2 1/2 year old rottie messing over night

[spottymoo]

We have a female rottie she's nearly 2 1/2 and at least 2-3 nights a week she pooing in the kitchen over night then often eating it but still leaving a mess.

She's goes outdoors before bed and 9/10 times does a poo and wee. We were advised to change her feed to morning rather than evening but this hasn't changed things.
We've even changed the make of food.
We mostly go bed at 11 and are up at 6.30 sometimes i can come back down at 12 and she's messed.

Having to clean up the mess and mop through every morning before the kids come in the kitchen is really getting to me so any advise greatly received x

Does she have a walk before bed or just get let out in the garden? She may need a walk to relax.

Is she crated?..she may not dirty her sleeping area if crated

But initially I would take her for a checkup at the vet if you havent already if its out of character.

We've tried walking before bed and it made no difference.

Creating we tried in the summer and it again made no difference.

It's not out of character she's been a dirty dog since we had her from puppy the vet just says she'll grow out of it but it's really getting on my nerves now.

We have another dog and he was clean from 10 weeks old.

I'm sorry but if she has been 'dirty since a puppy ' then you haven't house trained her properly and need to go back to basics ,there was a thread a couple of days ago explaining how to do it properly . Do the dogs share a space ,if so how do you know its her ?

No they don't share a space at night.
She doesn't make any mess in the day at all and can go hours with out going out.

Our house trained dog has recently started this. Almost like she 'forgot' it wasn't allowed! And because we aren't around in the middle of the night to correct it, has been doing around once a week.

We've resorted back to locking her in her crate at night. Works so far..
Will your dog mess in a locked crate too?

Yep afraid so
She just ate it when she did it in the crate

Apparently putting pineapple in her food may put her off eating the poo.

Have you tried leaving a light on and a radio on to makeher think its daytime?

We haven't lettuce but well give anything a try

I'd be inclined to break the problem up into two parts;
The first is that she has the need to go in the night rather than being able to sleep right through. Is this a diet or health related issue or a behavioural one? Have you had her checked by the vet and have you tried different diets?

The second is that you're not alerted to her wanting the toilet. Does she ask to go out during the day (i.e. so knows to ask to be let out to relieve herself), and do you think she's asking at night but you don't hear her?

Yes we've taken her to the vets they just say she'll grow out of it.

In the day she goes to the back door and scratches it.

Last night dh was up all night with poorly so was down stairs.

The door from the kitchen to the sitting room was open dh went through in the night to let her out but she still messed twice in the night with no scratching to go out or anything.

What are you feeding her, how many times during the day is she pooing and what is the consistency of her poo?

I finally watched that dogfood programme last night and incidently a vet mentioned that some dry food is so full of flavourings etc, that it still tastes like dog food when it comes out bleurgh. could it be the your dogs food?

I'm afraid I agree with Floral. If this isn't new behaviour then she just isn't house trained. Dogs are all different and some are easier to house train than others.

You need to devote a few days to totally focusing on training her to toilet outdoors, which will mean hard work and lost sleep, but it's the only way for her to learnwwhere she's supposed to go to the toilet.

Incidentally, did you use puppy pads when she was little? How have you responded when she's made a mess in the past? Dogs that have been trained on pads often only learn to toilet indoors unless they are then retrained to go outdoors. And dogs that eat it when they've messed indoors are often stressed.

It sounds behavioural to me. Is this the only time she is left alone for long periods? Could she be messing because she's distressed at being shut away from you?

Our dog is fully toilet trained and fine if I lick her in the kitchen. Leave her with the run of the house and she'll mess every time. She just doesn't like being alone in certain areas.

LOCK!

What dog food have you tried and what is she eating now? My Rottie is on a raw diet (meat, fish, bones, eggs, veg and occasional fruit) and I've noticed he needs to poo less than previous dogs fed on dry complete. He also gets fed twice a day rather than only having one large meal.

I'll post later what food she's on as not home at the mo but you name it we've tried it vet prescribed and the lot.

Last night she was clean
We put the other dog in with her to see if it was just the fact she's on her own so will keep trying that and see how it goes.

Sounds like an answer, spottymoo! Good luck for tonight.

How are things, spootymoo?

The other dog has been with her the past 3 night first night clean the last two we had mess again

She's very much dhs dog she waits at the window for him when ever she's out when dh is up at night (health issues ) she never messes so I'm wondered if it's separation anxiety from dh

Could be. Did you say you've tried a dog behaviourist?

Could she sleep in the bedroom then ?

No we've not tried a behaviourist but it looks like we might have to.

No we don't want the dog in the bedroom as we'd end up with them both in their and possibly in bed with us

Have you left a smelly sock of DHs with her overnight?