Woke up to a nice dog poop this morning in my bedroom.

[urge to herd]

Details ~ G has historically had 3 walks a day, almost every day, (until yesterday) he's always pooped  twice, 1 in the a.m. walk the 2nd one in the afternoon walk  or evening visit to the back yard. Rarely he has pooped only once, but it has happened. 

Last night I spent 15 min with him in the back yard waiting for the evening poop.  No scary noises like fireworks, nothing going on in the back yards of my neighbors on either side. And he has on at least 2 occasions had  no problem relieving himself when there was a kid's birthday party going on and another time when the family on the other side was having an even louder party.

Last night I was out in the yard w/G for about 10 minutes. No interest at all in poopage.  He peed a couple times, maybe 3. I waited another few minutes, figured he didn't need to.

This a.m. I woke up to a nice, firm poop on the carpet at the foot of my bed. I think I heard him rustling around at about  4 a.m. 

He eats his meals at the same time every day, give or take a few minutes, he's been eating the same dog food for years, and the daily routine was . . . well, routine.

Any ideas about encouraging outdoor pooping?  I live in Northern CA ~ if we have a rainy season this year it's going to be even more fun hanging out in the back yard at 9  p.m. 

Ruth & Gibbs

[D'Elle]

As I would see this if it were my dog, this could be a fluke. I wouldn't be concerned unless it happened again, in which case I would be looking at taking him for a walk in the evening instead of time in the yard, perhaps, as that might stimulate pooping a bit more.

It seems to me that he is already well trained in outdoor pooling, so it's not so much a training issue, or encouraging outdoor poops,  as it is something else. Timing, maybe, or activity level, or place/environment.......

I would brainstorm all the possibilities and see how each could be modified to see if that's the solution. but as I say I wouldn't do any of this unless it keeps happening.

[urge to herd]

Thx, D'Elle, hoping you're right. Same old back yard every evening. He gets 3 walks every day, each a different route: morning walk we head east, middle walk I take him into a green space that's inside the mobile home park where I live, 3rd walk we head west. The evening visit to the back yard has a 95% success rate. At almost 14 he pretty much sleeps from dinner til the bedtime outing. And he has made friends with a couple people.

Poop has appeared regularly in the evening in the past, hence the anecdotes about him pooping with no problem even when there has been lots of noise from the neighbors.

I can take him for an after dinner walk for the next few months, but once it starts to get dark by 5 I am reluctant to do that. And historically he rarely poops on the late afternoon walk, but regularly in the a.m. and middle of the day.

You'll read about it here tomorrow a.m.!

R&G

[urge to herd]

And last night was boring and routine. Last outing into the yard was successful in terms of pooping and everything else. Sighs of relief were heard.

R & G

[gcv-border]

I am glad Gibbs' system is back to normal.

Just want to add a comment to the excellent advice from D'Elle -- I found my senior dogs gradually became less 'regular' and required extra attention to make sure they were doing their job.

I also want to add that I truly appreciate the fact that my dogs are fairly regular - a LOT better than me so I cut them some slack. LOL.

 

Jovi

[urge to herd]

Yep, me too! He'll be 14 in October, so he gets a little room for error here and there. 

R & G