If potty training for your dog was never a problem, the 1st time the dog poops in the house can cause a bit of alarm. So lets look at the best way to sort it out and keep it from occurring again.
Stay Calm With Your dog
Understandably, your reaction is likely to be a mixture of anger, disgust and frustration and your instinctive response is probably to scold the dog, or maybe even punish them. But it won't help.
Strangely, getting angry with your dog at the situation could have the opposite effect and make it more likely that some dogs will do it again.
I've heard some owners say that their dog has pooped in the house intentionally because they have been left alone and while there may be some truth in that, it won't be for reasons or spite or revenge, as they imagine. Your dog will have a good reason for doing what they've done, so lets look into some of them.
Toilet Training Problems
Puppies all learn and develop at different rates so the only problem you might be facing is that they can't hang on long enough or are not good at letting you know they need to be let out. If they pooped in their crate overnight, it could be for the same reason.
By the time your puppy reaches five months they should be able to manage overnight and until then, you may have to take to getting up a little earlier to let them out, or during the day take them out more frequently especially in the 20 minutes after they've eaten.
Dogs or puppies don't tend to poop or pee in their own confined space, so if a dog poops in a crate, they will only be doing it if they are caught short or there are other problems going on like separation anxiety in dogs.
On the other end of the age spectrum, older dogs can also start to need to toilet more frequently and some may become a little incontinent with age. The only way to deal with this is to take them outside more often. If you have any concerns about your dogs health though we would recommend a trip to your vets.
What Your Dog Eats
One unmissable reason for a do pooping in the house is diarrhoea. This can be due to what the dog has eaten either in the house or more likely what they picked up when out for a walk. Diarrhoea can also be caused by contact with toxins, or parasites and if you are at all woriied you should pay a visit to your vet.
Any food related or health related reasons that might cause your dog to poop in the house should not persist once it has cleared up or been dealt with.
When considering your pooches food, ask yourself if you have changed anything lately, such as the brand of their biscuits? Dogs can sometimes take a few days to adjust to a different balance of diet and this can cause the upset. Vets advise that the best approach to introducing new food is to mix it with the old and gradually increase the amount of the new food they get every day, while decreasing the old brand.
If your dogs diet is the same as usual, you could try cutting out any extra food they might get, like the things the kids might feed them under the table, or treats, and restrict them to a basic and bland diet to see if it helps. For a sensitive dog, hypo-allergenic food might be the answer you're looking for.
Change in Your Dogs Life
So, if neither your dogs food, or your dogs health, or their toilet training is the reason your dog poops in the house, what else could it be?
What could have changed and impacted on your dog? Have you moved home, or changed it significantly? Has someone new arrived in the house, or someone they're attached to left? Has your health changed - or anyone else around them? Have you got a new dog or other animal?
A dog who poops in the house could simply be unsettled by changes going on around them as sometimes it can take dogs a little while to settle down and cope with new situations. If you're patient with your dog and give them time, the problem should go away as they get use to new things. However, a very anxious dog may need more help.
Dog Anxiety
Dog anxiety can be caused by changes in the dogs life, and pooping in the house is one of the signs of separation anxiety in dogs. But the reason they do it is probably not what you think.
If we look at the way a dog would behave in the wild we can understand why they might be reacting in this way. Instinctively, a dog uses their poop to either warn away other packs, scent mark the boundaries of their territory or to help their own pack members make their way back to the den.
So your dog, panicking at you having left the den (home) and not knowing where you have gone, is showing you in the only way they know, how to find (or scent) your way back home - they just haven't worked out that our noses don't work as well as theirs do.
Leadership is often the issue with dogs that experience separation anxiety. If they have decided that they are the pack leader, they will also take on responsibility for keeping their pack safe. However, this becomes impossible when you go out and leave them home alone, which is why anxiety sets in. So they are doing the very best they can in the situation.
If you think your dog could be suffering from separation anxiety, the way to stop them from pooping in the house is to take away their feelings of being responsible for you. Learn how to show your dog that your are the Alpha and they should relax, knowing they have nothing to worry about.
