so he'd pee then immediately look up for his treat, bless him. When it happened in public I used to wonder what people thought of me telling him how good he was for peeing!

It wont take long Molly, we were really worried that Rascal wasn't getting it and that we were in it for the long haul but that's us had her for 3 1/2 weeks and she's had no accidents in the house for the past 5 days or so and is asking us when she needs out.

It really is all patience and perseverance. When you're with her you need to watch her like a hawk, i've seen David and I turn our backs for seconds and miss her or she'd pee in the house seconds after just being outside.

We did it the old fashion way of getting a routine and sticking to it like glue. We put her out to pee first thing in the morning, after meals, after naps, after playtime, after any excitement, right before bed, after walks (sometimes she'd need to go straight after we got home!?)and anytime inbetween when we thought she hadn't been out in a while. We backed this up with 'go pee' command and went crazy with praise everytime she did her business outside. If she pee'd inside, just a quick loud no and straight outside then I'd clean it up with dog accident cleaning spray bought from pet shop (went through two bottles)without giving her any sort of reaction. Found puppy training pads/towels no use at all, we'd cover the floor in the area she seemed to like going and she'd pee anywhere but them.

Sorry for the long post but know it can be so frustrating and for us it seemed like one step forward, two steps back. We stuck with it and it eventually just seemed to click with her, no doubt she'll have an accident at some point, but just now she's whining to get out and standing at the back door to let us know she needs out, so keep at it and good luck with it.

Thanks to you all for your tips. She is already settling down and we haven't had nearly as many accidents in the past couple of days. Been doing lots of praise and getting better at reading the signs.

We just love her to bits!