My housebroken dog suddenly poops inside at night. What's wrong?

I'm sorry to hear about your issues with Phoebe, A break in house training can be frustrating especially with a new baby on the way. Changes in toileting behavior can be related to a medical problem or a behavioral issues. Possible medical issues include colitis (inflammation in the colon), infections, parasites or metabolic issues like inflammatory bowel disease or liver disease. Behavioral issues can stem from changes in routine, stress or fear. If your household routine has changed in preparation for the upcoming addition, it is possible that Phoebe is reacting to this. Other possibilities include stress or anxiety caused by things inside and out. If Phoebe has had a scary episode such as slipping on a floor, falling down stairs or being frightened by a person or noise outside, this could cause anxiety about going outside. My recommendation would be to look for other signs of anxiety such as hiding behavior or fear about going outside in general. If you do not notice these, it may be worth taking a stool sample to your veterinarian to check for parasites and possibly scheduling an appointment to address your concerns.

There are a couple of reasons why Hunter is pooping in the house lately. It could be due to stress, he could have diarrhea from a medical illness causing him to have to go right where he is at the moment, or it could be due to canine cognitive dysfunction, which is similar to dementia in humans. I would have Hunter seen by a vet tomorrow for a physical exam, geriatric blood panel, and urinalysis. These tests will help identify if there is a medical cause behind this behavior, and if there is, the vet can discuss treatment with you. If he does have canine cognitive dysfunction, there are medications to help with that as well as diet changes you can make. Again, the vet can discuss this with you.

Since it sounds like this is a recent behavior change, the first step would be to have Stain examined by a vet to see if there may be a medical reason that he is pooping in strange places - there are many illnesses that can cause dogs to suddenly begin having house-training accidents, so your vet may recommend doing a fecal exam and possibly some blood work to check for any problems. If everything comes back normal, then this behavior may be a result of stress or anxiety, or some recent change in his routine. In that case, I would recommend going back to basics with house-training for the next few weeks to help get things back on track - take him out frequently, and go for long walks if needed so that he has plenty of opportunity to poop outside. When he does, reward with a treat. In the house, supervise closely to prevent accidents and use a crate if needed to confine him at night or when you aren't able to watch him. Once he has gone a few weeks without any accidents, you can gradually transition back to his normal routine.

There can be many different reasons for dogs to poop inside a house. If they are older they can have arthritis and not fully empty outside so when they come in they can feel the need to go. They can have diarrhea from stress, intestinal parasites, eating something they were not supposed to or even a virus. It can be a behavioral issue that something cahnged they are not fond of and they can start with this. I would recommend bringing her to the veterinarian just so they can make sure it is nothing medical prior to saying it is from moving into the new house. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

It's possible she is getting mixed signals from daycare but it's impossible to say for sure. I recommend crating her when you are not directly watching her and at night. This may help to remind her about her housebreaking. You may also want to walk her more often and keep her feeding on a schedule. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

This does sound odd, but I'm not sure that anything is medically wrong. Sometimes dogs with neurologic disease such as seizure disorders, or those who have ingested neurologic toxins will urinate and defecate, but they are typically also disoriented. Urinary and fecal incontinence can occur, and diarrhea or a urinary tract infection could cause a dog to have an accident in the house, but if this were a problem I would expect the behavior to continue. I would recommend keeping an eye on Kova and seeing your veterinarian if her urination and defecation continues to seem abnormal.

The circling and whining may be indicating she needs to go outside to eliminate. I recommend getting her seen by your vet to make sure there isn't some underlying medical condition that is causing her to suddenly need to relieve herself so early in the morning. If she is an older dog, she may simply be unable to hold it as long as she used to, but it's best to check her out at your vets to be safe. You might consider feeding her two meals a day, one at breakfast time and another late afternoon or evening. Make sure she goes outside right before bedtime and give her plenty of time to relieve herself. Dogs can be like people and do better when they are on a structured schedule with food.