Help! Angus pooping in the house, no peeing

KarenCurtis

KarenCurtis

Premium Member
Hi everyone. Angus is 5 1/2 months old. Since I've had him at ten weeks he has been eating Proplan or Purina One puppy food mixed in with adult Purina Beyond kibble, about a 3 to 1 ratio mostly puppy food, with a tiny bit of pumpkin mixed in at dinner. That's what the breeder was doing so I stuck with it. He was eating twice a day. He pooped about twice a day. About ten days ago I ran out of the Purina One puppy food and just fed him the Purina Beyond, same amount, twice a day, without the pumpkin but he was getting less than a teaspoon of that. He's growing like a weed. This switch in food has coinsided with him pooping more often, normal poops, and once a day, mostly after dinner, pooping in the house- down the hall or in another room (yes we've lost track of him and didn't close the pen/gate those times) This has happened four times. I'm wondering if the food switch could have anything to do with it, (I can test this by going back to the puppy/reg food) or if it may be behavioral, not sure. Or, we're not giving him enough time outside to go. We may have to take him out without Minnie. Ugh! He hasn't peed in the house in a month! Any thoughts of wisdom welcomed.
 
I would say if the poops are normal and not loose it's not the food, (unless there is a lot more fiber in the new food) so it may be behavioral. Maybe keep him on a leash while he's eating, then straight outside so he can't wander off while you are distracted. Good idea to take him out without Minnie. Sometimes they regress a bit with housetraining. I would think he should still be on puppy food a bit longer. I think our vet had us switch at about 7 months.
 
I would say a behavioral thing and suggest nipping in the bud. When they hit the teenage stage, potty training can be where they rebel. You may hit this again around 7 - 9 months, again around 12 - 15 months - Minnie may not have done this because she is a girl - they are just different, smarter, catch on quicker. It may involve the food switch a bit, he obviously is creating more poop than before - did you compare ingredients? If there's more fillers in the new, it would create more waste. If the food was bothering him, I'd think he'd have soft or runny poop. He obviously has to go and doesn't quite yet know how to tell you. It's not a habit you want to encourage, so I'd be real diligent on keeping an eye on him, taking him out more often to try and establish a new potty schedule. 'They' say it takes 3 weeks for things to become new habits, so unless he looks, feels, acts strange, I wouldn't bother with the vet quite yet.
 
I have an Angus as well he is 11 months old. We have gone through the poop in the house thing a couple of times. Having them go outside for 30+ minutes after they eat has really helped us. When we found the "accident'( not really an accident)- we brought the dog over, pointed it out and said NO then I picked up the poop and threw it into the back yard while he followed then put him outside for a time out. So this has seemed to work (knock on wood) and he only did that one more time. As one poster said I think as they get older they seem to want to retest the boundaries again- that has happened with other shelties I have been owned by.. Now for us peeing was much worse of a problem- we have carpet and so we had to keep our dogs in diapers for some time to stop that. Angus is a male but was only fixed at 8+ months and he still like to sign his name to stuff but so far the past few weeks we are good and no diapers.. I don't know if it is proper on this forum but I want to give a shout out to my portable Hoover Spotless rug cleaner-- it has been worth every penny I paid for it--we have two pups and it has really gotten used a lot--now not so much and we keep our fingers crossed.
 
Sandy in CT said:
I would say a behavioral thing and suggest nipping in the bud. When they hit the teenage stage, potty training can be where they rebel. You may hit this again around 7 - 9 months, again around 12 - 15 months - Minnie may not have done this because she is a girl - they are just different, smarter, catch on quicker. It may involve the food switch a bit, he obviously is creating more poop than before - did you compare ingredients? If there's more fillers in the new, it would create more waste. If the food was bothering him, I'd think he'd have soft or runny poop. He obviously has to go and doesn't quite yet know how to tell you. It's not a habit you want to encourage, so I'd be real diligent on keeping an eye on him, taking him out more often to try and establish a new potty schedule. 'They' say it takes 3 weeks for things to become new habits, so unless he looks, feels, acts strange, I wouldn't bother with the vet quite yet.
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Thanks Sharon and Sandra, I think we are going to take the dogs out separately in the a.m. and after dinner, see if that works better. More due diligence on our part keeping that gate closed!! Since Angus's poops are normal I don't think it's the food either, and the puppy food had more fillers than the Purina Beyond does. As far as smarts concerning boys and girls. Not sure. Angus is training just as quick as Minnie did, except for the pooping. Angus is very laid back and could care less about noises, Minnie barks like crazy!
 
KarenCurtis said:
Thanks Sharon and Sandra, I think we are going to take the dogs out separately in the a.m. and after dinner, see if that works better. More due diligence on our part keeping that gate closed!! Since Angus's poops are normal I don't think it's the food either, and the puppy food had more fillers than the Purina Beyond does. As far as smarts concerning boys and girls. Not sure. Angus is training just as quick as Minnie did, except for the pooping. Angus is very laid back and could care less about noises, Minnie barks like crazy!
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Sandy did I call you Sandra? Sorry if you don't like that. I can't even remember my husbands name sometimes
 
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