2 year old poohing overnight

[Spanielcuddler]

I won't keep doing this as it will become boring but just wanted to let you know that after 3 poop free nights, it ended last night.... another mess to clean up!

Nothing changed, no routine changed, nothing has spooked him, who knows what it can be.  Thanks for all the help, if we find something that banishes this forever I will let you know!  Yet to try some other food so maybe that will work.  I just don't understand the randomness and lack of logic to it all.

[bizzylizzy]

A cocker conundrum, so to speak!........🤔 

[Ambler54]

Its very frustrating when You know they can go all night.Are the good nights after days of longer walks? As a pup, one that didnt quite grasp the going all night thing for quite a while, We never had any over night accidents when We were away in the camper van and I never had to get up in the night with Her either .Came to the conclusion that after being out and about all day She was so tired it would have taken an earthquake to wake Her. Would get home thinking 'hooray, We've cracked it' but no.Good luck. Would like to know when He is ok and how, please.

[hoover]

I think that this is something that can sometimes just become a habit for dogs and doesn't necessarily relate to the food given or timing of it, or anything more concerning medically.  They get used to doing it so they just continue - but change the environment and they might just stop, as per Ambler54's experience with the campervan.  The campervan also probably meant a smaller space which a dog would be less likely to mess in as they would be sleeping much closer to the mess. I wouldn't be that surprised if you changed the room that the dog slept in, SpanielCuddler, that this might possibly be enough to stop this if it is due to having formed a habit (but more risky depending on the different flooring! ).  If you're happy to and not leaving the dog for long periods overnight I would definitely try crating and see what happens. Then you would have an idea if more of a habit, or really  due to an inability to hold out to morning.

[Spanielcuddler]

Thanks Ambler54 - no nothing has been different, no longer walks or anything.  We have racked our brains to think of any differing factors but there are none.

I will certainly let you know if we solve it and what the cause might have been!

Hoover - like you said, the difference in floor covering puts us off letting  him sleep somewhere else e.g. the living room!  We have two cockers and they would have to be together anyway if we did that.  I was thinking it may be habit until out of the blue we get three poop free nights... which sort of indicates that it is not habit, it is down to bodily functions alone.

The vet doesn't think there is anything medically wrong... there are no stress factors that we can see .... it's a mystery.  He is the first dog we have had that won't poop last thing at night, he will even watch our other dog do it and just refuse to do anything other than a wee.  Very strange.

Thanks for your help - we did think of crating him but wondered if that would lead to a rod for our own backs, in that he may think it routine then to make a commotion when he gets caught short and wake us up every night in the early hours!  Or would it be like puppy training all over again and get him to hold it in.. not sure.  Certainly at the age of two and a half we shouldn't have to be going through this..... even though we love the bones of him!

[Londongirl]

Have you tried keeping an insanely detailed diary of everything your dog does / eats /plays with every day for, say a week? There might just be something in there.

Crating might be worth trying. Do you know exactly what time the poop happens, when it does? Crating might at least pinpoint that. Or start to break the habit if it is one. Just because it doesn't happen every night doesn't mean it's not habit. Maybe there is something that wakes him, just not every night, but he has a habit of pooping when it does.

[hoover]

I would say that just because he can have 3 clean nights does not mean it's not a habit. It's maybe to do with the possibility that he feels comfortable about doing it and doesn't really feel any need not to, so he does not inhibit his urge to - even if the urge is not particularly strong.  For other dogs it would be extremely distressing for them to make a mess, so they hold off from going until they are outside unless it's more of an emergency.  A bit like humans  -we might feel an urge to go in all manner of places but obviously we hold off until we can get to a toilet!  If as young children we had got into habits of just going to the toilet on the floor and there were no real problems about doing this and it was just routinely cleaned up by someone else we might just persist in doing it, because we felt the urge and it had become a bit of a habit and there was no reason not to.

[Spanielcuddler]

Thanks Londongirl and Hoover.

A diary is a good idea, thank you!

No idea what time he is doing it, but it is in the early hours I think.

Clean night last night...

[MIN]

just wondering if something is scaring him during the night.
 could you leave a night light on just for a while  .
I had a nervous  staffy that would poop when left ( day and night). But atleast he would do his best to eat the evidence 

[Spanielcuddler]

LOL.  Thanks Min.  No, as far as we know, nothing is scaring him.  If there were noises outside our other Cocker would bark, that's for sure.

[bizzylizzy]

P'haps the other cocker's MAKING him do it, so that he's the baddy and the other one's the goody!!    ( My older sister used to be like that - "Muuum, look what Jayne's done!"  )

 

[Spanielcuddler]

LOL!!!! I wonder...!

Last night he did two huge poohs.... I am sure there is more coming out than goes in the other end!  So we were mopping up at 7am this morning again.  He looks very wary of us too, scared of getting told off so he knows it's wrong, the housetraining hasn't disappeared from his mind.

[woodlander]

We had a recent experience with our re homed springer -  not disimilar to what you are going through.  Archie came to us & for the first few nights was fine then he would mess in the kitchen overnight.  To cut a long story short he was stressed at being on his own in the kitchen (he'd previously been with 2 other dogs) so now he sleeps on the floor next to OH  no problem at all.  he wanted company at night.   
I know ours was a different circumstance but might he be wanting human company not just doggie company. 
I do sympathise it's soul destroying coming down every morning to a huge mess - clean up & out with bucket & mop- before you've even had a morning cuppa.   Hope you can get this issue sorted.

[Spanielcuddler]

Thanks woodlander.... he is a very needy dog actually, always wanting cuddles. Hence my name, LOL!  He doesn't have any separation anxiety though.

Getting ready for bed now - who knows whether we shall wake up to a mess or not again.... and like you say, all before that very important first cuppa of the day!

[Ambler54]

Hi Spanielcuddler,
Hows the night time pooh situation?Have you cracked it?
 Thought of you as I was picking up a nightime accident from Rosie a couple of nights ago.Knew there was something waiting for me as I came down the stairs, no not the smell, but a normally mental dog was sitting at the bottom of the stairs very subdued.Shes been ok since , thank goodness, as last time it became a habit that had to be broken.