Boston is having bowel issues late at night.

Question:
 My 14 month old Boston Terrier pup, Chloe, seems to be having some bowel issues. She is fully house trained, but lately has had a few incidents where she passes gas in her sleep at night and slightly soils the bed. A little history: The first night we had Chloe (May of 2004), we had to get her to the Vet right away due to vomiting and diarrhea. At first the doctor thought it was Parvo, but thankfully that was a misdiagnosis due to the fact that Chloe had just had her first Parvo shot a couple of days before we picked her up (thus causing a “false positive” result). It turned out she had coccidia and the doctor warned us that because of her young age (8 weeks at the time), that she may experience colitis off and on through out her first year or two. She was placed on a diet of Prescription Diet I/D, sometimes mixed with a scrambled egg or with chicken and rice if her tummy was acting up. At the end of March she became off schedule with her bowel movements and when she did go, they were rather loose. We figured the colitis was acting up and that it painful for her to go. Additionally, she’s been awfully gassy. Since the end of March there have been 3 or 4 occasions where she’s passed gas in the middle of the night and they’ve been a little on the messy side. Not an entire bowel movement, but just a few drops or so. We think it’s happening while she’s asleep, yet it wakes her up and then she proceeds to wake us up to let us know she’s had a small accident. She spends some nights sleeping in her bed on the floor and some nights sleeping on our bed. (She was crate trained up until her 1st birthday in February.) These messy episodes don’t seem to happen during the day. We took her to see her vet last week and the doctor seems to think that Chloe’s problem is an allergic reaction to her food. So we slowly switched her to another brand that the vet sells, IVD Duck and Potato. It took a few days to make the transfer over, but Chloe loves the new food and over the last 3 days her bowel movements have become more regular and much more solid. We’ve also stopped give her the freeze-dried beef treats we were giving her and will start with a new treat, recommended by the vet (also IVD-brand). We thought we were getting back into a decent groove, but woke up this morning to find that Chloe had another small accident in the bed. Again, just a few drops, but obviously she is expelling gas in her sleep and for some reason it’s a little on the messy side. Her bowel movement after her morning feeding seemed normal and solid so we’re at a loss as to why these nighttime bed incidents are happening. Should we wait a few more days to see if her system continues to get better with the new diet? Or is it possible that this is not related to her tummy issues and another round of crate training is in order? Again, Chloe is house trained – no accidents anywhere in the house except those 4 occasions in the middle of the night. Any advice would be appreciated.
Answer:
 Thanks for your reply, Karen. First: The doctor had us take Chloe off her entire previous diet, which consisted of Prescription Diet canine I/D and a few freeze-dried beef & liver treats throughout the day – after her walks, a few in her kong before I leave for work after a lunch break, etc. She also told us to keep chicken and rice out of her diet as well, as we were adding that to a smaller portion of the I/D when her tummy was particularly funky. Her feedings are divided in two each day. Half cup in the morning, half cup after work. We never keep food in her bowl all day. That said, we took a week to move her feedings from the I/D over to a new duck and potato special food (IVD) that the vet recommended (as a matter of fact we get it from her office). Chloe loves it! She chows down at each meal. We also weaned her off her freeze-dried treats and, per the doctor, moved her to carrots and a non-meat based treat from IVD. She loves the carrots but it’s taking her some time to get used to the IVD treats. Over the last 2 days, Chloe’s bowel movements have been much more solid and much more on “schedule” (meaning 2 or 3 times a day, compared to once every 2 days prior to the switch in diet). No bed time accidents last night. I didn’t ask the doctor about irritable bowel syndrome. When we take Chloe in for follow up I’ll run the idea past her.
Answer:
 First, what treats are you given the dog? If you are, make sure that tehy are not containing any of the ingredients that your dog may be sensitive to. Has the vet done any form of elimination diet to try and narrow what may be causing this? Second, do you free feed the dog (food down all day?) This can lead to housetraining issues as the dog does not really have a schedule. Now, I would try taking the dog out once during the night as well - see if this helps. A pain for you, but if there seems to be a time where this happens more (early morning for example) get the dog out before that. Has the dog also been checked for anything like irritable bowel syndrome? I amj ust throwing out the first things that come to mund - brainstorming here...