Puppy poops in her kennel

Question
Hi Nancy,
My husband and I got a puppy about a month and a half ago. When we first brought her home she was only 7 weeks old. We let her sleep with us, which we soon realized was not a good idea. We then purchased a kenne for her. She was very receptive to the kennel with just a small amount of training. She did quite well in the kennel at night for about a week, but then started to poop in her kennel. We've tried keeping her up until at least midnight to go out to do her business, we've tried not feeding her after 5 or 6 pm., we've tried getting up real early to get her outside before she poops, but she usually already has. I'm getting frustrated with cleaning her kennel every morning. We don't punish her when she makes the mistake. Is there anything we can do the help her learn this is not good behavior? Thanks in advance for any advice you can give us. Sharon

Answer
Sharon,
couple of things to try.

put her in a room where she won't hurt anything, like a bathroom/laundry room and put puppy pads down all over the floor leaving a 6" space between them and the kennel.  Leave the door open.  At 8 weeks old, she should not be able to hold it more than two hours...at 3 months it goes up to 4 hours.  If she is intaking more food now to grow she needs to be in that time span.  She is learning to go in her kennel from necessity, not because she is dumb or something is wrong.  They physically cannot hold it with the increased food she is getting.  When you got her at 7 weeks she had only been weaned a couple of weeks prior.  She needs to relearn that she is allowed to keep her kennel clean.

 Also, use a high quality digestible food, like Eukanuba, Bill Jack puppy food.  This will insure that it is going into her system not out of it.  Some foods, like the brands you get in a grocery store, like Purina puppy food, etc. have a lot of fill and makes the dog go to the bathroom more.

And you could always put her back in your bed at night. I have always found that to work pretty well, but of course not if she has to go.
Nancy