my dog is messing in my house.

Question
I have an English bulldog and she is well house trained and is in very good health. 9 weeks ago she had a litter of 11 puppies,up until a few weeks ago she was going in the garden and going to the toilet, now she wont go out and go to the toilet even thought he door is open at all times for her, she keeps doing it in the house. We are housetraining the puppies and having sucess with them, can you tell me wht she is doin this. The puppies are weaned off her too.

Answer
Hello Tina:

I would be certain she doesn't have any physical issue occurring, such as a bladder or urinary tract infection first - if you're certain it's nothing like that, all I can think of is she may be going through a hormonal "storm" & it might be best to keep her contained in a crate or otherwise confined until the puppies are either fully trained too or things have returned to "normal" (whatever that is, right? LOL) You didn't state if she was urinating or defecating or both. After such a large litter she may be experiencing an unusually high metabolic state in that her body needs to discontinue lactating & reabsorb any remaining so it's possible she will take some time before her body is back to its regular self. I wish I could offer some better explanation or course of action but it's difficult to properly diagnose a situation without knowing all the details. If there's anything further you could tell me that might help me better understand things I'd be happy to try to help.