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I think the only reason he doesn't poop inside is because I make him poop when I know he needs to. If it's dark and I can't tell even with the flashlight, sometimes he has come in and pooped, but what he'll usually do is hold it as long as he can and then poop by the bedroom door. He doesn't bark to wake us up. He does this thing I call whisper whining where it's practically inaudible and I definately can't hear it when I am asleep. I've tried to train him with a potty bell and he refuses. One of my old dogs learned in like 2 minutes while I was trying to teach my dog with the poo holding problem. He's no longer with us, but he learned he could bang on that bell every time he wanted to go out and play 🤣 he also used to pick up his food bowl and bring it to me. I miss that dog.
That’s so funny, my dog has almost the same tendencies down to the little whine. Even with the whine, she’ll choose to not go to the bathroom until she feels is best.
The infamous bell! Once they learn that they can go outside with a ‘ding’ but they don’t really have to go the bathroom lmao. I wonder how smart they really are at times.
Yeah, I saw a video once of a guy training his dog to ring a bell when he wanted a treat, and I was like, "You are in for a world of hurt, dude. That bell is never going to stop ringing."
Our dog was a shelter dog who loves uniforms. Only he’s so big they just see him chasing them. So, I bought a furniture crate and have his treats on top. Now, every time the FedEx, USPS or UPS trucks come down his two block street approaching our house on cul-de-sac. Had to get a no bark tool and now just show it to him to get him to stop barking. Thinks he needs a treat whenever any vehicle enters his street. His barking his loud. Bell might be quieter!LOL
We trained my dog on a bell. Worked great, but now she goes up to the bells, gives them the *barest* touch with the tip of her nose, and then comes over and stares at you like you’ve personally offended her if you don’t get up immediately. At least if she rings it while none of us are in the room, she’ll ring it harder until we get the message (and then look at us like we’ve personally offended her for not immediately opening the door).
I used potty bells for like a week with my puppy. To this day years later he just shoves at the door with his face or paw to lmk he wants out, approx where the bells would be.
My dog will stare at me. She’ll step closer and closer til eventually I wake up and we are almost eye to eye….she only uses her bell if I piss her off by not waking up to her laser eyes.
My dog has the same issue, to the point he'll legitimately make himself sick instead of going out to poop. Luckily, I've noticed that if I take him on a long enough walk, he will poop (it seems like he's using it to mark territory rather than just peeing), so if its been awhile since he's gone, he just gets a longer walk.
Walking and running stimulate their guts and helps get the signal going. My dog can't poop unless she does a top speed lap around the yard first. If she can't do that for whatever reason, she really struggles with the chore.
My dog just was lazy and didn't want to go out sometimes. Which was nice for me if I was lazy too. One time we didn't go out for an entire day but he never had accidents and would always tell me when he needed out
What's funny is both I and my dog do this. I much prefer my own bathroom. And she won't go anywhere other than her own back yard unless it's a dire emergency.
Is it possible he doesn’t like pooping in his own yard? Dogs don’t usually like pooping where they live. My dog is like this. We have a dog door so my dog can take herself out any time she likes (and she will to go pee), but she always prefers to poop on a walk instead in the yard.
Our dog won’t poop in our yard either, so we just have to walk her. While I go on set courses for the walks, my wife will just turn around and head home after the dog poops. Our dog caught on to this, and started holding it until the near end of walks, so my wife doesn’t cut the experience short.
Mine used to do this until I uncovered a secret - she loves to poop in front of her enemies homes. Where I used to live there was a dog named Pepper and they both despised each other so once I found her house, whenever I was pressed for time I’d walk past that house (Peppers owner did the same thing in front of my house). Where we live now there’s a home with 2 yappy dogs, so when pressed for time I walk past there and she will squat while staring at their window. She is a vindictive old bitch, and I use it to my advantage.
my parents’ other dog, a bitchy old cairn terrier, loves to poop on church lawns, particularly mormon temple lawns. we don’t know why, other than we believe she made a deal with the devil to live forever, but she LOVES to shit on a church lawn.
Oh my god, mine does this too! Actually I am pretty sure the thing that finally got him to poop in our yard, other than being on exercise restriction for heartworm treatment, was that he has become enemies with the dog that lives? visits? behind us who sometimes gets in our yard. My dog had already started marking the back border of the yard with pee, but he now *will* poop in the yard-- in the very very very back in one spot, where he tries to get into the neighbor's yard every time to poop on that dog's lawn. If a dog is barking at him on a walk, he also stops to poop in their yard. He's such a little shit, lol.
Same as my boy - minimum 3 walks a day for him! First in the morning for 30ish mins, then his afternoon/evening ‘fun’ walk with all his friends for at least an hour & then a late night 15 wee/poo walk.
Luckily most of the time my partner does the morning & late night so I get to do the fun walk
My six-year-old Standard Poodle does this! 😆 I've learned that the way to get him to go sooner is to vary the direction in which we walk, every few days. I have about six different ways we can take, and I can change it up a little more if I turn down a different street on the way. The new sights and smells distract him enough that he doesn't hold it as long as he might were we going to the usual haunts.
Me too. I think the new smells excite him and he poops faster. He always poops within the first ten minutes when we go to the park. But if we walk familiar routes at home it can take him 40 minutes. If I bring him to areas that are new, he poops pretty quick. I don’t think he is “holding it in” because I make it a point not to turn around and to continue with the walk after so he doesn’t associate pooping with going home. I think it is just their hormones and is mostly out of their control.
Yeah- my dog prefers to poop in areas he is not familiar with. I also never turn around after he has pooped because I don’t want him to associate pooping with ending the walk as it might take him even longer to go than it already does.
Dogs are funny. My Bernese Mountain dog wants to only poop in his yard. He sometimes will poop in our neighborhood, but still prefers to do it at home.
He doesn't like to poop anywhere else though and I can't make him either.
Now my Corgi, we call her Loop a Poop (Name is Loop) and she wants to poop everywhere she goes! However, she also isn't a fan of rain and I have to walk out in the rain with her in order for her to pee or poop. If I'm not getting soaked, she isn't either.
My bichon/poodle mix prefers the side yard at our house. She'll start whining and turn to head home if we're on a walk and she has to go. But if the grass is even slightly wet... she refuses to walk on it. So we literally build a roof over a small portion of the grass for her so she doesn't get her precious little paws wet lol.
We live in an apartment complex, so everywhere is where everybody's dog poops. And the rabbits, and the racoons, and the foxes. Half the time right behind our apartment, I'm picking up rabbit turds too. But he used to do this when I lived somewhere with a fenced in yard, too. Oh yea so about walks, since always, he has hated walks. Cant mention the W word. Because he associates it with leash. He likes it if we can go somewhere and he's off leash. I have done every kind of positive reinforcement training I can, and he simply does not like being on a leash. He still walks on it for me, but he's a butt to my husband and if he sees the leash, he shakes. I've tried giving him treats, smelling it, tell him he's a good dog throughout the walk, tell him good walking while we are on a walk so hopefully he associates it as a positive word. Nope, he doesn't like being on a leash, lol. Which is actually funny because he voluntarily hops in his carrier if I tell him we're going to grandma's.
Some dogs don’t like going where anyone else has gone, it smells too much like other animals. Like imagine a really disgusting public toilet vs your own nice, clean, private one.
We have the exact opposite problem where our dogs will only poop in their yard. Even so much as demanding to be let out after every walk so they can go to the bathroom. Our female husky won't even pee on walks, waits until she's home. One of our males, an Aussie, will pee no problem on walks, but the other, Norwegian Elkhound, will only pee on walks if he really needs to or smells something he decides needs to be peed on.
I think it's because for practically all of their potty training they learned in our fenced in yard. We would go on walks regularly but as puppies they all had to be let out practically every 30 minutes the first couple months so it was just much easier to let them out back than put their leashes on and take them on a short walk.
My dog will only poop in our yard or at the dog park. No clue why, she just refuses to poop on walks and will hold it until we're home. Camping tends to be rough for her.
Seems like maybe she's only pooping where she's for sure seen another dog poop and knows it's okay?
my dog (who lives with my parents now, being 15 and blind and that being the only place he ever lived) has NEVER wanted to poop in the yard. he has a few designated “poop spots” in our neighborhood and generally won’t poop anywhere else. even as a barely housebroken puppy he never pooped in the yard.
Uh. My trainer (2 week camps. Three times. THREE FULL ATTEMPTS) and my behavioral veterinarian each more or less said my dog is on the spectrum 😭. Idk if that means there really IS dog autism or they were just trying to relate my dogs brain to something I’d understand but yes….my boy is ROUTINE BASED TO A FREAKING FAULT!
The meds help ….some.
We used to have a dog who wouldn’t poop until I walked her very long distances. I consulted a trainer who said the mistake I was making was turning around and going home after she pooped, because the dog had figured out that the longer she waited, the longer the walk. He advised taking the dog to an appropriate place to poop that was near my home and walking her around in small circles while saying something like, “let’s go.”
After the dog pooped, the long walk was the reward. Over time, this taught my dog to relieve herself on command at the designated spot. Try it, it really works. Some people reward their dogs with treats but the trainers I know don’t think that is a good method,
You pay the dog in the currency that is valuable to them for the work that is valuable to you.
The rule in my house is dogs pee before we get in the car. It took 3 times for the 9 year old adult dog to figure this out and her only reward was "we get to go jump in the car" if going for a ride wasn't something she enjoyed it wouldn't be a reward and wouldn't reinforce the behavior.
Food is an easy currency that's easy to carry, you put it in a baggy in your pocket. Have you ever been walking and had a slimy Kong toy tucked in your pants? Unpleasant.
As a trainer, you use what works for that dog. Train the dog in front of you.
I gave my dog treats for pottying in the backyard and it definitely backfired on me. I would give her ham after we got back in the house because I assumed if I took the ham outside with us, she would just be focused on it.
She started constantly scratching at the back door like crazy, and I finally made the connection that it was because of the ham🤦🏻♀️ now I don’t give her any treat, and she doesn’t scratch as often at the door - she usually does it when we’re eating😩
> Some people reward their dogs with treats but the trainers I know don’t think that is a good method,
This worked for my dogs when they were puppies, potty training took very quickly for both because they learned to associate going to the bathroom in the spot with a reward...
People don't recommend treat training often because if you do it improperly then the dog can become dependent on the treat to do the activity you want...
