behavior issue

Question
QUESTION: Our 9 month old pup is very destructive and chews just about anything we
give her...even the entire flap to her doggie door!  We've tried the bitter
sprays and they don't seem to help.  We're not sure what to do.  Any toys we
give her are torn to shreds leaving a huge mess for us to clean up.  We are
gone during the day and worry that she is too bored with the lack of toys she
has to play with, yet at this rate, we'd need to be buying toys for her
constantly.  
We are also having trouble with her bringing poop into her crate.  Her crate is
inside our home and abuts a doggie door to the outside where she's able to
go out to go the bathroom, get water, etc., yet she is constantly bringing
poop inside her kennel which also creates an issue for us.  We've also found
that lately when we're in the same room with her watching tv (her crate is in
the family room) she intentionally poops in her crate.  We then will smell it
and she gets in trouble.  I'm assuming it's an attention thing, but we're not
sure how to get rid of the issue.
Please help us as we are losing our minds with this pup.

ANSWER: Hi Amanda,
Just a couple of other points.
You didn't say where you got your dog, but if she was purchased from a pet store or from a breeder who is not knowledgeable, then a fascination with poop might have arisen from that.  Dogs that are removed from their litters too early (before age 8 weeks) sometimes have this, and other problems, such as mouthiness, or being hard to house train.  They simply lost valuable extra time being with their dam and litter mates.  If she was raised in a puppy mill, then shipped to a pet store, or if she was raised by a non-knowledgeable breeder in an unstimulating environment, then a fascination with poop (after all, if it's the only thing in an otherwise sterile environment...).  I'm not criticizing where you got your dog - you may simply have been unaware, and now that you are, you can make a better choice next time - but your dog is your dog and you love her, so now that you have her, we just need to put her on the right track;-)
You can help try to break her fascination with poop by going outside with her for toileting, and cleaning up immediately so she hasn't got any poop to pick up.  Also, try feeding her in her crate (dogs dislike feces in their eating spot, usually).

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Frankie is a mini-daschund, and yes we did get her from a breeder, so as you
mentioned, it probably was too early to take her from her mom and siblings.  
We are really concerned with what to do during our work day with her.  Her
crate abuts a doggie door, and normally we've been leaving the doggie door
open during the day, for her to go in and out of, yet I read a number of
articles and advice from other fellow allexperts speacialists that suggest
closing her in during the day, as giving her free roam of the backyard area
and going in and out of her doggie door is not teaching her any
housebreaking. We've been doing this at night, which she does really good
with, as she doesn't eliminate in her crate, but during the day it's been a
different story.  We will come home to both pee and poop in her crate and a
scared dog, because (my guess) she knows she's done wrong.  I just don't
know what to do.  And then, do we simply remove her from the soiled area or
let her know she's done wrong, but telling her simply "bad girl", etc.?  Our
normal daily routine has been getting up to let her out when we get up in the
am, about 7:00, taking her out to go potty and eat, while giving her about 30
minutes to eat, then returning her to the crate for 30-40 minutes and taking
her out to go potty again before returning her to the crate for the day while
we are away at work.  My husband gets home about 5:00 each night and will
then let her out (while then cleaning her crate from the mess).  Our nightly
ritual consists of working on her training that she's been enrolled in for about
2 1/2 wks now, and that we do twice a night for about 10 minutes each time.  
We give her free time to play with her toys inside and with us as well.  We're
just not sure if we're doing anything right.  Please let us know what you think.  
Thanks in advance.

