What is home poo season (and what can you do about it)?

You’ve worked hard and finally your little dog is totally potty trained. It’s been months since your dog pooped in the house.

Then the leaves begin to turn, the weather turns cold, and rain and snow begin to fall from the sky.

You tried to take your dog outside to go to the toilet – he is now very good at getting out if he needs to – but, when you open the door, your dog looks outside and goes back to sleep on the sofa .

You trust your dog and think he shouldn’t need to go to the bathroom.

You finish your coffee and your shower, walk into the living room, and voila… poo on the floor!

If this has happened to you, you are not alone.

It’s not uncommon for a dog to start pooping in the house all of a sudden when it’s cold.

What is poop season in the house?

I’ve been calling this phenomenon poo in the house season for years.

This usually happens when the weather turns cold and your dog no longer finds it comfortable or enjoyable to go outside to relieve himself.

Frankly, your dog might have to go, but he’d rather hold it than go out in the cold.

Then, when they can’t hold back any longer, they decide to poop in the comfort of their own home when you’re not looking.

If your dog has suddenly started pooping around the house, think about the weather when it happened.

If finding poop on the floor mostly happens when it’s cold, raining, snowing or windy outside, the cause is probably not a lack of potty training or your dog forgot his training – that’s because he poops during house season!

Now, even though I call it pooping at home because it sounds funny, dogs often choose to pee around the house during this time as well.

Either way, it’s that time of year when you scratch your head wondering why your dog gave up on potty training.

You may be frustrated and tired of cleaning up pot messes around the house.

So what can you do about it?

How to get your dog to poop outside in bad weather

If you’re determined that your little dog isn’t pooping outside like he knows he’s supposed to because of bad weather, you might be wondering how you can fix this problem.

The bottom line is that you need to remind your dog that only the potty outside is okay by giving him a little potty training reminder.

Change the frequency of potty breaks

When I find myself regularly cleaning up accidents around the house, I take a few steps back in my potty training process.

The first thing I do is get my dogs out in a shorter interval than they needed before.

My dachshunds usually need to go outside every 3-4 hours to potty when I’m home and they’re not in their crate.

Early in the poo season I take them outside every 2 hours when I’m home (they’re in crates when I’m gone).

I don’t give them a choice not to go out and poop.

If insisting doesn’t work, I physically carry them outside and place them where the potty is.

I stand outside with them and stay outside until I see them defecating.

If I still find accidents in the house, I decrease the time between potty breaks even more (ex. every hour).

If I stop finding potty crashes on the floor, I slowly start to lengthen the time between breaks in 30 minute increments (adding 30 minutes, waiting to see if there are no crashes , then adding another 30 minutes, etc.)

Note: My Dachshunds only poop 2-3 times a day and I usually know when it is so I don’t expect them to go to number 2 unless it’s about at the normal time I expect them to.

Make sure you see your dog go potty

My dachshunds are pretty docile when I don’t let them laugh at pooping outside in cold weather. Once they’re out, they usually leave.

I usually find poop around the house when one or both dogs have “faked” me and made me think they just have to pee.

For example, in the morning, I know they have to go.

If they don’t go, sometimes I get tired of standing in the snow myself and trusting them that they don’t need to poop.

But I still regret not listening to my instincts because, of course, they take a little nap and then shit right on the living room rug.

But if I make sure they go potty when I know they need to, I don’t find any accidents in the house because “the chute is empty” if you know what I mean.

What to do if your dog refuses to go outside to relieve himself?

What if your dog refuses to go potty while outside in the cold?

Although my dogs defecate outside rather than inside if I keep them outside long enough, I have heard stories of owners of small dogs who stay outside for 15 minutes and their dog will still refuse to go. ‘go.

so simply do not letting your dog choose for himself when to go out and making sure he goes out doesn’t work, then you may need to learn some of the other basic potty training tricks.

These include:

1. Clean up as much poop or pee as possible without a cleaner first
2. Place dirty paper towels outside in the yard where you want your dog to go so he feels there.
3. Clean up the mess and remove the odor from the carpet as best you can using an enzymatic pet stain remover.
4. Put a jacket on your dog to make it more comfortable outside
5. Set up a small tent or blanket in the yard to prevent rain and snow from falling on your dog

For more ideas and details on these methods, read my article on how to convince your dachshund to go outside in the rain and cold.

Final Thoughts

Pooping at home is a frustrating time of year.

It may seem like your little dog has suddenly forgotten about potty training, you have to spend your time and effort cleaning up messes around the house, and your house may start to smell a little.

However, the situation is not hopeless.

If your dog suddenly poops in the house and the weather goes from pleasant to inclement, it’s probably a discomfort issue and not a lack of toilet training.

Yet the solution would be similar.

The first things to do are give your dog a toilet training reminder by:

• Refuse to leave them do not go outside
• Take them out more frequently
• Stand outside with them to make sure they actually leave

If your dog absolutely refuses to go outside to relieve himself, you may need to find a way to increase his comfort, such as putting on a doggie jacket or covering a potty spot in the yard.

Whatever you do, don’t get mad at your dog.

Regardless of what he may be feeling, your dog is do not poop in the house out of spite and punishing them may give them a negative association with doing it (so they may be less likely to do it outside too).

Calmly clean up the mess and take your dog outside to relieve himself even more often than you have been.

If they are literally out, it is almost impossible for them to have “enough reserve” to do their business at home.