I have a 2 1/2 year old boxer who goes to the toilet as in number twos on average 4-5 times a day. It drives me insane as I seem to be constantly picking it up from the garden. Also at night time she will normally go just before bed at about 11pm but 9 times out of ten she will need to go in the night aswell. Sometimes I will wake to her trying to get out the back door so I get up and let her out but other times she will just do it on the kitchen floor which is becoming really frustrating and unacceptable. I have tried to feed her at different times of the day, but she just seems to go every couple of hours no matter when she is fed. She is on Bakers complete but I have tried other food but never seems to make any difference. Has anybody any ideas as her night time toiletting is really getting me down. P.S. not sure whether this should be posted under behaviour or health

what other foods have u tried?  many  list cereals as their main ingredient, which makes for very bulky stools - dogs are not designed to digest them.

Foods that contain a lot of cereals will produce a lot of bulk; also sugar is a laxative and Bakers contains sugar.  If your dog's output outweighs its input then there is something wrong.

I would suggest you choose a high quality food that does not contain unecessary fillers such as sugar beet pulp, peanut hulls or cellulose etc (all designed to bulk out the stool), no sugar, no salt and no colourings to minimise frequency.

IMHO Burns or Naturediet would be the two that would be at the top of my list.

You may also find that digestive enzymes may help as it sounds as though she is not metabolising efficiently; they are available at any health food store for people.

HTH

What is considered a normal amount?  It would be interesting to hear.  Alfie is fed twice a day on NatureDiet and James Wellbeloved, all good stuff I think, yet he goes 4 or 5 times a day too.  He'll go first thing in the morning (7:30ish), soon after he's eaten breakfast (9:00ish), early afternoon and once or twice during our late afternoon walk.  Is this considered excessive? 

If you feed your dog twice a day they will go more often.  If I take my dog Abby for a walk, regardless of the fact that she has poo'd in the morning a couple of hours earlier, she will poo anywhere from one to three times more on the walk.   If I kept her at home she would not feel the urge until after her dinner.  I conider it excessive, but she considers it part of the enjoyment of scenting the woodlands. :-)

Stacey

I free feed mine on Nutro Natural and my big dog only goes three times same with my boston's, Morning, around 4pm and then again before bed time...I found when I had them on chicken (they are on lamb) they were going 5-6 times at a time if not more, they also got the poo's from it too. Is your dogs poo solid?

Alfie is on lamb too, both NatureDiet and James Wellbeloved.  His poos have improved (more solid and less smelly) since I've put him on this as he was on chicken before and didn't produce very nice ones!!

Thank you all for your comments. After reading them I am beginning to think it to be pretty normal of Roxy to be going so often. I need to concentrate on stopping her going through the night which surely is not normal. I only feed her once a day normally in the morning after her run.Any ideas.

I feed my dogs in the evening, and they generally do their motions the following morning.  When I tried feeding them in the morning - they did their motions during the night.....  I would still encourage you to look carefully at WHAT you are feeding - you haven't mentioned what other foods you have tried, which may be just as high in cereals as Bakers - it is this aspect you may need to reduce if you want to reduce the number of motions.

I have tried her on wet food only, like winalot and pedigree chum, also tried on mixing wet with dry but I think you are right I need to cut out all the gumpf that is in her food. Today I am going to buy some naturediet and give that a go and also swap to feeding at night. I have tried twice a day feeds but she just seems to go even more often then. Fingers crossed

Would have thought with a Boxer you would want to feed twice a day to reduce the risk of torsion/bloat?

I heard that two times a day is considered normal, yet it doesn't sound that Alfie is excessive to me?!  I feed my Wheaten terrier on NatureDiet and she will go two times at least without fail.