Potty habits when out for a walk
 

LOL Lola's habits not mine:D I am wondering if this is a common thing for dogs that normally potty outside. Lola can hold herself for a good 6 plus hours and only poops about once a day. But on days we walk it's like tripled.

Today for instance she did a big healthy poop about a half hour before we went for a walk. We are not even 8 houses from home and there she goes with a another poop about the same size as the one she did a half hour ago, then halfway into a short mile walk she poops again, this time a small and not so great one so now some is stuck on her hair. She never get's anything on herself when we are home, only on walks. I can bet if we did not go for walk today she might not have pooped again all day. I can't help but wonder if she is making herself go to the point that it is messy. Of course she also has to wet at every other house we walk by. I have gotten to the point that we walk down the middle of the street and I try to keep her away from the grass, otherwise it would take and hour or longer to go a mile.

My last dog pottied on pads, and LOL just like I would as soon as he knew we were leaving the house he would run and use his piddle pad. So I am wondering if this is something common among dogs that do their business outside

It might be excitement and the exercise. Teddy tends to poop more when we go out. When he was younger, he used to get so excited going for car rides to a place to walk that he would have a loose stool as soon as we hit the grass.

Max, who is a twice a day guy, will often poop out of principle or a way of marking, if we go for extra walks.

Does Lola's pooping position differ when she is on a walk? Part of Teddy's past problem was that he didn't fully squat if he was out in the open. He has changed that.

Funny you mentioned this, I was just thinking about this earlier(yeah, Joels poo LOL) but didn't want to ask about it! Joel does the same thing, when we're walking he will poo more and it's also wetter than his usual kind he does at home. At first I thought he was getting sick with diareah but he ONLY does it on walks and when he poos at home it's back to normal. I was thinking they do a different kind for marking?

Tibbe does the same thing Lola does. Don't know where he finds it but the excitement and primal urges of the scents he runs into outside both conspire to "move" him to poop & pee more than you'd think he could ever have had inside him. I think he must be a pound lighter after some of his "walkies"!

I think the wetness is partially from when they express their anal glands. Max does not express when he poops on the pad. Only outdoors.

I wish I came back from my walks lighter:D well it sounds like this is not that uncommon then. I sure am glad that I have YT to discuss these things:p

Oh Kristen Lola gets pretty much in the same position whether on a walk or at home, only I think she knows I want her to hurry up.

Oh on the subject of pooping I want to tell you about a phone call I received from some neighbors down the street. They told me a few nights ago when we were out they saw Bob another neighbor standing smack in the middle of my front lawn with his dog, almost like he was purposely bringing her there to do her business. My lawn is sort of deep so to be in the middle he had to walk in past the reach of his dog's leash. Bob is a friend and we have an odd relationship of teasing and giving each other chit, he calls me Madonna. Anyway he knows that it pisses me off if he lets Clara Bell poop on my lawn, he never has a bag and I call him out on it and complain to his wife who is my friend and a saint. So he always teases me about bringing her to my lawn. For a long time I have not seen any poop so I figured he finally realized I was not kidding and stopped. So after the call I went out and spent over a half hour walking all over the lawn and could not find anything. I planned to give him hell, but since I did not should I ask him why he was standing in the middle of my front lawn with the dog??? I think I will give it another look tomorrow. My husband is a friend of his as well and since the dog is large it would definitely make a mess on the wheels of our tractor the next time my husband cuts the lawn. My DH is the type that would not say anything, LOL he would leave it up to me to duke it out with Bob.

Oh, my, that's interesting. I never looked that hard to notice but it's good to know! So they only express the anals with certain poo's and not each time? Can they or their excitement level govern the anals releasing?

I can definitely relate. Brandi does the exact same thing on walks. She pottys so much more on walks. The peeing I can understand as she is leaving her scent but the pooping I don't understand. If i don't take her for walks, she only poops once maybe twice a day always at the same time. I can set a clock by it. But when we go out for walks, she poops at least 3 times. Sometimes nice and firm other times a little soft.

I swear it could take a hour or more for a 15 minute walk. She has to stop and smell every freakin blade of grass, every pole and of course every piece of poop that she comes across and of course she has to pee on all the poop we come across. I just don't understand.

Jackson does this too! I tried many different foods, to see if if it was food, or not, over the years... but no matter what, he always does this during long walks! He usually goes once (solid), and then will go again (looser) and then *sometimes* one more time and again it's usually just a tiny drop. This is if we do a 2 mile walk or so. If we go longer, he never goes more... we've walked 7 miles and he only did his poops within the first 30 mins.

I've tried a food with beet pulp to see if it would firm things up, food with more fiber, probiotics in the form of chews, I've tried experimenting with only feeding kibble (and no wet food or treats at all)... it doesn't seem to matter. It almost always happens on walks. But when we're just home for the day, or only do a game of fetch in the yard, etc, he usually just has 1 to 2 firm poopies a day.

I've heard this is very common. Some have said that feeding once a day in the evening will help, and of course a food that is formulated better, often "sport dog" foods are supposed to be better for this beause they're for dogs that are working most of the day and their food has to give them energy, not go right thru them. But I've fed a few of them, and they haven't changed his loose poop only while on walks issue.

But honestly? At this point, with Jax being almost 5, and perfectly healthy, with great bloodwork, shiny coat, clean ears, good body condition, and very active, I've chalked it up to just being him, and excitement of walks. But anyone finds a cure, let me know! I hate having to pick up poop 3x during a walk!

I believe excitement/nervous excitement does affect when they release their glands, and the desire to mark. At least that is what I have observed with my guys.

Tink does this too! Not only on walks, but at the dog park also. She may have just pooped, but when we get to the park she will poop within the first 5 minutes and then usually she tries to get another in before we leave....LOL...

I'm glad this was brought up. Megan used to poo every time she peed, Gina only poos twice a day, so I was a little concerned about this. Gina hasn't pooed or peed while we go on walks yet, but we don't go walking every day except out side in the back yard, where she does her business. Again thanks for the post and information.
Cheers Quad:aimeeyork

As far as the poo thing, it could be a sort of marking thing. Other than that I got nothing....

Now as for the neighbor thing.... you can bet your sweet a** that if I knew who was letting their dog poop in my yard I would definitely tell them about it. I would even go one step further than to hand deliver the mess to them on their door step !! :D

LOL Dawn we think alike, if I found something I was going to put it in a bag on his front porch. However I have not seen anything lately, I walked the front yard carefully again yesterday in the bright sun and saw nothing. So expect for the neighbor telling me he was standing in the middle of my front lawn I would never have known, perhaps he picked it up once he saw someone was watching or his dog did not go. So I am not sure if I will ask him why him and Clara Bell were standing in the middle of my front yard.