[jshowe]

I have two questions that hopefully someone can give me some insight to.

First, Milo is 14-weeks old. He is crate trained. He has been great about learing the whole potty thing and right now we are in the process of learning how to go outside. My question is this - Milo might have pooped in his crate once or twice when we first brought him home then he stopped. Now, he goes in his crate every night. I have stopped feeding him past a certain hour to see if this helped but it hasn't. I thought dogs typically wouldn't go to the bathroom in their crates. So, I am wondering if anyone has any suggestions. He stops eating around 8-8:30 and goes to bed about 11:00 p.m. Should we stop feeding him closer to 6? He's a good sleeper and doesn't get up until 7:30-8:00 when the family gets up.

Secondly - we have two little fur-babies - Max is 6-mo old and little Milo. Anyone have any tips as far as getting them to "come". We are learning to go outside and go potty. We have a 4 x 8 ft pen that they get to go in but when it's time to go in they don't seem to want to listen. Also, when we go out to play in the front yard we have a hard time getting them to obey us when we say "come". What works? Treats? I worry that one day one of them is going to take off - they are so quick - and even though we typically keep them on a leash they have run away from the kids. I would just like to get them to listen when we say come.

Thanks for listening to my ranting. Any suggestions would be appreciated.