Needless to say, there are countless joys to owning a dog. Cleaning up their mess isn’t one of them. As a Dog Owner, you can spend what feels like a lifetime trying to stop your dog pooping in the wrong place. Of course, we dog lovers accept toilet training as an icky but crucial part of the Pet Ownership journey. It may not always be fun, and it doesn’t earn you the same doggy love as feeding them their favourite dog food. However, with enough patience from their humans, our furbabies can learn where to do their business.
Even so, our doggos’ toilet habits are not always a straightforward process. Some puppies struggle to learn where they should relieve themselves, while in other cases, fully-grown dogs can seem to forget. Whatever the case, have faith – a solution exists, and it’s within reach. Join us as we cover how to stop your dog pooping in the wrong place!
This little guy doesn’t realise he’s done anything wrong!
Before you can stop your dog pooping in the wrong place, you should know why it’s happening
There are many reasons why a pooch can fail to go where they’re supposed to. If you still have a puppy on your hands, and they seem to have forgotten last week’s training, don’t fret. Dog Training can be a “two steps forward, one step back” process, and there may be times when you fear your puppy is regressing. By sticking to their potty training plan, and rewarding the right behaviour, your puppy will master it sooner or later.
However, if you have an adult dog who’s started pooping where they shouldn’t, there could be a range of reasons. The first potential cause you’ll want to rule out is a medical problem; from digestive troubles to hip dysplasia, maladies can cause dogs to lose the will or capacity to control their bowels. To ensure your pooch isn’t grappling with a hidden illness or injury, play it safe and book a vet checkup.
Once you’ve ruled out medical issues, you can proceed to the next likely culprit: behavioural problems. In the case of boredom or separation anxiety, your furry friend may have started pooping indoors as a cry for help. For canine stress, they may feel a more frequent urge to expel, and want to do so in familiar locales.
Now that we’ve looked at the why, let’s explore how to stop your dog pooping in the wrong place
Bust your doggy’s boredom
If you leave your furry friend at home while you’re at work, they may struggle with boredom. As we highlighted above, boredom can lead our doggies to relieve themselves indoors. The most effective way to address this problem is by leaving your dogs with a committed carer; this can be a friend, a neighbour, or a Doggy Day Care provider. Failing that, make sure you leave your pupper plenty of chew toys and Kongs stuffed with peanut butter. This way, they’ll have something to occupy them over the long hours. Another hack is to play talkback radio while you’re out, which will expose your doggo to the sounds of voices. While it won’t be the same as human companionship, it sure beats stony silence.
Troubleshoot any causes of stress
Has their indoor pooping begun recently? If so, it could be a response to some change in their environment. Perhaps your neighbours have just started renovations, or maybe you’ve welcomed a second pet into your home. In any event, you can begin to quench the stress by showing your dog that there’s nothing to fear. When the neighbours are renovating loudly, sit with your pup, speak in a soothing voice, and feed them treats. When the new pets struts into their space, use that same soothing voice, lavish your dog with praise, and intervene if things get rough. Regardless of the problem, if you turn it from a negative into a positive, your pupper’s stress will dissolve.
Create an indoor peeing and pooping corner for your pet
Sometimes, our fully-grown dogs can simply regress from their training. This can be a natural thing, and doesn’t always mean your pooch has a problem. If you’ve ruled out all of the above issues, they may simply be having a “puppy moment” in their lives. In this scenario, don’t worry – just pretend you’re dealing with a puppy. While you may prefer for them to relieve themselves outside, for now, simply focus on creating a toilet corner indoors. To this end, lay down some pee pads, and redirect your pupper every time they do their business – even if it means interrupting them. At first, this may lead to some accidents; after a while, though, they should start using their corner.
When they do, give them that puppy potty training treatment and shower them with praises and treats. Once they’ve comfortably set the trend of using their corner pads, you can slowly reintroduce them to outdoor toilets.
4 comments
Why does a cocker spaniel whose 4 years old treated like a queen poop on the floor about every other week and she knows she bad when you just look at her what can we do to stop it
Why does a healthy 14 y/o dog decide to stop going to his normal places and just stops where he wants to to poop, this dog appear to be lazy and does whatever he wants. There has been any discipline. Is there any appropriate disciplinary techniques I can use?
Why does my 8 month old big dog puppy keep pooping in the pool at puppy day care? They are threatening to take away her pool privileges which is the only reason we go there in the first place. I’m not there to train and correct the behavior and so it just continues to happen. She has had no potty training issues since about 5 months old.
My golden doodle has pooped in the dog park pool 3 times. The fee is $20 when she poops there. How can I stop this? She’s 7 months old.