Why is my dog messing through the night?

[Sstorm]

Little dog, crate/ house trained for well over a year now. She's 17 months old.

Recently I've been getting up to poo all in her bed/ crate in the morning. Not every morning- say 5 times out of 7.
Its not runny/ diarrhea so its not an uncontrollable accident. She's not got an upset tummy, her diet hasn't changed, she is let out before bed as normal, nothing has changed in the household.. I don't get it!

How do i handle this??

[missmouse101]

Has the recent rain put her off emptying properly last thing? Can you take her for a longer walk in the evening to have a really good chance to go? Maybe bring pm feeding time forward by an hour? Have fireworks been going off nearby?

[Sstorm]

Thank you for your reply!
Fireworks don't bother her at all-thankfully. Her last meal is 3pm and goes out last about 11pm so I'm hoping time isn't the issue.
Im at a loss. It's so frustrating/ disheartening having to wash dog s**t out of her bed every morning 😔

[stucknoue]

We've had issues at night due to fireworks, he's so scared he doesn't want to walk at night, even getting him to have a wee is hard. Is this the case? Add a late night lead walk where you can monitor ddog if you don't already

[TwattingDog]

Does she need to be in there with the door closed? How does she do when not locked in all night?

It may well be fireworks, but otherwise you need a trip to the vet to check her over.

[Vanilla95]

Try to let her sleep with you in her bed but in your room , dogs need to be with their ‘pack’ especially at night when they are most vulnerable.
We did this with our dog and he sleeps all night and only wakes if hears a noise and it’s his job to warn us so we don’t complain.
She may be at this stage now and is stressed away from you and can’t look out for you.
She doesn’t like the crate so is soiling it.

[Sstorm]

We never intended on the whole crate thing, it was only to keep her safe in the early days as she was so tiny! But she got incredibly anxious when we started leaving the door open in the night and messed everywhere. She's a timid dog naturally so this made it worse.
The crate is her safe place i guess

[Sstorm]

Id love to have her in my room but my husband would never ever allow it

[acabria]

Are you close enough to hear her if she whimpers or asks to go out overnight?
Get a baby monitor if not.

[Sstorm]

We have the baby monitor, she doesn't make a sound.
Im so confused about the sudden change in behavior she's always been absolutely fine

[Oppopotomouse]

I'd say fireworks too.

[Sstorm]

Its definitely not the fireworks, we've had this problem for over a month now and the fireworks definitely do not bother her whatsoever

[Floralnomad]

If you say she gets anxious without the crate I’d try putting the crate inside a pen with the door open and a pad down , and I say that as someone who doesn’t like either crates or pads however they do have their place in certain cases .

[missmouse101]

Is her food a cheapo one? They produce lots of waste as they're bulked up with fillers etc. Might be worth trying a better quality one for less waste. Is she in season at the moment? Is she cold at night with the winter coming now, and so waking up more and therefore being aware of needing to go?

[Inforthelonghaul]

There are several possibilities to start with. She may be unwell and should be checked by the vet to confirm if this is the case. She may be reaching a level of maturity where she’s starting to experience separation anxiety at night and is telling you she’s unhappy or it’s possible that as she’s growing her digestive system is changing. Perhaps you could give her the last meal at 5pm instead of 3 so that she needs to toilet a little bit later and you’re already up? If she’s in a crate and desperate for a poo before anyone is up what can she do. And yes she might be getting cold too and just protesting.

Or it may be something else entirely but if she’s healthy and the vet confirms this then she’s not happy about something.

[Inforthelonghaul]

We tried crating our dog when she was young but she ended up with a bed in our room for many very happy years.

[adaline]

I would get any change of behaviour checked over with a vet.

[Dimblebimble]

Why do you keep getting up to poo in her crate every morning? A bit harsh!

[Sstorm]

Some really interesting points- thank you!
Her food is all good- homemade on vet recommendation.
She had a check up at the vet last week and the vet had no concerns at all.
Thank you all

[Sstorm]

Haha Dimble 😂🤣

[Oppopotomouse]

@Dimblebimble I read it like that too!

[HairyDogsOfThigh]

I'd be tempted to change the timing of her meal. On paper, feeding at 3 and last poo opportunity at 11 should be fine, but it's not working for you, so try feeding later by a couple of hours, or feeding more at breakfast and less for the second meal.
Also, actually take her out for a walk late in the evening, not just into the garden. The act of walking often stimulates a poo.

[sillysmiles]

What is her whole day routine?

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

My dads dog started doing this and it signaled the start of a serious health problem....

[ISawyouinTescoyesterday]

Could you let her out as late as you can before bed? Also our dog has field and trial special biscuits. If she eats anything other, we have a similar problem.

[raspberryk]

I would feed later, our pup has food around 6/7pm and poos at 7am. Your dog might be waking hungry and therefore pooping or just the transit time through the gut means that 3pm food needs to come out in the night.