Stay Calm With Your dog
Understandably, your reaction is likely to be a mixture of anger, disgust and frustration and your instinctive response is probably to scold the dog, or maybe even punish them. But it won't help.
Strangely, getting angry with your dog at the situation could have the opposite effect and make it more likely that some dogs will do it again.
I've heard some owners say that their dog has pooped in the house intentionally because they have been left alone and while there may be some truth in that, it won't be for reasons or spite or revenge, as they imagine. Your dog will have a good reason for doing what they've done, so lets look into some of them.
Toilet Training Problems
Puppies all learn and develop at different rates so the only problem you might be facing is that they can't hang on long enough or are not good at letting you know they need to be let out. If they pooped in their crate overnight, it could be for the same reason.
By the time your puppy reaches five months they should be able to manage overnight and until then, you may have to take to getting up a little earlier to let them out, or during the day take them out more frequently especially in the 20 minutes after they've eaten.
Dogs or puppies don't tend to poop or pee in their own confined space, so if a dog poops in a crate, they will only be doing it if they are caught short or there are other problems going on like separation anxiety in dogs.
On the other end of the age spectrum, older dogs can also start to need to toilet more frequently and some may become a little incontinent with age. The only way to deal with this is to take them outside more often. If you have any concerns about your dogs health though we would recommend a trip to your vets.
What Your Dog Eats
One unmissable reason for a do pooping in the house is diarrhoea. This can be due to what the dog has eaten either in the house or more likely what they picked up when out for a walk. Diarrhoea can also be caused by contact with toxins, or parasites and if you are at all woriied you should pay a visit to your vet.
Any food related or health related reasons that might cause your dog to poop in the house should not persist once it has cleared up or been dealt with.
When considering your pooches food, ask yourself if you have changed anything lately, such as the brand of their biscuits? Dogs can sometimes take a few days to adjust to a different balance of diet and this can cause the upset. Vets advise that the best approach to introducing new food is to mix it with the old and gradually increase the amount of the new food they get every day, while decreasing the old brand.
If your dogs diet is the same as usual, you could try cutting out any extra food they might get, like the things the kids might feed them under the table, or treats, and restrict them to a basic and bland diet to see if it helps. For a sensitive dog, hypo-allergenic food might be the answer you're looking for.
Change in Your Dogs Life
So, if neither your dogs food, or your dogs health, or their toilet training is the reason your dog poops in the house, what else could it be?
What could have changed and impacted on your dog? Have you moved home, or changed it significantly? Has someone new arrived in the house, or someone they're attached to left? Has your health changed - or anyone else around them? Have you got a new dog or other animal?
A dog who poops in the house could simply be unsettled by changes going on around them as sometimes it can take dogs a little while to settle down and cope with new situations. If you're patient with your dog and give them time, the problem should go away as they get use to new things. However, a very anxious dog may need more help.
Dog Anxiety
Dog anxiety can be caused by changes in the dogs life, and pooping in the house is one of the signs of separation anxiety in dogs. But the reason they do it is probably not what you think.
If we look at the way a dog would behave in the wild we can understand why they might be reacting in this way. Instinctively, a dog uses their poop to either warn away other packs, scent mark the boundaries of their territory or to help their own pack members make their way back to the den.
So your dog, panicking at you having left the den (home) and not knowing where you have gone, is showing you in the only way they know, how to find (or scent) your way back home - they just haven't worked out that our noses don't work as well as theirs do.
Leadership is often the issue with dogs that experience separation anxiety. If they have decided that they are the pack leader, they will also take on responsibility for keeping their pack safe. However, this becomes impossible when you go out and leave them home alone, which is why anxiety sets in. So they are doing the very best they can in the situation.
If you think your dog could be suffering from separation anxiety, the way to stop them from pooping in the house is to take away their feelings of being responsible for you. Learn how to show your dog that your are the Alpha and they should relax, knowing they have nothing to worry about.
About the Author:
If you'd like to discover some more about Dog Anxiety we've created a excellent, free report to help you identify the symptoms of anxiety in your dog, because when a dog poops in house, it could just be the start of anxiety problems, so catch it and stop it fast.
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