Hi, I posted this in the puppy section, but nobody answered, so I'm reposting it here. (It's kind of weird so maybe nobody knows how to respond.)

My puppy is 100% housetrained, she's 8 months old and hasn't had an accident in the house since she was 2 months old. But lately I have noticed something peculiar about 2 mornings a week.

Star sleeps on a mattress on the floor of our bedroom (she's too big to stretch out in her crate) and in the mornings when I pick up her blankets, once in awhile a very small hard round ball of stool (about the size of a wad of chewing gum) falls off onto the ground. At first I thought it was something that was stuck to her behind from doing her business the night before and just fell off into her blankets while she was sleeping.

But this morning I found one and I know she didn't poop outside before bedtime, as she had fallen asleep early last night. This morning was about the 5th time in a month.

Is this uncommon or something puppies do from time to time, or is it unheard of? I'm not sure why this would be. When she does poop, they are normal - firm, not runny, but not white and crumbly when they come out - only if I leave it on the ground for a few days. She's not constipated. She poops about 3 times a day. Would this be poop that didn't get squeezed out at the proper time, and then got squeezed out while she was sleeping, (therefore relaxed)?

Anyone heard of anything like this before?

It could be that she is stepping in some of her poo when she goes out at night and it's dropping off on her bed during the night.

Thanks, Peggy! That's a good thought. Only it's a round ball, it's not smashed, as if it were stepped on. It's just really strange to me.

Hey Brenda,

Is your pup long haired or short?

Sounds like dingleberries!

short haired - she's a bullmastiff

Hi Brenda-

A couple questions. Do you feed her once, or twice a day? When she poops, does she have to work very hard?

One of my dogs is 13 yrs, and about 2 years ago we adjusted the number of feedings and the type of feed because she was having similar problems. We fed her more frequently so she would not have such a large amount of food going through her intestines all at one time. We also switched to a food that digested more easily. (Due to her first owner's lack of care, her teeth are worn down and she cannot eat raw.) These two changes made it easier for her to completely eliminate during the day. Bigger dogs seem to do better with multiple feedings, helping prevent gastric torsion. Connie could provide more insight there.

hope this helps,
Ben Muncie

She eats twice a day - at 9 in the morning and at 5pm. she usually poops about 3 times a day - the last one is in the evening - sometimes early, sometimes late. She usually goes to bed for good around 1 in the morning when we go to bed. So she has plenty of time to eliminate most of her dinner before bed, and she always goes again in the morning immediately after she eats, so I guess that would be the rest of her dinner.

Her poop varies depending on what she had for dinner. If she eats chicken, she may have a harder time pooping, but if she has meat without bone, it's a bit softer. She doesn't seem to have to work too hard usually. She's pretty regular.

Thanks for the insight Ben!