Beagle training lapse

Question
Hi Kristen

We have a male beagle just over a year old. We got him from eight weeks old and have trained him very well. It took him a while to learn not to go to the toilet in the house but we got there in the end.

It had been five or six months since he relieved himself in the house but just recently he's started again. It happens during the night, so every time we come down stairs into the kitchen at about 7:30am he's either urinated, defacated, or both. It has now been every morning for about nine days. But as I said before, before that, it had been several months since an 'accident'.

He eats his meal at about 6:00pm every day and gets to go out to do his business several times after that. He always gets a last toilet trip just before we go to bed. He has the free roam of the kitchen as we did away with the crate when he was about four or five months old. Also, I work from home, so he has company all day. Although I don't spend the time lavishing affection on him, its human company nonetheless and he gets to have plenty of time running around in the garden which he wouldn't get if I was working elsewhere.  

We tried giving him a late night walk as we've noticed that when he's in unfamiliar territory, his toilet excersises seem to be more productive. On that occasion he did both types. But despite relieving himself at about 9:30pm, we still woke up to a mess downstairs.

It seems odd that it's just started out of the blue and with such frequency. This makes me think that there is some important underlying factor responsible for this. I have had a couple of ideas that I've not put into effect yet. Maybe I could give him his meal earlier in the hope he expels the entire contents of his bowels during the rest of evening prior to bedtime. Maybe I could take away his water bowl until first thing in the morning.

These things seem a little drastic and I wouldn't want to do them without speaking to someone like yourself first.

All his other manners are very good and he's a really happy and outgoing little guy. I just hope that he's not got a bladder infection or developed a problematic psychological problem.  

Answer
Because he's urinating AND defecating during the night, I wouldn't suspect an infection right off the bat, Glen. Everything you're doing as far as feeding him and walking him sounds good. The only thing I might recommend would be to bring the old crate back out and start putting him in it at night, just to reinforce the fact that he is not to potty in the house, period. I'm wondering if his behavior might not be a form of 'marking' behavior, as he is coming into maturity. I'm having a similar problem with my 17 month old German shepherd pup. He was doing very well with housebreaking until he learned to lift his leg, and now he's regressed a little, and has been trying to lift his leg in the house. I have been working with him, trying to make it clear that urinating in the house, whether he lifts his leg, or squats, or does both at the same time, is inappropriate and all result in the same consequence of getting fussed at and taken outside. You need to do the same with your little boy, but since he's doing it at night when you can't catch him at it, crating him is probably the simplest solution, because he already knows not to potty in the crate. What you're aiming for is that he learns that he will be put in the crate at bedtime, so he needs to make sure that he's peed and pooped all he needs to before that time. Then, the fact that he's in the crate will encourage him to 'hold it' until morning, because of his previous training.

I would crate him at night for at least a month, and then you can try giving him a little freedom again (putting him in a small pen in the kitchen at first, and then after a couple of weeks of that, giving him free roam of the entire kitchen again. If he regresses, then you'll need to go back to the previous step, whether that be the crate or the small pen, for a few more nights.

Good luck, and let me know if there's anything else I can help you with!