I took the blanket out too this week. I thought that might be part of the problem. It hasnt made any difference. I have been tempted to put it back in because it seems so cruel. I have minimized her space so much and now I am taking her blanket too....wow this is hard on us mommies!

It is almost too tough. They have such sweet faces and they just look to you for everything. I think a lot of it really is their age. If he is still doing this after a year than I think I have a problem.

A quick tip on the blanket thing. I had a problem with Loki peeing on the blanket and then pushing it away. I got him two of these:

http://www.petco.com/Shop/Product.as...3d22%252520109

I don't know if that is the exact brand, but I got them at petsmart for $10 for his 18" crate. They are 100% machine washable and I've washed them 100 times and they are still fine. That way, they can't hide things in them!

We actually bought 2 of these before when he was younger and he just made a mess of them and himself. Maybe I will try it again and see what happeneds since he seems to bury everything these days. Thanks for the suggestion.

How long is the longest you have stayed outside? Training her to go in the designated area is the first step. If you don't have that, you have nothing and can't really expect them to know much if they don't clearly know where it's o.k.

You gotta let her know where the OK place is. Here's my methods to get a dog to go outside.

Step 1: Fill 'er up! Give her a yummy soft-food treat mixed with water, like canned eucanuba or other canned dog food, mixed into an almost soupy consistency. Messy on the face hair, but effective. At this point, put some hidden treat in your pocket for later...

Step 2: Observe, sniffing, walking in circles, uhoh...time to go outside.

Step 3: QUICKLY leash and go to a designated outdoor (or pad) place. Nothing too public please, dog's generally hate doing it on display.

Step 4: Add the command "Go Potty!" (happy voice).

Step 5: The wait. Not much to say. If it takes an hour, it takes an hour. If it takes two, it takes two. No flexi-lead, no roaming, just you standing (or sitting) like a tree with a 6 foot lead giving your pup a 6' diameter circle of room to move. This circle will become the "tainted place", used only for going potty and avoided all other times. This IS the puppy bathroom.

Step 6: It shall happen. What goes in, MUST come out. A puppy's bladder can not possibly out-wait you. Sometimes, to facilitate things, we would jump-start the praise. My dog kinda thought we were going out into the cold and rain because he was bad. Perhaps yours thinks this is some kind of time-out punishment method. Sing to her, be happy, (but immobile). If she starts sniffing and walking in circles, you are about to have a victory. "Good Girl!" sometimes to encourage her.

When at last golden droplets,
like a sparkling rain of gold,
begin to fall
upon the lawn,
covering scents of old...

"Good girl Good potty! Good show!"

Her duty done,
the battle is won!
the weary pair, prepare to retreat
let fly your hand,
not for reprimand,
but instead to bestow her a treat!

Considerations:

To accellerate your indoor discipline, make sure that not a single molecule of urine remains on anything indoors. If they smell that they have gone there before, they will go there again. And Just because you can't smell it, doesn't mean that they can't. Those little chocolate chips on the ends of their faces sure look cute, but they are damn effective smellers. I use a medical grade odor remover that my vet suggested for this use. I recomend anyone in potty training do this.

I've never tried this, but I just thought of it as I was writing...If they smell their own urine....they will go there...so perhaps take some puddle, mop it up and wring it out where you want her to go outside. This might work like the doggy-version of a "Latrine" sign. I dunno. I'd try it late at night to avoid any akward explanations of what I was doing..."Uh, you see officer...I have this dog..."

Today was a mixture of successes and failures. Deb did not pee in her crate at all. She did however continue to poop. This morning after she ate...she went for a long walk and never pooped. As soon as she was back in her crate she pooped. Every single time I took her outside, she peed. I praised her and gave her treats!! She never pooped. After her dinner tonight I took her outside and stayed in the designated area for approximatly 2 hours. She never pooped. I can not understand why she doesnt have to empty out after eating!! When I finally came back inside (I am a single mom with 3 kids and had to feed them) I put her in her crate and within 2 minutes she pooped. I dont understand. She is actually holding it until she is in her crate. I honestly think if I had stayed outside another hour that she would not have gone until she was back in her crate. Are you suggesting that I give her wet food as a treat (so it will go through her faster) and she might poop outside? I am willing to try anything!!!!!! Just not sure I understood you correctly!!

We have the same problem when we walk Capone. He holds it until we get home and then he wants to go to the patio to do his business. We thought only we would have a dog that would do something so of the wall. We can't figure that one out.

Poop (for my pup) tends to come about 2 hours after eating. Particularly after playing good and hard. I think your pup might be pooping in the crate for privacy though...that's the only thing left that I can think of....

If you are getting really frustrated, after trying everything else, try taking her behind some bushes or something, while you wait on the other side of the bushes. You shoudl do this when you see that she is doing "the walk".

