dog messing in the house overnight - any ideas?

[wannaBe1974]

My dog has messed on the carpet for the past 4 nights and I have no idea why. She's a lab and is nearly 12. It is totally out of character for her to do this, but she's not showing any signs of being unwell, is eating fine, and doesn't appear to be needing to go any more during the day.

I was wondering if it's just maybe that she's getting old and can't hold on as long now or is going to become incontinent but does anyone have any idea? any vets maybe ... notAnOtter isn't your dp a vet? And is there anything I can do to prevent this? have decided to put her dinner time forward by a couple of hours to give her plenty of time to go before we go to bed so that's a start but really need to crack this as it's doing my head in, esp as the house is on the market and my lounge carpet is being ruined.

bump

Get her checked by the vet. It may be an age thing. If she isn't whining to go out or pooing by the back door then it may suggest that she either has no control or no idea. Bless her!

Moving dinner forward is a good idea, perhaps a short walk before bed instead of a wander round the garden?

You could resort to puppy-training and put some paper down. She might remember what it's for and poo on that rather than the carpet.

My dog's only 6 so I don't have any experience of 'old' dogs yet.

Hope you get it sorted!

Have you tried the Good Housekeeping section for tips on getting dog poo out of carpets?

try getting a de odoriser from the pet shop it may be that the scent is still there if she is doing it in the same place? we used simple solution.
hth

Our old aged lab started to lose control of her bowels so i would ask the vet to check her out just to make sure.

Don't for gods sake use any detergent based chemicals to treat the carpet as she'll just go back there and do it again.

Once you've cleaned the mess up treat the stain with warm water and bicarb ... then rinse in soda water ... it seems to work!

Bless her little back bits and heart - she probably has no idea and truly take her to the vets as she may not be displaying any other symptoms but there may be something amiss.

Give her a snuggle from me and the YIAM mutts x

thanks for tips, esp re treating the mark.

She actually is going by the back door, so my thinking is that she perhaps just can't hold on for as long as she used to and that may be an age thing. I will feed her nice and early tonight thus giving her lots of opportunities to go out before bed, and if we have any incidents tonight I will take her to the vet in the morning. This behavior is so out of character for her that I'm sure there's a genuine reason for it, and obviously although I don't want to be cleaning my carpets every morning, that's not really an issue if she's unwell or getting old - she's my baby