2 questions - Soiling in the house - feeding routine

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My 20 month old dog has just started pooing in the house again for some bizarre reason. She is normally shut in with us in our room at night but for various reasons she has had a bit of free run lately and keeps pooing overnight (sleeping in daughters room and daughter gets up for a wee and forgets to shut dog back in with her!) She has been fine for a year apart from the very odd accident if we have slept in but in the past few weeks she has done it about six/seven times. Yesterday was really bad in that I let her out at 7.00am and watched her go then went back to bed for a lie in, when I came down at 09.30 she had done a poo in the office and another one in the dining room!! A week or so ago the back door was open but it was raining and she went up to the spare room and did one. She knows she has done wrong as is quite worried when you find it even though I haven't ever told her off but my husband has. The weird thing is that she never ever wees indoors, also when we go out in the evening she never does anything in the kitchen and she can be left for 4 hours sometimes but never has an accident.

My plan is to keep her in the kitchen overnight and I am also going to install a cat flap as she is not a dog that seems to be able to tell us she needs to go out and is far too used to having the back door open all the time for her convenience. Now it's getting cold though this is a problem - last winter I thought she was just young and would soon learn to bark or tell us she needed to go out but she doesn't so I rely on making sure she has gone and then making her go out every couple of hours. I have a vax and constantly wash the carpets (with washing powder) if she has made a mess but I guess the smells must still be there as she does visit the same places each time.
Aside from this I think we need to go right back to praising her every time she goes outside and make sure she actually goes - my husband is far to lazy and just chucks her outside without checking she has been!

Food wise - do you feed your dogs twice a day or just the once? She has allways been fed morning and night, more often though she has one meal one day and two the next. In the past I have always been able to guarantee she does a poo first thing another one on a walk and a third in the evening or late afternoon but again she seems to be pooing either overnight or more first thing. I thought I would change her feeding to once a day in the morning in order to try and get everything out of her system before night time? Would this be fair i.e. one meal a day?

Any other thoughts would be appreciated

One other thought I had was we have had another dog staying with us during the day for the last month and he has obviously been soiling in the garden - even though I poo pick regularly would this make her want to not use the garden?

Ours is fed twice a day- once in the morning at about 7 and again in the evening at about 7. Her poo routine is to go at 7/8am ish and at 3-4ish. She has a regular feeding routine and a regular poo routine.

Have you considered using a crate at night?

1. "She knows she has done wrong" always makes my heart sink. Dogs have no concept of right or wrong, but they do learn how you will react if there's a mess in the house. What do you do when you find a mess?
2. What brand of food is she on?
3. How much are you feeding her?

Honestly, it sounds like she's not actually toilet trained, so I would go back to basics. Take her out as soon as she wakes up, after she eats, before bed, and any other time you know she may need to go. When you take her out, stay with her and praise her if she goes. If she doesn't go, bring her in and try again in 20-30 minutes. If you can't trust your DH to do this you'll have to do it yourself I'm afraid. Lots of praise when she does go. Never, ever, punish her in ANY way if she has an accident. Just clean it up, using a pet-specific cleaner. Washing powder and other similar cleaners won't get out the smell.

If you can answer the 3 questions I started off with I can probably give more detailed advice.

My first instinct is to think it may be a change of routine. Our dogs love love love their little routines and any upset, however trivial to us, can lead to turds in the house. You say your pup has a regular place to sleep. If you want to change it, make sure you change it to a place that will remain the same.
Also, from a physiological point of view, when your dd wakes up and goes to the loo, and the dog wakes up, all the hormones for going to the loo wake up too. You don't want to set a pattern.

Make sure you clean the places in the house with stuff that will get rid of the smell for the dog. Biological soap powder, Simple Solution, or a steam clean are things I am familiar with. If you are praising the dog to go to the loo outside, then cleaning up should make no difference. There will be a smell of some sort left behind.

Everyone has different ideas about feeding patterns. We feed in the morning then again at 4-5pm. The last outing of the day is 8-9pm and the first outing is 6.30-7am. You need to find a routine to suit you.

I think that some dogs are more creatures of habit than others. HOpe this helps a bit!

