Okay this is what I have been doing and it is working on my pup, at the beginning crating wasn't helping, she was scared and would poo in there so now she only uses her kennle to sleep in and that is it so she knows when she goes in there its time for her to go to sleep. We also have an xpen, I only put her in there when I am cleaning the floors, doing dishes, etc just long enough for me to gets things done. She has 2 pee pads on one end and some toys and if she is in there for awhile her bed on the other end. If we are gone anywhere from 1 hour to 4 hours we leave her xpen gate open so if she needs to go potty or poo she goes in there and uses the pee pads, she has free roam of the family room and kitchen combo. We use a baby gate to block off the other part of the house. I always make sure there is nothing
laying on the floors like wires or just anything that may hurt her, I always leave a light on and the TV on for her, her food she knows where it is, it has never been moved. When we first got the xpen I would put her in there when we would be gone but we would come home, she would be a mess with poop stuck on her coat, paws just a mess and thats with her going on the pee pads but being confined to just that area she would walk all over it
and step on it. So we decided to just give her free roam because thats what she is use to when we are there. We have only had her for over 2 weeks and she is about 90% house trained. Everyone has different methods of training there pets its really what they like. Hope this helps some.
Mimi |