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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

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Original poster

6 month old pup started pooping at night

10 replies

clockingoffcloud · 08/02/2022 08:14

Just that really, he was very good and has been clean/dry at night since early November. Last few weeks most nights a big sh&t on the floor each morning. Sometimes a little loose, but no more than normal. I normally greet him as normal in the morning, clean up and say nothing. This morning I said 'what is that' and gave him a look, cleaned it up and have come back up to bed as I'm just feeling pissed off with it.

He's perfectly well and normal in himself and no other changes.... any ideas or advice?

OP posts:

PollyRoulllson · 08/02/2022 08:22

At 6 months it is pretty common to go down to 2 meals a day. Have you done this with your puppy?

Original poster

clockingoffcloud · 08/02/2022 08:25

Yes I have. He's a bit of an on off eater, some days eats it all, some days ignores it until the afternoon. I think I might start putting it down and removing if he doesn't eat it

OP posts:

ThisisMax · 08/02/2022 08:29

Theres no point in asking 'Whats that' - he has no idea about social displeasure or your thoughts about the mess.

Original poster

clockingoffcloud · 08/02/2022 08:45

@ThisisMax

Theres no point in asking 'Whats that' - he has no idea about social displeasure or your thoughts about the mess.

so helpful.. thank you for your insight.....

And I can assure you he was well aware of my social displeasure

OP posts:

FazedNotPhased · 08/02/2022 08:49

Of course he wasn't! Not in any useful or meaningful sense. All you'll do is make him do it in secret.

Personally I'd try adding some canicur type stuff to his food just in case he's got a digestive issue, and getting up once in the night to take him out.l and getting him to poo. He's not fully trained if he's not waking you to go out, so you need to go back to the basics. Good luck!

paname · 08/02/2022 08:50

Use a crate at night and get up if he asks to go out. It's a bit of a pain but it's the only way.

ThisisMax · 08/02/2022 11:24

@clockingoffcloud
Dogs are not gereralists nor can they do abstract reasoning. So pointing out a poo does nothing. He does not understand, if you work on the assumption he does understand you will be disappointed. For example - point to a pile of toys with a 6 month pup and say 'fetch the ball' - they wont have a clue but will enthusiasrically try until they get rewarded, same as pooing on floor - he has no idea whats right or what you want. You are just creating anxiety around something being wrong but he is not sure what.

Tertius3 · 08/02/2022 11:49

Our little 8 month old was doing this and I have figured it out! She is on dry food and it seems to take her about 11/12/13 hours to digest. So now she is on strictly morning food ( i put it down at 7 and make sure it’s up by 11am) and dinner at 7pm (might move this later as she wakes me for a poo at around 6am to 7am now). The dinner she eats in one go as she really is hungry by then.

She sleeps in our room and was waking me all night to go out, and it does seem to have been a combination of habit - bored at night and waking me for fun and a trip to the garden. Plus the afternoon food genuinely going through her system by 3-6am.

I had to sleep in another room for a week while my husband ignored her trying to wake him (she had been whining at my bedside several times a night) - (she made one or two mistakes in that week) and now she sleeps all night quietly and poos in a much more regimented way, first thing, in the day time and just before bed. And not at night any more.

So I would say early breakfast and later dinner and nothing in the middle of the day. I think 7am and 7pm is a good routine.

Tertius3 · 08/02/2022 11:50

My mistake had been 4pm tea time. That way she just needed a poo at 3am or 4am. Not helpful!

fairylightsandwaxmelts · 08/02/2022 15:57

Dogs need set meal times. Put his food down, leave it for twenty minutes, and if he doesn't eat it - just remove it and he doesn't get anything else until his next meal time.

If he can graze and eat whenever he fancies, there's going to be no predictability to his toileting and if you're not there when he needs to go at, say, 3am, he's not going to have any choice but to go on the floor.

I would also add that making comments to him and telling him off is completely pointless - dogs live in the moment and he won't connect your "social displeasure" with the fact that he pooed on the floor several hours ago. Dogs don't work that way.

If he does have an accident, clean it up properly with a pet-enzyme cleaner and leave it. You can't correct behaviour several hours after it happens - it has to be in the moment.

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