ANSWER: You cannot punish a dog into being house-trained, so saying bad girl isn't going to work.  I'm surprised that you haven't gotten some advice on this from your trainer.  Anyway, I think that you might benefit from reading these links:
http://www.diamondsintheruff.com/housetrain.html (I especially like this one.)
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?cls=2&cat=1548&articleid=157
http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_she
http://members.visi.net/~lfleck/grreat/booklet/housebk.html
You have a tiny dog with a tiny bladder - consider hiring a dog walker for a while, perhaps to make a visit around lunch time.  Also, if you use a crate, you must be certain it's small enough.  The dog should only be able to sit, turn around, and lie down.  Otherwise, she can easily "get away" from her mess.  If the crate is too large, think about partitioning it off with a cardboard box.  Puppies can hold it longer when they sleep, hence the mess-free nights.  She actually has no idea she has done wrong - to her, she only knows that she needs to "go".  I think you may have accidentally forced her to go in the crate because you didn't realize that a puppy can only hold its bladder for about one hour longer than its age in months, plus she has a tiny, tiny bladder, and probably did have room to escape from the poo!  At age 7-8 weeks, chances are that she needed to be taken out every 1.5 to 2 hours, so if you were away at work, she had absolutely no option but to soil herself.  When you give her "free time" keep an eye on her - there will be opportunities to take her out, praise her for going, then come back in.  I tell my students to go about their biz, but tether the pup to their waists - Google "buddy leash" and you'll see what I mean.  That way, the puppy can't escape to go pee behind the dining room door or something.  Any accidents should be ignored, but cleaned up with Petastic or other enzymatic cleaner, like Simple Solution or Nature's Miracle.
There's an inexpensive book called "Way to Go - How to Housetrain a Dog of Any Age" that might be helpful too.  You can get it on Amazon or at dogwise.com.


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Maybe you misunderstood, but Frankie is now nine months old, so should be able to hold it for 9-10 hrs, correct?  That was our assumption.  What do you recommend as means of house breaking if this method will not benefit us?  We don't have anyone to come over mid-day to help us out.  Occasionally, my husband may come home for lunch, but more often than not, he cannot.  Her crate is small enough, and she doen't like getting dirty, but I just don't know what else to do.  We live in Las Vegas, so the summers here are pretty extreme.  It is not fair to restrict her to the backyard during the hot months, so were hoping for her to be housebroken after 2-3 months of working with her, we just don't know where to begin in order to get to that point.  Any advice is helpful and greatly appreciated.

Answer
I didn't misunderstand her current age.  What I meant was that, since she could not hold it that long when you started, she has simply learned to eliminate whenever she feels the need, and was never really educated (even though you thought you were doing that) as to the fact that she was expected to keep clean in the house.  Had you come to me, as a working couple with no midday help, and asked my advice before getting a dog, I would have told you to adopt a housetrained adult dog, not try to train a puppy, and, frankly, if you cannot supervise the dog, there really is no way to train her.  It doesn't happen by osmosis (although I know many hapless owners who wish it did LOL). So, unless you and hubby can take back to back vacations, or hire a dog walker until she "gets it", I don't hold out much hope.  I know that there must be people in Vegas - try the Petsitters International website to find one, or the National Petsitters Assn.

It may not be ideal, but you cannot change what you cannot see.  
When you are in the house, one thing you can do is to use the waist leash idea.  That way, if you see her looking as if she needs to go, you have her right there attached to your belt, on lead already, and can say "outside?" and take her directly outdoors to pee.  I would not let her roam free in the house at this point, because any time she gets to go potty inside, she's reinforcing herself and the behavior will not stop.  So, the object is to have her restrained so you can notice when she needs to go, take her out, and YOU reinforce her with a treat or a "good girl" when she uses the outside.  It also prevents her hiding to pee, which she will do if anyone has yelled at her for accidents.  At most, if a dog makes an error, the response should be "oops - outside?" and just take them out to finish.  Clean up when they aren't looking (dogs are more interested in what interests you, not less...)

For people in your situation, if you really can't train her to go outside, you might want to consider this: http://www.wizdog.com/.  She can learn to go in one spot indoors - maybe gate her in a small area with her crate, and the pad - instructions come with it.  

Do try to get the book "Way to Go".  It will explain a lot.  There are no magic bullets, and you now have a dog that has to UN-learn what to do.  Would have been easier to just start right, but unfortunately, most breeders/vets/trainers don't pay enough attention to helping the owners of small, difficult to train breeds.

This is a great page on how to clicker train a puppy to go in the right spot - again, takes effort (but really works well).
http://www.clickertraining.com/housetraining
And, if you want to progress:
http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001b/bell.htm