-Well, the reason that we tried to "chose" his potty place is because the book "Housetraining for Dummies" suggests doing so. We didn't try to make him go in one exact spot, just that we tried to get him to go within a certain perimeter of our side yard because it was more private than taking him to the front, which we liked, but he never pottied there and instead decided that he liked toe front yard better, so he has been pottying there consistently and hasn't had any accidents since we let him start going there.
-We definitely are consistent with announcing "potty time" when we bring him out, and we don't scold him for accidents- we know that the accidents are more our fault, not his.
-And about the amount of time that he is kenneled, I only have class twice a week, so those are the only two days that he will be kenneled during the day. I also will be coming home on lunch break to take him out and check up on him, so I hope that isn't too bad for him. My fiance works offshore and is gone 14 days at a time and then is home for 14 days at a time. So technically, there will only be about 2 days per month when no one will be home with him.
-I am feeling MUCH better, and so is Dexter just since last night! Now that he has found a spot that he liked to potty, everything has been running smoothly.
-We have been moving the crate back and fourth though because we want to keep it in the living room during the day because we are in here ALL DAY long, and we don't really want him wandering off to the opposite end of the house to find his crate in our room quite yet. So me will probably move it at night when we go to bed. He did fine sleeping in it all night last night.
-We have still been taking him out every so often to potty, and sometimes, when he isn't ready to go- he just lays down in the grass. So we take him in and then bring him back out a while later and he usually goes.
But, overall, we are feeling much better already and we are thinking that what we are doing is working for all of us. So all smiles!!
-Thanks so much for the help and interest everyone! It's good to know that I have a place to turn for quick and caring advice!
-(About the Breeder and Pedigree Question- The paper that we have says "Sue Underwood" as the breeder, and next to Sire it says "Nala Matadi's Mameluke of Lazy K" and next to Dam it says "Princess Gotto Zimba Linlos Stripe"
Sounds like gibberish to me, I'm not sure if it's bad of me to admit that haha, but I don't really understand it…