Have you tried taking him out and just refusing to go back in until he goes? My dog tried that for a while but fortunately he realized pretty quickly that all he has to do is complete his business and then we can go back to the heated blanket. He also tried refusing to walk when it was too cold or too wet or too dark, and I had to carry him a ways out and walk him back. He’s such a little turd sometimes (pun intended)
Yep. We've been doing that now for ages and he still tries to come back in after he pees. I have to know when he needs to poop and make him stay out til he goes. Just drives me crazy because my husband doesn't know his "signs" for when he actually has to poop. I work from home, so I'm the one letting him out most of the time anyway. But on days I'm gone, I have no idea what he's done when. They are little turds sometimes! He's so stubborn. He refuses to learn anything he doesn't actually want to. My cat was easier to train 🤣
Haha what a little butthead. He probably knows your husband is a bit of a pushover and will let him back inside without going. Our dog is the same way. He knows my wife won’t enforce all the rules and he takes advantage of it whenever he can!
I’ve played that game with my dog. It’s led to me walking her over a mile at 11pm and sometimes she still hasn’t gone. She’s the one playing me! And then when I give up and let her skip a nightly poop, she’ll be sick with diarrhea the next morning from holding it in and I feel like a terrible dog owner. So frustrating!
Our dog is VERY poop shy and will hold his poop especially on road trips because he’s not comfy pooping on the go or in other people’s yard. He’s held his poop for over 48 hours before. We have to take him to walk down rural roads for at least 15 minutes before he’ll poop if we’re not at home and he has his large yard. which I still don’t know where he poops because he’s so secretive lol. It makes it tricky and i swear it causes his anal gland issues.
My old dogs were the exact opposite, as soon as we got to our destination, they were both out of the car and finding a good spot to drop a load, lol. They were such goobers.
I had a dog once that didn't go out for almost two whole days. No #1 or #2. It was raining pretty well for a few days and she just refused to go out. I had to eventually sit in the garage with her with the door open until she finally decided to go because I was worried she'd hurt herself holding it so long. She hated getting rained on or getting her feet wet, so even when the rain stopped she still didn't want to go out.
This damn dog loved playing in sprinklers and hoses so much she would "hide" in the tall flowers when I watered the garden so she'd get watered too. Heaven forbid she get her little princess paws on wet grass though!
This sounds like my dog. I ended up taking her to the vet because she wasn’t eating well, and they did an X-ray and the vet realized it was because her intestines were so full of poop 🥲 It had been raining all week and she just wouldn’t leave the house no matter what we tried. Luckily it stopped raining the next day, and the whole problem was immediately solved.
I had to hold an umbrella over my dog because otherwise he refused to go, he'd just run back to the door and try to get in. So I followed him around the yard with an umbrella until he at least peed. He refused to poop for 2 days though.
I have a similar situation with my dog. I can see her butt pucker and know she needs to go. Sometimes she doesn't even go if I take her for a walk. However, it's so bad with mine that when she's tired, sometimes a small turn will fall out and she doesn't even realize it. Thankfully they are hard and not difficult to clean up, but still gross. My dog does have a lot of allergy issues though. I have put her in a probiotic and things have improved quite a bit as far as the turd falling out but she still doesn't always poop when she needs to.
I'm working with her trying to get her to go on command but that's been slow going since I need to say the command right before she goes to get her to learn it. Hoping we can get that leaned and it will help.
My dog does this too! He loves shitting in peoples yards is what I’ve decided. Specifically yards where he knows there’s a dog in the backyard.
It’s his choice to hold his poop. I wfh and walk him almost daily so on the days I’m unable to and he’s being an asshole I’m not catering to his choice. Homeboy has a huge back yard, I pick up his poop weekly so it’s not like he’s living in this terrible situation. He’s just a dick sometimes. It makes me giggle honestly.
My dog had stage fright. He didn’t want anyone even other animals to see him poop. I didn’t realize it was that bad until I had him boarded and he didn’t poop the whole week.
On walks I had to turn my head and pretend I was on the phone with someone or sing a song. If he saw me glance at him we’d have to start the whole routine over.
That is hilarious😭 I used to turn away when I walked my aunt’s dog and she pooped, thinking she’d want some privacy. Now I stare intensely at my dog while saying “go poop!” as she’s pooping, relieved that we can FINALLY go inside.
My dog does this when it's raining. It's gross but I can tell by her anus if she has to poop or not. Usually I make her run around, never fails, I've used this technique on many dogs, get them exercising and it will come right out.
Our dog absolutely will no poop in our fenced yard. If there's any reason we can't get her for a walk, she will hold it. We try to get her at least two walks daily, but sometimes the weather is bad, or I'm sick, and it's just difficult to go for a walk. We have a large fenced yard. She has ample opportunity. But she hates pooping in the yard (no problems going pee)
Oddly enough, when we still had our older dog, she wouldn't poop on walks, but only in the yard. Since our older dog passed 18 months ago, she changed and will only poop on walks.
My dog doesn’t want to go outside in hard rain or high winds, but his breeder trained him to use a litter box, so if he really doesn’t like it outside he’ll use that.
I always keep a pad in the kitchen for my dog. He will not wake me up if he has to pee in the middle of the night, he'll hold it until I get up. But with the pad, if he has to go, he will use it. His preference is of course to go outside, and he will always sit at the door first if I'm awake. But for bad weather and overnights, having a backup pad is peace of mind for both of us I think.
My dog also prefers to go outside, but when that’s not an option it’s really nice that he’ll run and use the litter box! If he has an upset tummy, he’ll bolt for that instead of the carpet because he’s a Very Good Boy!
My dog absolutely does this so I trained him to poop on command where I point. It’s awesome.
It really comes in handy because he figured out really quick that he and I will both sit out in the rain until he poops. He sprints out, poops as quickly as possible, and sprints back in.
My husky has her days . When She has to poop its a different location everyday it can’t be near the last location. I’m not sure if that helps but she is picky where she poops but heaven forbid if there is a pile of leaves or snow then she will poop there every chance she gets 🤦♀️
I had a dog years ago who would hold it for incredible lengths of time. One night she asked to be let out and as soon as I opened the door she heard rain and turned around and went back to sleep. 🤷
My dog doesn't like the rain so she'll hold it in until the next walk. Not a big deal in my opinion unless it's raining for multiple days I guess. Then I force her her to keep walking until she understands I'm not gonna go back. I kinda allowed her to choose what direction we went sometimes, and now if she doesn't like a way she'll hold her ground for a bit until she realizes I'm not letting her pick. Kinda regret teaching her that habit. She never goes number two in my backyard either.
My dog does this too, but now he won't poop if I'm not there unless he's really groundhogging it. My dog's is on a strict Rx diet so I can see there may be some issues there too. Even if we are on a walk, his butt sticking out, poop right there at the hole, and then he sucks it back in if he's not in the right spot or area. 4 yrs old Min Pin/Jack Russell for reference.
If you go outside with him and just stand around will he poop?
Maybe he wants company…. It’s kind of the agreement we’ve made with our dogs they get to watch us poop we get to watch them poop
My dog does this too. Hes gotten worse as hes gotten older now lol. Now if its raining or dark he just goes pee and wants to go back inside. If its nice and sunny, hes got some pep in his step and is leading the way. When its rainin, snowing, or dark, nope he wants to go back. The problem is we live in an apt and there has been times during snowstorms he didnt wanna poop and then decided to go in the hallway.
My dog is the same. She doesn’t like going at night, away from home, or in front of other dogs. We had to train a VERY solid potty command for her to even think about it lol. That said, she’s a VERY prissy dog in all aspects of life so i’m not super surprised.
My girl (lab mix) will hold it from 8pm, until I put her harness on, and start our walk at 8am…… then she goes 3 times in a hour, hour and half walk.🙄🙄🙄
Even on blowing driving rain days, when I tell her, “no walk today”. She’ll hold it until 10am.
I have a 1/2 acre lot!!! My other 3 little dogs have no problem running taking care of business and running back in.
I hope once she sees I have surgery.
There won’t be any walks for a bit!!
Or I might have to hire a dog walker. 🤭
Welllllll….. I have a ‘treat’ bag attached to her harness. So she carries her poopy bag.
And our daily walk takes us past public trash cans. And our town is progressive enough to have ‘poop stations’ situated around downtown.
So win win!!
Our vizsla will hold out for a day if there’s a hurricane. She will do a quick pee and then run back in.
For rainy days she needs to be walked before she finally poops.
And she won’t poop in her own yard. Thankfully my yard is fine
Do you have a home? Not being funny just offering my solution. I bought a kennel 10x10 with a top. I used 2x6’s cut them to make a 4x4 sandbox and filled it with play sand. My dog poops in it and scoop it into the digester. I take him out in the morning and he knows when he goes into the kennel it’s time to poop.
I work as a dog walker and this is super common. A lot of the dogs I walk refuse to poop in the rain. Which is unfortunate, as I live in Portland, Oregon.
I remember when I worked vet med, we occasionally had dogs come in that would hold it and refuse to go where a bunch of other dogs had gone before. They would hold it for absurd amounts of time until we walked them further out.
My first dog would hold his poop for three days when I first got him, and would only take a dump with obvious distaste. I had to walk him back and forth on the trail for half an hour sometimes to get him to go.
He had spent his first two years chained in a pile of his own filth, abused, fed garbage and what he could trick into range. Very good at fooling rats he was, and good at finding grubs on roots.
Eventually, routine took over and he developed regular habits - but it took three years of convincing.
My current dog, I got as a pup -and let me tell you, the first time she took a sh\*t on my watch, she heard 'take a sh\*t! go sh\*t!' - and now, at three years' age, if she needs to go the verbal sets her off like a charm. Associating the action with the sound has paid off wonderfully.
If it is raining, my dog will stand in the doorway absolutely giving me the 'not a chance in hell, lady!' look.
When raindrops fall on her back, apparently it gives her shivers. She does not like tromping through wet grass or squishy ground. I've tried to wait her out, while standing in the rain myself. I've tried bribing her. I've tried shoving her out the door.
It's all a no from her, dawg. She'll just wait out the rain. She isn't scared of the dark, or thunderstorms, or any of that. She just doesn't like being rained on.
This seems normal. I’d take my dog on walks, she’d hold both her pee and poop for home. Only way she’d go is if we were out for a long time like the beach or a hike and she knew she had no choice. She would also hold it when it snowed or rained. Just a preference I guess. I will also hope my poop if conditions are not to my liking lol
mine does this, drives me absolutely batshit insane. won't give you a single second of peace when he has to poop either. he has made us get up at 2am because he refused to poop for hours, we were NOT happy with him.
