Middle of the Night Floor Pooping

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Sigh. Rocky, our mutty terrier dog almost 2 yos, has been pooping on the floor of the bedrooms on & off for the last couple of months. It started when my husband was out of town, and I attributed to DH being gone & some bones he found in the backyard. Anywho, it went away, and then has gone on over the last couple of months. I thought it was a variety of things at a variety of times such as eating a pair of my underwear (frequent occurance) or finding part of an old bone in the yard, or a wormer med from the vet, or eating cat poop.

Well, he did it again last night. I kept the poo and took it to the vet for testing today. No worms. I just don't know what to do! He pooped all over his cage while I was at market today, and he was covered in sh!t! ARGH! I'm at my wits end, DH is threatening to rehome him. I just don't know what to do. We walk him almost every day, I even hired the neighbor girl to take him 3X a week b/c I felt like I wasn't getting him out enough.

Any idea what it could be? We're strapped pretty tight right now, and I don't know how much vet bills we can afford! Is he just being a brat? Or is there something else it could be?

[Ola_]

Any changes in his diet? New treats, new bag of dog food, kids dropping food or feeding him, anything like that? Stress can also definitely contribute. What are you cleaning the accident spots with? Are they in an area that you and the dog normally spend lots of time in on a regular basis?

How many times a day does he go outside? And are you sure he is eliminating each time? Most dogs need some exercise in order to poop, is he getting that? A walk, or if I'm in a time crunch I throw the frisbee a bit.

Is the poop solid or soft or runny? That may be a clue, non-solid poop can mean digestive upset and usually indicates that the dog tried to hold it but really couldn't anymore. That's also normally the only way a dog will poop in their crate - they hate to soil their "den" but they just need to go and have no other choice. It still sounds very frustrating to deal with, but hopefully we can help you figure out what may be causing it.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Well, he's always slept in the bedroom with us, he naps there all the time. So, he's always in there. He's not been getting many different foods - gods help me, I had to put him on a gluten free diet! Even his treats are gluten free. His food has been the same for like 4 or 5 mos now. I try to get this dog out all day long, but short of dragging him out to the back yard, he often goes into his crate instead of going outside. I won't drag him out, he growls.

I've started to go out with him, especially the last time otu before bed at night. Yesterday, we went to the park and walked around for an hour.

[Ola_]

I would definitely go out with him - otherwise you won't know when he is pottying or if he even is. I think every dog has their own pattern when it comes to this stuff.

One of mine will NOT poop during our last outing before bed unless she is really really desperate. So I try to make sure she poops either in the morning or in the afternoon. Still, if DH was taking them out those times (he doesn't go outside with them so has no idea when they poop) it's not unusual for her to wake me up in the night or need an extra potty trip because oops, she forgot she needed to go till right now! My other dog though will poop whenever, he doesn't care at all. I've found it's best to figure out their quirks and just go with the flow.

[Maine Mama Doula]

My dog totally pees or poops in the house when he is angry with us. I find that he is much better if I take him out for a minimum 20 minute walk at night. I actually have to take him - I can't just put him outside. He rewards me when I treat him

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Well, he's probably mad because of his diaper & panty eating habits, he is now crated when we leave the house. And before you say pick that stuff up, he as figured how to open the diaper pail & the hamper to get his desired special treat. Undies I can deal with, they're cheap - annoying, but every dog has his quirks. $20 cloth diapers on the other hand, not so tolerable of!

[Maine Mama Doula]

Not to mention how expensive a foreign body surgery will be if those undies or diapers don't pass. I'm glad you're crating him now!

[Ola_]

I don't think that dogs do things out of spite and anger. Stress is very likely, as is insufficient exercise. I think it's important not to misunderstand their motivations because it can make us more angry and less willing to work on issues.

[greenmulberry]

I have a terrier that is too distracted to take care of business outside sometimes, which can be an affliction with terriers! They are too busy thinking about hunting.

I have to make an extra effort to ensure that she has adequate time to do her business, and watch her to see that she goes. If for whatever reason i think she didn't go and she had adequate time for her evening potty, she now has to sleep in her kennel, which she really doesn't mind. Because if she has to go in the middle of the night, she will just go and find an out of the way place in the house to poo.

[MissMommyNiceNice]

Well, we've decided to cut out the "dinner" meal as one way to help. We can't crate him at night b/c he literally howls the entire time we're gone, even if it's just upstairs. We started letting him free range b /c he was much better behaved out of the cage than in - I don't know if it's part of his brief history before we got him or not (adopted at 3 or so mos old).

[azdesertrn]

Cutting dinner may help. I once had one dog who I couldn't feed after about 3pm or she would wake me up to go out during the night. She got breakfast at 6 AM and then a 2nd meal around 2 PM. I did find I could safely give her a biscuit at bedtime without a problem, but a bigger meal always led to her having to poop about 6 hrs later.

Also, to make sure my current dogs "go" before bed, we either run them around playing for at least 20 minutes or do a 20 minute walk and then leave them in the backyard for privacy for 10-15 minutes. The exercise stimulates things, but they seem to prefer privacy to go so even after a walk I put them in the backyard.

Another thought: Can you crate him in the bedroom at night? He would be less likely to howl and you would hear if he was restless and needed to go out.

Is he pooping in your bedroom or going off to another room? Maybe you could leash him to you so he can't sneak off to poop as a temporary measure if crating really won't work.

[neetling]

My pug will sometimes have an accident if she refuses to go outside for her last trip of the night. It's so annoying but I will chuck a treat outside to get her to go.

[plantnerd]

You could try an earlier dinner followed by exercize. Running around always seems to get the poop moving. I think it's behavioral, my dog has done this from time to time when she's stressed out or not getting enough attention/exercize. Also, the gluten free diet may be too rich for her. Penny has been on every special food out there, and the only thing that has agreed with her tummy is cheapo nasty purina little bites.

And don't let that dog growl at you while in the crate. If she does that again walk around the back of the crate and dump her butt out, enough to scare her. She needs to know that you will not, ever, ever, tolerate being growled at- it is an agressive, dominant move, as the pooping may be. Territoriality over the bedroom, crate, etc.

[ChristyMarie]

Earlier dinner plus an after dinner walk might help.

Another idea...do you have any standing water in the yard? Our dog was doing this for about 2 months and it was driving me insane. Went outside and found an old...gosh, I don't even remember what it was, but some container in a side flower bed that was getting standing, yucky water in it and Sam was drinking it, upsetting his tummy. Once we got rid of it the problem went away. Now I'm very careful about not leaving anything out that can collect rain water because the little fool will drink it every time.