Was housetrained, now reverting back...

[AllisonC]

Hi, my husband and I have a sweet boy who just turned 1 year old. He was doing great being housetrained. We were at the point we were leaving him outside his crate all day while at work with no accidents. He was sleeping in our bedroom in his bed through the night. He also knows to stand by the back door and sometimes scratch when he needs to go out.

Suddenly, he has started going #2 inside. We did not change his schedule; he's still home alone the same amount of time and going outside at the same times as usual. One of us always goes with him when he goes outside.

He has also started to eat his poop, which is why we think he's started going inside. He doesn't eat it if he goes outside. So far, he hasn't been peeing inside, just the other. It's happened in the middle of the night and during the evening when he's alone for a couple of hours. We've started putting him back in his crate at night and during the day like we did when we were originally housetraining him as a little puppy.

Since he just turned 1, we did change his food to adult (1-6 years Iams) from puppy formula (also Iams). I probably should have introduced the new food to him more slowly, but as I'm sure you all have experienced, our pug eats whatever you put in front of him and then some! I didn't think he'd be sensitive to the change since there doesn't seem to be any kind of dog or people food he doesn't like, but now I'm wondering if this is the reason he's become a poop-eater? Could there be another reason?

Thanks.

[Lola's Mum]

Hmmm my pup is still young, but I have heard that they can regress...I think you are doing the right thing as far as crating him again (treating him as a small puppy) and not getting mad at him for pooping.

As far as the food change, I don't know that that would cause that drastic of a change - if anything, I would think he would have an upset stomach (like the runs) if his body wasn't happy with the switch...but you are right I would think from Iams to Iams should be okay?

I hope others have advice about the eating, I haven't experienced that yet (knock on wood) - but seems like other dogs do it if given the chance...

[Tinker's mom]

You might want to compare ingredients on the two bags just to see the difference.It does sound like it was food connected.Their are wide variances in ingredients within the same brand.If the adult food has much more filler, that would explain his going more often.Good luck, I hope this problem gets resolved soon.