Overnight Potty Accidents!

[Guest nicola]

Ok, I'm at my wits end with Merlin.

 

He keeps having accidents overnight and I don't know what to do. Last night I stayed up till 11:30 with him. Before bed he went in the garden and did both a wee and poo. This morning my husband woke up at 5:45 and went down to check on him.. he had pooped on the kitchen floor. This is happening at least once or twice a week. Is 6 hours the typical time I can expect him to hold on for? I usually go to bed as late as possible and get up at 6 to take him out.

 

I tried crating him overnight to see if it would encourage him to hold on but he pooped on his bed and that was a nightmare to clean up.

 

I feed him 4 small meals during the day, the last one at 12 midday. I've found that if I feed him two larger meals he has horrendous gas. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

 

[GeorgeofNE]

Four meals a day is obviously too many. You can't expect him to regulate his output like a dog who eats twice a day--dogs typically have to poop around an hour after eating.

 

It's very rare for any dog to be happy when asked to sleep alone when his "pack" is sleeping elsewhere. I'm guessing if you put him back on a 2 meal schedule and let him sleep in your room, your problem will solve itself.

[Guest nicola]

Sorry, I forgot to mention he was still pooping through the night when he was on two meals. Each meal now is 100g, according to the package he should be getting 400g per day. I space his food out so he gets his first portion at 6:30 when we get back from his morning toilet trip. His next is around 8:00, then again at 10 and his last feed is midday but he's still pooping during the night.

 

He is unable to climb the stairs no matter what we've tried so he sleeps in the kitchen. It's not a case of letting him sleep in with us, we've tried that several times but he just cannot get up the stairs and he gets very anxious if we try and coax him up. He's only been upstairs once and that was because my husband carried him up so we could bath him.

[rsieg]

How long has he been doing this (i.e. how many weeks)?

 

Also, are you deodorizing where he goes? Not just cleaning it with regular cleaner, but using a urine de-oderizer from a pet store? Dogs tend to go where other dogs go - this is why they wander around sniffing before finally stopping to do their business - they are sniffing for a "proper" spot. So, if you are not completely deoderizing where he is going on the kitchen floor, he may be sniffing it and saying to himself - yup, that is where I should be going. Along the same lines, if you can predict when he needs to go and get him outside to a standard location before he goes, the odor should build up there and he should hopefully begin to pick up that is where he should be going. (Obviously you will want to be picking up the bm, but the odor will still remain way strong enough for a dog to pick it up).

 

Also, is it solid bm or soft/diarrhea type? If the latter, it may be that switching food may help. Like people, if he has diarrhea it may be harder (or impossible) for him to hold it.

[winnie]

What about leaving out piddle/pee pads?

[Guest nicola]

We haven't quite had him a year yet but he's been doing this off and on since we got him. The main issue for me is that I'm getting a bit sleep deprived.. I'm going to bed midnight and then getting up at 6 to try and catch him before he goes.

 

I hadn't thought about the cleaner I'm using, it's this one from Flash. I'll sort out a proper cleaner from a pet store, something like this? It has mixed reviews but I'll give it a go!

 

It's not quite solid (he's never been solid, bless him) but it's definitely not diarrhea either, it just seems to be that 5 hours is all he's willing to wait before he just goes.

 

I thought about leaving pads out, but I'd have to paper the whole floor in them.. he's a walker while he goes. If this isn't something I can sort though I may just do it anyway.

 

I'm going to try rewards every time he goes in the garden in the hope that going outside becomes a treat he's willing to hold on for. Fingers crossed! Thanks all

Edited June 1, 2017 by nicola

[Cricket57]

You want to look for an enzymatic cleaner. The first one you linked to isn't. And unless I'm missing something, the second one appears to only be a stain remover. This is from Amazon USA - maybe there's something similar in UK?

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ASLMW/ref=s9_acsd_al_bw_c_x_2_w

 

Cricket

[3greytjoys]

A veterinary stool test could be very helpful. Microscopic parasites/worms might be affecting your boy's internal health, stool quality and quantity.

 

If his kibble is high in fillers, it could be increasing his stool (and gas) output. A limited ingredient kibble could help firm and reduce his stool output.

(Upon adoption, while recovering from giardia treatments, one of our hounds' stools greatly improved with a single protein (happened to be lamb) and rice kibble. He had zero noticeable gas, which was a welcome gift after many months of smelly giardia. Our other hounds' stools also improved on the same kibble.)

