Please help! I love this dog but hate dog poop!! I really don’t like leaving her in a crate 7&1/2 to 8 hours a day 5 days a week. I work at a school so I have summers off and lots of breaks but still school is a long year.

It is beyond cruel to leave a dog, any dog in a crate for such long periods of time. It’s not fair to the dog and could cause her to have urinary problems as a result.

Granted, it’s not ideal, but if you love your dog the way you say you do, then find a spot, lay some newspaper or pee pads down and call it a day. It takes what? Two minutes to roll them up and toss them.

Dogs poop. Owners clean it up. None of us like it, but that’s part of owning a dog.

If that’s not something you want to do then find a home that will be more condusive for the dog. It really is that simple.

Well you may think so but when I’m home she usually only goes out once or twice a day so she really doesn’t need to go that often. I think she is mad I’m not home with her.

Angela, I don’t think so, I know so. Dogs live for one thing, the love of their owners. They don’t get “mad” and show revenge by pooping, if anything, they experience anxiety because they fear being alone. Honestly, if my dog was only going once or twice a day, I’d be concerned because it could mean they aren’t drinking enough water. And even if that’s not the case....imagine yourself locked up in a cage for 8 hours where you can’t exercise or move around much less pee. Just the thought makes me squirm.

One reason I feel so strongly about this is because one day when our Lab was 4 or 5 months old, I put her in a great dane sized kennel while I went to run a couple of errands. I wasn’t gone for more than a couple of hours but in that time she had gotten diarrhea, couldn’t hold it and it was everywhere. She was freaking out because she knew she was supposed to do that outside and she was covered in it. Her entire reaction to the situation was really upsetting and I have not “caged” her since, not even for a few minutes.

The bottom line is that you’ve accepted this dog into your life as is. It’s at an age where in all likelihood it will not be able to change it’s habit or understand your expectations and the solution should be at the very least humane. Have you consulted with a professional trainer to see if maybe he or she has a retraining method they can share?

The bottom line is that you can only train a dog when you are there. When you are gone the dog is on its own to figure out what to do. Your problem is that the dog has a behavior that you want to change, but you can't be there to change it. I don't know what to tell you other than stay home and train the dog, or find a way to live with the problem.

Well, there are some ways around it but they all involve hiring someone to do be there for the dog when you are not. The first is put the dog in day care where they are taken outside regularly. Of course this has lots of other advantages that enhance the dogs life - but it comes at a cost. The other has already been mentioned - hire a dog walker to come by and take the dog out for a mid-day walk. This is much cheaper, but it is an additional cost.

Dogs really aren't built for regularly spending 8 or 9 hours alone. Some very independent breeds and older dogs can deal with it. But companion dogs (which generations ago the poodle was crossed with to get the size down) do not like to be away from their owners at all. It is very stressful for them because their "job" is to keep you company. The toy poodle has half those instincts and half the hunting instincts of its larger brethren. See what you can do to break up the day for the dog. Also lots of lots of early morning exercise will help because it will tire him out before you leave.