Thank you! Your stories give me a lot of great ideas - especially because everyone seems to have a slightly different experience. Thanks for the link Nancy1999 - very helpful!
Which of these plans sounds like a better bet:
-Keeping puppy in a playpen with pee pad on one side and bed, toys, food on the other until the puppy is older and faithfully going on pee pad.
or
-blocking of the kitchen with baby gates and keeping the puppy contained in that room with her crate, food and toys. Putting her pee pad in the bathroom (off the kitchen) and keeping her in her crate when I cannot keep a close eye on her, then taking her to that pee pad on a schedule just like you would a puppy being brought outside. This way, when the gates all eventually come down and she has access to the rest of the house, the pee pad will still be in the bathroom and she'll (hopefully) know to go there to potty.
Thanks for your help!
Love reading the stories - if anyone else wants to share their experience...