I just got our new puppy this Saturday and we have her in an xpen in our den. She has her crate in the xpen and I live her crate door open during the day. A little more than 1/2 of the xpen is covered with peepee pads and they are working out really well. At night, I bring her crate upstairs to my bedroom and place it on the floor next to my bed. She goes in the crate and I close the door to the crate. She whined a little and I just put my finger through the crate and she quiets right down. When she whimpers in the middle of the night, I take her out of the crate and we go downstairs...into the xpen she goes and she does her peeing. Then it's right upstairs and into her crate again till morning. It seems to be working out okay so far (it's only been two nights though). But her crate is dry and she is using the pads. Hope this helps.
