What you need to do is not take her out of the pen *until* she's gone on the pad. That way you know she's "empty" when you have her out for playtime.
The way we did that is, we had Brody's pen small so that all that fit was his crate and his potty pads. We would close his crate door for a few hours, then open the door and he'd come out onto his potty pads and I'd wait for him to go. If he went on the pads I would give him a treat and lots of praise and let him out to play. If he didn't go in a few minutes I'd put him back into the crate and try again in a few minutes. He was not allowed to come out of the pen until he pottied on the pads. Then he'd have some free time in the house with us (being watched like crazy anyway) and then back to the crate for a nap or his food.
It took him two days of plenty of times going back into the crate for another ten minutes for him to get the idea that potty meant playtime.
Then as he got older and got the hang of it, I made his xpen bigger so that he had some free floor and his Rascal potty (replaced the pads). At first he had some accidents on the floor so I went back to just enough room for the Rascal and his crate. Then a week later tried again.
Now his pen is big enough for his crate, his Rascal, and some free space (like your setup). I don't often close him in anymore because now he knows that when I come in to get him and say "Go potty" he hops onto his Rascal and goes. Then he gets some playtime.
That's what worked for us. |