I think that's different...he likes to pee on the patio especially, right? If so, then he's a smart puppy, elevation of urine mark equals status in the canine eye. He knows he smells to other dogs like a two story monster!

Does he bark off of the balcony too?

Yes he does. That is really interesting. We always joke around that he trys to show off his alpha male dominance. He is such a tough little guy.

[QUOTE=jenstals] She is actually holding it until she is in her crate. QUOTE]

She has to think that the crate is the "correct" place to poop. That's all I can think of! You might have tried this, but it's all I can think of. First, put some of her poop outside in the right spot. Second, put her in her crate and watch her until she starts to turn in circles or do that funny walk. I know they don't give that much warning when they are that young. As soon as she starts - or IS pooping just say NO! OUTSIDE! and grab her and carry her outside (yes, it might be messy) and put her in the right spot. It will help to keep a leash on her. We had this problem with Loki pooping in the house and we'd keep him on a leash and when he started to go we'd carry him straight out. My poor husband got pooped on a couple of times, but it worked.

I suspected this becuase I read a few articles about "balcony barkers" recently. Check it out:
http://www.healthy-dogs.net/barking.htm

There's more out there too if you do a google search. You might want to consider some dominance work.

Today has been a good day!!! Deb has pooped outside 3 times!!!!! YEAAA! She also pooped in her kennel once....but still this is progress!!!! She has also peed outside several times! I took your advice Hamoth and mixed a little wet food with her puppy chow and it did seem to speed up the process a little :) Do I continue to do this...and for how long? We have had huge parties outside each time we had success!! We also went to the dog park today and Deb played with the big dogs :) I was scared of some of them...but she sure wasnt. I kept her on the leash so that I could easily rescue her if necessary, but all the dogs were playing nice today :)

That's a judgement call. I'd vary it a lot. The point was to get her to start going outside. I think you'll find it now getting progressively easier. Add water with the wet food to double up the effect.

Sometimes give her puppyfood soup with a sprinkle of parmesean cheese. Sometimes dry chow, sometimes pure soft. Keep it dynamic so that you are both guessing, this will get you guys used to lots of different circumstances and consistently going outside.

Also, may I ask what her poo looks like, and what chow you are using? The immediacy of the effect suggests to me that your pup might not like her food, or may be having problems pooping.

Her poo looks solid...and brown..and today...it was actually lighter in color..not sure how else to describe it. She is eating Nutro puppy chow. I mixed a little Eukanuba puppy wet food with it today. Thank you for all your suggestions and help!!! YT has kept me sane through this process :)

Thanks for the link. I will definitely check it out.

Pooping in kennel
 

Hi! Jenstals posts on YT gave me some hope. We have a 7-month old, Rocky, who is otherwise a great dog except for when it comes to him defacating in his kennel. This is not as pervasive a problem as you had with Deb, but every now and then he will defacate in his kennel overnight. The kennel is bigger than it's supposed to be (given the standard of dog standing up and turning around), but I thought he would grow into it. I am out of the house for approximately 10 hours a day. During this time, he's in the kitchen with a baby gate. He has a pee pee pad and a litter box. He's learned to poop in the litter box during the time we're not there ... and even when we are and he has free run of the house, he'll usually find the litter box and go there (unless he has an upset stomach and needs immediate relief). His peeing on the pee pee pad is not so consistent though. He will only go on the pee pee pad when we are around and he has free access to the house. When we restrict him to the kitchen, he'll pee wherever as so show us defiance. We haven't started training school with him yet, but will start in mid-January.

I recently got the smallest Sherpa bag (for airline travel with him) and was wondering whether I could use that as a "crate" for overnight stays. In this bag, he has just enough room to lay down and turn around. I can tell that it's very uncomfortable for him, but I'm thinking of putting him in there overnight. He likes to stay with my husband and I in our bedroom during the night. When I put him in the kitchen overnight, he whined for several hours before passing out and then peeing all over the kitchen (as a sign of defiance, I think!) ... but pooped in the litter box.

I was just wondering how it's going with Deb, just to get an idea of where Rocky's behavior might go to.

We have Missy in a wire crate. At first, we didn't use the divider in it and she pooped 2 nights in a row and got it on her - poor thing! That meant a bath the very next morning - actually the next 2 mornings.

After that, we put the divider in the crate and she's been fine so far. She now grabs the door to the crate with her little claws and shakes it to wake us up. They are so smart!

We're also using the bells hanging from the patio door to train her to signal her need to go out. She took to this immediately although there were a few false alarms but we take her out every time she rings the bell.

Funny thing is every time the older one goes out, the puppy frantically rings the bells wanting to go out with her.

But, they don't do their business when together outside. All they want to do then is play and they can do that inside.