[Kelleyanne]

My dog is one step away from being sent back to the animal shelter. Sammy is almost 5 years old, we rescued her last august and expected her to have some issues. She had a few accidents and we showed them to her and told her no and praised her when she went outside. She still continued to poo in the house and we just kept trying harder. We have been to the vets, we tried training, treats, feeding schedules, bells, everything we have thought to look up and a few things we just tried on a whim. She never poops when we are gone and never pees in the house. She never seems like she is trying to alert us that she needs to go, she just sneaks off and poops in whatever room we are not in at the time. She has no preference, no time of day that she does it, no pattern to this behavior. We pretty much have to watch her constantly and keep her leash on all the time so we can see it trailing out the door if she wanders off! It is a 24/7 task and I just have no idea what to do! Today we were trying to get some cleaning done for house guests next week and she was just following us around like she always does. We were cleaning in the two bedrooms and then when my husband went into the office he found a fresh pile of poo! She had barely been out of sight of either of us for 2 minutes! We cleaned it up and were trying to figure out what we can do when she did it again not 20 minutes later! This is her last chance for us to find something to do to stop this behavior for good without one of us being constantly anchored to the dog while we are home! Any new ideas would be appreciated!

[CorkyMax]

There have been similar problem addressed in this forum before. You may find some help/ideas to try by --Find the blue strip that goes across the top of the page(s) in this forum--Find the word Search--click it--Put dog pooping in house in the search box--enter. Will bring up a list of threads to click on--Go through them for some ideas. You can also put those words in your browser and get some answers off the net too. Hope this helps as I'd hate to see the little guy go back to the shelter----You know of course that shelter dogs often have these types of issues from the previous conditions they were accustomed to. It takes patience and time to change things. Good luck!

[lange]

Originally Posted by Kelleyanne

She had a few accidents and we showed them to her and told her no

This might be why she hides her poop from you. Does she ever poop in front of you?

Reading what you wrote, she sounds like she's confused. You need to stick to the same routine & way of training. Schedule, schedule, schedule. Watch her like a hawk!, Correct IN THE ACT mistakes only by saying "AH!" then taking her straight outside to let her finish. Ignore the accidents you didn't witness her do, you really need to chalk it up as your fault for not watching her better. Dogs do not correlate past mistakes to present reprimands. You can only work with things that are happening in the moment.

You can also leash her to you when you're doing other things so she doesn't go off to do her business elsewhere. Personally, I don't allow dogs free roam of the home until they are housebroken. Otherwise they can only roam if I am following them around while training them.
Praise her like crazy outside when she's IN THE ACT or right after. Give her her favortite, small treats then.

You shouldn't see accidents as a negative thing, I KNOW easier said than done, but if she's interpreting that you're mad about SEEING poop than guess what? She will keep hiding it from you, this could really be hanging her up & is likely why she doesn't do it in front of you or alert you to it. You want to only encourage the right behavior. Even if you don't yell at her, she could be picking up on your frustration. Also be sure you're cleaning the accidents with enzyme cleaner. Consistency from you & 100% of your attention is key. Good luck to you both!