nightime soiling

Question
Hi Kristen, Our German Shepherd,Dakota Wolf, is almost 9. We have had her over 6 years. She is spayed, spends most of her time indoors. She eats either Iams or Nutro late afternoon/evening.  We rescued her from an abusive situation, she is a good dog, very friendly,(to people, not other dogs) loyal, protective, even tempered. She is let out to do her business on a regular basis daily and right before bed. 11 pm. She has toys she likes, we play with her, walk her and give her lots of love. I take her to the vet regularly, she gets spa treatments at the petsmart every six weeks, when we go away, she goes to a kennel where the owner gives her special treatment.
Here's the problem. She will on occasion soil/pee during the night. It's usually in the same area (downstairs in the den) It's very intermittent, she will go for weeks and not do it, then maybe 3-4 nights in a row she will do it. She has been doing this for years. We recently tore up the carpet in that room and replaced it with wood laminate. The installers painted the concrete floor under the area where she soiled with primer before they laid the new floor. She didn't do anything for about 3 weeks after the new floor was down, then one morning, there was pee. The next morning there was poop/pee. (just crumbs of poop) I cleaned up the area with white vinegar water.
She is alone all day while we work, and doesn't have accidents in the area where we leave her during the day. We always reward her with a treat when she comes in from doing her business outside. At night after dinner she goes out and again right before bed. I let her out first thing in the morning, when I get home from work, after dinner and right before bed. When my husband is at home, she has free reign during the night. When he is out of town on business, I bring her in the bedroom with me, shutting the door so that she sleeps on the floor in the room. ( I feel more protected when she's close by) She doesn't bug us during the night to go out, and she doesn't do this soiling thing all the time. I thought maybe it was the full moon or maybe she misses my son. (he moved out 2 years ago, but she did this before he moved out)
Please if you have any suggestions as to how to stop this, I would appreciate it. I do not want to cage her at night and my husband wants her to be able to roam the house when he is home.

Answer
When do you feed her in the evenings, and do you allow her free access to water all the time? It could be that simply moving her food/water time around might solve the problem. You might also try feeding her in the spot that she usually soils, because most dogs will not soil the area in which they eat or sleep.

Do you give her any 'special' treats that might be upsetting her digestive system and causing these accidents? Keeping a log of what you feed her, what times, and when the accidents are occurring might help.

Lastly, are you able to block her access to the room she is soiling at night? If so, I would try that and see if she picks a different spot to 'go', or if she stops the behavior altogether.


You may also want to talk to the vet about it. It could be due to her age