-
When we go to my parents house, I go down the hallway & shut their bedroom doors not long after we arrive. Lacey doesn’t and hasn’t actually pee’d in their house, but she pooped in the office (my old bedroom) once. Thankfully, it wasn’t a messy poop, so it was easily cleaned up. I had a cat (Toby) in that room (1980-1983). Toby had pee’d in the closet (on wood floors) – and my mom & I did what we could to deodorize & neutralize the pee odor in that closet. But, where Lace pooped wasn’t anywhere near the closet, so …. ?? The only other animals who have been in the house, have been my brothers (former) dog Ziggy; my dog Zoey (when she was alive), and my son’s dog (also named Toby); and I don’t think that Tobe’s goes down the hallway much (nor did Zo; and I’m not sure about Ziggy), so I’m not sure why Lacey pooped in that room … except that I missed a cue. It happened once and then I caught her (in mid squat) before she could do it again. Now I’m super vigilant about either closing the doors, or finding out where she is in the house, to potentially avoid another mess. She hasn’t tried it elsewhere in the house, just the office.
Lace is usually really good about making sure we know when she needs to go potty – and she has never been a “marker,” as has my son’s dog, Toby (BIG time); but she either didn’t let me know that she needed to go potty – or I completely missed her cues (and that’s entirely possible). But, I know dog’s establish territory by both peeing AND pooping. When my son first got him, Toby used to pee on a particular bathroom rug (it was a brand new rug, on brand new ceramic tile, so he just sort of chose that spot to pee). Every time I washed that rug, and laid it down again – Toby would bee-line to it and pee again. When Shaun moved into his house, he used the exact same rugs in his bathroom, and Toby hasn’t pee’d on them again (go figure …). Zoey always pooped around the perimeter of the fence (we have squirrels, cats, deer, raccoons, marmot’s, some neighbor dogs, etc); and it seems to be the preferred place for Lace to poop as well.
