Pooping on the carpet

[lovenotwar149]

Hi,
I am now a respite fosterer for my guide dog who has been withdrawn from the programme on health grounds after having 2 seizures. He will now live with me until end of April.
Its been 2 wks now that I have had him home with me, previously whilst he lived with me ,since Oct 28th '24, he went to training school every M -F from 7am til 4pm.
Its going well but this week he has pooped on the carpet 4 times. He's done it in the night , I've not heard a thing, just seen it on the carpet when I come down at 6am.
I haven't said anything to him, just cleaned it up. On a couple of these 4 occasions , he has pooped outside after break too. Thats his usual habit.
I'm a bit stressed about it, its of course not a nice thing to see first thing in the morning.
Any thoughts? Something isn't quite right.
I take him on 2 walks everyday , one of these is off lead. I play with him too in the garden most days. He appears v happy, tail wagging , he's v affectionate to me too, we cuddle a lot and chat too. He appears v happy/settled.

Is it the change to his routine? Is he less tired now he's not being worked as a guide dog? I am sure not I am not 'working' him in that way. He used to be very noticeably tired after I collected him when in training. Although his habit of basically sleeping/resting after our second walk around 4pm, is the same as when he was in training. Does he wake in the night b/c he's not so tired and then have the urge to go? Any thoughts people? I really want to NOT wake up to poo on the carpet tomorrow and thereafter!!!

Not break , breaky .....typo

I dont think its an attention seeking thing, as he's doing it in the night and he doesn't get any -ve attention for it. Maybe I am wrong.

Set up a camera and see what his behaviour is like overnight and what times he gets up - then I would be getting up in the night and taking him to the toilet to pre-empt it.

When & what are you feeling him?
Also, does he go on command? Maybe take him out before you go to bed and ensure he's doing his business.

Plus clean the carpets with something like simple solution/ kennel cleaner to ensure all poop scents are gone.

How old is he and when’s his last walk? Is it 4pm? They may partly be why - lack of mental stimulation means he’s not sleeping as heavily and therefore he does just wake up to poo as opposed to sleeping through.

Is he having a seizure before he poops? My dog had seizures and would urinate afterwards.

Was he kennelled at night at all with the guide dogs?

Second this. My dog often pooped and/or peed during or after a seizure.

Ok thx ppl.Some good points made. I will be setting up a camera tonight. When he had his 2 seizures , he made a very loud sound just b4 the seizure which alerted me to run downstairs. So I don't think its a seizure he's having.Although just because he made a loud sound b4 his 2 seizures doesn't necessarily mean he will be vocal forth next one. I do hope he hasn't had 4 seizures this wk and thats the reason he has pooped , I do hope its not that. I will monitor o the camera.
No he wasn't kennelled at night , he has been living with me since Oct 28th '24.
He sort of goes on command.

he is 18 months old

And we are home from his last walk about 4/4.30pm, which was the same time we were home after I collected him from training School when he as in training

Is he literally indoors after that? Or is that just his walk but he goes out in the garden?
Camera great to check for seizures and see what's going on.
But first thing I would do is take him out again for a toilet trip early evening and just before you go to bed, ie as late as possible.
Confine him to a non carpeted area if at all possible.
Depending on what the camera tells you as to when it is happening, you might need to set an alarm and get up earlier for a while.

I would get in touch with your volunteer manager and get their advice. They will still be supporting you even though you do not have a dog in training.

4pm is really early for him to have a last opportunity to poop, especially so if he has his dinner when he gets home. Even if he has a garden he could go in, some dogs need a walk to get things moving. Could you give him another walk, doesn’t have to be a long one, during the evening, say 8ish?

Also, he won’t be as tired now as he would’ve been if he was at training school all day - he would have been exhausted after that long day and all the mental exertion so would have been much more likely to sleep through. So if he’s not sleeping as deeply and wakes a bit in the night, if he’s needing a poo, he’s much less likely to just roll over and go back to sleep.

Can you restrict where he sleeps? Utility room, or get a dog pen (preferably on a hard floor) as he is less likely to poo near where he sleeps.
I agree with PPs about taking him out in the evening a couple of hours after he’s eaten so he gets the chance to go again.

I would get up at say 12 midnight to let him out to toilet and if that results in no indoor poo then push to 1230 the next night and so on.

I assume you are letting him into the garden to toilet before bed

I gave a home to a 5 year old Labrador many years ago and I had the same problem. I cured it by completely changing her feeding time. I had other dogs at that time and all my dogs were fed in the morning but I moved the Lab's food to early evening. This worked. She was 14.5 when she went over Rainbow Bridge and she never soiled in the house again after that.

Thanks ppl for further replies. He does get the opportunity to go out again after his last walk at 4pm. He goes out again twice or s'times 3 times. He goes out to pee at 7 before dinner. I take him out after dinner too incase of a 3rd poo if he hasn't done his 3rd poo. And he has a final toilet trip around 9,30pm.
It may very well be the case that he is not so tired now that he is effectively 'a pet' and not being worked hard by a trainer whereby he would come home exhausted.
I did work out a correlation which is very interesting. My dog has taken to eating twigs/bark/small logs etc in the last 10 days or so, and this coincides with his pooing in the night. On one occasion there were twigs in his poo. we caught one incident on camera and his poo was clearly a matter of urgency. Interesting hey! In the last 2 days , he hasn't eaten any such things and no night time accidents. I had a chat with his ex trainer and the advise was to go back to lead walking only , stay well away from twigs/logs etc
I have slept d'stairs the last 2 nights to catch him in the act if possible but he hasn't pooed, great! However last night as he was up many times to come 'n sniff me with his wagging tail ( I think he was excited that we were having a sleepover...lol) , he did at 5 am this morning go to the area where he had been pooing. Ominous I thought! I ushered him back to his bed and he listened. Phew!
FYI I have shake' vac'd the area btw to get rid of any poo odours!

I will plod on! Im determined to crack this!!

Sounds like you’ve cracked it with the twigs, which tbh they shouldn’t be eating anyway. Maybe take a toy out on his free runs to distract him (a rubber stick to throw maybe) and if you see him heading for a twig to munch on whistle him back and reward him for leaving it

I think it would be worth getting the proper cleaner with the biological enzyme so he can't smell where he pooed before. Shake and vac might cover it up to human noses but he can probably still smell it.

Interested in the twig thing - my retriever loves to chew up sticks and I just let him - never had any issues - but he does poo overnight on occasion…

It's really not a good idea to let them chew sticks - they can cause serious damage to the throat and intestines/bowels if swallowed.

Just googling it as we speak! It honestly never occurred to me to stop him, he spits it all out but can see how it could go wrong..

Yeah, it can be nasty. A dog I walk got a bit of chewed up stick caught in his throat (not with me, luckily) and needed emergency surgery to remove it. It was awful.