Female boxer

Question
Good afternoon,
My girlfriend and I have a female boxer, just over 3 months old.  She is very good while we are with her and we do not have any major problems when we are around.  When we left for work, we would put her in the bathroom with a baby gate and put paper in a corner for her to eliminate on.  Early last week, she jumped over the baby gate while we were away so we bought another baby gate to put on top.  One the first day we tried this and we were happy to see she was still in the bathroom but there was feces smeared all OVER the bathroom floor, walls, bathtub and everywhere she could reach.  We thought it was diarreah at first but now she is doing it every time we leave.  We tried leaving her for just 30 minutes to see what she would do and so far, she has done the same thing with her feces every time we've left her alone in the bathroom, even if we are gone just a few minutes.  We even tried not feeding her in the morning and making sure she eliminates outside before we leave the house but it seems she always seems to manage to eliminate right after we leave and enjoys playing with her waste!

We want to avoid putting her in her crate while we go to work because we are gone almost 9 hours and feel it is not fair to ask her to hold it in for that long if she has to go since she is so young.  Do you have any ideas what we could do?  

My other question pertains to dogs from the same litter.  My relatives purchased her sister but are not sure if they will be able to keep her.  Their dog is a female also.  Would it be a bad idea for us to take her if they were to get rid of her?  They get along great and love to cuddle when they sleep but I've heard same sex dogs from the same litter can often fight when they are older.

Thanks in advance,

Chris


Answer
As far as the house training goes you are just going to have to persevere.  9 hours is a long time for any puppy to be left on its own, especially notoriously people-dependant dogs such as boxers, and the likelihood is that she is becoming stressed by being left for long periods and the mess is a result of this.  I would suggest taking her to a day-boarding kennels while you are at work as soon as she has had all her shots or asking a retired or out of work neighbour to look in on her regularly during the day.  This way she wont be left alone.  Had you consulted an expert before buying the dog i suspect 99% would have advised against a boxer if you are not going to be in all day because of their dislike of being left alone.  Some breeds cope well with being left alone but others respond in all sorts of ways, the behaviour exhibited by your puppy is one of the most common.
Another answer may be to get another dog, however do not take on the litter mate.  What you have heard is true and litter mates are not suitable house-companions.  They become jealous and will have severe struggles for dominance when they get older.  Most severe problems occur around a year to three years old when the dominance struggle is at its peak and can result in dogs fighting, often with dire consequences.  In the same line un-neutered dogs of the same sex are a bad idea altogether.  If you have dogs of the same sex it is adviseable to have at least one of them neutered preferably both.  Getting a different breed that will almost certainly be either dominant or submissive to an average boxer can alleviate this problem somewhat but is no garuntee.
I hope this helps
Good luck with your puppy
Sarah