Why is my dog messing through the night?

[Sstorm]

Little dog, crate/ house trained for well over a year now. She's 17 months old.

Recently I've been getting up to poo all in her bed/ crate in the morning. Not every morning- say 5 times out of 7.
Its not runny/ diarrhea so its not an uncontrollable accident. She's not got an upset tummy, her diet hasn't changed, she is let out before bed as normal, nothing has changed in the household.. I don't get it!

How do i handle this??

[fastliving]

Move back last meal to 6pm.
Take for a quick walk around the block at bedtime - lots of (most?) dogs save their poos for when they are out of their home/garden.

[koshkat]

Vets asap.

[Mamabear12]

My dog is a morning pooper (outside though!). And I pushed back her meal from 4 to 5pm so we don’t feel rushed to take her out for a poop. She does her morning poo at around 8:20am when we do the school run. Sometimes she does a poo in afternoon. She has never needed to poo at night (thankfully!). Have you tried pushing her last meal back?

[raspberryk]

I would feed later, our pup has food around 6/7pm and poos at 7am. Your dog might be waking hungry and therefore pooping or just the transit time through the gut means that 3pm food needs to come out in the night.

[ISawyouinTescoyesterday]

Could you let her out as late as you can before bed? Also our dog has field and trial special biscuits. If she eats anything other, we have a similar problem.

[Girliefriendlikespuppies]

My dads dog started doing this and it signaled the start of a serious health problem....

[sillysmiles]

What is her whole day routine?

[HairyDogsOfThigh]

I'd be tempted to change the timing of her meal. On paper, feeding at 3 and last poo opportunity at 11 should be fine, but it's not working for you, so try feeding later by a couple of hours, or feeding more at breakfast and less for the second meal.
Also, actually take her out for a walk late in the evening, not just into the garden. The act of walking often stimulates a poo.

[Oppopotomouse]

@Dimblebimble I read it like that too!

[Sstorm]

Haha Dimble 😂🤣

[Sstorm]

Some really interesting points- thank you!
Her food is all good- homemade on vet recommendation.
She had a check up at the vet last week and the vet had no concerns at all.
Thank you all

[Dimblebimble]

Why do you keep getting up to poo in her crate every morning? A bit harsh!

[adaline]

I would get any change of behaviour checked over with a vet.

[Inforthelonghaul]

We tried crating our dog when she was young but she ended up with a bed in our room for many very happy years.

[Inforthelonghaul]

There are several possibilities to start with. She may be unwell and should be checked by the vet to confirm if this is the case. She may be reaching a level of maturity where she’s starting to experience separation anxiety at night and is telling you she’s unhappy or it’s possible that as she’s growing her digestive system is changing. Perhaps you could give her the last meal at 5pm instead of 3 so that she needs to toilet a little bit later and you’re already up? If she’s in a crate and desperate for a poo before anyone is up what can she do. And yes she might be getting cold too and just protesting.

Or it may be something else entirely but if she’s healthy and the vet confirms this then she’s not happy about something.

[missmouse101]

Is her food a cheapo one? They produce lots of waste as they're bulked up with fillers etc. Might be worth trying a better quality one for less waste. Is she in season at the moment? Is she cold at night with the winter coming now, and so waking up more and therefore being aware of needing to go?

[Floralnomad]

If you say she gets anxious without the crate I’d try putting the crate inside a pen with the door open and a pad down , and I say that as someone who doesn’t like either crates or pads however they do have their place in certain cases .

[Sstorm]

Its definitely not the fireworks, we've had this problem for over a month now and the fireworks definitely do not bother her whatsoever

[Oppopotomouse]

I'd say fireworks too.

[Sstorm]

We have the baby monitor, she doesn't make a sound.
Im so confused about the sudden change in behavior she's always been absolutely fine

[acabria]

Are you close enough to hear her if she whimpers or asks to go out overnight?
Get a baby monitor if not.

[Sstorm]

Id love to have her in my room but my husband would never ever allow it

[Sstorm]

We never intended on the whole crate thing, it was only to keep her safe in the early days as she was so tiny! But she got incredibly anxious when we started leaving the door open in the night and messed everywhere. She's a timid dog naturally so this made it worse.
The crate is her safe place i guess

[Vanilla95]

Try to let her sleep with you in her bed but in your room , dogs need to be with their ‘pack’ especially at night when they are most vulnerable.
We did this with our dog and he sleeps all night and only wakes if hears a noise and it’s his job to warn us so we don’t complain.
She may be at this stage now and is stressed away from you and can’t look out for you.
She doesn’t like the crate so is soiling it.

[TwattingDog]

Does she need to be in there with the door closed? How does she do when not locked in all night?

It may well be fireworks, but otherwise you need a trip to the vet to check her over.