Friends dog - pooping in house???

[happylabs]

My friend has an 11 month old Golden Doodle. He has been perfectly house trained since he was a little pup. For the last week or two he has been pooping in the house. My friend has 3 daughters and a hubby and they all love this dog to the max. She says there have been no life changes in the house or changes in routine. She was concerned a week or so ago because the dog had not done a poopy for 2 days. She called the vet and they said no worry, he could go a couple more days. Then all of a sudden he started pooping in the house.

The dogs gets several walks a day and is on a high quality dog food since she first got him. Since the vet doesn't seem to think there is a problem does anyone here have any suggestions?

I am at a loss.

[IRescue452]

It could just be a training relapse. You say there are no changes in the household, but I bet they've grown used to having a dog that's housetrained and grown a bit complacent too early. An 11-month-old goldendoodle is still very young and still shouldn't be left unsupervised for too long without the owners wondering what he's up to. If he's wondering away from the room that a family member is in then there could be a reason and they should go follow him and see if they catch him sniffing for a spot. I don't know too many house dogs who prefer to be out of the room that the family is in unless they're looking for something to do out of boredom or are looking for a place to hide that they're going potty indoors. I think they should try just taking a step back and letting him out more and supervising more and not trusting him so much yet.

[Karen]

Seeing as it has been a couple weeks, and the vet never did see him, just talked to her on the phone, I'd recommend a vet visit, and then recommence potty training. If it weren;t for the "no pooping" incident that preceded it, I'd say just retrain, but you want to be absolutely usure there's nothing medical going on.

[Freedom]

What both of them said!

Most vets will let you take in a stool sample w/ out the dog, so no office visit. May be a good first step!