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Originally Posted by mblab  Thanks for the suggestions! I've been reading the book, hoping to get good tips from it. My Mom said she got me a book on house training, so I'm trying not to freak out that I haven't read enough on that matter.
I wound up purchasing a wire crate and a plastic carrier crate. As of now I've decided that I'll crate her at night and for short periods in her wire crate and then have in an in Xpen (with the plastic carrier crate in it) during the day for any longer periods of time. I'm a bit afraid of messing up her house training (to go outside) with her being in an Xpen (that'd have to have potty pads). Any tips/thoughts would be greatly appreciated! |
Your furbaby will quickly get used to whatever schedule they are on. So don't fret too much about the crate situation.
In terms of potty-training - using both methods, I was in the same situation, but backwards. I wanted to potty-pad train Scooter, but wanted him to go outside whenever possible to save the messes haha.
What I did was use schedule and boot-camp-potty-pad train inside. Then take him for long walks outside, and when he goes outside he doesn't get scolded or praised. This way he goes inside whenever he needs to, but isn't afraid of going outside when we're outside.
For your situation, I'd do the same but really emphasize going outside.
If your x-pen is the right size (kennel and food/water fit in one end, potty-pad in the other) she should use it naturally because they don't like messing up the area where they eat/sleep. It might take a while, but I'm sure she'll catch on quick!
Just remember to never scold her for an accident unless she's in the middle of making it! They don't associate themselves with their waste once it has left them, so there's nothing you can do about a mess except to take them out sooner next time or scold them when catching them in the act.