Thank you so much Erin. Your post actually brought me to tears! Everyone keeps telling me "you have to crate her, you have to crate her" but I just can't do it. It is nice to hear from someone that has had success without training. Maddie is already a great puppy. I have puppy stairs at the foot of my bed and half the time she sleeps on the floor anyways. She comes up and licks my face when she needs to go potty in the middle of the night so she doesn't have any accidents. If she was peeing in my bed or destroying things at night, I would understand people telling me to crate her, but she is not. The only problem I am having with her is listening to me when it comes to things like "come here". Trying to get her to come inside from going potty is a nightmare and it results in my picking her up and just caring her inside. That is the only behavior that I would like to change right now. I am definitely going to pick up those books and after I read them, I may ask you for some more to read
This is my first dog so I am a total newbie and just want to make sure I am doing everything right. Thanks again for your response!