As she pops on carpeted floors could u restrict access to these rooms and just keep taking her out like a pup? My puppy is being housetrained and if he gets a chance will poo on carpet we have floorboards downstairs with rugs so i have removed hall runner, doormat and dont allow him in dining room as we have big rug in there. When I'm with him downstairs in lounge (wood floor. Large rug) I watch him like a hawk and take him to harden regularly. I am a poo ninja! . It is a pain in the neck but I don't want to be scooping poo out of my shagpile!

Garden. Not harden!

Cupcakes.

1. I do nothing, just pick it up and put it in the toilet. My Husband has told her off once in the past and again this morning he pointed at it and told her no and then put her outside. I don't think you are right in that they don't know right or wrong because obviously she does know it's wrong to poo in the house as she is worried about it even though I have never told her off.

1. James Well beloved biscuits and Wainwrights wet food - problems have seemed worse when I got the mixed Wainwrights wet food instead of just one flavour....

1. She is fed double what they say on the Wainwright's packet plus JWB biscuits BUT what they say simply cannot be enough as it is a tiny amount i.e. 1/4 of a tray of wet meat and she is constantly looking for food if I feed her what they say. She is not a big/fat dog in any way shape or form and is very fit and healthy. She is also a dog that although is food focussed if she is not hungry she won't eat.

For clarification I do take her out when she wakes up, after she eats and when I know she needs to go, I have always praised her and I have usually been the person who does all of this and she has been perfect for a long long time - these recent incidents are baffling both of us and my husband is annoyed and frustrated. I have told him what not to do but he thinks she thinks she has got away with it and keeps doing it because of that! I have re-iterated to him what he needs to do re going back to basics as I am away for the next couple of days and am worried about it. For information my husband absolutely adores the dog - sometimes more than me and my daughter I feel! They have a lovely relationship but he is just annoyed that she has suddenly started doing this and just wants it sorted.

Will she eat the biscuit without the wet food? If so I'd try just feeding her the biscuit, or just the flavour of wet food you were getting in the first place, since you think the problem is worse since you mixed the flavours. It might be an intolerance to one of the ingredients in the other flavours.

Regarding quantity, with a good quality food like JWB I'm surprised she needs more than it says, most dogs actually need less than the recommended amount. Has she been checked by the vet? Just in case there's a medical issue.

I'd still go back to basics. Tell your DH not to tell her off again - especially when she's already done it, she'll have no idea what he's telling her off for, but may start to associate the mess on the floor with him being angry, and you could end up with a poo-eating dog as she tries to hide the evidence.

Bet all my salary that this is not a food issue. I would NOT cut her down to one meal a day - poor love.

This is a dog that does not know what is expected of her. She is not pooing in the kitchen as this is her area, she is going away to poo. She is going to be easy to train, she naturally wants to be clean.

Unfortunately for one reason and another she has got confused.
Every hour go out WITH her and give her the opportunity to poo. Praise like mad with the best treat ever when she does.

Keep her in a room with you and do not let her wander off and have the chance to poo elsewhere.

I would be looking at her exercise routine rather than her food. Is she given the opportunity twice a day to walk and relief herself. Exercise at set times will help her get into a routine.

As she is an older dog you may have to continue this for quite a while. If she poos inside it is your fault for not being vigilant - so ignore it and reprimand yourself and be more attentive next time.

It is quite a big ask for a dog to tell you they need to go out without any routine etc. Many dogs never ask to go out but if they are exercised regularly then they know when they can go.

Sorry but you husband has a lot to learn

Easy - interesting about the getting up in the night and needing the loo because my daughter has gone. We have always had a routine, I am very keen on routines and had a routine for my daughter whilst she was young - still do to a degree...the only thing I don't do to routine is walk the dog - she has never had a fixed walk as I don't want her expecting a walk when I can't take her.

WTAF - yes I used to restrict her on where she went but really thought that she had grown up and could have more freedom but this is like going right back to puppy basics so going to re-think everything. She has been fine for over a year with absolute freedom around the house so this has really thrown us.

Cupcakes - no she won't eat the biscuit without the wet food and that's why I introduced the wet food in the first place as she wasn't eating. But yes I think she may have an intolerance to one of the flavours/ingredients so going to go back to one flavour/type. She has always had a sensitive tum and this is something I am very aware of so maybe that's it?

Regularly checked by vet - weight is not an issue, if anything she is a bit underweight. She walks 4 miles a day and is very active and when she is hungry she eats, if she is not hungry she doesn't take the food you have put down so I don't think I am overfeeding...she had a big bowl this morning and is now looking for more food but I am wary of feeding her in case of another issue overnight.

