Housebroken dog poops on carpet when not home

Question
QUESTION: HI,
I have a 5 month old maltese puppy who is puppy pad trained. he has been doing very well onthem. I am even able to take him to friends homes and he uses them without a problem. Recently he has started to poop on the living room rug when I am not home. He will use his pee pee pad to pee and poop (which is kept in a pop up kennel in the living room. ) when i am home and watching him, but the minute i leave he poops on the same exact spot on my rug. ( he still pees on the pad).thank you for your help.

ANSWER: You're not going to like the simple answer... don't give him access to that spot while you're gone.  You need to either crate him or use a baby gate to block him where his pee pads are.  Also, if he considers the pop up kennel his "house", I wouldn't recommend having the pee pads in there.  Short of locking him up while you're gone, I'd suggest go outside and then come right back in.  Praise your dog if he hasn't gone (and since it's only going to be a few seconds, he won't have time).  Do this several times a day.  Then, start lengthening the time you spend outside and varying the amount of time you spend outside.  When you come back and there are no presents, praise and/or treat your dog.  You must go slowly though, you can't go from seconds to hours gone.  The secret is patience.  Good luck.

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

QUESTION: Thank you for your quick reply. I decided to leave him in a smaller space today. I left him in a room with his bed, the peepad and a couple of toys. I'm hoping since the spot isnt there, he will go on the pad instead. Originally i  bought the kennel in an attempt to crate train him , but i bought it several sizes to big (due to a method i read about online where you make 1/2 of the kennel his bed area and the other 1/2 his litter box/peepad area) but he hated being in there for several hours a day, and i didnt want him to associate the kennel as a bad place and then not want to use the pad in there becuase of it. So i decided to just keep it as his potty area ( that way the floor and carpet doesnt get ruined and he has privacy when doing his buisness). But do you think i would be better of buying him a smaller (metal) crate and training him that way? (he is only 3lbs and hates walking he literally stops after a foot and lays down it refuses to get up again, plus we dont have access to a nearby grassy area..) For exercise we take him to the local dog park several times a week...but is that enough? he does run and play all over the apartment.

Answer
It's up to you whether you want to crate train him or not.  Some dogs just don't like being in a kennel and if, as you say, you're dog doesn't like to spend time in his, then I'd say, don't do it.  OTOH, maybe the only reason he doesn't like to spend time in his kennel is because he doesn't see the imaginary line between house and potty area and doesn't like the pee pads in his "house".

I'm sure at 3 lbs that several times a week at the dog park is enough exercise (as long as he's actually moving when he's there and not taking 4 steps and laying down) ;-)  If he has a favorite toy, you can also through that in the house and see if he'll retrieve or at least chase after it.  Another trick, if he's food driven, is to toss kibble down the hall or across the room.