Ask Me Help Desk - My 8 yr old dog is suddenly pooping in the house.

My pug is 8 years old and a insulin dependent diabetic. All the sudden about 2 months ago he started pooping in the house. We will let him outside he will pee outside and come in. 5 minutes later he poops on the floor right in front of us. He poops in the house more than he goes outside. I have looked on the internet to see if it's linked to his diabetes and I can't find anything. We are considering putting him to sleep but, we just can't bare to talk about it. Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks

Heather

Quote:

Originally Posted by htimmons

My pug is 8 years old and a insulin dependant diabetic. All the sudden about 2 months ago he started pooping in the house. We will let him outside he will pee outside and come in. 5 minutes later he poops on the floor right in front of us. He poops in the house more than he goes outside. I have looked on the internet to see if it's linked to his diabetes and I can't find anything. We are considering putting him to sleep but, we just can't bare to talk about it. Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks

Heather

This flashes me back many years - I had a diabetic dog. She was insulin dependent and had problems holding her urine for quite a while and then began to "poop" in the house. She was always embarrassed about it but didn't seem to be able to control herself.

We ended up putting newspapers in a corner for her and she used them when she could - she lived for many years with this problem and the Vet said it was similar to end stage kidney disease in humans as well as just a general decline in her health.

I know - it's hard to live with and mine was a German Shepherd, a big dog.

I do wonder if my Vet was right - ?

Probably on the money. Nerve damage can occur anywhere including the ability to "hold it" with diabetics.

No harm in getting a full checkup.

Quote:

Originally Posted by KeepItSimpleStupid

Probably on the money. Nerve damage can occur anywhere including the ability to "hold it" with diabetics.

No harm in getting a full checkup.

I was thinking the same thing - probably diabetic neuropathy. There are medications, of course, but I don't know if they are prescribed or work for dogs. Would be well worth checking with the Vet.

When a dog changes behavior all of a sudden, by pooping in the home (and the dog was otherwise houseboken.. ), that could be a sign of illness.

The FIRST method of assessment is to confirm the health.. so a visit to the vet is a good idea.

If the dog has a clean bill of health, even if he's still suffering from the same original illness... (it's no excuse for a change of behavior unless the illness has morphed into something worse).

The thing that has my red flag up is that you stated that he's been pooping in the house for 2 months. When a dog changes their behavior and the humans in the home allow the change it then becomes a new habit... a BAD habit. The longer a dog does something the quicker it becomes a habit.

I recommend that you crate your dog and take away his freedom. Freedom is a reward. If a dog is not house broken then the reward of freedom and trust within the home should not exist. When you are in the home the dog should be taught that the crate is a lovely calm place where he can lie down and relax. Feel free to crate him (keeping his crate in the same area as you so he doesn't feel he's being punished and he's not isolated). Let that be a time where he can chew some rawhide... maybe. Introduce the crate as a good calm space for him to chill out in. After some days leave the house w/ him inside his crate... (do not leave a rawhide in his crate as he might choke, just in case. There are fake bones on the market that are safer... like "Nylabone"). Be gone for 10 minutes... slowly work your way up to an hour... this should take a couple of days... if you go slow. It's not really as necessary unless you have a dog that suffers separation anxiety. You can judge for yourself... The dog will learn to be in calm space and he will relax and wait for you to come home without soiling the house.. as dogs are clean animals and do not like to eliminate where they sleep, unless they are ill.

I recommend trying this out. It cannot hurt and it definitely will teach the dog that soiling in the house is not going to happen. No more coming home to a poopy house!

Oh no he's not free to roam and crap in my house when I'm not home. I keep him crated. When he poops in the house when we are home he's either taken directly outside or shown to his cage.

Quote:

Originally Posted by htimmons

Oh no he's not free to roam and crap in my house when i'm not home. I keep him crated. When he poops in the house when we are home he's either taken directly outside or shown to his cage.

I'm sure it's from the diabetes - the more I read, the more sure I become. And, yes, diabetes and neuropathy go hand and hand and that very well could be the problem.

Poor doggie.

Just for you to know... that if he has ACTUALLY pooped in the home w/out you watching him then he's had the OPPORTUNITY. The point I'm trying to make is that YOU need him structured so YOU can be on top of what he's up to... He isn't being watched so opportunity can rear it's ugly head.

