older dog with housebreaking problems

Question
We left our 10 year old lab with a house sitter for the first time last month. The first five days he had no problems waiting until the evening visit to go to the bathroom. On the sixth day he went pee in the finished basement. Over the last three days the sitter came in the middle of the day as well but Touchdown still peed a couple more times. Then about two weeks later he took a dump in the basement, even though we were all home and he had not been sitting by the door. (His usual sign for wanting to go outside.)

We are about to go on another trip and we want to avoid any problems. Any suggestions? What about the poop "accident'? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Brendon

Answer
10 is getting old for a Lab.  A good check up making sure the vet is aware of the problem is the first step.  Even if an older dog is physically fine, it may resent an interruption in its routine.  It is hard to say what is going on those furry heads.  Has being left with the house sitter been the pattern in the past?  The older the dog, the more important the right people become.  We kept our friend's Lab on and off over the years.  I think she is less and less happy here as she gets older, because although she knows us, we are just not quite the right people.  

It might even be better to kennel him.  That is an even bigger disruption, but at least he wouldn't be by himself most of the day.  the kennel can better cope with accidents than the house sitter.