We have a 16 week chocolate who is tricky at night. She has had her fair share of tummy troubles that are only moderately resolved. Somedays she has solid poop all day at regular intervals and somedays she holds it for several hours and then it is pudding or fluffy type. Nothing we do seems to change this. So some nights she goes to bed in her crate at 1030pm and sleeps all night (8hr average) and some nights she had to get up and go out. DH and I have been taking turns sleeping downstairs for 6 weeks to be near her but that needs to end soon. The two nights we both went to our room with an alarm set to get her up around 4am she messed her bed and woke us barking at about 2am. We stay downstairs, she sleeps through the night. Putting her in our room isn't an option as we have a child in the room too. Should she be able to make it all night or should we get her up? And how do we finally get to sleep in our own bed again without worry of nightly mess?
Hi @melissagreen0530 Sorry to hear about all the problems. You mention "... solid poop all day at regular intervals". It sounds like a lot of faeces, which might suggest you are feeding her too much. How much are you feeding her? And more importantly, is she overweight? If you have not been changing her food nor overfeeding her, and she is not picking up lots of things from the ground to eat, then you should consult a vet to get the stool issue resolved. Soft and liquid stools should not be occurring. If you haven't done so, you need to crate train your dog. There is a thread on this site on crate training. It will help with the toilet training.
Hi thanks for responding. She isn't over weight at all and we actually consulted the vet and discovered she is slightly underfed. At 16 weeks she is 22.5 lbs and has been getting 2 1/2 cups daily. We were told to bump it up a bit. When she is regular she will go 5-6 times daily (once in the morning, before bed, and on her walks.) She only gets her food (a grainfree chicken and pea with probiotics) and a vet approved training treat. No table scraps, no dairy, nothing. She does enjoy other animals feces if she can get to it (we try to keep her out of it) and twigs/wood chunks. We have been working with our vet for a 6 weeks to try to resolve it and after 3 fecal samples that are negative and a GI scan we are all stumped. She is very regimented and there is no rhyme or reason to the problems. She is also crated trained. She spends 3 hours at a time in there during the day (my husband works from home so she comes out for an hour at his lunch for her meal and a long walk) and she sleeps in her crate at night. My real question is should we still be taking her out once at night and does it seem odd that she can sleep through the night when we are on the same floor as her (different rooms separated by doors) but when we leave her and go upstairs she poops in her crate?
Hi @melissagreen0530 Okay. You are doing all the right things. I would get up and take her out during the night if she needs to defecate. It sounds as though she is anxious when you crate her downstairs at night. She can probably hear you sleeping when she is upstairs and you near-company comforts her. Anxiety can manifest itself in toilet problems. If you have the room, then crate her upstairs, at least until you have her healthy and settled again. I would be inclined also to teach her leave it, so you can get her ingestion of rubbish under some control.
So you would set your alarm for 1am, next time, wake up and take her out - even if she was fast asleep. You would continue to do that for a week until you get out of the habit of waking and pooping in the night. I do think it sounds like something else is going on, from this description of her poops and would recommend a 3-5 day course of Panacur 10% at the giardia dosage. This kind of intermittent on and off 'ok and not ok' thing, is typical of giardia in many dogs. The other factor could be some separation anxiety causing stress and pooping at night. Are you practising crate training during the day or are you only using it at night? How is she in the day, in the crate?
She is crated during the day and fine with it. We use it as a bed/safe space, never a punishment. We say GoToBed! and she trots right in there. We have been very lucky that she is a highly trainable dog. I agree that the stomach is the real issue. We were given a fiber supplement to give her to see if it will help. We took ANOTHER fecal sample in today and are waiting on the results.
