3 Year old Dog messing her room

Hi,

I have a 3 year old lab and she’s lovely and really well behaved and good natured. She has always been a little tinker for messing (number 2 only) in her room. She can go months without doing it and then there’s a spate of accidents and it’s really frustrating. She knows she’s in the wrong and doesn’t get out of her bed when I open the door to her room as opposed to jumping all over me on “clean” days.

I’ve had her at the vet and she says it’s behavioural rather than medical. I feed her modest meals with a cup of kibble style food twice a day and walk her regularly, and she always relieves herself on walks.

She is rarely home alone as I work from home and on the days I am out she has zero accidents through the day even when left for extended periods.

I don’t punish her as I know it’s counterproductive and I’ve tried feeding her earlier and a little bit less food and walking her late as possible at night, on one occasion I walked her at midnight and she relieved herself and still pooed in her room. We’ve tried various different kibble types includeding sensitive tummy food but it doesn’t help, her stools are typically normally and not runny indicating a tummy issue.

Has anyone any further advice or is she just a lazy dog when it comes to toilet.

Thanks

John

First up, although you don't punish her, she must feel your disapproval or she wouldn't react differently when you come in after she's messed in the night. She probably doesn't connect your disapproval with the act of doing the poo, but with you coming in when there is a poo on the floor - she doesn't think she's done wrong, she just knows that you aren't happy. As difficult as it is, greet her as you would if she hadn't messed, let her out, give her her breakfast, whatever your normal routine is, and then clean up, preferably while she's not around.

You could try feeding her later rather than earlier, so she can hold on for longer overnight. If you feed her some sweetcorn with her evening meal, you should be able to see which poo is related to the evening meal.

Something worth considering is letting her sleep in your bedroom. Then you should hear when she becomes restless and needs a poo, and take her out. You'd also know what time she needs the poo, which might help with meal planning - and you could also pre-empt her needing it and set your alarm for, say, half an hour before that time and take her out. This might then encourage her to ask to go out in the future.

One problem might be that she doesnt know how to tell you she needs to go when she is shut away from you . As JudyN said , perhaps consider keeping her in your room at night .

What type of food are you using, maybe something less bulky like a Grain Free product (remember Rice" is also a grain! ) or even a raw diet which produces much smaller poo's and very firm. What about feeding only once a day, this can suit many dogs ours included. I have only ever fed adult dogs one meal a day for over 50 years and it has suited all of my dogs!