Ok, take a deep breath and try to relax. You are now restricting her movements and that's the right thing to do but you don't want to leave her in her crate all the time. I bet you're glad to hear that. LOL Your current goal with your pup is to encourage her to go potty in the correct area (pad/outside) so I would suggest that you put her on her leash and fix the hand end to you in some fashion. You can loosely tie it to a belt loop on your pants or something like that. This will keep her very close to you so you can supervise her. When you see/think she needs to go potty, take her to her potty spot and give her tons of praise when she does it right. Never yell or scold her when she makes a mistake. My mother used to tell me "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar." What she was saying is that if you are sweet, you will get sweet (or good behavior) from someone else or in this case, your pup. Dogs respond much better to positive reinforcement than scolding.
You do want to keep her in her pen when you are away but not all the time. I hope this makes sense. Sorry for the long post.
__________________ Diane owned and loved by Hansel and Princess Sophie |