Fed Up of Getting Up To A Mess...

Okay, the 2 collies I have are 5 years old and Flynn is 3 and a half and i've never had a problem with them messing before.

It seems that in these recent weeks, every time I get up in the morning i'm confronted with some kind of bodily function in the kitchen, whether that be a small pile of bile (containing bits of bone and grass, I assume it's stuff which isnt digested), wee or poo (the latter seems to be the popular choice at the moment!)

Their routine hasnt changed and having 3 dogs, i'm never quite sure who the culprit is and I cant understand why it's happening lately. Jed is the only one who will make a noise to indicate he needs the toilet so we tend to hear him. Flynn will eyeball me through the glass panel between kitchen/living room to tell me he wants something but obviously if i'm in bed, I cant see that! Jessie gives no indication.

Jed has also taken to refusing to go to the toilet on the property. First it was the back yard he refused but now it's the side lawn as well so the only way to get him to go to the loo is to take him for a short walk.

This morning I got up at 2:30am and took them all out to the toilet. I even took Jed up the road. I was pretty confident that there would be no mess this morning but hey ho, a pile of poo greeted me! And that was only 4 hours later...

If the dogs routine hasnt changed in at least 2 years and they are exercised, fed and let out for last toilet duties at the same time each day then why suddenly would adult dogs start to forget their toilet training? I'm pretty sure it's not just one dog who is to blame, i'd put my money on both Jessie and Flynn. I never had this trouble when they were bloomin pups!

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated because cleaning up dog mess isnt the way I like to start my day!

I would vote vet check to rule out a health issue. Could you seperate the dogs overnight (babygates?) to pinpoint the culprit?

The trouble with things like this is, it can become just a habit, we once had a dog like that when she got middle aged, always in front of the telly There was no need for it, just like with yours, so we started shutting the lounge door overnight and it just stopped!

I guess the real culprit would possibly by the one who doesn't like to go outside your own property, and he probably thinks to himself, well she isn't gonna get up in the middle of the night to take me out, so I'll just do it here, that'd be my guess anyway. I know you did take him out in the middle of the night, but have you actually taken him for a 10 min walk right before you go to bed at night, that might do it?

Really awful for you, but you've got to break this habit quickly. What about having him in your bedroom overnight, then he's got to ask you to go out??

Sometimes my dogs go through bouts of waking hubby up at 3 am just to go out and sometimes he's watched them just standing there outside, so I told him to put a stop to it by telling them to go back to bed and they do, so it broke the habit. If they really DO want to go outside, they carry on pestering of course so he gets up!

I feel for you, the odd bout of sickness or diarrhea is understandable but this is naughty!

Yes a vet and baby gates sound like good ideas and if there is nothing medically wrong - I would start going back to basics. Seems an odd thing to start happening - any stressors lately?

(Maybe they're excited for Santa - sorry poor joke, but thought you'd need a laugh )

one of mine is an ex kennel dog, and does this especially lately when i have put down a new (to me) rug, the only way i have got round it is to go back to crating her.

The bile thing is often because they have an empty stomach. A good sized dog biscuit (I use the big sized Bonios, or a small handful of food) before bed usually solves that problem.

The pooing thing does seem a bit odd in fully housetrained dogs. I'm assuming these poos are 'normal', as in fully formed? I agree with the others that separating them might be a good way of finding the culprit.

My Labrador went through a long phase of refusing to toilet in the garden. I pandered to this and walked him round the block every night, which wasn't much fun in the dead of winter. I got fed up with it in the end and just started putting him on the lead and marching him around the garden until he went. It took a while but he got it eventually and will now go on his own.

Good suggestion from Helena! This may not be possible because of size constraints, but I would hazard a guess that if all 3 dogs were in your bedroom this would not happen. The problem would be if you did this one dog at a time, this could well cause disharmony in the pack, so I think it would have to be all or nothing. After about a week of them all sleeping with you, if this is possible, you might break the vicious cycle and the phantom pooer and pee-er stops!

If at all possible, I would try that. It is virtually impossible that they would foul your sleeping space, it is just such a no-no - you are already seeing one of your dogs not wanting to foul the garden - so I think you will be quite safe from any horrible accidents in the night!

that's interesting! ben likes to cock his leg on the floor area in front of the CD rack in the dining room!!

I wouldnt be moving the dogs into the bedroom!

I had this problem with sadie, she would wee or poo every night in the same spot, the only way i stopped it was to seperate the other dogs (in crates) to be 100% sure it was her- then when i was sure it was her i blocked off the area where she would mess- i recently moved and she started the same thing here, so i blocked off where she decided to 'go' and it has stopped completely.
Though if it starts again i have nowhere else to block off so she will be moving to a crate for a while until she gets out of the habit!

Has there been any stress lately or a change in diet?

It may be that even the same diet has now become not so good for the dog/s in question. What time or times are they fed?

Sometimes it is possible to alter the feeeding times and that will solve it, other times it needs a change over to another diet, sometimes it's not related to the diet at all but to other things...

Wys
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