My trained dog has accidents and won't poop outside. What can I do?

Question

My dog has been reliably potty trained since we adopted her 2.5 years ago. Just recently when I was hospitalized she had a few accidents in the house and we think it might have been due to stress. Tonight I had let her out before we left and she peed but wouldn't poop. So I just came home to poop smeared all over the kitchen. Sometimes she'll hold her pee and poop for a day or two because she refuses to go into the yard. What can I do to fix this?? Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Female | spayed | 3 years and 5 months old

Jeffrey Milner · Accepted Answer

As this was only a single incident of defecation inside the house, I would not consider this a problem that requires fixing as of yet. Now that you are home from the hospital, I would give it a few days to see if this sort of thing happens again. If you are finding that it does start to repeat even as things begin to normalize again, I would tell you that you have to return back to basics. Do everything that you did the first time you had to potty train. I would also consider the fact that there could be a medical problem first before jumping to a behavioral lapse. Take a fecal sample and a urine sample into your veterinarian for analysis to make sure there isn't something wrong causing this sudden change. In terms of refusal to go in the yard, this can not be an option. If you must, simply hook a lead and collar on and physically walk her in the yard if necessary. Hope this helps.

My trained dog has accidents and won't poop outside. What can I do?

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