House breaking a dog who is 95% house broken

[Anonymous]

Looking for advice on my situation. I adopted a large adult dog from the shelter in February. Her prior living situation was being in a homeless encampment so she had never lived in a house before. She was described as house broken which for the most part she is. About once a month she isn’t able to hold it and will defecate in the house. Obviously this is unpleasant but I don’t punish her. She does have a doorbell and knows how to use it to go out. We are also going to follow up with her vet because she was pregnant many times and perhaps she just is struggling with her muscles but we’d really love to get her as housebroken as possible as she is a large 70lb dog.

[Anonymous]

You say "isn't able to hold it." Could you explain that please? As in you're gone 12 hours and come back and there's feces in the house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You say "isn't able to hold it." Could you explain that please? As in you're gone 12 hours and come back and there's feces in the house?

This usually happens early in the morning while we are sleeping but she isn’t ringing the doorbell either. We set up an interior doorbell for her that has a camera. I’m thinking because she was pregnant many times without a break her sphincter muscles are weak and she just isn’t making it to the door.

[Anonymous]

10:53 here - Okay that's helpful - thanks.

Do you feed routine amounts at routine times? Getting them into that routine is quite helpful - you get to know their patterns and can adjust walk times accordingly.

One of mine can't hold it either and I know I have to have him poop within two hours of bed the night before - if not, I KNOW he will need to go out in the middle of the night.

Is there a chance you can develop that type of familiarity with her schedule so you can be proactive in adjusting her walk schedule?

Wait you also mentioned a doorbell camera. If she doesn't sleep in the same space with you, could you put the camera on her and see how this poop is happening? I'm thinking of other possibilities- for instance if she generally isn't fond of walks, arthritis might be getting the best of her and she just doesn't want to get up, walk to the door, wait for you to open it, go out and crouch, come back in...

[Anonymous]

10:53 here again - does she ever ring the doorbell at other times when you are asleep or in your bedroom? Are you sure she knows it's ok for her to ring regardless of where you are in the house or of your waking status?

[Anonymous]

She will ring the doorbell even when we are sleeping but it’s attached to the trim of our kitchen door which leads to the backyard. So we can see the kitchen but it’s usually found in a random in the middle of the living room. I would have to set up more cameras. She sleeps in our room in a dog bed but these incidents are happening between 3-6am. We do have a feeding routine but she seems to just go whenever. We let her out at 11:30pm-midnight right before we go to sleep.

[Anonymous]

My young male dog poops inside early in the am once a month. Could be something he ate from the floor giving him runs.

I moved dinner to an earlier time. That helped some.

[Anonymous]

10:53 here
ah- she poops in your room then? Next to the dog bed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:53 here
ah- she poops in your room then? Next to the dog bed?

No she usually wanders into the living room and goes there. So far she’s not gone in the bedroom or her beds. Sorry for any confusion. I think some of what I typed out didn’t make it to post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10:53 here
ah- she poops in your room then? Next to the dog bed?

No she usually wanders into the living room and goes there. So far she’s not gone in the bedroom or her beds. Sorry for any confusion. I think some of what I typed out didn’t make it to post.

NP here
If that's the case - I'd probably keep the door to your bedroom closet, it's most likely would force your dog to bark/whine/wake you up to get out of the room to poop

[Anonymous]

If all else fails, they do make diapers. The disposable ones tend to leak, because the opening for the tail is designed to be "adjustable", except that it ends up leaking. I've had more success with the washable ones, that have an elasticized opening for the tail.

Good luck, OP. Can you make her food a little bit more constipating, or will that back her up?

[Anonymous]

10:53 here - I'm with 18:22. Close the door to your bedroom to keep her contained and see if she communicates with you when she needs to go out.

I don't think it's her sphincter muscles from multiple litters. It'd be happening a lot more often and at various times of the day if that were the case. I'm learning towards this being behavioral rather than physical but it's always worth a vet check anyway.

One of my dogs will not communicate with me when he needs to urinate if he doesn't want to go outside (too wet, too hot, or he's too tired) - he will just sneak off and pee somewhere I can't see him (that one is 8 lbs, ha).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:10:53 here - I'm with 18:22. Close the door to your bedroom to keep her contained and see if she communicates with you when she needs to go out.

I don't think it's her sphincter muscles from multiple litters. It'd be happening a lot more often and at various times of the day if that were the case. I'm learning towards this being behavioral rather than physical but it's always worth a vet check anyway.

One of my dogs will not communicate with me when he needs to urinate if he doesn't want to go outside (too wet, too hot, or he's too tired) - he will just sneak off and pee somewhere I can't see him (that one is 8 lbs, ha).

Thank you! I will try that and see how it goes.

[Anonymous]

Good luck - hope it works. You might also want to feed her dinner earlier too, see if that helps her poop before bed.