Dog pooing inside at night. Ever night apparently

[Tequilaitmakesmestupid]

Hi,

So I've already posted about this, but we thought we had it. We don't have it

She never has accidents in the day. Never. It's only at night and I know she can hold it, because she always could before and was never desperate to go out in the morning or anything. I think she's just decided that it's ok.

She was ill and on antibiotics, so that would explain the initial set back. She got better and stopped doing it, then started, then stopped and has just started again!

We thought we'd cracked it. Fed her a bit later, made sure she'd done a poo after that and if she hadn't in the garden, we'd take her for a walk. I scrubbed and scrubbed the carpet and febreezed it to get rid of as much scent of hers as possible.

We had 3 mornings in a row where we came down to nothing and then the last two, enormous poos everywhere!

Any tips? Desperate for advice. I don't want this to be a permanent thing... obviously. She's being spayed next week, so no doubt that will throw her too. Fun times!

TIA

Also what do you call a long walk , this is a dog that probably needs a fair bit of exercise and if she’s not getting off lead that will be difficult . I personally never really count running about / having access to a garden in my definition of how much exercise my dog gets I only include the exercise outside of our house .

Ah just spotted your update. She sounds like a high energy dog who is only getting one long walk a day and sometimes a brief evening one? That will be it then. She's not getting enough exercise. So she's not working the food through her system quickly AND she's bored leading to stress leading to pooing inside.
Definitely needs a minimum 2 long walks a day. How long is your "long"? Over 45 minutes to an hour? Needs to be that at least I'd say.
See if you can find a proper fenced "dog park" where she can be let off lead while you work on her recall. Puzzle toys to keep her occupied at home. Games etc.
Bigger meal in the morning to give it time to go through and smaller meal early evening about 5ish if you can? If you're a sahm that should make a routine easier. Keep times regular so she knows and get used to it.

Good luck!

Have you tried crate training?

Yes, I think perhaps she does need more exercise. Walks are usually around 45 minutes, but as I said, she's not able to run around properly atm.

Do her exercise needs change as she gets older then? I just wonder why this is only recently started happening.

She was crate trained as a puppy, which worked very well.

Just bought her another bed, which we're going to put in the kitchen tonight. That's not confusing, if she's still got her crate, right?

Also, bought some Wellbeloved turkey and rice food and a clicker/whistle for recall training.

Tequilaitmakesmestupid Sat 10-Feb-18 08:14:19
So it happened again. We were out last night and she had a late dinner (about 9.30) of rice and chicken. She had a poo just before that, so we thought she'd be ok. Nope. I went down about 6.45 ish (killer,when you're not sleeping) and she'd done it again. Not loads and it looked normal. I didn't acknowledge it (or her) which I normally do. I don't yell, but I'll point and say "no" a few times. I just cleaned it up (again!!). She wouldn't have been desperate. She obviously just doesn't think she needs to wait.

Bakers is going in the bin. I think we're going to try rice and chicken again this morning, a big meal, around 10 and leave it at that.

I have to say, I'll feel guilty not feeding her at night.

You did the right thing at the wrong time. 9.30pm is way too late to feed her. Bakers is truly awful reading about it. Imagine being fed special k exclusively all that bulk has to go somewhere. She is a lovely mixture, of breeds, my labs used their paws, only to say Mum, please, please.... not dominant imo. I have a sprocker staring at me as I type, I know he wants something. As you say walking on a lead is not ideal, however, I do not know where you live, we are lucky to have beaches, woods, fields where they can roam free, not everyone does. See how you go with the morning only feed. At 14 months, they really do not want to disappoint you by pooping in the house. My elderly springer had an explosion a few weeks ago, he hid from us even though we understood he was not well.

I wouldn’t think one 45 minute walk per day is enough, although no idea if this makes any difference to pooing! I have a small dog and, apart from on very rare occasions, she has two walks every day. Usually one of about half an hour with a ball or stick so she is running a lot and one of about an hour where she trots along beside me / behind me.

