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I have two dogs; not sure which is doing this but I have my suspect (he pooped in the same place when he first arrived).
I am in the process of rearranging furniture and upgrading some things and the internets said a dog might do this due to stress. (including something as simple as moving furniture around) It has been every night for the past week. Same spot.
I let the dogs out right before I go to bed. Previously both dogs would bark if they needed to go out at night.
I don't know what to do about this. Maybe his stress will reduce after a couple of weeks with the new furniture layout?
Has anyone had this issue with their dog? Should I take him to the vet?
The first stop should be your vet so you can rule out health issues.
After that, some "training touch-ups" might be appropriate. Get a treat that your dog LOVES and praise him every time he goes outside. Ignore the messes in the house. He'll put it together.
Dogs get used to familiar surroundings just like we do. Change can be confusing. New furniture arriving, old leaving. New surfaces, flooring, paints, whatever. They look and smell strange. Think about it. You can't explain to your dog why their surrounding den is being discombobulated, let alone warn them ahead of time. It just happens. For all they know the family is getting ready to leave...and leave them behind. That can be distracting so they "forget" to follow their daily routine trips to the backyard.
If your dog hasn't had a checkup in a while, maybe this would be a good to visit the vet to get some baseline updates as well as rule out an underlying problem. I agree. A quick housetraining refresher would reassure the dog that even though the house contents and finishes have changed, the house rules and expectations of the people occupying it haven't. Familiarity, even familiarity of rules is comforting.
Last edited by Parnassia; 07-22-2023 at 01:04 PM..
My first thought was whether it was possible that both dogs may use that spot? Another thought was that if it were the same spot, it is very important to erase every trace of the odor there, and I wondered if putting a piece of carpet or rug over the spot might change things for the better.
I had a dog that I got as a puppy, 5 weeks old. She was the cleanest dog having never gone poop or pee in the house. Well, we were traveling and had to stay in a motel that allowed dogs, so the minute we arrived in the room, her thought seemed to be "Well, this is the dog toilet.", and relieved herself. She never ever did it in the house in her life! We took up camping after that, no more "dogs allowed" rooms!
Update; it was just the stress from furniture moving around. I have had many dogs over the years and this was a first for me. He is now pooping outside again.
I have two dogs; not sure which is doing this but I have my suspect (he pooped in the same place when he first arrived).
I am in the process of rearranging furniture and upgrading some things and the internets said a dog might do this due to stress. (including something as simple as moving furniture around) It has been every night for the past week. Same spot.
I let the dogs out right before I go to bed. Previously both dogs would bark if they needed to go out at night.
I don't know what to do about this. Maybe his stress will reduce after a couple of weeks with the new furniture layout?
Has anyone had this issue with their dog? Should I take him to the vet?
Move your furniture BACK, the way it was. See if this is the trigger or not. You may have a dog with a touch of OCD.
Well, we were traveling and had to stay in a motel that allowed dogs, so the minute we arrived in the room, her thought seemed to be "Well, this is the dog toilet.", and relieved herself. She never ever did it in the house in her life! We took up camping after that, no more "dogs allowed" rooms!
My sympathies. BTDT with my two dogs on a trip. One was a bit of a ninny and fussy about doing her business in a strange area, but she would often take her cue from the other who couldn't care less. I was on the last leg home with them and ended up stranded by a snowstorm. We holed up in a dog-friendly economy hotel for the night. I took great pains to offer the dogs lots of time to relieve themselves outdoors over the next few hours. They played around in the howling snow happy as larks but didn't produce. I kept suiting up to take them out every 20 minutes or so knowing something had to give sometime. Finally, I had to leave them in the room by themselves to pick up food. I was gone no more than 10 minutes and returned to a mess. They saved it up and really let 'er rip everywhere! I felt terrible!
Last edited by Parnassia; 07-30-2023 at 04:03 PM..
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Why tempt fate all over again? 
