[Karrie]

My approach to potty training was a little different.

We kept Bailey a crate only when we couldn't supervise her -otherwise, she was in the family room with us - playing and being with the fam. Our goal was to watch, supervise and catch her in the act. Everytime she went potty it was an opportunity to train (yay!). When we noticed that the started to potty, we scooped her up, said 'outside', tapped her paw to a service bell and then went outside. Praised and treated - and repeated several, several times. We repeated for two solid months. All our spare time was dedicated to potty training during these two months. It wasn't easy - but we were very successful!!!

We had blankets on the floor - so as soon as she soiled one, we swapped it out and washed it. We saved the carpet and removed the odor so that she wouldn't want to go back to it.

I'm not a big fan of taking out the dog at certain intervals - my goal was to teach Bailey to let us know when she wanted to go out (bell ringing) - we accomplished this simultaneous with potty training.

We both work - so during the day, Bailey was in an expen. No rules in the expen - it was always a mess when I got home. I just gave her a bath, cleaned up the area and started the daily potty training session. Hubby was great - we were able to tag-team the training sessions. I couldn't have done it without his help.

Good luck!