Is this separation anxiety? Pooing in the house :(

[tangerino]

I have a lovely 2yo whippet who is lovely in almost every way- calm, gentle and affectionate, great recall etc.

However, he sometimes poos in the house, either when I am out (when he tends to sneak upstairs to do it- he is not allowed there) or in the kitchen where he sleeps at night. Am at the end of my tether trying to work out how to stop this. He gets plenty of walks and opportunities to go outside and there is no medical issue.

I wondered whether he might be experiencing separation anxiety, because it only happens when I am out or upstairs at night. He is quiet closely attached, follows me round the house etc. He is never left for more than an hour or two (except at night when we are in bed upstairs and he is downstairs).

My other thought was just that he hasn't quite worked out that this is a misdemeanour- I never scold him because by the time I discover it has happened, he will presumably have forgotten and won't understand why he is in trouble.

Any thoughts? Is there anything I can do to stop him pooing at night- just a way to show him it's not on? If it does sound like separation anxiety, how do I address this? Having him upstairs is not an option.

Is he cold at all do you think? Our greyhound would sometimes toilet at night due to being cold. Now she wears a fleece coat at night and when we leave her during the day and it stopped that from happening. It might also provide additional comfort - I do think that, if he used to being with you all time, he might find it quite hard to be away from you at night. I'm afraid that the only solution we found to our hound whining at night was to have her in the bedroom. I was never going to do that, but she sleeps peacefully next to us and is no bother. She also loves bedtime now - races up the stairs and settles as soon as you say the word 'bedtime'! Before it used to be a battle to get her out of the living room and into the kitchen. Other solutions could be to leave a light/radio on and see if that helps. I'm sure others will be along with better ideas.

Has the pooing overnight always happened or is it a new thing , if it's always happened ,albeit not every night , it sounds like the dog is not properly housetrained . How many times a day does he poo ? ,is it worth looking at the time he eats so that he won't need to poo overnight . If you really don't want the dog upstairs perhaps get a stairgate or actually shut him in a room downstairs when you are out / in bed .