Chihuahua poo problems

[jpiatt]

I have an 8 month old Chi. He's paper trained (or so we thought) and crate trained. Recently he's been caught taking the poo off of his pad and eating it. If we're home, we clean it up right away, but there are times when he goes (like when we're all getting ready in the morning) and we didn't realize he'd gone and he gets to it before we do. We thought this was the only problem and purchased some for-bid to see if that would fix it. However my kids have seen him pooing on the rug or his window blanket. I've never caught him in the act of going anywhere he shouldn't so I don't really know how to handle this and they just yell for me! We only crate him at night. The kids just started school recently and I'm wondering if this is some kind of separation anxiety thing, a behavior problem or if we didn't train him properly.

[Tamera Sophy]

We have a basenji/rat terrier who is 7 months now. As long as we put meat tenderizer in his food, he does not eat his poop. But if we go even one day without using it, he goes back to eating his poop.
We also tried some pills I picked up at a pet supply store that had cayenne pepper in them (I think), they seemed to work for a little while. But then he must have decided he liked the added spice.
So the meat tenderizer works as long as you use it everyday or every meal.