Why has she started pooing in the house again?

Hi guys, Roxy is making me pull my hair out at the moment. She is fully toilet trained. She is now 10 months old.

It started last Thursday when I left Roxy at my sisters house for 4 hours and she had a poo in the kids bedroom. I sort of sympathised as she hadn't had her morning poo before I left her there. So anyway come round to Tuesday night when I woke up to take her out for wee and SQUELCH! walked into a big lump of dog poo in our hallway!

After cleaning all that up I also noticed another one in the lounge? both cold so obviously done overnight.

Then comes round to last night, we shut her in our bedroom (sorry she slammed our door shut herself ) and at about 5am this morning we wake to an awful smell. another poo on the floor at the end of the bed. Why is she doing this again? We feed her nice and early and try to ensure she has a poo before bed time (however OH said it was so dark last night he couldn't tell) its just getting frustrating!!!!!

I'm no expert but have experienced this and put it down to a couple of things really - at 10m although they are housetrained I think we become a bit 'lazy' with the toilet training when they need a bit of a reminder of when they have done it right and in the right place.

another thing was the weather in awful weather one of mine just refused to venture in the garden last thing at night - too cold and wet (wimp!) unless I braved it too - if not we suffered from the overnight poo!

The only other thing - have you changed her feeding routine? Perhaps move it forward to earlier to give her chance to relieve herself before bed.

Or could she have an upset tum so unable to hold on?

Its such a pain isn't it when you think all sorted and boom back to square one it feels like?

Good luck Dobiegirl!
they do tend to have a backwards spell so need the

I wonder if she could be coming into season, or has she just had one? My girls are not always as clean as usual when they are in season, not really with poo but they will just tiddle where they feel like it sometimes. I have to watch one of them in particular.

Rachel has mentioned a few good points too, I have a friend who owns a bitch that refuses to go out for walks, last tiddles etc if its raining, she's had lots of accidents just lately because the weather has been so bad.

I hope you manage to get her sorted out. x

Although you say she is fully house trained she has taken a long time to get to this point. So does she normally ask to go out? because to me being fully house trained means they not only ask to go out but they hold on until they physically can't hold on any longer, for example with upset tummy they need to go and they need to go NOW. So although mine learnt to wake me up in the middle of the night because they were crated and would not wee or poo in the crate they had no alternative other than to bark or whine to make sure I hear them. Roxy has never had to do this, and she has only fairly recently stopped peeing and pooing at home so maybe this is just a backwards step, they all have them you know. To her pooing in the lounge if she is sleeping in the bedroom is nearly the same as going outside, she has gone away from her sleeping area. The one in the bedroom was because she couldn't get out although to be honest I would expect her to try, by scratching at the door or barking, which is where I come back to does she usually bark when she needs to go out? If not then that is where you need to start.

Hi guys great advice thanks.

Trouble - We just got to the stage of scratching at the door to go out but she wont do this with the gate at the top of the stairs so no, during the day we have no idea.

In the morning she will nose me and paw me until I wake up and take her out for a wee. She MAY have done this last night, although I was apparently out for the count so may not have noticed.

You right in that it is only within the last few months Roxy has stopped weeing and pooing in the hosue. And perhaps this is a relapse, how can I get her past this? She can hold it for a very long time. Sometimes you can see her literally crossing her legs waiting for my OH to get out of the shower

Scorpio - She hasn't had her season yet, and its all a bit confusing but I dont think she is due just yes

rachel - I have not changed her feeding pattern, my OH went back to work after a week off last thursday. Erm, but thats about the only change within the household. She could possibly have an upset tum?? cant think of anything that would trigger that though.

It's hard when she is as big as she is but, you can only keep on with what you are already doing, they do get there in the end. Maybe as someone else said somewhere attach a bell or something to the gate and the bedroom door and hope she doesn't jingle every 5 minutes or eat it

If it was me I would go right back to basics and treat her as though she wasn't house trained at all. Take her outside on a lead as you would if she was a tiny pup and make a huge fuss/give a treat if she performs. Do this after meals, play, sleeps etc just as you did when she was little and it should jog her memory as to what she is meant to do

Sometimes it can be like any other training - they need regular reminders about what is expected.

Good Luck

Or you could dust the cobwebs off the crate for night time use until she is trustworthy. OK I'll go and hide now

Natalie - sounds like a little relapse and its just a case of rewarding like you did when she was a youngster and taking her out regularly too!

Hope she gets back on track soon for you.

SNAP LIZZIE! you just were quicker than me!