behaviour issues with older retrievers

Question
Our 9 year old black lab has just recently started leaving us a little gift in the form of a "poop nugget" the size of a nickel on the bedroom floor during the night.  She has always slept on the floor beside my side of the bed.  At first I thought she just had a little accident as she has never pooped or peed in the house since she was trained as a puppy.  I have now banned her from sleeping in our bedroom.  Today I came home from a long day at work and found another "nugget", this time on our hardwood floor in the living room. I scolded her for this by speaking loudly to her while I was pointing at the poop.  She walked towards the door with her tail between her legs. Other than this latest problem, she has always been obedient and lovable.  I am trying to figure out why this sudden change in behaviour.  (P.S.) we have taken trips many times and left her at home with one of our adult kids to look after her so she is used to us not being around sometimes. Other than that, there have been no changes in routine.Help, I'm running out of patience and worried about what I might find next.

Answer
Has your 9 year old has a full check up recently?  Usually at that age, when they start doing things they never have before, like pottying in the house, it might be worth having the vet check to see if anything has changed in her health.  Large breed dogs become seniors at age 7, so any sort of deviation in behavior could also be "old age" related and requires a little more patience on your part.  Seniors can have accidents just due to plain old age.

If it's just a small piece of poop, is it possible that she brought it back in the house with her vs. doing it in the house?  

Also remember back to when you were doing puppy training, scolding is never effective if you don't catch the dog in the act.  Scolding her and pointing at the poop isn't effective.  It may SEEM like she understands, but they really just know that Mom/Dad is upset and she doesn't connect the action of going potty in the house with why you are mad.  

Your senior may start requiring a bit more care and understanding as she gets up in the years, so please be patient with her!  And give your vet a call.