Dogs and frequency of pooping

We've been dogsitting a small dog (Lhasa Apso) for the past couple of days. Her owner told me to walk her 3 times a day (morning, afternoon, and evening) so that she can do her business outside. She had a small potty accident upstairs the first day, even though she's supposedly house trained (she's at least 8 human years old). So I've been letting her into my backyard every few hours because I'm afraid of another accident in the house. Almost every time we take her outside, she poops. She poops in the backyard, she even goes twice during a 10-minute walk! I've run out of potty bags my friend gave me!

My question is this: can a dog make herself poop when she goes outside? Is she going so frequently just because I let her out? Or is it something she can hold for several hours until I take her for her 3 walks, as instructed by her owner?

Thanks in advance! I'm a complete, utter newbie with dogs. I would ask my friend, but she's currently in a place with really poor cell phone reception.

By age 8, I'd assume that she could hold it for 5+ hours. My guess is that she had an accident at your house the first day because she was in a new place/with new people and likely stressed. Now that you've had her for a few days and she's more accustomed to your home/family, I think it would be fine to just take her out the 3 times your friend used to. But, what you are describing is surely a lot of pooping! Our dog goes 2-3 times a day. Occasionally, she will go twice during one walk, but rarely. She does pee a lot more, for sure.

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Originally Posted by baymom

By age 8, I'd assume that she could hold it for 5+ hours. My guess is that she had an accident at your house the first day because she was in a new place/with new people and likely stressed. Now that you've had her for a few days and she's more accustomed to your home/family, I think it would be fine to just take her out the 3 times your friend used to. But, what you are describing is surely a lot of pooping! Our dog goes 2-3 times a day. Occasionally, she will go twice during one walk, but rarely. She does pee a lot more, for sure.

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This except my 5 year old dog hasn't pooped twice in a walk that I can recall.

My large dog poops 2-4 times a day, usually twice on the morning walk. He is a very light eater.

If she's 8 in human years, I'm guessing under 2 years old, still a puppy.

On occasion 1.5yo GoldPup will mess twice on a walk. Usually just once. I think the walking gets the bowels moving hence the poop when on walks.

You can use bread bags, newspaper bags, produce bags, etc. If you're squeamish you can use a paper towel to pick up the mess and then put in the bag to make it less obvious.