[Celticlass78]

I adopted Pepper from a family who had him for about a month. He is currently 4 1/2 months old. They informed me that he was about 90% potty trained except that he sometimes pooped inside. I have had him with me for nearly a week and I am having some questions if I am doing things right. He sleeps in his crate and only whines to go out an average of 2 time a night. I take him out to potty 10-20 minuets after eating and I ensure that he is praised. During the day I keep him in his playpen and we interact throughout the day. If we play hard he goes out to potty again. On average his bladder seems to hold 31/2 to 4 hours at a time.

My concerns are the following:

1. He does not give any indication that he needs to go to the bathroom. Except one morning when he jumped off my lap and ran to the door and started scratching. This has only occurred once. I believe that my husband and I are going to start bell training.

2. We comeback from the potty but then he poops on the carpet or relieves himself again. This is usually about 5-10 min after returning. However this is not a consistent behavior.

With this in mind, is it that he was 90% trained at his old house and now I need to retrain him for mine. Am I doing something wrong or is there another method to try? I am dedicated to making things work for him and us.