6-year old dog starts pooping in the house

Question
Our beloved 6-year old female golden retriever-mix (part Chow, we're told) started, about six months ago, pooping and peeing in the house about once a week while we are at work or away with friends for an evening. She is otherwise in fine health. Our response has been to scold her as we point to the poo, and make her go several days without her favorite treats and eating only dry food. (She normally gets both wet and dry food every day.) But we wonder if she even makes the connection between her bad behavior and the consequences. (We keep hoping she will have a moment like Hellen Keller at the well!) My husband and I married in our late 40's in 2006, so we wound up with two homes between us for the past 3 years, and the pets have had to acclimate to both. I came to the marriage with the dog (who had been adopted from an animal shelter as a pup), and my husband came to the marriage with a Siamese cat that he rescued. Dog and Cat remain highly wary of each other but largely leave each other alone. (Although we've toyed with the idea of getting a "Nanny-Cam" to see if there is anything going on between them just before the dog's pooping incidents.) My husband and I love both pets and show love to each in equal measure. One of our houses is in the noisy city (his) and mine is in the Blue Ridge Mountains: both pets seem to prefer the quiet mountain house (6 acres), but we live in the city house for work reasons and visit my old mountain house every second weekend. The dog never does this pooping thing at the mountain house -- only the city house. But both houses have fenced back yards to run around and poo in. We augment this with long walks, weather-permitting. My husband and I have lived like this since 2006, but the once-a-week misbehavior just started this winter. Can you help us understand what might be causing this bad behavior and how we might address it?  We would be ever so grateful!  best regards, julie

Answer
"Punishing" your dog in this manner is cruel not inhumane.  Pointing to the poop or urine is raising your dog's anxiety levels and escalating her separation issues.  The dog makes the connection between the presence of poop or urine and your anger, she does NOT make the connection between her producing these and your anger.  What's happened is that your dog has learned over time that her presence in the city home is riddled with trust breaking anger and serious psychological demotion (poorer quality of meals, no treats = demotion to a dog and the dog learns over time to associate it with whatever environment this occurs.)  Most likely, something is setting her off in this city home (perhaps foot traffic in hall, noises outdoors), something to which she is not habituated.  Whatever this is seems not to be constant, since the dog does not demonstrate this behavior on a daily basis (as you report).  If the dog suffers anxiety at these times, she is not in control of her response and is demonstrating her anxiety by eliminating to "mark" (call you back, leave scent so you can find your way back); if you come home and show anger at this "marking", you're further confusing and frightening her.  STOP.

The problem with punishing a dog for the presence of poop or urine is that the dog begins to generalize it to OUTDOORS and may not eliminate IN FRONT OF YOU, making it rather difficult to reward her appropriate choice of elimination.  You must be consistent by rewarding EVERY TIME she eliminates outdoors (this means you have to go out WITH HER); if you see a reluctance (she won't eliminate in front of you), you need to persist: stay out with her as long as it takes and give her FAIR amount of time, and fair outings (five daily).  Meanwhile, when you leave her indoors alone (in the city AND the country) confine her to an area that's easily cleaned (the kitchen); reward her equally for both locations when she eliminates appropriately.  IGNORE HER MISTAKES.  The Golden is a highly bidable breed with a strong desire to please and they can be very "soft" and easily intimidated.

If she does poop indoors, pick it up and take it outdoors to the spot you choose for her; do NOT yell at her, make eye contact or in any way engage her.  Let her follow you outdoors and when you have placed the poop in its chosen location, do it HAPPILY and with a praising demeanor (to the POOP, not the dog).  As odd as this sounds, it works over time.  The dog begins to build an association between the poop being outdoors and your "happiness", just as she built an association between poop being indoors and your anger.

In terms of her developing separation anxiety, you might try leaving her in the city home for short intervals as a set up: 15 minutes, then 30, then 45, etc., to determine how long after your leave taking she experiences this anxiety.  ALSO keep a record of the days and times this occurs and do some detective work to try to determine what the common denominator is: boisterous neighbors at these days/times, odd sounds from the hallway, trucks delivering on those days/times, something you may be doing differently on those days/times, etc.  Something is setting her off and knowing that will help you to know how to alleviate her anxiety.  Don't make a big deal out of your leave taking: no eye contact, don't say "goodbye", try to change your leave taking rituals, and when you return wait a minute before greeting her and keep the greeting short.  This COULD get worse.  

Please repost with any further questions.