[jaimebpa1]

Olive is 6 months now and I thought she was house trained. She hasn't had an accident upstairs in months, but for about a month now she has been pooping in our basement! Our basement is the kid's toy room and my son's room is also there. There is alsoa laundry room and we keep the cat's litter box there. Olive doesn't have access to that room anymore. Up until 2 months ago I've kept her out of the basement with a baby gate, but my kids always left it open so i was constantly bringing her back up. Well I'm getting lazy and i've been leaving her down stairs for a few minutes before i go get her. She is completely housetrained upstairs so I thought she'd be fine down there. Wrong! If she is downstairs by herself she will almost always poop! It's very frustrating because I'm really tired of having to follow her around the house. She is pooping on tile so the smell shouldn't be there. My husband thinks she is doing it because it's the kid's play room and she wants to show her dominance. I have no idea why she is doing it, but i'd like it to stop! She didn't even have this many accidents when we first brought her home.

 

[Pollypiglet]

Guess she has just got lazy. Back to watching and reminding her where she should go. Hard work for a few weeks but she will soon remember. Hattie had a couple of indoor wees around 6 months having been dry since 4 months but a firm reminder and keeping watch resolved this.

 

[lady amanda]

I think she is probably doing it because it is a new area, and she isn't used to that part of the home being her "den" I am sure she will stop, she is still young...some dogs take alot longer to house train than others...and since this is a new area, she may just not feel like it is apart of her home yet...I think she will it just might take a bit of time.

 

[wellerfeller]

May be something to do with the cats litter tray being down there? Poo smells like poo,so if she can smell the cats poo that will encourage her to poo there too.

 

[jaimebpa1]

Thanks for the replies. I had been doing my best to not let Olive downstairs or be down there with her, but this morning she must have gotten down there and she pooped on the cat's chair and in my son's room. Ummm maybe my husband is right and this is a behaviour issue. She never had poop accidents even when I first brought her home. The only type of accidents she had were pee and she hasn't peed in the house in months. I guess I have to go back to never letting her in the basement until i can figure this out. My poor cat was so freaked out that there was poop on his chair!

 

[looby]

Im afraid I can't really help but rigby does a similar thing- if allowed upstairs on his own he will poo on the hall carpet- never anywhere else!

I don't know what to do and it has got to the point that I just can't let him upstairs.
xx

 

[MillieDog]

Can you try moving the cat litter tray or keeping it ultra clean, see if that helps.

Does Olive have a normal toilet routine and these accidental poos are outside of her routine. Or do you think she really does need to go to the toilet and as she knows the rest of the house is out of bounds, this new area will do. Can you take her outside more frequently and give the toilet command so her bowel is empty more frequently.