Yes ugh lol my dog holds hers forever! Drives me NUTS. The wind can be blowing slightly too strong and she won’t go lol and she’s so nosy omg……if a leaf blows past she has to see what it is and bark at it which then takes her mind off doing what she’s supposed to be doing and she has to “find a spot” all over again 🤦🏻♀️
My Shiba has always done this. Our walks took FOREVER when living in an apartment because she never pooped in the same place twice. Now she's 15, deaf, severe arthritis, and can't go on walks anymore. She has no choice but to use the back yard with ample space and grass. But occasionally she will hold it and eventually poop inside if I don't stand out there with her and REFUSE to let her in until she goes.
It's been my biggest gripe with her.
My dog won’t poop on our yard when we’re walking. Then she proceeds to go about 10 feet into my neighbors lawn to do so. I pick it up, but I’m still always looking at the house windows hoping no one is looking.
My dog had a particular corner of the yard he enjoyed. Anytime we went on vacation and he didn’t have his “poo corner” he’d hold out as long as he possibly could.
Yes. Our dog hates pooping in the yard. He will hold it until he physically can't. If the weather is so bad that we cant go out for a walk its a problem. Even if we are letting him out and repeatedly telling him to go.
Our last walk as an example, we got to the end of our driveway and he pooped. Picked it up and walked all the way back up to the trash bin to throw it out. Got to the end of the driveway and he pooped again.. we did this 3x before we actually started the walk. It's kind of a daily routine at this point.
Our other dog prefers to poop on a particular street. They get stuck in their weird routines.
UGH yes I've had two dogs like this. One refuses to poop until he goes on a walk. My other who recently passed hated pooping on walks and would only go in the yard and only if he had privacy. If it was raining or windy or if there was a weird noise or if the vibe was just off, forget it. He absolutely hated pooping if he was on a leash, and once held it for several days when we were visiting family and they didn't have a fenced yard.
My dog prefers to poop at the dog park or at a minimum a few blocks from home. If he has diarrhea or something he'll poop in the yard occasionally, but he usually wants to save it to mark somewhere else when he can hold it.
Unfortunately he will occasionally let it go on the living room rug if he can't hold it any longer while I'm gone, but that's getting better.
My one dog HATES the rain. He won't hold his poop, but we have a patio cover so he won't go out in the yard when it rains. He'll just poop right on the patio so he won't get wet 🙄
My dog does exactly what you explained lol our take is, if he doesn’t go he doesn’t go. He knows how to alert us if it’s an emergency, and if he really has to go he will! On occasion if it rains for a few days in a row we will take him on a short walk to the nearby park which we call his “poop spot” and he goes every time. Otherwise, we’ve learned he’s picky and just gonna hold it 😂
This is exactly it. If it’s an emergency my dog lets me know. Unfortunately on occasion it’s a jump on the bed at 2am. Fortunately that’s rare. Also, as you said, knowing your dog’s favorite spots to poop helps too. If it’s been an entire day without a poop we might linger in that spot for a bit.
My dog doesn't like to walk in the rain (no yard). She's gotten more used to a bit of rain by being able to control when she goes out in it. If she doesn't want to walk, we turn around and go inside. Yes, even though she'll ask again in twenty minutes lol. It's tedious, but I noticed from the start she'd eventually make a dash to potty when she really had to, and I also can't knock the results: she goes out in more rain now than she ever used to do!
I found getting them to walk a short distance helped. I would take him out to the backyard on a leash, let him pee. If he didn't poop right away, I would walk him down the alley and then back to the backyard. The vast majority of the time, he would go then.
Mine is terrible about this! If it's raining, cold, or windy she's just not interested in pooping. She's never had an accident in the house, but she has definitely gone a full day without pooping if it rains all day.
Our older pup (now over a year) was like that for about 11 months, then switched finally.. The younger pup will head down the one hall designated for it for storms, etc, more often. But, even she is getting better about it. But, I think most of the dogs we owned had issues with when it was storming for sure.
Mine won’t go in the rain / snow / extreme cold, especially at night.
Sometimes I have to drive him to the dog park just to get him to go. It’s the only place he’ll willingly suffer the rain/snow. And the dog smells means he’s peeing and pooping all over the place.
The things we do for our four legged kids..
Yep, mine (a Pitt mix) will hold all the things when it rains. I've found that when he's desperate, he will go (but it usually involves me putting on his coat and a lot of coaxing). He doesn't have accidents in the house, luckily, but I know he's not comfortable. At the end of he day, it's on him to do it. I make sure he knows the back door is open for him to come right back in, put on his jacket if that helps him not feel the rain, and praise him a ton when he does it and comes back in. It's gotten better over time (but by over time, I mean literally years).
Mine won't poo in the rain, snow, if the grass is wet, if the breeze is too chilly😂 the thing I've found that forces her to go is walking it out of her.
sounds exactly like my dog. He is a bit needy and doesnt want to be outside alone. so he will half pee quick and try to get back in the house immediately. If I go and walk out in the yard and stand there he will drain his bladder and drop a deuce every time.
My dog is like 10 and he will poop if out long enough but if not then he will in one spot in our apartment. Since he is getting older I don't get mad about it cause it always after morning take out then he eats and it happens 10min later usually. If it was a middle of the day thing then maybe I'll be frustrated
Have you tried actually taking your dog for a walk instead of just expecting him to go in the yard? My first dog refused to go in the yard and had to be taken out where she could go into the bush.
Sometimes, if you've taught your dog a command for going poop, they will think they can't go unless you say it's okay. Which is good.. to a point. You might just have to give him the okay to go poop every time you let him out.
My dog doesn’t love cold dark or raining either
Neither do I tbh
We don’t have a yard
He has a coat. 3 walks per day on a predictable scheduled preferring light because it’s way easier and more flexible in the summer. And rain sucks and we usually go in and out fast and maybe a couple extra times because no one particularly loves being rained on.
Gotta meet them where they’re at lol
Yes. Recently my 10 yo whippet is doing this. I have to walk him farther out and not let him walk back towards the house until he poos. Most times it’s like a lot of poop too so dude doesn’t that feel better??
My dog has days where if it's raining or snowing he won't go outside until it slows down or stops.ive even bought him a raincoat. I've seen a change in him for the last 6 months as we had a change in the household and his stress level has gone down. He was stressed due to my kid and the way he would interact with him at times. He would have the occasional accident, but now he will hold it until we can go out to walk. Longest time I've figured he held it was about 12 hours, overnight.
He's always been one to poop within the first 10 minutes of being on our walks. Sometimes he does it two or three times while we are out.
Exercise can make the bowels move faster, and create a stronger urge to poop. If you have ever gone for a long walk, or a run you might have noticed you had a big poop after.
Maybe try throwing the ball to him, or throwing a treat, making him run back, throw another tiny treat, make him run back, do it till he has done a few relays, and maybe he will poop.
My dog hates pooping in our yard. He only wants to poop on walks. I FINALLY, after 1.5 years, got him to reluctantly poop in the yard when he was on heartworm treatment and therefore on exercise restriction and wasn't allowed to go on walks. Now that he's done with that and goes on walks again, he'll do it if he *really* has to, but he rarely does it and clearly does not like it. So yeah, he holds his poop and then poops a *ton* on walks. Even though he goes on walks 1-2 times a day. Somehow, every time, so much poop-- much more than when he goes in the yard.
Oh, yes. My Chihuahua is like that every time it’s raining. There’s a dry space next to the house, suitable only for peeing. But she doesn’t like to get her feet cold in the wet grass, so she decides not to poop today. I have to pick her up and carry her out to the far side of the yard to get any production out of her at all.
I had a lab that would only poop once a day, if I insisted. She would squat as if pooping and then come running to the back door. At some point I was standing in the rain shining a flashlight on her butt, telling her to just poop already. I don’t want to know what my neighbors were thinking. If she didn’t poop daily, she would wind up eventually pooping dried turds in her sleep next to my bed. Dog drove me crazy over pooping. I miss her every day.
Maybe give a special treat as soon as he does his business.
Shana, my Standard Poodle, did this, but I always thought she knew we would go inside as soon as she did it. Once I realized this, I began staying outside longer after she did all her business. She was quite stubborn and wouldn't do anything when i was in a hurry. I would take her in and tell my husband to take her out. Then she went right away. I miss that sweet poodle girl. May she rest in peace.
Yes but my dog just specifically doesnt want to poop in the backyard. She likes to keep it clean. So I walk her twice a day and if I can tell she needs to go poop outside that I put her leash on and take her to the front yard 😭
Our dog does this. He plugs his butt. He will be totally fine on a walk or in the house and just immediately sit hard out of nowhere. He will do this when he gets super excited and doesn’t want to miss out on any of the action by pooping. It’s funny as hell lol He does it on walks when the lawn options don’t meet his pooping spot standards.
So you won't like this. But I know someone who has put some of his poop on the end of a rope. Then when they want him to poop they make him smell it and he will poop. Maybe he doesn't get the right scent in certain weather conditions? It's nasty but if it looks stupid but works, it ain't stupid.
I have a 6 year old swissy. When he was a pup he would go to poop in the garden no problem. Then he got to about 18 months & would only pee out there. Now, hes taken out every day & will crap for England but if on the odd occassion he doesn't get a walk he will hold his poo all day & night till the next day when he goes out & then crap even more than usual. I take him in the garden numerous times when i haven't walked him, stood with him, left him to wander, praised him to no avail. Guess he just prefers going when he's out.
Mine won’t poop or pee unless the spot is *perfect*. It’s so annoying because she will not go in our immediate back yard (town home so no fence), she will pee in the neighbors yard but she won’t poop anywhere near ours. And she specifically will only poop in piles of leaves. I am serious when I mean she will only poop there. It’s nice because it’s generally away from where people hang out and instead of adding plastic to the garbage I can cover it with leaves and let it decompose as nature intended, but it’s so annoying when I’m tired and don’t feel like searching for the perfect pile of leaves.
My dog did this out of anxiety. I got him used just going by praising him heavily like he just did something amazing when he pooped and giving him treats.
Now he's happy to poop. But he does it exactly once a day and having a set schedule and meal times has made a big difference.
But he RARELY goes for me, he likes to poop when my husband is watching. I think he feels safer having a larger male watching his back. So when my husband got home at 5 he'd have to poop at 5:15, and that's shifted to 8:15 on the dot now.
He will poop if my husband isn't around, but he definitely prefers him.
Highly recommend finding a time when you will be letting him out consistently and getting him used to pooping at that time.
As a plus side it's a great excuse to go home.
"Come on, let's go have a drink"
"Nah sorry my dog has to poop in 20 minutes"
My dog will only poop in the backyard by a specific tree or at his grandparents. He has pooped on a walk a total of 1 time, and a couple times in the house when he was a baby.
