Lab pooped in bathtub

Ok, I'm new here and haven't had a chance to do the intro (I will!). I have rescued a yellow lab from death from the Humane Society in my home town. He'd been taken off the adoption floor due to "stress" and me, being in rescue, knew he could be a good dog if taken out of that stressful situation. He was due to be put down on a Friday, I got him out the Thursday night before. Long story short, I was trying to get him on schedule with gradually changing his food over to what my Golden was eating. Maybe I did it too fast, or maybe it was a reaction to a raw egg I gave him in his food. He sleeps on my bed with me (as does my Golden) and is always there when I wake up. I woke up and he was nowhere to be found... until I started calling his name and he comes crawling out on his belly on the floor from under my bed! I thought, what is up with that?! Anywho, I put them out to go pot-pot as is our normal routine. And let them back in when I'm getting ready to get into the shower. I went into the bathroom to start the process and knew he was standing on the other side of the closed bathroom door. I opened it to see what he was doing and he started cowering. I love on him and tell him he's ok and shut the door to begin my showering routine. When I pulled the shower curtains open, I was SHOCKED! There was what looked like 6-8 cans of pumpkin pie filling filling the tub!! He had MAJOR problems during the night and didn't know what to do and chose the bathtub to go in! Is that WILD or WHAT?! I've never posted on a dog forum before and would love your input! He was picked up as a stray but must have some real smarts!? I was so happy he deciphered that the tub would be the best place?! He knew Mommy "went" in there (not the tub!)... who knows??? Any input on something like this? BTW... he's the BEST dog... he's found his forever home with me
Amy

Thank you, Serena! I'm glad to have found this site! Don't get me wrong... I LOVED on him and LOVED on him for choosing the bathtub! I thought that was so totally smart and wanted him to know that. He even had to move the curtains to the side to get in because it appeared totally undisturbed when I found the mess! And to top it off, my boyfriend (at the time) who didn't even live here... when I told him about this AMAZING thing he did, acted like I should be mad at him!!!!!!!!

No, Serena, you don't understand. I am SO GLAD he went in the bathtub. To me, that shows how smart he is that he HAD TO GO and knew where was the best place. He's NEVER messed in my house and I have an 8-5 job (which really means 7:30am to 5:30 pm that he has to hold it). He's never had an episode since this. He had a diahrhea problem and he dealt with it how he saw best. I hadn't had him for very long and he still knew how to best deal with it. I think he must be very smart by doing this???? That's why I posted what happened. What do you think?

Welcome to Chazhound Dog Forums Amy!
What a funny story!

Welcome, welcome! What a funny story! And what a bright dog! That took real reasoning thought. Hopefully, his diet will begin to agree with him and he won't have any more big problems he has to solve on his own. And you can always use Clorox in the shower. I think you used your heart and picked a real winner. Sometimes you just "know."

I loved your story! I only wish my Max had chosen the bathtub when he was younger. He decided to go all over my living room; what a mess to clean up! I commend you for rescuing him and giving him a loving home.

LOL that just cracks me up.. He knew, all right.

But, I'm with Serena on this one.. I would stop praising him for going in the bathtub, and start working on teaching him to come and LET YOU KNOW if he has to go to the bathroom, so you can let him outside.

Shower Poop

Funny how some dogs just know... funny story and glad you could see the humor in it too. One of our dogs is the same way. He knows when he has done wrong, but maybe it couldn't be helped, like knocking something down with his tail and he will lay low. Glad he found such a nice home!!

Oh my goodness! I just about fell off my chair!!! How wonderful of you to have saved this fabulous dog's life, and to have seen the potential in him! once in a while, Jersey will have a poo in their room over night and she always covers it with a blanket. But first thing in the morning , she'll stay by that blanket until I pick it up, like, "I done a bad...It's under there" That's why they always have at least one extra blankie...If Jersey makes a stinky, Serene won't share hers! I guess sometimes, when you gotta go, you gotta go!! Your guy's just smart enough to look for a good location!!

On the flip side of the coin. Our husky-shep mix is also very smart, and uses reasoning. As a way of showing anger for being left home, especially if we take another dog for a ride, even though it may be to the vet She is likely to poop in the middle of our bed I know it is anger because the times she has had accidents she trys to get out and it will be by the door Awful hard to punish when it is unknown how long ago the deed was done! If we lock her out of the room she does not look for another way to show us her anger. I ruled out scent attraction as it has been on different mattresses even old style full motion waterbeds! being the oldest dog at the time I took her in I never had the same oppurtunity to train her the way I prefer but all dogs need a home. She is now granny old and has not done this in many years. Brent

Thanks for your many replies, you all. There were a couple of you that made it sound like I should dicipline him and make sure he doesn't do that anymore (pooping in the bathtub). I want you to know that this was not regular behavior. He did it early on as a rescue from the pound and I feel he was very smart to go there. He's never had a potty accident in the house (albeit a TUB when he did!) since. He's a very smart boy. that's for sure.

Need to edit my last post... he only did this ONE time. He's a great dog. And Brent -- your dog was p*ssed at you to do that on the bed! I thought only male cats would do such "paybacks"... lol.

