New to the board and to owning a dog....long and need help

Hi everyone.
1st post, came looking for help as I am new to the whole Doggie owning thing here. Was hoping to find great info here. Having some problems with our Pooch and was hoping for insight.

a lil history..
Had a friend whose Daughter bought a puggle puppy w/ a boyfriend and it didnt work out so the pup had no where to go. The Pup was living with the BF in not the best conditions. 1 bedroom apt, No pets rule. Lived in the crate, relieved himself in the crate, slept there, was locked up there from 7:00 am till like 5:00 pm...this poor doggie LIVED for 6 months pretty much in the crate.
So after sneaking the dog living there for 6 months he got caught, they broke up and poor Milo was homeless. But.... for the fact that my friend asked and so we now have him. Cutest dang thing! Just LOVE him now

Ok so now, he is spoiled! He is only in his crate @ night and when we are gone. I work 4 hrs a day 3 days a week. Other then that he roams the house. Great!
1 problem is......we started trying to train him to GO outside. But he would hold it till he got back in the house and then runs to his crate to go. OK fine......he is crate trained.......if thats what he wants we can deal with it.....almost 4 months go by the whole time he goes in the crate and we clean it right up. Sometimes we dont catch it and he has peed in his crate and will need to poo but always still will go it to relieve himself and poo in his crate. NOW though all of a sudden , He has started messing outside the crate. In front of it....or on the carpet next to it.

Today..... He had been outside playing w/ son. Son brings him in. He goes to crate and poos, son cleans it up and 5 min later....... he comes over to me, gets some love........walks over and sniffs my purse and lifts his leg and pees all over my purse!! This is the 4th time he has done this to something of mine.........in my shoes, in my purse, on my work hat, on my scrapbook bag. He does it to NO ONES else's items.

So my problems are this.....
He is now messing outside of his crate, daily even if its got all fresh paper
He is searching out my items and peeing on them.

I'm at a loss. He has lots of toys, he gets played with and loved ALOT, we walk him, he isnt crated often at all. hangs with us all the time.

So why this new "bad" behaivor?? Any ideas? Suggestions??

Sorry this was SOOOO long. I am just totally lost on this. Thank you SO much for taking the time to read it and maybe help if you can.

 

Sounds to me he looks at you as his mate so he is marking his territory could be wrong as i never had a dog do that.

As for the not going while out, I would suggest taking him out, If he dont go and comes in and does it then if possible try using plastic sheets so that you can take it outdoors and put it in a suitable place you would like him to go to relieve himself.
Then take him to that spot and let him sniff, If he goes praise him lots, With pups i have had i always use a command like go potty or be quick and they soon learn what is wanted of them...

Sorry i could not be of more help.

Mike

 

how large is his crate? Sometimes if a crate is too big a dog will eliminate in it cause they have room to get away from it.
I've always been told smaller dogs are tough to house train as they tend to be very stubborn.
I'd get a good book, or look online, how to house train a dog.
Or consult a behaviorist...sounds like a behavior problem (which I'm sure you already know :mrgreen: )
is he neutered? If not if you got him neutered it may curb his desire to mark