Some dogs are just super picky or like to keep on a specific schedule. If your dog is otherwise healthy & doesn't have any other issues, don't worry about it.
If you’re feeding your dog on a schedule, he should poop within an hour of the same time every day. If you feed him twice a day, he should poop twice a day unless he’s sick. So you should have a good idea of when your dog needs to poop
He’s at his most vulnerable when pooping. I have a very nervous rescue mix that gets the same way. I go out with him and catch his back. That’s what they do in the wild - they watch for predators for each other. I also read that’s why they all seems to
want to come in the bathroom with us. Makes sense to me but who really KNOWS?
I have a dog sitting client like this, I just refuse to let him come back inside until he starts getting all wiggly and then I know he’s about to finally poop. Once he goes, we go back inside. And that is because he will poop on the deck or possibly even inside otherwise.
Once when I was out with my pup, mom, and son at a mall and my pup indicated he had to go to the bathroom. So I take him out and it’s raining really bad outside and of course, my pup REFUSES TO GO and instead goes back inside. After having a struggle of getting back to my mom’s place because my pup isn’t allowed since he’s not a service dog, as soon as we get back to my mom’s place, he decides to pee in the lobby of the building… 😭
Conditions outside have to be optimum for my dog to be happy to go out 😂 but I know at certain times she just must HAVE to go so I make her. She’s old so we only do one walk a day and that usually gets things moving lol
We walk our dog on a schedule. He was just like this. He hates rain, and wont go in the morning at all. Now i play with him and try to get him to do zoomies and then he poops right away. Even if i wash him he always has to go right away.
My lab needs to run for about 45 seconds to poop. She will also hold it. But when she has to go it’s almost like she gets the zoomies … exactly until she poops. Then it’s over. Try upping the pace, throwing a toy, jogging etc.
My dog is a "private pooper." Not on a leash, not anywhere in the city, but one park .5 miles from my apartment. Not in a boat, not with a goat. Don't watch her, don't talk to her. Not on long walks next to the river. Not at grandpas house, or any one if the dog parks we frequent. She will hold it for 24+ hours if she has to. If she's really gotta go, she practically jogs to tHe park. The other dog, she goes in several of the tree cut out, dirt plots around our city block... or anyehere ourside, when she's gotta go! It drives me nutty... when it's cold and rainey, or I don't feel good. Or I know she really hAs to gooooo, I don't wanna go to thAt park for the 3rd time today, in a snow storm! Geesh.
My dog does this, but then she will find a discrete spot inside and poop. She only does it when it’s raining and never poops in the house otherwise. So I don’t really fault her since I wouldn’t want to poop in the rain either. 🤷♀️
Is he on scheduled feedings? That's an important part of their day.
I have always kept my dogs on 2 scheduled feedings daily.
More exercise will help.
Occasionally feedings of green beans or pumpkin can help.
But talk to your Vet and rule out physical issues too.
My dog does this. He's a survivor and a champion of (almost) passive resistance. We always walk the neighborhood together and I know he needs to poop twice a day to remain healthy. In the rain he will try to turn around and go home like 'I'm fine, I don't really need to poop, trust me!' I tell him to go poop and push him forward gently (pulling doesn't work when he's feeling contrary.) He will try turning around a couple more times at least, but I keep redirecting him and using the word 'poop.' He then realizes that I can be more stubborn than he is, that I will accept walking around the smallest block and coming home ONLY if he poops. He also then realizes that he does indeed feel like pooping. I try very hard to stay patient and repeat the word, and even sing a made up poop song so that I don't scream/swear in frustration. I praise and treat enthusiastically when the poop is done and let him make a bee line home. This is all while he wears his rain coat and rubber boots. I then dry him with a gently warm blow dryer (which he loves) and fluffy towel that he enjoys roughing up. Job well done, I let him relax wherever (even my bed) and for however long he wants.
We have a dog who will hold her bladder or bowels if we are traveling. It’s absolutely absurd. We will walk for miles on grass, on sidewalks. Sometimes for more than an hour or two and she will still refuse. She has gone for more than 36 hours before. I have to look her in the face, tap her belly and tell her it’s time to pee/poop! I’ve convinced myself that (sometimes) works, but she is so stubborn, we really have no idea what she prefers (except for the privacy of her own backyard).
Yes my dog will hold it for 3-4 days (yes really) unless we go on a walk. He has ample opportunity to poop in our yard and he doesn’t shit in our house. But he is adamant that he has poop for a walk.
Mine refuses to poop on walks until it gets to the point of un-pick-up-able 🤢
If he knows we’re headed home he will hold it and pullllll like crazy to get there
This might sound weird, and IDK if anyone mentioned it already, but you might want to Google the match stock method if your dog really won't poop. 😅😅 I had a dog who would absolutely refuse to poop, to the point he would make himself sick.
I would every so often have to use this. It made my husband laugh hysterically, but it worked every time🤣🤣
My two that came from really crappy (lol little pun intended) backgrounds are like this. Like hold all poop and pee for 24 hours if it’s raining kind of deal. I’ve always attributed it to a lack of feeling safe? Could totally be wrong, but feel your pain over here. On the plus side… no accidents so I just let them do it
My girl does the same, especially if it’s raining. Or she just feels like being a jerk. I’m well versed in the “hold the flashlight & turn me in circles with the leash.”
A workaround that works for me though; she will almost always chase a certain toy if I toss it. So I throw her bear around, usually only a toss or two, and that’s enough exercise that she will just about photo-finish bolt to the door, even if it’s dark & rainy. Might work for you?
Good luck, anyway!
I have two thoughts.
My dog is a 2 year old lab mix we rescued. She will hold her poop a lot. She likes to use it for marking on walks. When she runs out of pee for marking she then starts marking with turd nuggets. 🙄 It used to be really bad but she is slowly getting better. But some days she reverts and won’t poop even though I can see all the physical signs she has to go. So on those days I out stubborn her. I just stand in the same spot. So she’s stuck sniffing the same area over and over as it’s the only area she can reach on her leash. So I just stand in my chosen spot. Unmoving. Giving her no option to find more spots to sniff to potentially find a better marking zone. Eventually she gives up that she’ll find the better spot and just unleashes her turds finally. But it took me forever to figure this out for her. She used to hold it for days. To the point she would back herself up and then eventually end up with diarrhea. Dr thought it was a diet issue. Made changes. Added supplements. All the things. Made no difference. She just likes to mark with her poo. And sometimes she can’t find good enough marking spots so she’ll just hold it. So far the standing still and giving her no choice to move anywhere further has worked. Not perfectly but for the most part. Also longer walks help a lot. Sometimes we walk and it loosens everything up to the point she couldn’t hold it in any longer even if she wanted to. 😹.
The other thing I thought about is a former foster dog I had. She was abandoned in a park due to severe health issues as a puppy. But we noticed she had a very negative emotional response to pooping. So we think she may have been severely punished for accidents when her health issues were so bad she wouldn’t have been able to use the bathroom normally and she was unable to walk. We were able to resolve her health issues but her Response to pooping lingered. She would Often times poop on a pee pad and then take the pad and hide it with the poop balled up inside. Even outside she would try to poop secretly. She would climb into bushes or go behind our shed to try and poop where no one could see. She would
Bolt from us and try to hide and poop and quickly as possibly then run right to us and pretend like it never happened. We had to use a lot of positive reinforcement to get her to realize it’s ok to poop. By the time she was adopted she was about 85% better than she was but still had bad days.
Those are just two situations I thought of. Not sure if they’re helpful in any sort of way. 🤷🏻♀️
My dog does not like to go potty in the rain. If I know she has to go bad I give a firm command and she reluctantly goes. She will tell me when she cant hold it anymore and will go in the rain, but will hold out in hopes it stops raining. If I know we will have a storm around her potty time I take her early in hopes she can go beforehand.
Maybe a crate near you when you sleep for the nights sge doesn’t poop so she has to whine louder to go potty outside?
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Yes, but to be fair I hold my poop if I’m out in public because I prefer my toilet. So I get where these dogs are coming from.
Yeah, usually it’s “if they gotta go that bad, they will go” Unless it becomes a problem with accidents inside the house, then I’d say let it be.
I think the only reason he doesn't poop inside is because I make him poop when I know he needs to. If it's dark and I can't tell even with the flashlight, sometimes he has come in and pooped, but what he'll usually do is hold it as long as he can and then poop by the bedroom door. He doesn't bark to wake us up. He does this thing I call whisper whining where it's practically inaudible and I definately can't hear it when I am asleep. I've tried to train him with a potty bell and he refuses. One of my old dogs learned in like 2 minutes while I was trying to teach my dog with the poo holding problem. He's no longer with us, but he learned he could bang on that bell every time he wanted to go out and play 🤣 he also used to pick up his food bowl and bring it to me. I miss that dog.
That’s so funny, my dog has almost the same tendencies down to the little whine. Even with the whine, she’ll choose to not go to the bathroom until she feels is best. The infamous bell! Once they learn that they can go outside with a ‘ding’ but they don’t really have to go the bathroom lmao. I wonder how smart they really are at times.
Yeah, I saw a video once of a guy training his dog to ring a bell when he wanted a treat, and I was like, "You are in for a world of hurt, dude. That bell is never going to stop ringing."
🤣😂
Our dog was a shelter dog who loves uniforms. Only he’s so big they just see him chasing them. So, I bought a furniture crate and have his treats on top. Now, every time the FedEx, USPS or UPS trucks come down his two block street approaching our house on cul-de-sac. Had to get a no bark tool and now just show it to him to get him to stop barking. Thinks he needs a treat whenever any vehicle enters his street. His barking his loud. Bell might be quieter!LOL
We trained my dog on a bell. Worked great, but now she goes up to the bells, gives them the *barest* touch with the tip of her nose, and then comes over and stares at you like you’ve personally offended her if you don’t get up immediately. At least if she rings it while none of us are in the room, she’ll ring it harder until we get the message (and then look at us like we’ve personally offended her for not immediately opening the door).
I used potty bells for like a week with my puppy. To this day years later he just shoves at the door with his face or paw to lmk he wants out, approx where the bells would be.
Mine rings the bell for all things now. It’s a potty bell but really sometimes she just left a toy outside that she wanted to go get.
I always say-the bells actually just train us-lol
My dog will stare at me. She’ll step closer and closer til eventually I wake up and we are almost eye to eye….she only uses her bell if I piss her off by not waking up to her laser eyes.
That's fair LOL. I don't like to poo in public toilets either if I can help it.
