Hi!

My beautiful big and healthy 3 year old American bulldog has a big bowel problem.
She very rarely has a super solid bowel movement and is currently eating special bland kibble from the vet.
She's been eating this kibble for about 3 months now and we have noticed an improvement but its still not perfect.
Dakota WILL NOT go to the toilet anywhere else other than her home and when she is out and needs to go it will leak out her bottom!
She gets a huge shock and is incredibly embarrassed when it happens. Since the new diet it has only happened twice (as opposed to every second day) and she has caught a few birds in this time. What do I do? How to I get her poo to be solid? And how can I train her to poo while out??
Any help would be good
Also she's in no pain, has plenty of energy and drinks plenty of water

Hi Tiffany

This sounds like a real challenge to fix as you have a medical problem with her bowels complicated by a behavioural issue. You will need to be patient as it could take a while yet. You dont say how long the problems were present before you tried the diet change. When bowel problems have been severe for months or years they take much longer to correct so at least there has been some progress since you changed food. Did you have her from a pup? has she always been reluctant to toilet away from home. Sometimes dogs develop these difficult habits at a young age, learn or are taught inappropriately and that becomes much harder to correct when they are mature and have kept the habits for a long period of time. She sounds like a nervous dog which wont help her to control her bowels.
Has she had any tests to measure her digestion function? This is quite a big topic. I would start by seeing if your vet can do that and prescribe further treatment to help with her bowel function and control. The toilet training would be helped by that.

Cathy Wickenden BVet Med MRCVS
Barton Lodge Veterinary Centre
1 Midland Road, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, HP2 5BH
Tel: 01442 216048 24 hours
[www.bartonlodgevets.co.uk]