Hunter's always been a good boy when with his Grammy (once I learned to lock up ALL the dog food and knew he was always going to take up half of my twin bed) He's such a clown!!

Like I said, it only seemed to happen from anger. She has quite a personality as always. And like the saying goes, Hell hath no fury like a husky-shep scorned... Well they changed that a little to woman 'cuz it had better sound! Brent

I had a toy Fox Terrier when I was a kid who ALWAYS got even when someone got on her bad side. The best one was the time my grandmother (Nanny) did something to upset Mickey when we were staying with her one summer. In the middle of the night, Mickey found the exact spot Nanny put her foot down in when she got out of bed, left a pile there . . . then went to the front door and barked!

After Nanny got over the initial shock, I thought she was going to hurt herself laughing! She thought it was just hysterical that the DOG would not only harbor a grudge, but think through such an elaborate scheme to get even.

Mickey was definitely one of a kind

LOL! Serena, you've been fortunate. I've had a couple that definitely pulled a stunt or two out of spite (Mickey, in the post above being the most accomplished). I've seen cats do spiteful things, too. Even Purdue, the first GSD I had, pulled a good one off on my Dad.

My Dad was building a room and running some fence in the barn just behind the house we moved into when we moved to Tennessee. All three dogs, Purdue, Mickey and Morgan the Mutt, were just thrilled to spend the afternoon with him, cavorting and playing and getting in his way. Everything was wonderful until Purdue saw him hang the gate and figured out it was a DOG PEN. Dad finished up and went to work digging fence posts around the top of the driveway. If you've ever dug fence posts in clay, you'll have an idea of how engrossed Dad was in his work. My Mom, sister and I were up at the duck pen when we saw Purdue head down the path from the duck house to the driveway where my Dad was working. Purdue marched straight ahead, didn't look left, didn't look right; never wavered. He walked right up to my Dad, raised his back leg and SOAKED my Dad's leg. Then Purdue just sat down and looked at him.

My Mom, sister and I were doubled up at the duck house, trying not to laugh out loud and trying to stay out of my Dad's line of sight. He was yelling at Purdue, pulling his boot off and pouring pee out of the boot. Dad was still yelling at Purdue while he hosed his leg off and his boot out. Purdue just sat there and looked at him.
We finally had to walk down to the house and my sister and I made it without laughing or smiling, but my Mom has these humongous dimples. My Dad took one look at her, saw those dimples, blurted out "what are YOU laughing at?" and all four of us exploded.

Now, that was definitely spiteful!

I don't know, Serena, not being able to "see" what's actually going on inside those brains . . . all I can go by is actions and reactions, and I've seen some pretty good evidence. If they can love, and mourn and be happy, as they obviously can, who's to say that other emotions and motivations aren't part of their makeup? Who can really say just how different or similar they really are?

Hmmm, sounds just like a certain bi-pedal species, doesn't it?

Ooooh, Serena! I've had dogs that DID act hours - and even days - after things happened. And to be shamefully honest, I've never really paid more than lip service to the old saws about not being able to correct a dog unless you catch it immediately. I really DO have those discussions with mine, and things really do change! Truthfully, I get better results from our "discussions" when they happen some length of time after the fact.

You'd have cracked up at Buffy. Now THERE was a dog that understood cause and effect, held a grudge FOREVER, and had no problems keeping a frame of reference in that big head no matter how much time had passed. My first intimation of the depth of her understanding was one day watching her and Bimmer out of the kitchen window. Buffy had her little nests where she kept her stolen treasures from the trash. She was laying in one of her nests, sorting through her purloined treasures and Bimmer was laying in his favorite spot in the sun. As I watched them, Buffy got up, nosed around her stash and picked something out, carried over to where Bimmer was lying and put it down next to him.

Bimmer just looked at her.

She went back, nosed around and chose another item, brought it back to his spot and placed the second item next to him.

Silly me, I thought "oh, that's nice, she wants to share with Bimmer."

Bimmer, being quicker on the uptake than his obtuse human, stood up, glared at her and moved to another spot. Then it hit me! She knew she was going to get into trouble for being in the trash again and she was trying to frame Bimmer!

I realized I had two dogs who understood cause and effect.

Buffy never forgot which cows had done something to annoy her, either. There were a couple that got on her bad side at one time or another, and she made life miserable for them every chance she got.

Poor Bimmer mourns her still. If we talk about her around him he whines, cries and howls and to this day he won't lay in her favorite spot in the laundry room. He'll lay right next to it, but not on it. She was truly the love of his life. No matter how much he loves Shiva and Kharma, they don't take her place for him. I've wondered if part of that is the wolf blood, since they mate for life.

I think too many of our scientific experts and psychologists let their egos get in the way of realizing and crediting other creatures. Just think, in a couple of generations, the current philosophies of animal expertise will be considered just as crude as we now consider many of the training methods our parents employed (on us AND our companions).

Oh, I'd say they're definitely many lives ahead of us when it comes to living in an enlightened state! Shiva's an absolutely effective example of living Zen for me. Bimmer is much more responsible than I am; he teaches me every day and makes me stop and consider the outcome of my actions from his example. Kharma is very good teaching me to finish tasks and do them thoroughly, just because they are there. Very focused on the Way, she is . . .