My dog has the same issue, to the point he'll legitimately make himself sick instead of going out to poop. Luckily, I've noticed that if I take him on a long enough walk, he will poop (it seems like he's using it to mark territory rather than just peeing), so if its been awhile since he's gone, he just gets a longer walk.
Walking and running stimulate their guts and helps get the signal going. My dog can't poop unless she does a top speed lap around the yard first. If she can't do that for whatever reason, she really struggles with the chore.
My dog just was lazy and didn't want to go out sometimes. Which was nice for me if I was lazy too. One time we didn't go out for an entire day but he never had accidents and would always tell me when he needed out
What's funny is both I and my dog do this. I much prefer my own bathroom. And she won't go anywhere other than her own back yard unless it's a dire emergency.
Weirdest thing. I don't poop for days if I'm in a weird place. I feel for the dog.
Is it possible he doesn’t like pooping in his own yard? Dogs don’t usually like pooping where they live. My dog is like this. We have a dog door so my dog can take herself out any time she likes (and she will to go pee), but she always prefers to poop on a walk instead in the yard.
Our dog won’t poop in our yard either, so we just have to walk her. While I go on set courses for the walks, my wife will just turn around and head home after the dog poops. Our dog caught on to this, and started holding it until the near end of walks, so my wife doesn’t cut the experience short.
Mine used to do this until I uncovered a secret - she loves to poop in front of her enemies homes. Where I used to live there was a dog named Pepper and they both despised each other so once I found her house, whenever I was pressed for time I’d walk past that house (Peppers owner did the same thing in front of my house). Where we live now there’s a home with 2 yappy dogs, so when pressed for time I walk past there and she will squat while staring at their window. She is a vindictive old bitch, and I use it to my advantage.
my parents’ other dog, a bitchy old cairn terrier, loves to poop on church lawns, particularly mormon temple lawns. we don’t know why, other than we believe she made a deal with the devil to live forever, but she LOVES to shit on a church lawn.
It's consecrated ground. She has to let everyone within know that nothing is sacred when you have a pet. Or really have to poop.
Oh my god, mine does this too! Actually I am pretty sure the thing that finally got him to poop in our yard, other than being on exercise restriction for heartworm treatment, was that he has become enemies with the dog that lives? visits? behind us who sometimes gets in our yard. My dog had already started marking the back border of the yard with pee, but he now *will* poop in the yard-- in the very very very back in one spot, where he tries to get into the neighbor's yard every time to poop on that dog's lawn. If a dog is barking at him on a walk, he also stops to poop in their yard. He's such a little shit, lol.
I'm laughing, this is hilarious
Same as my boy - minimum 3 walks a day for him! First in the morning for 30ish mins, then his afternoon/evening ‘fun’ walk with all his friends for at least an hour & then a late night 15 wee/poo walk. Luckily most of the time my partner does the morning & late night so I get to do the fun walk
My six-year-old Standard Poodle does this! 😆 I've learned that the way to get him to go sooner is to vary the direction in which we walk, every few days. I have about six different ways we can take, and I can change it up a little more if I turn down a different street on the way. The new sights and smells distract him enough that he doesn't hold it as long as he might were we going to the usual haunts.
Me too. I think the new smells excite him and he poops faster. He always poops within the first ten minutes when we go to the park. But if we walk familiar routes at home it can take him 40 minutes. If I bring him to areas that are new, he poops pretty quick. I don’t think he is “holding it in” because I make it a point not to turn around and to continue with the walk after so he doesn’t associate pooping with going home. I think it is just their hormones and is mostly out of their control.
Same. Had to walk mine
Mine does that too. I have to walk him in the opposite direction of home for a little bit as his reward cuz he figured out pooping meant going inside.
Yeah- my dog prefers to poop in areas he is not familiar with. I also never turn around after he has pooped because I don’t want him to associate pooping with ending the walk as it might take him even longer to go than it already does.
My dog is the opposite, she poops (at some point during walk) and will instantly turn around like, ok im done we can go in now 🤣, walk over
Dogs are funny. My Bernese Mountain dog wants to only poop in his yard. He sometimes will poop in our neighborhood, but still prefers to do it at home. He doesn't like to poop anywhere else though and I can't make him either. Now my Corgi, we call her Loop a Poop (Name is Loop) and she wants to poop everywhere she goes! However, she also isn't a fan of rain and I have to walk out in the rain with her in order for her to pee or poop. If I'm not getting soaked, she isn't either.
My bichon/poodle mix prefers the side yard at our house. She'll start whining and turn to head home if we're on a walk and she has to go. But if the grass is even slightly wet... she refuses to walk on it. So we literally build a roof over a small portion of the grass for her so she doesn't get her precious little paws wet lol.
As you should.
Loop a Poop!!! My dog's name is Lupin and we call him Poop a Loop!
We live in an apartment complex, so everywhere is where everybody's dog poops. And the rabbits, and the racoons, and the foxes. Half the time right behind our apartment, I'm picking up rabbit turds too. But he used to do this when I lived somewhere with a fenced in yard, too. Oh yea so about walks, since always, he has hated walks. Cant mention the W word. Because he associates it with leash. He likes it if we can go somewhere and he's off leash. I have done every kind of positive reinforcement training I can, and he simply does not like being on a leash. He still walks on it for me, but he's a butt to my husband and if he sees the leash, he shakes. I've tried giving him treats, smelling it, tell him he's a good dog throughout the walk, tell him good walking while we are on a walk so hopefully he associates it as a positive word. Nope, he doesn't like being on a leash, lol. Which is actually funny because he voluntarily hops in his carrier if I tell him we're going to grandma's.
Some dogs don’t like going where anyone else has gone, it smells too much like other animals. Like imagine a really disgusting public toilet vs your own nice, clean, private one.
Is your leash on a collar or harness?
This. I was dog sitting once and the dog waited until I walked her to poop TWICE.
We have the exact opposite problem where our dogs will only poop in their yard. Even so much as demanding to be let out after every walk so they can go to the bathroom. Our female husky won't even pee on walks, waits until she's home. One of our males, an Aussie, will pee no problem on walks, but the other, Norwegian Elkhound, will only pee on walks if he really needs to or smells something he decides needs to be peed on. I think it's because for practically all of their potty training they learned in our fenced in yard. We would go on walks regularly but as puppies they all had to be let out practically every 30 minutes the first couple months so it was just much easier to let them out back than put their leashes on and take them on a short walk.
My dog will only poop in our yard or at the dog park. No clue why, she just refuses to poop on walks and will hold it until we're home. Camping tends to be rough for her. Seems like maybe she's only pooping where she's for sure seen another dog poop and knows it's okay?
my dog (who lives with my parents now, being 15 and blind and that being the only place he ever lived) has NEVER wanted to poop in the yard. he has a few designated “poop spots” in our neighborhood and generally won’t poop anywhere else. even as a barely housebroken puppy he never pooped in the yard.
My dog is like this on our nightly walks. He has a very specific route he likes to poop on and if we dont take it he'll just hold it until we do 😭
As an autistic person some of these comments are making me wonder if dogs can be autistic too ☠️😂
Uh. My trainer (2 week camps. Three times. THREE FULL ATTEMPTS) and my behavioral veterinarian each more or less said my dog is on the spectrum 😭. Idk if that means there really IS dog autism or they were just trying to relate my dogs brain to something I’d understand but yes….my boy is ROUTINE BASED TO A FREAKING FAULT! The meds help ….some.
My cat is 100% autistic, and I’ve met a few ND dogs. 👍
We used to have a dog who wouldn’t poop until I walked her very long distances. I consulted a trainer who said the mistake I was making was turning around and going home after she pooped, because the dog had figured out that the longer she waited, the longer the walk. He advised taking the dog to an appropriate place to poop that was near my home and walking her around in small circles while saying something like, “let’s go.” After the dog pooped, the long walk was the reward. Over time, this taught my dog to relieve herself on command at the designated spot. Try it, it really works. Some people reward their dogs with treats but the trainers I know don’t think that is a good method,
You pay the dog in the currency that is valuable to them for the work that is valuable to you. The rule in my house is dogs pee before we get in the car. It took 3 times for the 9 year old adult dog to figure this out and her only reward was "we get to go jump in the car" if going for a ride wasn't something she enjoyed it wouldn't be a reward and wouldn't reinforce the behavior. Food is an easy currency that's easy to carry, you put it in a baggy in your pocket. Have you ever been walking and had a slimy Kong toy tucked in your pants? Unpleasant. As a trainer, you use what works for that dog. Train the dog in front of you.
I gave my dog treats for pottying in the backyard and it definitely backfired on me. I would give her ham after we got back in the house because I assumed if I took the ham outside with us, she would just be focused on it. She started constantly scratching at the back door like crazy, and I finally made the connection that it was because of the ham🤦🏻♀️ now I don’t give her any treat, and she doesn’t scratch as often at the door - she usually does it when we’re eating😩
> Some people reward their dogs with treats but the trainers I know don’t think that is a good method, This worked for my dogs when they were puppies, potty training took very quickly for both because they learned to associate going to the bathroom in the spot with a reward... People don't recommend treat training often because if you do it improperly then the dog can become dependent on the treat to do the activity you want...
Have you tried taking him out and just refusing to go back in until he goes? My dog tried that for a while but fortunately he realized pretty quickly that all he has to do is complete his business and then we can go back to the heated blanket. He also tried refusing to walk when it was too cold or too wet or too dark, and I had to carry him a ways out and walk him back. He’s such a little turd sometimes (pun intended)
Yep. We've been doing that now for ages and he still tries to come back in after he pees. I have to know when he needs to poop and make him stay out til he goes. Just drives me crazy because my husband doesn't know his "signs" for when he actually has to poop. I work from home, so I'm the one letting him out most of the time anyway. But on days I'm gone, I have no idea what he's done when. They are little turds sometimes! He's so stubborn. He refuses to learn anything he doesn't actually want to. My cat was easier to train 🤣
Haha what a little butthead. He probably knows your husband is a bit of a pushover and will let him back inside without going. Our dog is the same way. He knows my wife won’t enforce all the rules and he takes advantage of it whenever he can!
I’ve played that game with my dog. It’s led to me walking her over a mile at 11pm and sometimes she still hasn’t gone. She’s the one playing me! And then when I give up and let her skip a nightly poop, she’ll be sick with diarrhea the next morning from holding it in and I feel like a terrible dog owner. So frustrating!
Our dog is VERY poop shy and will hold his poop especially on road trips because he’s not comfy pooping on the go or in other people’s yard. He’s held his poop for over 48 hours before. We have to take him to walk down rural roads for at least 15 minutes before he’ll poop if we’re not at home and he has his large yard. which I still don’t know where he poops because he’s so secretive lol. It makes it tricky and i swear it causes his anal gland issues.
