I've not heard of this before. Most examples of young children like this have been the other way around.

I don't think it is just humans, my dog goes off and hides, previous dogs have always gone far from the house.

You nailed it brother... a lot of my pit falls came from instinct or hereditary or born with it. I was freaking nuts as a kid. I found out later that my dad was too. Theres a lot of things that I thought about that no one ever told me. Yes.... i believe stuff like being crazy can be passed down to you.

It’s a very compromising position that probably makes her feel vulnerable.

I read an article on dogs once pointing out that the strange looks your dog gives you when pooping has a lot more to do with checking to see that your watching their back than embarrassment. Maybe little kids experience something similar?

Edit: lol, I seem to have plagiarized GuyKeith a couple of posts down. ???

Mine tended to do that once we began attempting toilet training, and since they didn't like the toilet, they'd hide when pooping. Ice cream as a bribe worked for my middle daughter.

Could very well be...

Well, you know, fresh feces might draw predators close to the den. Or at least being in that situation makes you vulnerable to predation.

It may be an evolutionary response to being vulnerable to predators while you are in a "compromised" position. In the military, they include this as part of the training. There are no privacy stalls in the barracks. You must learn to get comfortable with other people watching, because they have to protect you while you are vulnerable.

Our cats seem to prefer privacy as well. The dogs? Not so much.