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.