 

Agree with above re: Nature's Miracle or Nature's Miracle Advanced Formula, if available in your region. Pet waste enzymatic cleaners greatly help eliminate leftover canine calling card odors.

 

If your boy is highly anxious while being left alone downstairs, he may not be able to physically hold his waste as long as usual when he's feeling secure and relaxed with his family pack, but struggling with a food problem and/or parasites would be my immediate concerns to address first.

 

Separate note: If Merlin is free of body pain, and if your stairs are a semi-normal height, built with solid risers, and are securely carpeted, perhaps a call to your adoption group could help? Consider asking them to visit Merlin with an experienced Greyhound who is comfortable walking up/down stairs to help teach Merlin how to maneuver stairs like a champion. Stair training sessions are much less scary for Greyhounds watching other hounds. Most of our Greyhounds and fosters have learned stairs within just a few tries. If he can learn stairs (to sleep with his family) he'll be able to alert a human when he needs to go outside.

 

Please try to keep up your understanding patience with Merlin while working learn the cause of his body's struggle. Circumstances are placing him in a difficult situation too.

[Guest nicola]

I think it may possibly be separation anxiety. He had his last feed at 10am today and I had an appointment with a friend so was out of the house between 5pm and 10pm.. he pooped twice in the kitchen.

I had taken him for a long walk before I left and he pooped while we were out so I thought he wouldn't have anything left but obviously I was wrong!

 

I'm unsure how to deal with this overnight. My husband has a bad back and carrying him up and down every day is just not an option, and if he does need to go in the middle of the night getting him downstairs quick enough is going to be impossible!

 

Maybe I should just give it up and sleep downstairs in the kitchen forever.

[Allyalbon]

From a slightly different angle - my hound started having tummy issues last october and was getting me up in the middle of the night to go out and poop, and it was unpleasant poop... I was so very sleep deprived! In the end, I worked out that she has "empty tummy syndrome" and if she didn't have something to eat overnight, she would wake up with a bad stomach. horrible grumbling noises, obviously painful, desperate to poop and then later that day there would always be diarrhoea and vomit. Once I got her onto a routine where she gets fed a decent amount last thing at night - no more poop and tummy issues. Just a thought that perhaps Merlin might need an overnight feed? It seemed to be a strange connection that the lack of food made Charlie need to go poop but I thought I would throw it out there. (Charlie gets a large breakfast, a small dinner at 7pm and then about a cup of food again 15 mins before we head to bed)

 

Or what about changing brands of food? When C gets dry kibble she produces a lot of poop, when she is on high quality wet food (Honest kitchen dehydrated) she produces less than half the amount and it's a lot healthier looking!

[Guest nicola]

So.. it would appear Merlin can hold it.. he just doesn't want to most of the time!

 

He went out around midnight last night. It's raining today so he's point blank refusing to leave the house. It's now 2pm.

[rsieg]

So.. it would appear Merlin can hold it.. he just doesn't want to most of the time!

 

He went out around midnight last night. It's raining today so he's point blank refusing to leave the house. It's now 2pm.

 

Doesn't want to ... or ... does not realize he should hold it. Remember, dogs don't think like we do. If he goes in the kitchen, and he has been doing so for a long while now, and it has the right "odor" to be a good place to go, Merlin sees no problem. Why should he be holding it when there is a perfectly good place right in the kitchen to go? If you come by minutes or tens of minutes later and find it and yell at him, he is not necessarily connecting your yelling with his going in the kitchen.

 

There is a great story somewhere on Greytalk (apologies, I don't recall who posted it) about a hound who kept urinating in the house. The owner would yell at him when she found the spot, and he would act suitably "guilty". Then one day she was watering her plants and accidentally spilled some water on the floor -- and the hound saw the water and immediately ran away into another room. She realized all the hound had learned is that his owner did not like water on the floor, but did not connect it with anything he did :-)

 

Your original post was June 1, i.e. four days ago. While that seems like a long time when dealing with this, it really is not a long time for a dog to change behavior he has learned over several months. Give it a while longer, keep the spot clean with the urine deodorizer, and hopefully Merlin will figure it out. Good luck!

[GeorgeofNE]

Climbing stairs is not rocket science.

 

If you've had him for a YEAR and he still hasn't learned on his own, it's really time to teach him, regardless of whether he likes it or not.

 

I honestly think if he's in your room, this pattern ends.