[charonjames]

So I have a big problem.... Kobe is 1 year old and is not fully potty trained yet and I just don't know what to do. When I'm at home with him he does pretty good about not peeing or pooping on the floor. He's not to the point where he is telling me that he has to go so I just take him out every few hours and that seems to be working. I tried the bell training method but everytime I would make him ring it he would back away like he was scared or something so I just stopped. I would like him to tell me at some point but that's the least of my concerns right now. The problem is when I'm away. I used to leave him in a xpen that is about 2'x4'. His bed took up one half and the pee pad frame took up the other half. Well I'd get home and he would have ripped the pee pad to shreds despite the fact that it was in a frame. (By the way I've tried 2 different types of frames/holders so that's not the problem.) My mom said that he was probably just rebelling because he was mad that he has to be in a xpen all day (9 hours while I'm at work) and then a 2'x2' crate all night (8 hours) when we're sleep. (I've tried letting him stay our overnight confined to my bedroom but I would always wake up to poop on the floor.) I figured that she may be right so I decided that I would let him have the finished basement as "his area" while I'm away and I just close it off with a baby gate. I have his bed down there, a radio, food and water (I have to leave the food or he'll just eat his poop instead), a variety of toys and his framed pee pad. As of today he's been staying in his area for almost two weeks but he will NOT pee or poop on the pee pad while I'm gone despite the fact that he's knows that he's suppose to be going on it and he's been going on it for the entire year that I have had him. To make things worse, for the past two days I've had to come home to the pee pad that he decided to start destroying again. I just don't know what to do :-(