At wits end with dog pooping multiple times a night. Please help

[Autther]

For the last month or so our 1 year old cockapoo has been pooing multiple times in the night. Sometimes she wakes us by barking or shaking when she gets out of her bed (in our room) then I have to go and stand in the freezing kitchen by the back door, but sometimes we don't wake up so she poos in the house. Usually three times and then she seems to poo again in the morning when we're up, at the usual time she would go out to the toilet.

They are normal poos, not loose. No idea how she is producing so much shit as she is a small dog.

She is not pooping at all during the day.

Tried so far-
Changing her meal times. She used to have breakfast and then dinner between 5-6pm, we've moved her second meal to a small meal at 2 or 3pm but no change.

A worming tablet

Yesterday I got some digestive food from the vet that has worked for her in the past when she had a poorly tummy. We will see how this goes.

Evening walks.

All with no change.

I don't believe she is ill, it is like her digestive cycle is back to front and not sure how to fix this. She no longer poos during her walks or anytime in the day really.

She is walked for an hour everyday.

We are tired. It's like having a puppy again. Last night I was cleaning shit in the house at midnight, half asleep, couldn't find poo bags, kitchen roll all out. Bloody fed up

Take her out more - exercise and movement stimulates their bowels. You probably need to take her out on the lead several times a day round the block to get her moving, as it were.

Spaniels can have bowel movements when they are nervous it's a behaviour /anxiety issue has anything even the slightest change in her routine/outside that is different/happened?

Have you had her at the vet ? Also a probiotic can help regulate her I'd speak to the vet.

Well you have had her at the vet I'm sorry I didn't read properly.

Sounds like inappropriate soiling behaviour - is she anxious? Noises in the night frightening her? My old dog started doing this - I think with her it was also cognitive decline. But I couldn't be cheerful cleaning it up every morning either!
I'm afraid my tactic was to feed her in the morning only and instead of a bowl of food in the afternoon she got a chew. Same amount of food but earlier in the day so it got through her gut before bedtime.
I also got a collar which was supposed to be calming and some food supplements. It wasn't 100% successful but there was an improvement.

Echo PPs - she sounds quite anxious and unhappy. The shaking would worry me a lot tbh. What's she like generally?

I would also add that spaniels are well known for having funny tummies. How late are her evening walks?

Another possibility is a food intolerance or allergy. When one of mine was about a year old, he was like yours is now. He started asking to be let out a few times each night to poop. We eventually figured out he had become allergic to chicken and a few other ingredients. His stomach was uncomfortable I guess, due to the unsuitable food. Why it bothered him more at night, I don't know. We changed his diet, and the problem stopped.

By the way, he has always shivered when he's unwell, even if I can't see more obvious symptoms it's usually a heads up for me that something's not right with him so your dog could be similar.

Sorry just to clarify, I mean shaking her head like after she's had a scratch of her hears, not body shaking.

She may be anxious but I have no idea about what or why. The behaviour started when my Mil dog sat for the week after Christmas, at our house, while we were away.

She does bark at noises in the night but she's always done this. We live in a very quiet area. No other behaviour changes or concerns. And apologies I definitely don't mean she is shaking, I don't know what the term is for the head shake they do when they stand up after a sleep to flap their ears

Dogs can shake their heads to regulate their emotions, I'm no way an expert that was from our dog trainer, so basically she might be "shaking off " anxiety. Not that that helps you with cleaning up poo during the night. Where does she. Do it ?

My dog does that shake all the time - she’s on meds for anxiety. I would get a good, qualified behaviourist in for a consult.

If it’s not medical it could be as simple as crate training her. I’ve never done this with my dog but it solved the problem with my friends cockapoo who kept weeing in the night.

Would you consider changing her food to one that uses completely different ingredients to the one you're using now? Food intolerance can develop at any stage. Very frequent pooping can be a sign of the food not suiting the dog.

She gets issues with her ears so we're fairly used to the head shake after she has a scratch. Hadn't really considered she could be anxious. If it is anxiety what could we do about it? She's very well exercised, lots of mental stimulation from training, we do tricks and play with toys, she's learning how to use those voice buttons things.

She used to always poop on the landing, occasionally now in front of the garden door and sometimes in the hallway.

It does seem like it's a genuine need to poo though as she's not pooing in the day

She only has cooked chicken and occasional biscuits but yes we could try something else. She often gets little bits of cheese or cooked veg throughout the day when we're cooking but stopping that hasn't made a difference to the pooping

Have you tried cutting down to one big meal a day? Then just a chew in the afternoon before 3PM at the latest. Lots of outside time/walks after this to make sure she empties her bowels ahead of night time.

My friend's dog did this and she had to crate train in the end as nothing was stopping her dog weeing in the night.

Although I would be worried that it only started happening after your MIL dog sat...

Yes we tried one big meal in the morning and she retched in the night from an empty stomach. We could try one big meal in the middle of the day. She is outside lots, she plays in the garden, has a long walk, comes on the school run a few times a week alongside her normal walk, which is a half hour round trip. DH sometimes takes her to the pub in the evenings. Nothing has made a noticeable improvement in terms of her walking times

If it only started happening when MIL dog-sat for you, I suspect she did something differently and changed her routine. Have you asked her?

MIL denies doing anything differently and if we push she'll get offended. She does stay up until the middle of the night drinking and we did wonder if that impacted the pre bedtime toilet routine. But you'd think she would be back in the rhythm as it's been over a month

If something has scared her or made her anxious then going back to her old routine isn't going to stop that unfortunately.

You say MIL drinks - what's her behaviour like when she does? Could she have frightened your dog? Or even just slept too late and not taken her out enough in the day?

She only has cooked chicken - is that her sole diet ?

Something def happened when she was cared for at Christmas.

Cooked chicken and Lily's biscuits, veg bits when I'm cooking, dentachew a few times a week and things like pigs ear, chicken foot occasionally.

She reacts poorly to ham and fish based food

She could've been very loud yes. Not mean or aggressive though. Yes she would've slept in late and probably not let her out on time in the mornings for toilet. She has cared for her before though without these after effects

It sounds to me like you need to find a new sitter who can actually be trusted to stick to your dogs' routine and not get drunk and sleep late every day.

Cockerpoos can be incredibly sensitive dogs and if your MIL stays up late, is noisy and doesn't bother to get up on time, then I'm not entirely surprised the dog is now stressed and anxious.

I'm up at least once, maybe twice a night too 😴

Yes that is true, frustrating though as it's free 😭

Maybe tell her how important it is to stick to the routine? That you've been up multiple times a night since she sat for you?