6 month old pups pooing in the house at night

Question
Hi, I'm mailing from cape Town, South Africa.  We have 2 pups, a 6 month old Shar Pei bitch and a 5 month old English Bulldog bitch.   They are both inside dogs with free access to outside. They are Housetrained completely except for one problem.  At night they sleep in the kitchen that is closed off with a baby gate.  I put down newspaper for them, which they use for peeing,although they don't pee at night as a rule.  But every morning without fail,there is 2 heaps of dog poop on the tiles.  They are only put in the kitchen at about 22h00 at night and are taken out at 06h30 every morning.  They eat twice a day at 08h00 in the morning and then again at 17h00 at night and the only eat Eukenuba dog pellets. They poop on the lawn during the day and they are taken outside before bedtime.  I clean the tiles in the Kitchen thoroughly every day with tile Cleaner and with dog repellent spray.  The Shar Pei came to us at 3 months of age. She was at the breeder with her siblings with access to her mother till this age.  They stayed in a kennel with a inside and a outside area, and I think the use to pee and poop on concrete.  We got the Bull dog at the same time but she was only 2 months old.  She came from a private owner, who reared her and her siblings by hand. They stayed inside and were taken onto the lawn every hour to pee and poop.  She  was not house trained at all when she came to us. I hope you can help.  Thanks

Answer
Hi Rykie,

This is what I would do immediately:

1) buy 2 crates, one for each dog and start crating them at night. The crate should only be big enough for the dog to turn around in and sleep without extra room. In other words, you don't want a crate big enough that the dog can sleep in the back and still soil the front of the crate.

2) Pick up the newspaper. It's too confusing. Why is that pee is allowed but poop isn't? Your dogs cannot distinguish that you allow pee but not poop on the paper. In any event, by putting paper down,you have taught them that it ok to eliminate in the kitchen.

3) Consider changing dog food. There may be something in the food that is causing your dogs to poop more than say something with less grain and better quality protein. It's a thought.

Good luck,

Jaz