Just something I am curious about: places your Shiba chooses for pooping.
When I first took Ponta for a walk as a small puppy, he just pooped on the street where he got the urge. That lasted for a couple of days. Then he started going to somewhat more secluded places, parking lots being his favorite (small ones dot the landscape here in Tokyo, and have back walls and corners which feel a bit less open). Then he narrowed his preference to patches of grass or weeds in a parking lot, and has rarely pooped on asphalt or a flat surface since.
However, after nailing down that preference, the actual location migrated. First he was OK with locations like described above which were just halfway along to the local park. He would choose a favorite spot and always poop there, and continued for a week or two. Then he would abandon that spot and refuse to poop there again, even if he had an urge. He would only poop in a spot farther on. He'd choose another spot maybe a block closer to the park, and poop there for a week or two--then he'd abandon that one, never to return. This continued until eventually, he stopped pooping at all on the way to the park, and would only poop at the destination.
I figured that was it, that it was about the destination--but then it continued. When we got to the park, he would poop soon after we came in the gate, along the outside fence. He did that for a few weeks. Then he refused to go there, but went about 20-30 meters farther down the fence. Again, a few weeks later, he moved to the far end of the park. And so on.
Is this normal? Does your dog choose places at random, the same place every time, or does your dog migrate like Ponta?
Apollo most normally poops in our backyard, and not too much on walks (unfortunately on a couple places on our usual route there are huge areas of dog poop that owners never bother to pick up, so I make sure we avoid any toileting there anyways). It's funny because he only poops on either the far right or far left of our yard, but never in the middle. Unfortunately he prefers the far left (near our neighbor's fence) which is bad because it's much farther from our house and is very dimly lit at night, so I feel unsafe taking him there. When he goes on the right side, it's usually behind or around a big tree, making the area kind of "private".
Either way, he seems to like going on the perimeter of our yard, more near neighbors' fences (we do not have a fenced in yard ourselves, but on all 3 sides it's partially fenced because of our neighbors). The same held true for our previous dog. I guess he doesn't like his poop to be around places he normally walks or runs around in. Generally he goes in the same spots, never really had a problem with him moving away from a previous potty place.
Ando seems to want to poop and pee whenever he goes to the park, but he does his business where the other dogs do in the backyard (all in the same area). Even if I'm raking up the poop to clean it, he'll go and do his business by the pile. Not to go off topic, but those with a male shiba, does yours not lift his leg to pee? Ando never did, he just does the little squat.
@Glenn101682: Ponta squatted for the first several months, but then (I forget when, maybe 4 months or so) he started lifting his leg. Shibas vary on when they start lifting a leg, and some never do. However, Ponta will still squat when his target is not a tree or wall, but is a patch on the ground or something else down low.
Tosh is 1yr and his poop location migrates every week. One week he finds a place he finds safe then suddenly he switches and uses that one for a while. One thing that makes him changes his pooping location is if another dog has peed or pooped there .
Penny has her regular spots on our walks (on grass or fallen leaves) and INU has one regular spot in the dog park that he always uses. Penny will not poo in the dog park but waits till we leave the run and do her thing right outside of it.
Another interesting preference at the dog park is drinking water. INU has no qualms about taking a drink there but Penny will not touch a drop of water when inside the run.
