My dog Laycee is about 4 years old. We just got her about a week ago from the SPCA. She's a really good dog. We got her spayed last week and now the last couple of days she's started pooping in our spare room on the carpet.

How do I curb this behavior? I'm not open to rubbing her nose in it and hitting her to try to get her to listen. I have a feeling she's been hit and kicked too much before.

Is this happening when you are not home? If so you should consider crate training and crating her while you are gone. As long as the crate is an appropriate size (just large enough for her to comfortably stand up, turn around, and lay down a bit stretched out) she will not urinate or deficate in it. Dogs don't like to eliminate where they sleep, so as long as she cannot eliminate on one side of her crate and sleep on the other, she won't poop in it. There are lots of articles on the internet about crate training, but feeding them in their crate as well as having them spend time in the crate while you are around, along with frequently given treats while in the crate, really help this process. Eventually you can allow her free run of the house while you are gone, and put away the crate all together.

Along with crate training, have a schedule for going outside, and stick to it. Once she knows what the schedule is, she will hold it. And praise substaintially for eliminating outside.

Also, she may just need to get used to your house and schedule. Its pretty normal for a new dog, no matter what age or how housebroken they were before, to have a few accidents. Crate training and a schedule will help the most. Even so, expect accidents throughout her life. I've had my 2 yr old rescue for a year and he still has accidents once in awhile.

Roo100 - thank you so much for your answer. The first accident was in the night (the third day after she was spayed) and the second I wasn't home, but my husband was.

Since that time she has had no accidents in the house - I'm so proud of her. When I took her for walks I always made sure I praised her lavishly when she pooped outside. I think you were right she was getting used to our schedule.

Thanks again for you input - really appreciate it.