Have his anal glands checked…
Our daschund would leave his chocolate bars upstairs in one of the bedrooms if we went out and left him home alone (and forgot to put him in the utility room) …rotten little man! Never, ever, any other time.
I bet its not a behavioral issue. Often when it is, the poop “Pile” is a pile…not a walking trail of poop balls.
Lumbosacral pain can often cause this, as well as other issues such as hip pain/arthritis and general old dog issues.
I would suggest to get your vet to do a thorough orthopedic examination during his next visit. If there is any sign of pain at all, a week trial of an NSAID may tell you if the defecating in the house is pain related.
If it is okay with your vet for your dog, can you take him for a walk in the morning?
I think it may indeed be an issue where he can’t control his bowels. However, I also think that exercise probably makes him have to go. If he is barking at something outside, perhaps he is jumping up and down and exerting himself, and then all of the sudden he has to go to the bathroom and he isn’t able to control it as well. Perhaps if you are able to walk him in the morning, he will go to the bathroom then and it won’t be an issue through the day.
I’d also take a look at his diet. I tried feeding a joint food to one of my big dogs when he was 8 years old, and it did not work out because he was having many bowel movements a day. I would consider trying a different food or a new protein to see if that would make any difference.
First off: no poop tonight!! yay!!
I felt terrible during the day and all the way home wondering if he is anxiously waiting for me to come in and yell. He’s probably feeling very helpless–we have a grand love affair and I’m certain I broke his heart the last 3 nights coming in like a monster, yelling and hollering and scaring him like Mr Hyde.
I swear I held my breath walking in and No Poop! So we had a massively joyous greeting for more then one reason, and he does indeed forgive me as mentioned 
But still, I am so grateful for everyone’s responses and I don’t expect this will never happen again–now I’m just better prepared to deal with it when it does.
I feed TOTW grain free, the pacific stream variety, for breakfast and chicken necks and sweet potato for dinner. He gets half a pill of cosequin DS am and pm. He also gets a corner of peanut butter toast with my breakfast and a cookie when I walk out the door, which is about mid morning. He poops after breakfast and on dog walk before dinner. I think he also poops after dinner but honestly it’s dark in the yard and I don’t really know (dog door).
I don’t walk him in the morning because we have problems with loose dogs in the neighborhood during the day and it’s safer to walk at night when everyone else is (presumably) in bed or nearly so and their dogs are put up for the night. But he poops in the yard after breakfast, normal routine.
He has not peed in the house, just poop. All peeing is being done outside.
Also–he’s a notorious wildlife killer. When I first moved here I would find dead birds and possum in the yard on a regular basis. Every once in awhile a possum still (ugh). He is not the timid type to be spooked by even the boldest, nest-guarding-ist mocking jay alive. He’s a big time cat chaser too. He’s JRT/ACD and every bit the stereotype.
He may be constipated, as was suggested. Maybe too much bone? The poop was firm, no visible bone in it, but yes, firm. Maybe he did go out, couldn’t poop, took a nap, woke up to the UPS truck or something, got excited and… poop flies out. I mean, the poop incidents were on week days and UPS doesn’t work today, Saturday. My neighbors get medical shipments almost daily (seems) and the UPS truck is his arch nemesis.
Come to think of it, the mailman left a package on MY doorstep on one of the pooping days.
So maybe that’s just it. Aging dog+a little constipated+extra stimulus=unexpected poops. Maybe he was walking while pooping because he was trying to make it to the yard much too late and that’s why it was scattered, not in a pile. Maybe?
I’m confused why it was suggested I check his anal glands (?)
But again, if this uncharacteristic pooping reoccurs in the next 4 months before his regular exam time, I will take him for a check up.
Thank you to everyone for the replies, everything is helpful. If anyone has anything to add, please do.
my 15 year old dog has some accidents once in a while. It seems like when he has to go, he has to go right away. he cant hold it. Last night he started to go while sleeping in my bed. he go up all comfused and i let him out to finish. His stools are normal but as he get older he has a harder time assuming the position to go. I just acept it as part of his aging.
if he had impacted anal glands, then it causes pain when the try to defecate. So the hint to check them, but with my dog that had impacted anal glands there was a fishy odor when it happened. I wonder if he hopped down, and tweaked his back a little, and that interfered with his hind end control.
Probably not helpful but my old cat started doing this as she aged. Would use the litter box to pee but not to poop.
[QUOTE=JanM;7675065]
if he had impacted anal glands, then it causes pain when the try to defecate. So the hint to check them, but with my dog that had impacted anal glands there was a fishy odor when it happened. I wonder if he hopped down, and tweaked his back a little, and that interfered with his hind end control.[/QUOTE]
I do think it’s related, oliver. Many older animals have pain squatting down to potty, and so they hold it until they just can’t anymore and it comes out. The anal glands could be the source of pain (which are an easy thing to rule out), or it could be arthritis or other issues.
Yeah, my old lady was pretty feeble and tottery towards the end, the love.
