Hi! So Daisy is about 9 months old now and was house trained pretty early on at about 4 months old. She rings a bell when she has to go out and rarely has accidents indoors. She has now started pooping in her crate and I do not know how to fix this. Before, when she was in her crate and needed to go, she would simply scratch at the crate or bark/yelp to let me know she needs to get out. Or if I was not at home, she would simply hold it. I know she was holding it, because as soon as I would let her out, she would run to the door and ring the bell to get out to poop. She no longer holds it or let me know she needs to get out and will simply go in her crate.
She won't pee in there, only poop. She only has room enough to lay down & turn around. She poops in her crate and literally lays in it because she has no room in there to "escape". I work from home and so she is pretty much only in the crate at night and on occasion when I have to run errands or go to church. If I do have to put her in the crate during the day, it's always for less than 3 hours, but it seems there is a mess every time she is in her crate. I always let her outside to go potty right before bed and anytime I have to leave the house for a couple hours. I have tried feeding her in her crate and changing up her eating schedule; she still poops outside as well as in the crate. I do not understand why 1) she just won't hold it and 2) why she will not let me know she has to go (like she was doing before). The strangest part is that she really does like her crate. She goes in it voluntarily and will sleep for hours in it.
Please help, I am at my wit's end with this!