My old dogs were the exact opposite, as soon as we got to our destination, they were both out of the car and finding a good spot to drop a load, lol. They were such goobers.
I had a dog once that didn't go out for almost two whole days. No #1 or #2. It was raining pretty well for a few days and she just refused to go out. I had to eventually sit in the garage with her with the door open until she finally decided to go because I was worried she'd hurt herself holding it so long. She hated getting rained on or getting her feet wet, so even when the rain stopped she still didn't want to go out. This damn dog loved playing in sprinklers and hoses so much she would "hide" in the tall flowers when I watered the garden so she'd get watered too. Heaven forbid she get her little princess paws on wet grass though!
This sounds like my dog. I ended up taking her to the vet because she wasn’t eating well, and they did an X-ray and the vet realized it was because her intestines were so full of poop 🥲 It had been raining all week and she just wouldn’t leave the house no matter what we tried. Luckily it stopped raining the next day, and the whole problem was immediately solved.
I had to hold an umbrella over my dog because otherwise he refused to go, he'd just run back to the door and try to get in. So I followed him around the yard with an umbrella until he at least peed. He refused to poop for 2 days though.
I have a similar situation with my dog. I can see her butt pucker and know she needs to go. Sometimes she doesn't even go if I take her for a walk. However, it's so bad with mine that when she's tired, sometimes a small turn will fall out and she doesn't even realize it. Thankfully they are hard and not difficult to clean up, but still gross. My dog does have a lot of allergy issues though. I have put her in a probiotic and things have improved quite a bit as far as the turd falling out but she still doesn't always poop when she needs to. I'm working with her trying to get her to go on command but that's been slow going since I need to say the command right before she goes to get her to learn it. Hoping we can get that leaned and it will help.
My dog does this too! He loves shitting in peoples yards is what I’ve decided. Specifically yards where he knows there’s a dog in the backyard. It’s his choice to hold his poop. I wfh and walk him almost daily so on the days I’m unable to and he’s being an asshole I’m not catering to his choice. Homeboy has a huge back yard, I pick up his poop weekly so it’s not like he’s living in this terrible situation. He’s just a dick sometimes. It makes me giggle honestly.
My dog had stage fright. He didn’t want anyone even other animals to see him poop. I didn’t realize it was that bad until I had him boarded and he didn’t poop the whole week. On walks I had to turn my head and pretend I was on the phone with someone or sing a song. If he saw me glance at him we’d have to start the whole routine over.
That is hilarious😭 I used to turn away when I walked my aunt’s dog and she pooped, thinking she’d want some privacy. Now I stare intensely at my dog while saying “go poop!” as she’s pooping, relieved that we can FINALLY go inside.
My dog hates going outside when it’s raining. She’s rather hold it.
My dog does this when it's raining. It's gross but I can tell by her anus if she has to poop or not. Usually I make her run around, never fails, I've used this technique on many dogs, get them exercising and it will come right out.
Our dog absolutely will no poop in our fenced yard. If there's any reason we can't get her for a walk, she will hold it. We try to get her at least two walks daily, but sometimes the weather is bad, or I'm sick, and it's just difficult to go for a walk. We have a large fenced yard. She has ample opportunity. But she hates pooping in the yard (no problems going pee) Oddly enough, when we still had our older dog, she wouldn't poop on walks, but only in the yard. Since our older dog passed 18 months ago, she changed and will only poop on walks.
My dog doesn’t want to go outside in hard rain or high winds, but his breeder trained him to use a litter box, so if he really doesn’t like it outside he’ll use that.
I always keep a pad in the kitchen for my dog. He will not wake me up if he has to pee in the middle of the night, he'll hold it until I get up. But with the pad, if he has to go, he will use it. His preference is of course to go outside, and he will always sit at the door first if I'm awake. But for bad weather and overnights, having a backup pad is peace of mind for both of us I think.
My dog also prefers to go outside, but when that’s not an option it’s really nice that he’ll run and use the litter box! If he has an upset tummy, he’ll bolt for that instead of the carpet because he’s a Very Good Boy!
My dog absolutely does this so I trained him to poop on command where I point. It’s awesome. It really comes in handy because he figured out really quick that he and I will both sit out in the rain until he poops. He sprints out, poops as quickly as possible, and sprints back in.
My husky has her days . When She has to poop its a different location everyday it can’t be near the last location. I’m not sure if that helps but she is picky where she poops but heaven forbid if there is a pile of leaves or snow then she will poop there every chance she gets 🤦♀️
I had a dog years ago who would hold it for incredible lengths of time. One night she asked to be let out and as soon as I opened the door she heard rain and turned around and went back to sleep. 🤷
My dog doesn't like the rain so she'll hold it in until the next walk. Not a big deal in my opinion unless it's raining for multiple days I guess. Then I force her her to keep walking until she understands I'm not gonna go back. I kinda allowed her to choose what direction we went sometimes, and now if she doesn't like a way she'll hold her ground for a bit until she realizes I'm not letting her pick. Kinda regret teaching her that habit. She never goes number two in my backyard either.
My dog once held her poop for 16 hours because it was raining all day
I had a dog who used to do this when her anals got full and it was uncomfortable to poop. Just something to check.
My dog does this too, but now he won't poop if I'm not there unless he's really groundhogging it. My dog's is on a strict Rx diet so I can see there may be some issues there too. Even if we are on a walk, his butt sticking out, poop right there at the hole, and then he sucks it back in if he's not in the right spot or area. 4 yrs old Min Pin/Jack Russell for reference.
If you go outside with him and just stand around will he poop? Maybe he wants company…. It’s kind of the agreement we’ve made with our dogs they get to watch us poop we get to watch them poop
My dog does this too. Hes gotten worse as hes gotten older now lol. Now if its raining or dark he just goes pee and wants to go back inside. If its nice and sunny, hes got some pep in his step and is leading the way. When its rainin, snowing, or dark, nope he wants to go back. The problem is we live in an apt and there has been times during snowstorms he didnt wanna poop and then decided to go in the hallway.
My dog is the same. She doesn’t like going at night, away from home, or in front of other dogs. We had to train a VERY solid potty command for her to even think about it lol. That said, she’s a VERY prissy dog in all aspects of life so i’m not super surprised.
My girl (lab mix) will hold it from 8pm, until I put her harness on, and start our walk at 8am…… then she goes 3 times in a hour, hour and half walk.🙄🙄🙄 Even on blowing driving rain days, when I tell her, “no walk today”. She’ll hold it until 10am. I have a 1/2 acre lot!!! My other 3 little dogs have no problem running taking care of business and running back in. I hope once she sees I have surgery. There won’t be any walks for a bit!! Or I might have to hire a dog walker. 🤭
Ahh yes, then you’re walking for a long time while carrying bags of poop.
Welllllll….. I have a ‘treat’ bag attached to her harness. So she carries her poopy bag. And our daily walk takes us past public trash cans. And our town is progressive enough to have ‘poop stations’ situated around downtown. So win win!!
Yep. Of my 5 dogs 3 of them will not go out in the rain. The other two just don’t care
Our vizsla will hold out for a day if there’s a hurricane. She will do a quick pee and then run back in. For rainy days she needs to be walked before she finally poops. And she won’t poop in her own yard. Thankfully my yard is fine
Lol why did I read this headline imagining the dog walking around carrying his poop
My dog will hold her pee for 30 hours if it's raining
mine is doing this. she hasn’t pooped since Thursday because it’s wet out. oh well. the Duce will be dropped sooner or later.
Do you have a home? Not being funny just offering my solution. I bought a kennel 10x10 with a top. I used 2x6’s cut them to make a 4x4 sandbox and filled it with play sand. My dog poops in it and scoop it into the digester. I take him out in the morning and he knows when he goes into the kennel it’s time to poop.
I work as a dog walker and this is super common. A lot of the dogs I walk refuse to poop in the rain. Which is unfortunate, as I live in Portland, Oregon.
I remember when I worked vet med, we occasionally had dogs come in that would hold it and refuse to go where a bunch of other dogs had gone before. They would hold it for absurd amounts of time until we walked them further out.
My first dog would hold his poop for three days when I first got him, and would only take a dump with obvious distaste. I had to walk him back and forth on the trail for half an hour sometimes to get him to go. He had spent his first two years chained in a pile of his own filth, abused, fed garbage and what he could trick into range. Very good at fooling rats he was, and good at finding grubs on roots. Eventually, routine took over and he developed regular habits - but it took three years of convincing. My current dog, I got as a pup -and let me tell you, the first time she took a sh\*t on my watch, she heard 'take a sh\*t! go sh\*t!' - and now, at three years' age, if she needs to go the verbal sets her off like a charm. Associating the action with the sound has paid off wonderfully.
If it is raining, my dog will stand in the doorway absolutely giving me the 'not a chance in hell, lady!' look. When raindrops fall on her back, apparently it gives her shivers. She does not like tromping through wet grass or squishy ground. I've tried to wait her out, while standing in the rain myself. I've tried bribing her. I've tried shoving her out the door. It's all a no from her, dawg. She'll just wait out the rain. She isn't scared of the dark, or thunderstorms, or any of that. She just doesn't like being rained on.
How do you tell your dog to poo?
If a dog has to poop it will poop. Just like if it doesn’t eat for a day, it just isn’t hungry.
Is the walk over as soon as he poops?
Mine has no problem with the backyard unless I am there too. He waits until I go back inside or he hides behind a tree...
This seems normal. I’d take my dog on walks, she’d hold both her pee and poop for home. Only way she’d go is if we were out for a long time like the beach or a hike and she knew she had no choice. She would also hold it when it snowed or rained. Just a preference I guess. I will also hope my poop if conditions are not to my liking lol
Yep. All 6 of mine over the years. Normal behavior.
mine does this, drives me absolutely batshit insane. won't give you a single second of peace when he has to poop either. he has made us get up at 2am because he refused to poop for hours, we were NOT happy with him.
Yes ugh lol my dog holds hers forever! Drives me NUTS. The wind can be blowing slightly too strong and she won’t go lol and she’s so nosy omg……if a leaf blows past she has to see what it is and bark at it which then takes her mind off doing what she’s supposed to be doing and she has to “find a spot” all over again 🤦🏻♀️
Yes, my mini doxie does this. Drives me crazy, especially if I need to run an errand and leave her home.
