my boy is 19months old he had a few health problems when he was younger that caused diarroeah, sickness etc and it made him unable to hold his own bowel when he was ill so he would mess in the house-he has never been fully house trained due to this.
Now the problem is under control i am unable to stop him messing in the house- no matter how many times a day he is let out he still poos in the house-it is always solid-the vets say there is no reason for this- i really dont know what to do- i never tell him off for messing in the house i just put him outside and clean it up. he never messes regularly in the same spot and i make sure i dont use anything with ammonia in it to clean it. i dont know how much more i can take

hi,

this really is a horrible problem, i do feel sorry for you. this seems to be a habit for your dog now so breaking it will take time. apart from taking him out to the garden every hour and waiting for him to toilet, then lots of praise all i can suggest is that for a while you keep him on a lead in the house and as soon as he looks like he's going to poo quickly take him outside and wait for him to finish. this means he want get chance to poo in side and may break the habit. If this seems to hard only let him in a room your in and not free run of the house so you can act quickly if you see him try and go. 
you must clean all places he has messed in really well so there's no smell left, just the slightest scent left and he will pick up on it.
This will need you treating him like a new pup again and going back to basics, i'm sure it will work in the end but it will take time and patience from you.he will soon pick up from you if your getting stressed out even if your not shouting at him.,which by the way your right there's no point shouting it will only make things worst.

I have a similar problem with our toy breed although she had no problems as a  little baby ( she is now10 months) just never got house training
sorted. What do you recommend to clean the area with, i have tried lots of things.

After removing all solids/liquids, clean the area with BIOLOGICAL WASHING LIQUID (clothes ;) ) in warm water, then rinse with water and white vinegar solution.  This will help to remove all traces of solids and their smell ;)

Personally, I would not give the dog total freedom until they are clean in the house ;) the less chance they get to soil, the easier it is to break the habit ;)

Try to contain the pup in a smallish room with an easily cleaned floor - the kitchen is usually a good place, and near a door to outside where poos and wees should happen ;)  If you are DIRECTLY supervising pup then a little more freedom, but unless both eyes and brain are on pup then the small easily cleaned room is best ;)

This is why crate training at night can be so useful, pup won't normally soil in their crate - learning to control their need to go - and is guaranteed to need to poo and wee when they come out in the morning :) then when you take them out they are guaranteed to be praised and treated for 'going'  :-D

Hope this helps :)

I think I have decided to go back to basics. She is crated at night and if I go out. Liittle devil still doesnt go directly after she has been let out except in the morning , she seems to have the most amazing abilities to hold on particulaly if its wet or cold !
Keeping her in the kitchen unless she is being directly observed and treat training again. It is certainly something todo with how she behaves at home because she is looked after by my friend to days aweek and is very good there and when out visiting thank goodness

Hi,

I just wandered if when you pop your dog out to go to the toilet do you go out with him?  It is important to go out and reward when he does go outside so that he associates going outised as a good thing.  Is he happy to go to the toilet on walks - if so it may be worth popping him out on the lead several times a day just for toilet breaks so that the movement situlates him to go.  Is he going in the house every day? does he toilet outside aswell?  Is he pooing at a particular time, like over night or does it vary?  Does he do it when you are aboutat home?  Also just wandered if he's going a lot, when and what you are feeding him?  Sorry for all the questions :-)

hi, when he goes to the loo in the garden i always go out and praise him.on walks he does go to the toilet but it takes ages!(he has three walks a day which he always does a number 2 on. he does a poo in the house at least once daily, and he doesnt ask to go out(although occasionally he will get unsettled when he wants to go out).
The time vary, sometimes he messes overnight, sometime he can last all night he is crated overnight and NEVER cries or makes any attempt to wake us overnight. he can be fast asleep in one room and i can nip upstairs and he will have done a poo- sometime he even gets up and attemts to go in front of me which i quickly get him outside.
He is fed chappie dry(i know its not the most ideal but its the only food that agrees with him. he is fed twice a day, once at 9am(after a walk) and again at 6pm(again after a walk)

Have you tried feeding him a little while before you go for your walks instead, then maybe he'll do alot of his poos on the walks.
I feed my dogs at 8am let them in the garden for the toilet then go out for a walk about 9/9.30am and they always go to the loo while i'm out.The same at tea time,out in the garden straight away then for walk about an hour later when their food has settled in their stomache.
seems to prompt them to do most their toileting while we're out which also saves my garden abit.

I had the same problem with our little man, he used to get "stage fright" I could be walking/outside for (what felt like) hours and nothing and then when we would go back indoors as soon as he could get away with it he would sneak off and poo somewhere nice and quiet!! Never the same place, just out of sight! We went on to crate train which sorted out night time issues but had to stick with the treat training and out every hour until he gave in! He always seemed to be happier if we looked the other way!! I tell you, we only have dogs so that they can embarass us SO much and then make it instantly better with a cuddle :)

Hi,

When you say you praise him do you mean verbally?  I would be tempted to reward him with something of extra special value each time he goes to the toilet - I would also work to getting him to go on cue, so that you can get him to make sure he has emptied before coming in.  I would go back to basics taking him out very rugularly.  Is clean inside with wees or does he do both indoors?   Does he ask to go out at all - does he ask to go out for a wee?  If he doesn't ask to go out I would teach him to ask out - you could maybe teach him to target a little buzzer or to bark to go out.

It might also be worth getting up in the night to take him out for a toilet trip just to break the habit.  Is he a stressy dog, does he have any seperation problems or worried by noises anything like that that could contrubute?  Has he ever gone for a period of being clean in the house or has it always been like this?

He sounds like he is going an awful lot, if he's going on each walk and in the garden and house - maybe there is something in the food that doesn'tagree with him, although there does tend to be quite a bit of waste with that food.  Is it possible he's getting more food that he needs?

Has

i always go out and praise him

I would definitely also give him the yummiest treats that you can find when he goes in the right place. Just praise is usually not a big incentive for most dogs.

Another approach is to see whether there is anything that is stressing him out. One of our lurchers will go indoors when he is stressed about something or the routine changes (even just temporarily) which he finds difficult to cope at times. When he is stressed about something, additional stress like us going out leaving the dogs at home alone (which is normally no problem), does tip the scale and his reaction is messing indoors...

It sound like you are not actually going outside with him - is that right? I would suggest that you actually go outside with him, like you would with a young pup and then you can praise him immediately he has performed outside. Perhaps then he will get the idea. If you are going outside after seeing him perform, perhaps the time delay means that he doesn't actually realise what he's being praised for.

ETA - I would never walk my dogs soon after feeding them, I always leave at least 3 hours between feeding them and walking them and more usually 4 hours. I don't think it makes any difference to whether they perform on a walk or not.