Dog pooing inside at night. Ever night apparently

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Hi,

So I've already posted about this, but we thought we had it. We don't have it

She never has accidents in the day. Never. It's only at night and I know she can hold it, because she always could before and was never desperate to go out in the morning or anything. I think she's just decided that it's ok.

She was ill and on antibiotics, so that would explain the initial set back. She got better and stopped doing it, then started, then stopped and has just started again!

We thought we'd cracked it. Fed her a bit later, made sure she'd done a poo after that and if she hadn't in the garden, we'd take her for a walk. I scrubbed and scrubbed the carpet and febreezed it to get rid of as much scent of hers as possible.

We had 3 mornings in a row where we came down to nothing and then the last two, enormous poos everywhere!

Any tips? Desperate for advice. I don't want this to be a permanent thing... obviously. She's being spayed next week, so no doubt that will throw her too. Fun times!

TIA

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Grr, title should be every night.

[JellyMouldJnr]

sorry, no advice but we have a lab puppy with the same problem at present, so I'll be checking for replies.

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Jelly, sucks, doesn't it...

[JellyMouldJnr]

it does! I can see why she likes pooing inside to be fair, she prefers privacy and isn't keen on the rain, but like you it's not an accident, she never does it inside during day time!

[beyondthepaleandinteresting]

We’ve gone through phases of this with our young dog. We’ve always been able to sort it by changing feed times, but there has been some trial & error involved. Generally an earlier last feed (5.30pm ish) seems to work better than a later feed for ours.

[Steamcloud]

No direct experience of this but have lots of doggy training books which basically say pretty much the same thing:

Increase walks (take her out last thing at night and encourage her to go then)

Eliminate medical causes (worms, diet, neurological issue etc etc)

Then explore psychological issues ie does she have separation anxiety at night? Does she feel secure and safe where she is sleeping?

Finally, when all the above have been eliminated, go back to the very basics and repeat puppy training.

[BiteyShark]

Back to basics. Get up earlier than you would do normally before she wakes and take her out into the garden and praise like mad. Repeat several mornings till she gets it then slowly get up later each time until your normal time.

You could also have a baby monitor so you hear and see when she wakes if you think you could get down quickly enough to catch her before she poos to let her out.

Any odd glitch with my dog in toileting I went straight back to as if he was a tiny puppy again just to reinforce the behaviour I wanted.

[mikeyssister]

Our dog started doing this when we fed him earlier in the day. Now he eats around 5 and if he doesn't eat by 6.30 we take it away.

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Thanks for all the advice.

Is dry food better for digestion? I've noticed that it's usually quite soft recently. Not diarrhoea, but just quite loose. When I see her going, she goes round and round in circles and will hover and walk, as if she has that feeling she needs to go, but then doesn't for a long time. She isn't constipated.

When I tried feeding her earlier, it never seemed to work. Used to feed her at 7, but when this started, gave 5 a go without success, as I said. 8-8.30 seemed to work, but again, not always.

If you feed your dog early 5ish, is that with the idea that that meal has digested...etc before you go to bed?

[BiteyShark]

Dry food was too hard for my dog to digest so we moved to wet. We feed at 5-6pm and let him out for a poo around 11pm. He then usually needs one soon after waking (5-6am) and if he doesn't go then he will after breakfast.

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Hmm so does wet food normally go through them quicker?

[welshmist]

How old is the dog?

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

She's 14 months

[Biscusting]

My dog went through a phase of this, like you say lots of poo!

Turns out he’s allergic to wheat and fresh meats like cooked chicken irritate his bowel causing multiple soft poops!

A change in diet and reinforcement of daily routine along with lots of assurance seemed to sort it out.

[Kidssendingmenuts]

Have you changed her food recently or are you giving her meat with jelly in? My dog did the same if I gave him the jelly covered meat, wasn't even able to pick up with a poo bag it was that bad! Soon as I switched him back to dry or meat with gravy he was fine x

[welshmist]

Could be on one meal a day now then, at breakfast time. With having been ill the gut could be out of kilter, try chicken and rice for a few days.

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Can you really just feed them once in the morning? If you were just feeding them once, I thought you should feed in the evening.

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

We haven't changed her food. I give her a small amount of dry food in the morning (8-9) and then a mix of wet and dry food in the evening. She usually has Bakers biscuits and Tesco wet food in Jelly.

[BiteyShark]

kibble is dry and expands when it's wet hence why a dog needs to drink more water when being fed kibble. I use a high quality wet food (actually switched from dry to wet with the same manufacturer so same ingredients) and found he tolerated that much better and his poos firmed up. I didn't find any difference in the time it took to 'go through' but just that his stomach tolerated it better as his poos firmed up.

[welshmist]

We have always fed once in the morning from 12 months, the exception is when they are working then they get treats during the day. Try the breakfast route, then maybe a treat in a kong in the evening. You don`t say if they have the run of the house at night or are locked in one room.

[battenbergbutterfly]

My dog did this when she'd been fed earlier in the day so straight back to usual feeding time and all was sorted.

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

She has the run of the kitchen and living room at night. She has her bed/crate in the kitchen and will usually switch between there and the sofa during the night. We would lock her in the kitchen, but we know she'll probably bark all night and possibly chew the table legs and door frame

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Welsh, so when do they go for their last poo? I'm worried she'd be hungry on one early meal....

[Floralnomad]

No offence OP but you really need to look at getting her on a better diet . I don’t think feeding time is particularly relevant unless a dog has active diarrhoea , if the poos are normal they should be able to hold on overnight . We feed twice a day between 8-9 and 4:30-5:30 , Millie’s Kibble in the morning and then a mixed tea of kibble and natures menu wet . Dog rarely poos after tea , will occasionally go in the garden in the morning but usually waits until his walks , whatever time they are .

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

I don't take offence at all! I didn't think she had a bad diet though