Crating our Italian Greyhound

Question
Dear Cindi,

We have an IG, "Buddy" who'll be 5 years in January.  We recently moved into a new home and Buddy won't stop going pee and potty on the new carpet. Had to have the carpet professionally cleaned and it is getting expensive.  He wasn't much better at our old home either.  Early on my wife decided against crating him, as she thought it was inhumane, so he has always had free run of the house. What do we do?  Is it too late to crate him?  My wife and I both work, around 8 to 10 hours a day, so I know we wouldn't want to leave him crated for too long.  We thought about getting rid of him as a last resort, but we really don't want to go that far.  We've tried laying puppy pads everywhere and anything else we could think of, yet nothing works.  He seems to go out of his way to seek a spot of carpet and do his business on it.  Can you help?  Thank you.

Answer
Instead of crating him, since your wife is so against it and he's already five, try restricting him to a small non carpeted area of the house. Laundry room, bathroom, kitchen ? Put some puppy pads down for him and restrict his food and water. Feed him in the morning, make SURE he gets let out and leave him water down during the day but no food. Feed him as early as you can and let him out immediately when you get home. You also probably need to take him to the vet for a full workup, sometimes changes in habits can be health related. Also check into what your feeding, dogs needs change as they get older and a less than premium food will cause too much pee and poop. Make sure he's getting plenty of exercise, and  leave him some toys to work on while you're gone, treat stuffed etc. Don't even think of allowing him back on the carpet until he's begun to straighten his habits up again. Sometimes a move throws them completely out of kilter and they forget all their training,. sometimes a new house confuses them and they don't really understand what to do. Hang in there, getting rid of him isn't necessary I don't believe. We can' fix this :)
Cindi