I got my little girl today. YAY! She's really affectionate, loves naps, and is an extremely calm puppy (compared to her brother and sister anyways lol). I've been preparing for weeks and I think everything went well besides potty training and her crate. She had an accident and next time I was able to put her on the puppy pad and praised her. Then she took it upon herself to get on the puppy pad and use the bathroom all by herself. At this point I was thinking she picked it up and adjusted really fast buuut then she had another accident.
I've never used puppy pads before and thought the process would be a lot better/easier (having to go 5 ft vs running the puppy all the way outside),but I guess not.
With her crate she has no problem being in it with the door opened, she laid/slept in it with the door open most of the day, however, once I closed the door she had a fit. I only close the door when she doesn't go potty and it has been a while since she last used the bathroom. After she whined for a bit I opened the door, picked up her, and took her directly to the puppy pad (I was afraid she was whining because she had to go potty). I gave her about 5 mins to go and then when she didn't do anything, I put her back in her crate and closed the door. I'm not sure if that was the correct thing to do. I don't want to reward her whining by letting her out, but I also need her to learn to let me know when she needs to go potty.
We are going to the vet tomorrow to get her checked out and hopefully I can find a good puppy training class. But in the mean time any potty training tips or general 'what I know now that I wish I knew then' advise would be greatly appreciated!