Also whoever said about changing her sleeping pattern is right, suddenly changing to the kitchen is going to upset her so I will go back to having her in our room tonight and hopefully husband will keep this up whilst I am away.

Husband has had a telling off for telling her off, and it really helps that he can read this thread..he absolutely loves the dog don't get me wrong and they have just had a big love in but he just doesn't know what to do and thinks my ignoring when she does a poo is not addressing the issue...it's kind of natural to want to "sort it out" if you don't think anyone else is - also he is worried about having to pick up poo whilst I am away, when I am around he doesn't have to do this and he doesn't want to!

cuebill When the OP said JWB I dismissed the idea of it being food initially too, the only thing that made me wonder if it should be explored is that the OP said she thought it had become a lot worse since mixing the flavours. I think I'd be doing that alongside the training etc that you've outlined in your post.

I would bet my salary though, too much of a coward!

wouldn't not would! Oops.

Definitely stick to the one flavour then, if she has a sensitive tum anyway.

LetherebeCupcake

This is beginning to sound like I have a vendetta against you OH - I don't honestly but really "worried about having to pick up poo" the one with poo problem is not the dog!

Don't get a dog if you don't want to pick up poo The poor dog will pick up on all these vibes no wonder she is confused.

Cubill - no worries I have a vendetta against my DH too but he is not a bad man at all and loves the bones off the dog, just doesn't want to pick up dog poo - I don't think that's a big ask as no-one really likes dog poo in their house especially since she has been so good for so long....

She is regularly walked and has access to a big garden all day - I cannot and will not routinely walk her as I work from home and cannot guarantee when she can go out and I don't want a dog that expects to go out at set times.

We have now had a "discussion" which is great when I am going away tomorrow, however he has been put right and knows to take her out regularly and go back to the lots of praise when she poos outside just like we did when she was a puppy. Interestingly we never really had a word for poo, when she wee'd outside and when she wee's now the whole family say wee wees good girl but we have never really praised as much for poo! Probably because when she was little she used to wee much more than poo indoors and we never really thought it was going to be a problem!

She is going to come up to bed with us tonight and we will keep her shut in the bedroom and hopefully we won't have a re-occurence.

An update if anyone's interested. I think it might just be food.....

I went away for a few days and husband only fed her kibble not the wainwrights wet and she was good but husband said she had quite runny poos, however she hadnt eaten much over the period as she just doesnt like kibble on its own. He also made sure she was shut in our bedroom with him at night. I came back on Thursday and fed her kibble and wainwrights wet as was worried she wasn't eating much, next morning she went out for a poo but an hour later I saw her at the back door again - luckily I noticed and let her out whereby she had another poo and it was runny - she never used to do this was always really regular in her three standard poos a day - very predictable! I have also noticed over the last couple of weeks her poos are a lot more slimey (gross) soft and much lighter coloured than they used to be plus can be runny and of course she keeps getting caught short.

I have heard that JB and wainwrights were part of the same company and both had recently been taken over by another company? So Yesterday I went to pet food store with the intention of changing to fish 4 dogs but girl in there convinced me to try skinners kibble along with nature diet wet. Doggy not so sure at the moment but has had only 1 of the 3 meals I have offered her but has had 2 poos since both of which are hard and dark.

Girl in pet shop said she had also heard about the change of company and that sales of JB were on the decline and she had heard that wainwrights was now full of rubbish. Not sure if it's true but I do wonder if this is the case.

So fingers crossed this might be the answer, the skinners looks like a really good product but if I am not happy with it will change to Fish 4 dogs and see what happens.

12 days on and no accidents in the house and back to 3 hard poos a day.....

Keeping fingers crossed it stays this way!

Are you saying you were/are feeding her kibble and wet food together? Now if that had been in the original post you would have had very different answers

Yes I said it originally cuebill - well in my post about what she was fed. For information she has ALLWAYS had kibble and wetfood together and has I said repeatedly she hadn't had an issue for well over a year.

Anyway seems it WAS food i.e. whats IN the food not how I am feeding her.

Where will you be paying all your salary to?

Absolutely you can have my salary I run a rescue centre so for the last few years have not drawn one

However you did not say you were feeding wet and dry in the same meal. Really not recommended at all and will cause havoc to any dogs digestive system. They are digested at different rates and quaranteed to cause upset.