First, a little back ground on Greta.
Six-ish year old labrador retriever, rescued about a year and a half ago.
We know nothing of her history, except the few days before we got her when she wondered up to a garage.
She has been spayed. She has received regular veterinary care, she's on hw preventative (Interceptor).
She came to us house trained, very well mannered.
She's a very clingy dog, I call her my shadow.
Lives with a toy poodle, a foster pointer mix (who just left last week), a two year old child (who is potty training), a nine year old child, myself and my husband.
Now, on to the problem.
About two weeks ago, I'd left the dogs inside when I went out to feed the horses and when I came back in, my daughter told me one of the dogs had had an accident in the floor.
I *assumed* it was our foster, that we'd had for about three months, even though she'd been doing terrific with her house training, I figured accidents happen. I cleaned it up, cleaned the carpet, no one got corrected because I didn't know for sure who it was and didn't witness it.
A couple days later, I again, had gone out to feed the horses, left the dogs inside. When I came back in, my husband told me that one of the dogs had had an accident in the floor. We, once again assumed it was the foster dog.
Foster dog went to her forever home last Thursday.
Friday afternoon, I'd gone out to the mail box, left Greta inside. Came back in to a pile in the floor in the baby's room. Corrected Greta, cleaned the carpet and *hoped* it was a fluke.
Sunday, we'd been in and out all day, Greta following me around the property and such as we worked. Around lunch time, I put her and the poodle in the house, as I had to run an errand and knew husband would be too busy to keep an eye on them, but since he was going to be going in and out, I left them out in the main part of the house. Normally if I have to actually leave to go somewhere, I put them in the laundry room. When I got back, there, again, was a pile in the floor in the baby's room. So, again, I corrected Greta, and cleaned the carpet well.
At that point, I began to assume it was a seperation anxiety issue and knew I had to make sure she was put in the laundry room if I had to step out of the house and leave her behind even if I was just going to check the mail.
Well, this morning, I'm moving some furniture from one room to another and she's following me around and such. We're upstairs which consists of a playroom in the center and a room on either side. One room is my oldest daughter's room, which the door stays closed, the other room is my work out/sewing/catch-all room.
I'm working on setting up a sewing table, look up just in time to see Greta squatting right in front of me peeing.
I grab her by the collar, show her the pee and tell her NO! NO! NO! in a very stern voice, then start to take her out of the room and was going to put her in the laundry room for a while... when I step out into the play room, I see where she's also pooed in the floor. Again, I show her the poo, tell her NO! NO! NO!, drag her downstairs and put her in the laundry room.
I went back upstairs and cleaned the carpet very well.
Now, poos are normal. No diarrhea or abnormal color/texture/anything like that. The pee this morning appeared normal, no strong odor or odd color.
My question is, we've had her for a year and a half.... why is she doing this? This is so not like her. She's the one dog I've trusted to not do things like this...... and other than this sudden lapse in house training (I don't know what else to call it) she's acting completely normal.
I've talked with a couple different dog people who have suggested it be anything from separation anxiety, jealousy over the kids, grief over the foster leaving (although she was apparently doing it before the foster left) even to maybe she's picking up on the baby having potty accidents and it's upsetting her?