It's ON YOU to keep on top of this training game. YOU YOU YOU.

A dog will only poop in the house if he's given opportunity.

They are opporunists!

(Humans are always the ones that I end up having to train... the dogs always learn faster).

Short of an illness, this dog has no reason to fail you if you are doing your job.

Structuring a dog means that you have scheduled his life into portions so this way you always have him doing something, even if doing something is just "chilling in his crate" for a while. At least you know what he's up to and he's not free to take any opportunity to sneak behind a couch and poop on your rug. Of course, need I say that the crate door must be closed... Your dog is not trust worthy.

Dogs need to earn their freedom. Freedom needs to be considered a reward. I'm not saying crate time is jail time... it needs to be a calm and enjoyable time for dog, (ie: never put him in the crate as a punishment. An alternative for a punishment place could be an enclosed room like an entrance... somewhere where he can still see you and you him).

Training is a consistent requirement that begins w/ a command and ends w/ many follow throughs... and it all begins and ends w/ you. A dog wants nothing more than to please it's Pack Leader... which is YOU. If you need to learn to train a dog then get a dog training book. Just remember that everything you teach you need to consistently teach every day of that dogs life. Just when you think your dogs has learned it... he will inevitably try and change the pattern. This is normal for a dog... many of them like to "rearrange" the rules, hence trying to change the "pecking order". They are ANIMALS... and this is what some dogs do when they have rather stronger characters... They like to switch it up. It's natural to test some Pack Leaders and then again some Leaders would never have this happen. My Shepherd tests me constantly... whereas my other dogs wouldn't DARE... lol;)

[QUOTE=SweetDee;1312666]Structuring a dog means that you have scheduled his life into portions so this way you always have him doing something, even if doing something is just "chilling in his crate" for a while. At least you know what he's up to and he's not free to take any opportunity to sneak behind a couch and poop on your rug. Of course, need I say that the crate door must be closed... Your dog is not trust worthy.

Dogs need to earn their freedom. Freedom needs to be considered a reward. I'm not saying crate time is jail time... it needs to be a calm and enjoyable time for dog, (ie: never put him in the crate as a punishment. An alternative for a punishment place could be an enclosed room like an entrance... somewhere where he can still see you and you him). /QUOTE]

I just read an article that says exactly what you have said - dog should be taught that nothing in life is free. You sit, you get rewarded. You come when you're called, you get rewarded.

You did, Judykaytee?? THANKS for saying that!

I just have 5 very well behaved dogs, you cannot imagine. One is new from the rescue shelter. They just learn so fast and want nothing more than to be a "Good boy/girl", you know?

Freedom, as a reward is so simple to train. If you can teach them that all good things go thru' you... then it's a breeze to have a ton of dogs living with you in your home in a calm and harmoneous lifestyle.

All my dogs eat in a row, side by side. They know that if they want their bowl of food they need to sit down in a calm submissive relax and it will come to them. If they are jumping about all excited to eat... well then they don't really WANT their food, (with that behavior). This is just an example of the expectation level that should be required of any and all dogs, ESPECIALLY if it's a harder to handle dog or a dogs within a large pack, like mine.

Everything in life that is good comes thru' MOI. It's that simple.

I do expect them to be calm... excited and wild behavior is suitable ONLY OUTSIDE. It's all so simple to teach once you've established who is Alpha and then once you learn EVERYTHING YOU POSSIBLY CAN about dog behavior. They are IN THE MOMENT kind of creatures and if you can learn what their postering means and tackle the "reaction to every action" then you've got the training under way. All it takes is a little home work... (for some of us. Quite frankly I know people who try soooooooooo hard to understand the psyche of a dog and simply cannot).

If the dog is SICK it is not a behavioral issue and the poster did say the dog was insulin dependent. Crating him will not fix the break down of organs that comes with diabetes. My German Shepard is doing the same thing- He is a family member and will be treated as such and with dignity. No I don't like poop in my house either- so I am taking him out several times a day and NIGHT (he is blind also).

If you can take your dog to the vet- great- if he is as old as mine (14) and as sick as mine- then just help him live the rest of his life as well as he can.

This thread is over a year old and OP has not been back with more info.

Time to close.