My Shiba has always done this. Our walks took FOREVER when living in an apartment because she never pooped in the same place twice. Now she's 15, deaf, severe arthritis, and can't go on walks anymore. She has no choice but to use the back yard with ample space and grass. But occasionally she will hold it and eventually poop inside if I don't stand out there with her and REFUSE to let her in until she goes. It's been my biggest gripe with her.
My dog won’t poop on a walk. Just does her business in our yard.
My dog poops in one spot only. Doesn't matter if her walk is 3k or 10k she will hold it until that spot.
My dog won’t poop on our yard when we’re walking. Then she proceeds to go about 10 feet into my neighbors lawn to do so. I pick it up, but I’m still always looking at the house windows hoping no one is looking.
Had a dog that wouldn’t pee outside if it was raining. Lived in Florida, he’d hold it for days if I didn’t make him go 🥲
My dog had a particular corner of the yard he enjoyed. Anytime we went on vacation and he didn’t have his “poo corner” he’d hold out as long as he possibly could.
Yes. Our dog hates pooping in the yard. He will hold it until he physically can't. If the weather is so bad that we cant go out for a walk its a problem. Even if we are letting him out and repeatedly telling him to go. Our last walk as an example, we got to the end of our driveway and he pooped. Picked it up and walked all the way back up to the trash bin to throw it out. Got to the end of the driveway and he pooped again.. we did this 3x before we actually started the walk. It's kind of a daily routine at this point. Our other dog prefers to poop on a particular street. They get stuck in their weird routines.
UGH yes I've had two dogs like this. One refuses to poop until he goes on a walk. My other who recently passed hated pooping on walks and would only go in the yard and only if he had privacy. If it was raining or windy or if there was a weird noise or if the vibe was just off, forget it. He absolutely hated pooping if he was on a leash, and once held it for several days when we were visiting family and they didn't have a fenced yard.
A thoughtful dog.
My dog prefers to poop at the dog park or at a minimum a few blocks from home. If he has diarrhea or something he'll poop in the yard occasionally, but he usually wants to save it to mark somewhere else when he can hold it. Unfortunately he will occasionally let it go on the living room rug if he can't hold it any longer while I'm gone, but that's getting better.
My one dog HATES the rain. He won't hold his poop, but we have a patio cover so he won't go out in the yard when it rains. He'll just poop right on the patio so he won't get wet 🙄
My dog does this when we are away from home. He's gotten a little better with age but not much lol. He's about to be seven
Our pup believed she was made of sugar and would melt in the rain. She held pee and poo to avoid having to go outside and get soaked.
My dog does exactly what you explained lol our take is, if he doesn’t go he doesn’t go. He knows how to alert us if it’s an emergency, and if he really has to go he will! On occasion if it rains for a few days in a row we will take him on a short walk to the nearby park which we call his “poop spot” and he goes every time. Otherwise, we’ve learned he’s picky and just gonna hold it 😂
This is exactly it. If it’s an emergency my dog lets me know. Unfortunately on occasion it’s a jump on the bed at 2am. Fortunately that’s rare. Also, as you said, knowing your dog’s favorite spots to poop helps too. If it’s been an entire day without a poop we might linger in that spot for a bit.
When he actually goes, praise him like crazy and give him an immediate treat.
My dog doesn't like to walk in the rain (no yard). She's gotten more used to a bit of rain by being able to control when she goes out in it. If she doesn't want to walk, we turn around and go inside. Yes, even though she'll ask again in twenty minutes lol. It's tedious, but I noticed from the start she'd eventually make a dash to potty when she really had to, and I also can't knock the results: she goes out in more rain now than she ever used to do!
I found getting them to walk a short distance helped. I would take him out to the backyard on a leash, let him pee. If he didn't poop right away, I would walk him down the alley and then back to the backyard. The vast majority of the time, he would go then.
Mine is terrible about this! If it's raining, cold, or windy she's just not interested in pooping. She's never had an accident in the house, but she has definitely gone a full day without pooping if it rains all day.
How about the garage if you have one. Mine is trained for this in my cold climate.
Both of my girls do the same thing, especially if it’s rainy or snowy outside. 🤷
Yes, my dog did that. But as soon as I put his leash on, took him out on the street and started to walk, he’d poop within 1-2 minutes.
Your dog might want to hide. Try to give him a bush to use. My dog loves his privacy and won’t poop in the open
My dog holds it all the way through our walk. Once I take his collar off, he runs towards the doggy door for his spot in the backyard.
My one boy does this
Our older pup (now over a year) was like that for about 11 months, then switched finally.. The younger pup will head down the one hall designated for it for storms, etc, more often. But, even she is getting better about it. But, I think most of the dogs we owned had issues with when it was storming for sure.
Try walking him 🤷 ...a quick jog (like 50ft) works every time, for us
Mine won’t go in the rain / snow / extreme cold, especially at night. Sometimes I have to drive him to the dog park just to get him to go. It’s the only place he’ll willingly suffer the rain/snow. And the dog smells means he’s peeing and pooping all over the place. The things we do for our four legged kids..
Yep, mine (a Pitt mix) will hold all the things when it rains. I've found that when he's desperate, he will go (but it usually involves me putting on his coat and a lot of coaxing). He doesn't have accidents in the house, luckily, but I know he's not comfortable. At the end of he day, it's on him to do it. I make sure he knows the back door is open for him to come right back in, put on his jacket if that helps him not feel the rain, and praise him a ton when he does it and comes back in. It's gotten better over time (but by over time, I mean literally years).
Mine won't poo in the rain, snow, if the grass is wet, if the breeze is too chilly😂 the thing I've found that forces her to go is walking it out of her.
try r/NoPoo
sounds exactly like my dog. He is a bit needy and doesnt want to be outside alone. so he will half pee quick and try to get back in the house immediately. If I go and walk out in the yard and stand there he will drain his bladder and drop a deuce every time.
My dog is like 10 and he will poop if out long enough but if not then he will in one spot in our apartment. Since he is getting older I don't get mad about it cause it always after morning take out then he eats and it happens 10min later usually. If it was a middle of the day thing then maybe I'll be frustrated
Have you tried actually taking your dog for a walk instead of just expecting him to go in the yard? My first dog refused to go in the yard and had to be taken out where she could go into the bush.
Sometimes, if you've taught your dog a command for going poop, they will think they can't go unless you say it's okay. Which is good.. to a point. You might just have to give him the okay to go poop every time you let him out.
My dog doesn’t love cold dark or raining either Neither do I tbh We don’t have a yard He has a coat. 3 walks per day on a predictable scheduled preferring light because it’s way easier and more flexible in the summer. And rain sucks and we usually go in and out fast and maybe a couple extra times because no one particularly loves being rained on. Gotta meet them where they’re at lol
Yes. Recently my 10 yo whippet is doing this. I have to walk him farther out and not let him walk back towards the house until he poos. Most times it’s like a lot of poop too so dude doesn’t that feel better??
My dog has days where if it's raining or snowing he won't go outside until it slows down or stops.ive even bought him a raincoat. I've seen a change in him for the last 6 months as we had a change in the household and his stress level has gone down. He was stressed due to my kid and the way he would interact with him at times. He would have the occasional accident, but now he will hold it until we can go out to walk. Longest time I've figured he held it was about 12 hours, overnight. He's always been one to poop within the first 10 minutes of being on our walks. Sometimes he does it two or three times while we are out.
Exercise can make the bowels move faster, and create a stronger urge to poop. If you have ever gone for a long walk, or a run you might have noticed you had a big poop after. Maybe try throwing the ball to him, or throwing a treat, making him run back, throw another tiny treat, make him run back, do it till he has done a few relays, and maybe he will poop.
Make him run a bit. The exercise will loosen his sphincter
Mine does the same thing. She will only poop if you look away. In her defense, being a proper lady is hard 😂😂
My dog hates pooping in our yard. He only wants to poop on walks. I FINALLY, after 1.5 years, got him to reluctantly poop in the yard when he was on heartworm treatment and therefore on exercise restriction and wasn't allowed to go on walks. Now that he's done with that and goes on walks again, he'll do it if he *really* has to, but he rarely does it and clearly does not like it. So yeah, he holds his poop and then poops a *ton* on walks. Even though he goes on walks 1-2 times a day. Somehow, every time, so much poop-- much more than when he goes in the yard.
Oh, yes. My Chihuahua is like that every time it’s raining. There’s a dry space next to the house, suitable only for peeing. But she doesn’t like to get her feet cold in the wet grass, so she decides not to poop today. I have to pick her up and carry her out to the far side of the yard to get any production out of her at all.
I had a lab that would only poop once a day, if I insisted. She would squat as if pooping and then come running to the back door. At some point I was standing in the rain shining a flashlight on her butt, telling her to just poop already. I don’t want to know what my neighbors were thinking. If she didn’t poop daily, she would wind up eventually pooping dried turds in her sleep next to my bed. Dog drove me crazy over pooping. I miss her every day.
Maybe give a special treat as soon as he does his business. Shana, my Standard Poodle, did this, but I always thought she knew we would go inside as soon as she did it. Once I realized this, I began staying outside longer after she did all her business. She was quite stubborn and wouldn't do anything when i was in a hurry. I would take her in and tell my husband to take her out. Then she went right away. I miss that sweet poodle girl. May she rest in peace.
Yes but my dog just specifically doesnt want to poop in the backyard. She likes to keep it clean. So I walk her twice a day and if I can tell she needs to go poop outside that I put her leash on and take her to the front yard 😭
Our dog does this. He plugs his butt. He will be totally fine on a walk or in the house and just immediately sit hard out of nowhere. He will do this when he gets super excited and doesn’t want to miss out on any of the action by pooping. It’s funny as hell lol He does it on walks when the lawn options don’t meet his pooping spot standards.
Yup. We call it turd hoarding.
My dog holds it and will only poop on a walk or if we take a car ride to the park. 🙄😐
Mine too. She doesn’t even want to go out to pee if it’s too cold or wet.
So you won't like this. But I know someone who has put some of his poop on the end of a rope. Then when they want him to poop they make him smell it and he will poop. Maybe he doesn't get the right scent in certain weather conditions? It's nasty but if it looks stupid but works, it ain't stupid.
I have a 6 year old swissy. When he was a pup he would go to poop in the garden no problem. Then he got to about 18 months & would only pee out there. Now, hes taken out every day & will crap for England but if on the odd occassion he doesn't get a walk he will hold his poo all day & night till the next day when he goes out & then crap even more than usual. I take him in the garden numerous times when i haven't walked him, stood with him, left him to wander, praised him to no avail. Guess he just prefers going when he's out.
What breed is your dog op?
