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Dog Pooping every day in house all of a sudden

13K views 7 replies 8 participants last post by  PumpkinPhanatic  
#1 ·
Hello.

We have a beautiful German shepherd who is also full of personality. She was a rescue who was inbreed one to many times. At least that is what our three trainers have told us. She has all the "classic" signs of. In fact my smoochy face is all bark and no protection. She comes to me after her barking and tucks her head in-between my legs. Seriously. lol

We have had her for four years now and she is five years old. It took 9 months to house break her because we believe she was disciplined prior to and not trained. So it was really tough.

All of a sudden she is pooping in the house EVERY day. IT is now going on three weeks. The vets says it's coyotes. I'm not buying it. We do have coyotes but they have been there longer than we have had her and our chickens are undisturbed. So I find it hard to believe they have been bothering her. Plus she will still go outside regardless of the time of the day and she would not go out if there were coyotes out there. Not at least without barking her fool head off which she has not been doing.

Nothing has changed in the house. There is someone here 90% of the time. She can go out anytime she wants. In addition, she is stealing food from the counter tops, she has broken 3 of my dishes, really not happy with that since I made them. And she broke into the cats food and ate all of it. I buy only holistic food for them so it was 30 for a small bag. Plus, she always has food and treats. My animals are spoiled. I go to the kitchen they follow because they know it only takes a look and I cave in. Sap right here.

I just don't understand why she is doing this but I'm not happy with her present behavior and it have am clueless as to why she would start this?
 
#3 ·
Is she getting walked twice a day to exercise and go potty.

That might improve the situation.

I'd start feeding once a day and make sure dog is not over feeding or finding food around the house.

Plus, she always has food and treats. My animals are spoiled. I go to the kitchen they follow because they know it only takes a look and I cave in.
You need to realize a dog deoesn't need snacks all day like people. They need x amount of food in relation to there optimum weight and thats it.

You are not spoiling the dogs, you are training them to beg.
 
#5 ·
Clean every place she's used with an enzyme cleaner, watch where she messes to try to get a handle on it. Keep your dishes put up so they don't get broken, keep temptation off the counter.

Work your dog. Not "she can go out whenever she wants" - we go out, we toilet, we work. Then if the issue persists, treat her as though she were not house broken. Tether her to you if she's not crated in the house. When she stops to squat -- outside quickly and praise her for going outside. (In the meantime, no fuss over 'house wrecks') This is after a medical treatment and it is based on my experience of having a dog who never counter surfed starting it all at once. I figured out how our routine had changed (work for me meant a decrease in dog training and dog walks) this was her way of letting me know.
 
#6 ·
It might be a medical issue, and she is trying to tell you something.

I had a cat that started pooping in the living room. Right in the middle of the room - never had any inappropriate elimination or litterbox issues with this cat before, so it was a puzzle as to why he started to do this. On the third or fourth day, as I was cleaning up, I noticed worms in the poop. Wormed the whole buch of them (four cats, two dogs), and the pooping in the living room stopped.

Pretty smart cat if you ask me.
 
#7 ·
If there is no medical issue it could be a problem with consistency.

I find that consistency is key - feed same amounts at same times every day, walks at the same time every day (for me, 7am for about 45 mins in the woods and then 30 mins at night around an hour after his last feed.

He only eats raw meat, bone and offal and does 1 poo per day, and this 1 poo is always towards the end of his morning walk.

Are you walking the dog for long enough/consistently enough?


Feeding the dog from counters is a sure fire way to have it stealing food, breaking dishes and generally being unruly.

What i personally do with my 4 month old is prepare his food on a different worktop to where we prepare our own food. He gets fed after we have already eaten and he waits in a sitting position until i put his food down. He NEVER gets fed from the worktop. If we have some left over fat from meat at diner or whatever he never ever gets it directly off the plate. The dish gets taken to the kitchen, the meat taken off and covertly put into his dish. This is to avoid him associating our plates with his treats.

He's also not allowed to enter our dining room. This stops food issues.
 
#8 ·
My pup is 11 mos. and started doing this back in the summer after she was FULLY house broken within 4 weeks of adopting her. She used to poop in our dining room every single day when I would leave her to go to work (regardless of if anyone else was home) I believed it was because she was upset I was leaving her....since then I started taking her on long morning walks before leaving her, which helps sometimes. She doesn't do it everyday now, more like once a week if that. I also was free feeding her which may have contributed to the issue but still even then she always pooped around 11AM and maybe one at 3 or 4 so who knows!