Potty Training Continues

Q: ***Mission Impossible*** Hi Dr., Please forgive me if this is a duplicate message, but I don't think my first attempt went through. I reached out to you yesterday on the success that we were having with our yorkie puppy with his small pen. He only had one accident over the weekend so I thought we were making progress. Yesterday was his first day being left alone in the pen area while we went to work. When we got back home, he had pooped and peed on the outside of the palace. The pen area is as small as I can make it given that his palace door needs to be open for him to access the pad area. Does he need to return to Phase 1? My husband and I spoke about possibly only giving him access to the pen areas when we are home in the afternoons until he demonstrates that he will return to the palace. Do you have any suggestions? He's been in the palace for about 4 weeks now. Any suggestions that you have would be greatly appreciated. Our subscription runs out this week so any parting advice on things to try in the next coming weeks would be greatly appreciated. Also, we're going out of town for the weekend and I'm looking for a good pet hotel for him. I am concerned though that this will most likely set him back further.

A: Confining him to the palace when you are away is likely a good idea although it assumes that he does well when left there. If at any time he does not return to a pad/tray from the pen then he should go back to the routines of Phase 1. Changes in routine of any kind can disrupt potty training and especially changes of location. Boarding him should be avoided if possible and also should only be considered if he has finished his vaccination series.