HELLP! me and my 2yr old Italian grayhound

Question
hello,i need help understanding what i need to do to house train my IG. i have trained lots of different types of animals, but, my IG "Bliss" is giving me a run for my money! i can leave her at home and some times shes good, others she not she picks spots thankfully its normally off the carpet but it seems when we take her to my mother inlaws she sneaks off and hides and go's she dose this at slect houses. sometimes we let her out for an hr or so and exercise her but, say we just take a walk to get the mail we come back and she go's in the house or, when she "thinks" were sleeping she is quiet as a mouse as she slips out of bed and watches us for a moment then off she go's and, she was just out for as long as she wanted. i could go on and on telling you the things I've tried do. do you think my last opp is to litter box train her? or is their another way ! pleas help me and my moody IG "Bliss"

Answer
It is only natural that a puppy resists its crate at first.  What the puppy wants more than anything else is to be others, you, anyone else in the household, and any other pets.  In our modern society, even if we are home, other things distract us from the attention an uncrated puppy must have.   The only real solution is to crate the dog when you aren't around.  The dog may be happier in its den than loose in the house.  It relaxes, it feels safe in its den.  It rests, the body slows down reducing the need for water and relieving its self.  Dogs that have been crated all along do very well.  Many of them will rest in their crates even when the door is open.  I think the plastic ones give the dog more of a safe, enclosed den feeling.  Metal ones can be put in a corner or covered with something the dog can't pull in and chew.  Select a crate just big enough for the full grown dog to stretch out in.

Leave it some toys.  Perhaps a Kong filled with peanut butter.  Don't leave anything in the crate the dog might chew up.  It will do fine without even any bedding.  You will come home to a safe dog and a house you can enjoy.

A dog that has not been crated since it was little, may take some work. Start out just putting its toys and treats in the crate.  Praise it for going in.  Feed it in the crate.  This is also an easy way to maintain order at feeding time for more than one dog.

The "shut the puppy in a safe room" is a fallacy.  Very few houses even have a safe room.  How many of us have a room with a hard surfaced floor and nothing else?  Most rooms have electrical cords to chew if nothing else.  In addition to destroying anything a bored puppy finds to chew, it may choke or have intestinal  blockage from the pieces.  I had a friend that left her dog in a "safe" room.  It ate a hole in the floor covering.  The safe rooms fail to give the dog the comfort of the enclosed space their instinct requires.  Nor do they restrict activity extending the time the dog can go without relieving itself.