Needing advice with a potty problem

[Pawprints]

My roommate is frustrated and she's perfectly right to be.

My 11 month old puppy is pretty well potty trained. He's crate trained and never got the hang of using the bells. He doesn't alert me when he needs to go out, so I've gotten into the habit of letting him out every two hours. I've tried keeping him on a feeding schedule, which worked at first, but he won't sick to the routine anymore. He's completely healthy and is pretty good most days.

He'll always go potty outside, but he keeps pooping inside. It seems like the times he goes outside are mere coincidence. Because of this, his access of the house is restricted to my bedroom and the hallway under my constant supervision. However, trying to deter him by issuing a correction doesn't work, he's not put off by them at all, he just keeps going. If i catch him right as he's about to go and haul him outside, he won't poop at all, he holds it for hours and becomes even more unpredictable. I've tried bringing treats outside with us to encourage him that he needs to go out there and doing so will earn him a reward, but he doesn't seem to understand.

I want him to be able to share the rest of the house with us. What can I do to help him understand? What am I doing wrong? I refuse to teach him with aggressive methods that are going to cause more problems even though my roommate seems to want me to do that. Any help is incredibly appreciated.

[Erica]

Any kind of correction or aggression isn't going to teach him "don't poo in the house," it'll teach him "don't poo when people are watching" - you're right to want to avoid those. It'll make it harder to teach him to poo outside!

To help get him to poo outside, have your rewards with you and take him on a walk. Movement helps hurry along the gut - if we play fetch, my dog poos after that, at 2 in the afternoon. Otherwise, he'll wait until bedtime! So when you see him doing a "I'm about to poo" move, happily encourage him outside, and take him for a walk! If/when he poos, calmly praise him and give him several treats. It might also help to give him more space to poo, so if you can get a 15 foot leash or similar he might feel more comfortable. I don't know if this is a safe move where you live, so use your judgement!

Also, if you feel like he needs to poo and he doesn't when you take him outside, bring him back inside, wait a few seconds, then take him back outside. Sometimes that helps!