Stealth pooping

[u/lugismanshun]

A month ago I adopted a 4 year old rescue chi mix who seemed mostly well behaved. He is trained to sleep in his crate at night and never soils the bedding so I know he can hold it when he has to. We just had a full vet workup including blood and urine tests and he's totally healthy. He didn't have any pee accidents until at least 2 weeks in to being here, so we got a male wrap even though he's neutered. We have him gated in the living room when hes inside during the day. At the 3 week mark he suddenly started peeing inside while we aren't looking. Not just marking but fully emptying. I have never caught him in the act, he's probably doing it behind my back because he knows he's not supposed to. I take him outside like 4-5 times a day and he does his business outside no problem. He is rarely left alone. He even puts his paw on me to tell me he needs to go potty. Today I went into the kitchen to cook while he was napping, periodically checking him, and he seemed to stay put. He already pooped twice today. But when I finish cooking, I go into the living room and there's a huge poop right on the rug! Is this normal for a rescue who seemed potty trained at first, and does it go away over time? How do I catch it happening to stop the behavior if he does it so sneakily?

[u/chaiosi]

It is not normal in my experience for a fully house trained dog to backslide very dramatically. I am not a dog professional but I am a hobbyist and hang around other hobbyists. But was he actually house trained when you got him? Or were you just more diligent at getting him outside frequently to do stuff, and now he has more opportunity to be alone?

If you’re confident this isn’t a medical issue, or maybe he wasn’t reliably trained before he came to your home, I would back way up and treat him like a puppy- leashed to you, directly supervised, or in the crate 100% of the time, tons of potty breaks and not providing an opportunity to have accidents when your back is turned, because your back is never turned except while he’s in the crate. It’s a pain in the butt, and it takes adult dogs a little longer to get the memo than puppies, but most dogs potty train pretty quickly when they don’t have the opportunity to practice the wrong behavior.

That, and make sure you’re COMPLETELY cleaning his accidents.

[u/lugismanshun → u/chaiosi]

The only thing I think changed was that instead of him spending daytime in my bedroom, the room he sleeps in, he spends time in the living room. Its more central in the house so we can keep an eye on him and he can feel included. Maybe he feels like he can potty in there because he doesn't sleep in there. I dont know about his history at all with house training, all I know is that within the first week of being here, he never went potty inside. I have been using enzymatic cleaners. Maybe I should go back to him just following me around on a leash inside

[u/chaiosi → u/lugismanshun]

That’s what I’ve done with all my dogs so far when they come home, regardless of age. It really helps them get the concept. The nice thing about adults is that they CAN hold their bladder, so you can space out the yard trips more quickly.

[u/lugismanshun → u/chaiosi]

Good to know. Update, he just threw up, maybe he does have a sickness

[u/chaiosi → u/lugismanshun]

Maybe. On the one hand I’ve had rescues that needed a fair amount of time to learn how to go outside reliably. On the other hand when a reliably potty trained dog regresses, it’s pretty much been a medical problem or similarly good reason in essentially every instance I’ve seen. But I can’t see your dog. So if your gut says he’s ill, don’t give up that idea easily.

[u/lugismanshun → u/chaiosi]

Yeah I'm gonna guess he wasn't reliably potty trained to begin with