About potty training... with Sapphire, I was waiting for her to 'go' on the pee pad so I could reward her, but after two months of no success, I rethought the situation. She would sometimes go on the pad, but I could never catch her in the act.
I needed to teach her two things, to potty on command, and to potty on the pad. I broke it down and decided to give her a treat for just going potty (which happened on the rug the first time), but it introduced her to the idea that what she did had a name, was a good thing, and that she got a treat for it.
Then I could take her to the peepad and tell her 'Go Potty'. It took maybe 5 attempts, but I finally caught her going on the pad, and I went totally overboard with praise and treats. I could see the little light going off in her head that she understood that she did something very special and that Mommie was very happy! Now she's 100% reliable to go on the peepad. | 