Why would a perfect Doodle go crazy for a night?

[Brenda Showfety]

Our Doodle is 19mos old.  She has NEVER EVER pooped or peed in our house.  We had our neighbors come over for a visit before we went out to dinner and they brought their PERFECT lab that Maggie and her love each other.  Their lab is 15 mos old. They play regularly, and are the cutest pair EVER!  We decided since they were having so much fun that we would leave them to play in the house while we went to dinner.  WELL, we came home and hour and a half later to a total disaster.  They both pooped and peed all over the house!  I have no idea where all of it could have come from.  It was crazy!  Neither dog had ever done anything like this before.  Could it be that they were upset we left them?  Why would this happen?  Needless to say, they are both on time out and will never be allowed to have a party when we aren't there!  Just looking for some psychology of dog thinking for what happened.

[Sophie]

Your doodle was probably marking his territory. Maybe he thought, since the other dog was left there with her, that a new dog had been introduced into the household and she felt like she had to go around and reclaim what's hers. It doesn't mean she doesn't like the other dog, they just are very territorial. And that probably set the other doodle off, to start marking as well (maybe?).

My doodle did this once at the groomer. She leaves all the dogs loose and playing while she grooms them one by one. Charlie loves her and he loves it there. And one time (he had never done this before) while he was there he went around pooping and peeing on everything in her store -- the curtains, the floor, the wall. She said the same thing as you -- "I don't know where all that could have come from."

Here's an article too: http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/dogs/tips/urine_marking.html

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

When the cousin dogs come over - and could be different cousin dogs, we often find ONE marked place.  It is not the same dog doing the marking because of the height and amount of urine.  We KNOW who it isn't (never Ned or Gordie) and sometimes who it is (little Sam, or even my mom's female Westie), but sometimes it is a toss up. One thing we do is take a visiting dog right through the house and into the back yard to pee - whether we are the visitors or whether dogs visit us.  I think this helps establish/remind WHERE they are supposed to go, even for 'marking.'

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Also, we limit the areas available when we leave visitors home alone.  We use an ex-pen to keep the dogs on our tile floors - entry, den, kitchen, and block the carpeted areas. We also have a doggy door to a secure back yard, which makes lots of things much easier for the dogs and us.