We also use food which isn’t full of fillers etc. We’ve gone for Canagen which works well and our dog seems happy and well. When we got her as a puppy the breeder stressed that Bakers was the worst food and to avoid it as it could cause hyperactivity.

why don't you put her in her crate overnight? See if she can hold it if not she'll wake you up and tell you to let her out.

Obviously this will only work if she associates the crate as her den and if you've trained her to spend periods of time in it without stressing her out ect.

Oh and another enforcement for puzzle toys!

I agree, thinking about it, that walks need to be longer and more frequent. It's been hard around where we live over the past couple of months, as the only field within walking distance has been closed to dogs and other close by (but still needing the car) places are flooded, as we're surrounded by rivers here. I tend to take her near my DDs school before pick up time now. Will do that in the morning too.

So we isolated her in the kitchen last night, with her new bed. We heard a scratching at the door at 7.45 and she hadn't done anything!! She actually seemed much more chilled too. We would have got up earlier, but our arsehole neighbours decided to have a party from 12-5am We live in a semi with paper thin walls....

Anyway, we gave her her main meal at around 10am and then a small one at 7.30. I felt too mean not giving her anything in the evening, but it was literally a couple of handfuls.

Hopefully you are on the right track now . Have you looked at secure fields to rent so you can practice your recall somewhere safe .

Oh and no barking either I would have guaranteed she'd have barked for a while, at least.

No, Flora, but that sounds like a good idea. Will look into it, thanks.

7.30 still seems a bit late to me for her last meal. We give ours their last meal at 5 and then they have a carrot. At bed time they get a couple of biscuits. They tend to want to go to bed at 9. Will often tell us it's bed time.

But glad you didn't wake up to a mess again at least!

Re the no. I think it's ok to use no or ah-ah type noise but it should be followed by an instruction. So "ah-ah" to say no and get attention and then "floor" to get down or whatever you want them to do.

Obviously thinks like barking ignore.

Also dominance theory was based on an unnatural grouping of wolves, where there were 'dominance' battles like you'd get in a random group of humans taken from everything they know and dumped with strangers on a uninhabited island but it was far more unnatural for the wolves.

Actual wolf groupings are family based, so the 'alpha' wolves are actually just parents and 'betas' are just their children. 'Betas' don't stay 'betas' they leave and become parents and thus what was called 'alphas'. The parent wolves also don't display most of those dominance theories 'dominance displays/signs'.

Domestic dogs are different anyway - they have been bred to co-exist and work along side humans, they do not exhibit dominance behaviours. Of course there will be those with a more submissive nature and those with a more bolshy nature (like in people) but that will not be displayed by sitting up high (it'll be because they want to see better or be closer to you), putting a paw onto you (affection or attention based on circumstances). They also don't use walking through a doorway first or eating first to show dominance.

Swimming I tried to have this discussion on a FB group I'm on. But apparently I'm arrogant and a know it all who won't admit to others having different ways of doing things.

So glad she did not make a mess, between the locking in, chicken and rice, and feeding early, something seems to have worked.

She's actually got a really off stomach again, bless her No accidents, but whenever she did anything outside, it was not good! Is it normal for them to have this when their diet has changed?

Yes changing diets can upset their stomachs.

You need to introduce the new stuff slowly over a period of days .

Well I'm hoping you didn't just change her entire diet in one day?
Did you slowly mix in the new and reduce the original? Would say 10-20% to start for a few days at least up to a week, then if that is going ok up to 30/40% again keep doing that for several days and so on. Gradually building up to a full feed of new choice.

You should introduce the new food a bit at a time mixed with her current food- 75% old 25% new for a few days, then 50/50, 25/75 then 100% new.
Our dog is fed at 7am and 3pm. We wed a lot less than it says on the bag as well.

Yes, I'm not sure on the exact percentage but it's been gradual and she's now on more of her new food. Stomach seems fine now. She just seems much more relaxed. No accidents in the kitchen either!