# Pooping by the front door!



## darrenito (Dec 22, 2009)

For the most part Scrappy is housebroken and has not had a pee pee accident inside the house for over 7 months now (he's 11 months old now) but about once a month in the middle of the night he will go down stairs and poop right by the front door. I can't understand for the life of me why he can't hold it until the morning when we go out for a walk.

A little background, he gets walked 4 times a day, morning, lunch, evening, and before he goes to sleep. He usually pees and poops on every walk. 

We have stopped crating him at night and just leave the door open to the crate now so he can go in and out as he pleases. He rarely sleeps in the crate. 

Can anyone recommend a way to help us with this issue? It happens very rarely but still we want to get rid of this habit. Thanks in advance!


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

Is there anything different about the days when he does this? A different feeding schedule? He ate a little later?


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## doggygirl (Sep 22, 2010)

Is Scrappy an mischevious sort of dog? I had an amazing yorkie a few years back that I loved, but when he got mad at me, he liked to leave a little "gift" by the front door as well. I hope yours has the same problem, but a little more love turned out to be a simple cure for it.


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## *Molly* (Oct 2, 2010)

Pooping 4 times a day is not normal. I would suggest looking at the kind of food you are giving her.

@doggygirl: dogs don't think that way. probably upset stomach because of stress, that's why it happened.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

I agree with checking your food or the schedule you feed him on. Also, when our dogs eat something "interesting" in the yard, like a bug, or the horse poop off someone's boot (we're rural folk  ) they have an upset stomach for part of the next day.....


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## infiniti (Mar 19, 2010)

Ha! Don't worry about what others say. Dogs can be mischievous and they are capable of cognitive thought, IMO. My dog knows how to play peek a boo, and I never taught her. She knows how to "bait" the puppy we have. And yes, when she's frustrated with me, be it a change in schedule or whatever, she poops in my room. ONLY my room and ONLY when we aren't getting along well.


As for the original poster, check the food first and foremost because pooping that much is excessive. I am also curious as to how your dog lets you know during waking hours that he has to go outside? Mine just sit by the door, silently. If we don't notice the puppy, she will potty right next to the door she is trying to get out.


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## *Molly* (Oct 2, 2010)

infiniti said:


> Ha! Don't worry about what others say. Dogs can be mischievous and they are capable of cognitive thought, IMO. My dog knows how to play peek a boo, and I never taught her. She knows how to "bait" the puppy we have. And yes, when she's frustrated with me, be it a change in schedule or whatever, she poops in my room. ONLY my room and ONLY when we aren't getting along well.


Ah! You are also the kind of person that thinks the dog knows that he has been bad when he chewed something he wasn't supposed to while you were gone?
Don't project human feelings to dogs or any animal~ they don't think that way. Been proven a thousand times.


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## infiniti (Mar 19, 2010)

Yes, I am that "kind of person" because I know my dog. This whole thing about dog intelligence has been swayed a million times over. I believe that dogs are intelligent and I believe that they are capable of emotion, and I give them a lot more credit than people who pay more attention to "studies" than they do their dogs and behaviors.


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## Gingerlily (Oct 4, 2010)

Generally my dogs won't do anything they're not supposed to just because no one is looking. They used to try, but they've learned that they get caught, and it's become really rare to come home and find poop in the living room or a piece of furniture chewed. If I do find such a thing, I can tell who did it because one of the two of them will have high-tailed it out of the room. Apparently they think that if they're not in the room at the time I discover it, I'll think it was someone else. That said, though, I've never seen them do anything I could describe as spiteful. Maybe some dogs do, but I've never met one with the personality for it.

OP: That definitely sounds like some kind of dietary problems. How are the texture and smell of his poop? It should be thick and firm with a nice shape, but not hard, and it shouldn't smell especially foul. Maybe it's just me, but I find the smell of fresh healthy poop to be almost pleasant in a woodsy sort of way. It seems gross, but keeping an eye on this kind of thing can tell you a lot about your pet's health (or your own). Are you feeding him canned food?


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## Binkalette (Dec 16, 2008)

Oh I don't know about the pooping 4 times a day being excessive thing.. 4 regular sized poops maybe.. But Zoey, no matter what kind of food we're on at the time can poop on command. Not necessarily a large amount, but poop all the same!


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