woops forgot to answer that. He eats twice daily, when we get up and a little before bed.

He does sometimes get into the cat food and I have to chase him around the house.. he knows he shouldn't so when I catch him and say "BAD" he runs like hell. I do think this dog was mistreated at some point he's just so extreme sometimes. Once I picked him up, he wasn't in any trouble I was telling him how good he was but for some reason he got spooked and peed. He loves to be held.. no clue what triggered it. He doesn't eat a lot of cat food though.

Yeah dogs will always go for cat food if they can! it happens here too, and the cat goes for the dogs food! They always want what's not theirs.

So feeding him at set times is good! and obviously being abused in the past you're going to have to be extra patient with him. Your best bet right now is containment of some sort and going back to basics with him.

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He loves ferret food too (raw meat and bones) and the ferrets try to raid the kitty food, silly babies.

For now I will start tethering him when I have not seen him potty yet so he won't do it indoors and then maybe offer a treat when he poops outside. I normally just go for praise.

He's been trained to go out without me so it'll be through the open back door (it is cold out!) but he'll get it anyway, he stays right on the edge of the porch.

I think you need to look into some positive reinforcement training techniques. The more you punish your dog, the less he's going to want to come back when he's called. Chasing him around the house just to punish him is really not a good idea, and it won't help him learn either.

Research is showing that dogs can't associate causes and consequences after about three seconds. They also have no sense of guilt. So if you're getting angry because "he knows better", check yourself. If he knew better, he wouldn't do it.

I don't punish him once I catch him, I praise him. He gets told "bad" once WHILE he is being obnoxious but nothing after that.

He does know better though. Every time he poops in the house he slinks around for a while even if not caught in the act. He doesn't get scolded if he's not caught actually doing it either. The problem is he is never caught, too sneaky.

How often is he walked?

I know you said you aren't well. Are you able to walk him on-leash? Or do you
just stick him out to do his business? Actual walks will help move things around
and stimulate him to go. If you feed twice per day at the same times, and
provide 3 daily walks(first thing in the morning, afternoon, and evening before
bed) then he should get into routine and only go outdoors. Unless there is an
underlying medical or psychological issue.

I'm sorry by the way, that your current situation isn't ideal. How old are you?
Are you planning on moving out soon? Sounds like you are under a lot of stress.

Hugs.

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Just about to be 18.

And right now I am too ill to walk him. He was getting one long walk and it seemed to really do good for him.

Now that I think of it a lot of this defiant behavior and weird pooping and just being odd could be because of the lack of walks. I do play indoors with him (throwing toys and tug of war so I can be sitting down) but that's no substitute for a real run. We usually would go to the park and he would be run off leash.

You are absolutely right. Lack of exercise along with the lack of mental stimulation
can result in behavioral issues. Would your dad or maybe a sibling walk him?

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