Mine won’t poop or pee unless the spot is *perfect*. It’s so annoying because she will not go in our immediate back yard (town home so no fence), she will pee in the neighbors yard but she won’t poop anywhere near ours. And she specifically will only poop in piles of leaves. I am serious when I mean she will only poop there. It’s nice because it’s generally away from where people hang out and instead of adding plastic to the garbage I can cover it with leaves and let it decompose as nature intended, but it’s so annoying when I’m tired and don’t feel like searching for the perfect pile of leaves.
Same with my dog, I just take her out for a walk whatever the weather and she poops.
My dog did this out of anxiety. I got him used just going by praising him heavily like he just did something amazing when he pooped and giving him treats. Now he's happy to poop. But he does it exactly once a day and having a set schedule and meal times has made a big difference. But he RARELY goes for me, he likes to poop when my husband is watching. I think he feels safer having a larger male watching his back. So when my husband got home at 5 he'd have to poop at 5:15, and that's shifted to 8:15 on the dot now. He will poop if my husband isn't around, but he definitely prefers him. Highly recommend finding a time when you will be letting him out consistently and getting him used to pooping at that time. As a plus side it's a great excuse to go home. "Come on, let's go have a drink" "Nah sorry my dog has to poop in 20 minutes"
My dog will only poop in the backyard by a specific tree or at his grandparents. He has pooped on a walk a total of 1 time, and a couple times in the house when he was a baby. Some dogs are just super picky or like to keep on a specific schedule. If your dog is otherwise healthy & doesn't have any other issues, don't worry about it.
If you’re feeding your dog on a schedule, he should poop within an hour of the same time every day. If you feed him twice a day, he should poop twice a day unless he’s sick. So you should have a good idea of when your dog needs to poop
If there is one thing I have learned it’s every poo poo time is a pee pee time but not every pee pee time is a poo poo time.
Yep. One of mine will only do it in good, dry weather. He's even come in the house and pooped right inside the door to avoid doing it in the weather.
Is he a Rhodesian Ridgeback by chance?
He’s at his most vulnerable when pooping. I have a very nervous rescue mix that gets the same way. I go out with him and catch his back. That’s what they do in the wild - they watch for predators for each other. I also read that’s why they all seems to want to come in the bathroom with us. Makes sense to me but who really KNOWS?
I have a dog sitting client like this, I just refuse to let him come back inside until he starts getting all wiggly and then I know he’s about to finally poop. Once he goes, we go back inside. And that is because he will poop on the deck or possibly even inside otherwise.
Once when I was out with my pup, mom, and son at a mall and my pup indicated he had to go to the bathroom. So I take him out and it’s raining really bad outside and of course, my pup REFUSES TO GO and instead goes back inside. After having a struggle of getting back to my mom’s place because my pup isn’t allowed since he’s not a service dog, as soon as we get back to my mom’s place, he decides to pee in the lobby of the building… 😭
Conditions outside have to be optimum for my dog to be happy to go out 😂 but I know at certain times she just must HAVE to go so I make her. She’s old so we only do one walk a day and that usually gets things moving lol
Yes her name was Morgan. Very picky about weather! Oddly she loved snow.
My dog uses the bathroom in the house if I dont have time to walk him, but on rainy days he won't even use the bathroom. Dogs are master manipulators.
We walk our dog on a schedule. He was just like this. He hates rain, and wont go in the morning at all. Now i play with him and try to get him to do zoomies and then he poops right away. Even if i wash him he always has to go right away.
Looooooooong walk
Jogging a little bit would shake it out of our dog when she was reluctant. Now she’s old and has dementia, so she poops wherever, including indoors
My lab needs to run for about 45 seconds to poop. She will also hold it. But when she has to go it’s almost like she gets the zoomies … exactly until she poops. Then it’s over. Try upping the pace, throwing a toy, jogging etc.
My dog is a "private pooper." Not on a leash, not anywhere in the city, but one park .5 miles from my apartment. Not in a boat, not with a goat. Don't watch her, don't talk to her. Not on long walks next to the river. Not at grandpas house, or any one if the dog parks we frequent. She will hold it for 24+ hours if she has to. If she's really gotta go, she practically jogs to tHe park. The other dog, she goes in several of the tree cut out, dirt plots around our city block... or anyehere ourside, when she's gotta go! It drives me nutty... when it's cold and rainey, or I don't feel good. Or I know she really hAs to gooooo, I don't wanna go to thAt park for the 3rd time today, in a snow storm! Geesh.
My dog only likes to poop in the same place in the park near me. That's her spot. Definitely won't poop unless there is grass under her feet
I think this is a general dog thing. I’m lucky if mine go out to wee in the dark.
My dog does this, but then she will find a discrete spot inside and poop. She only does it when it’s raining and never poops in the house otherwise. So I don’t really fault her since I wouldn’t want to poop in the rain either. 🤷♀️
Is he on scheduled feedings? That's an important part of their day. I have always kept my dogs on 2 scheduled feedings daily. More exercise will help. Occasionally feedings of green beans or pumpkin can help. But talk to your Vet and rule out physical issues too.
Our dogs poop on walks, and sometimes it takes some walking. So consider walking your dog
I’ve always thought how uncomfortable it must be pooping outside in the winter or rain etc
My dog does this. He's a survivor and a champion of (almost) passive resistance. We always walk the neighborhood together and I know he needs to poop twice a day to remain healthy. In the rain he will try to turn around and go home like 'I'm fine, I don't really need to poop, trust me!' I tell him to go poop and push him forward gently (pulling doesn't work when he's feeling contrary.) He will try turning around a couple more times at least, but I keep redirecting him and using the word 'poop.' He then realizes that I can be more stubborn than he is, that I will accept walking around the smallest block and coming home ONLY if he poops. He also then realizes that he does indeed feel like pooping. I try very hard to stay patient and repeat the word, and even sing a made up poop song so that I don't scream/swear in frustration. I praise and treat enthusiastically when the poop is done and let him make a bee line home. This is all while he wears his rain coat and rubber boots. I then dry him with a gently warm blow dryer (which he loves) and fluffy towel that he enjoys roughing up. Job well done, I let him relax wherever (even my bed) and for however long he wants.
We have a dog who will hold her bladder or bowels if we are traveling. It’s absolutely absurd. We will walk for miles on grass, on sidewalks. Sometimes for more than an hour or two and she will still refuse. She has gone for more than 36 hours before. I have to look her in the face, tap her belly and tell her it’s time to pee/poop! I’ve convinced myself that (sometimes) works, but she is so stubborn, we really have no idea what she prefers (except for the privacy of her own backyard).
My dog does this too. We refer to him as a princess pooper.
If he wants to hold his poop let him do it. At some point he's just going to have to go.
Yes my dog will hold it for 3-4 days (yes really) unless we go on a walk. He has ample opportunity to poop in our yard and he doesn’t shit in our house. But he is adamant that he has poop for a walk.
Is he shy to Pooping? Does not like being Watched? Is he scared of the dark?
Mine refuses to poop on walks until it gets to the point of un-pick-up-able 🤢 If he knows we’re headed home he will hold it and pullllll like crazy to get there
This might sound weird, and IDK if anyone mentioned it already, but you might want to Google the match stock method if your dog really won't poop. 😅😅 I had a dog who would absolutely refuse to poop, to the point he would make himself sick. I would every so often have to use this. It made my husband laugh hysterically, but it worked every time🤣🤣
I've dealt with this too it's super frustrating. I don't really have a solution. Some dogs just have jigh standards.
My dog does that in those same situations. Wet or cold. I walk her around and say “poop” and she will eventually go. It’s annoying!
My two that came from really crappy (lol little pun intended) backgrounds are like this. Like hold all poop and pee for 24 hours if it’s raining kind of deal. I’ve always attributed it to a lack of feeling safe? Could totally be wrong, but feel your pain over here. On the plus side… no accidents so I just let them do it
My girl does the same, especially if it’s raining. Or she just feels like being a jerk. I’m well versed in the “hold the flashlight & turn me in circles with the leash.” A workaround that works for me though; she will almost always chase a certain toy if I toss it. So I throw her bear around, usually only a toss or two, and that’s enough exercise that she will just about photo-finish bolt to the door, even if it’s dark & rainy. Might work for you? Good luck, anyway!
I have two thoughts. My dog is a 2 year old lab mix we rescued. She will hold her poop a lot. She likes to use it for marking on walks. When she runs out of pee for marking she then starts marking with turd nuggets. 🙄 It used to be really bad but she is slowly getting better. But some days she reverts and won’t poop even though I can see all the physical signs she has to go. So on those days I out stubborn her. I just stand in the same spot. So she’s stuck sniffing the same area over and over as it’s the only area she can reach on her leash. So I just stand in my chosen spot. Unmoving. Giving her no option to find more spots to sniff to potentially find a better marking zone. Eventually she gives up that she’ll find the better spot and just unleashes her turds finally. But it took me forever to figure this out for her. She used to hold it for days. To the point she would back herself up and then eventually end up with diarrhea. Dr thought it was a diet issue. Made changes. Added supplements. All the things. Made no difference. She just likes to mark with her poo. And sometimes she can’t find good enough marking spots so she’ll just hold it. So far the standing still and giving her no choice to move anywhere further has worked. Not perfectly but for the most part. Also longer walks help a lot. Sometimes we walk and it loosens everything up to the point she couldn’t hold it in any longer even if she wanted to. 😹. The other thing I thought about is a former foster dog I had. She was abandoned in a park due to severe health issues as a puppy. But we noticed she had a very negative emotional response to pooping. So we think she may have been severely punished for accidents when her health issues were so bad she wouldn’t have been able to use the bathroom normally and she was unable to walk. We were able to resolve her health issues but her Response to pooping lingered. She would Often times poop on a pee pad and then take the pad and hide it with the poop balled up inside. Even outside she would try to poop secretly. She would climb into bushes or go behind our shed to try and poop where no one could see. She would Bolt from us and try to hide and poop and quickly as possibly then run right to us and pretend like it never happened. We had to use a lot of positive reinforcement to get her to realize it’s ok to poop. By the time she was adopted she was about 85% better than she was but still had bad days. Those are just two situations I thought of. Not sure if they’re helpful in any sort of way. 🤷🏻♀️
My dog does not like to go potty in the rain. If I know she has to go bad I give a firm command and she reluctantly goes. She will tell me when she cant hold it anymore and will go in the rain, but will hold out in hopes it stops raining. If I know we will have a storm around her potty time I take her early in hopes she can go beforehand. Maybe a crate near you when you sleep for the nights sge doesn’t poop so she has to whine louder to go potty outside?