[milles2]

Everything I read before getting my first dog (Tucker) was that because of the whole 'den animal' thing, the smaller the space the less likely they will be to soil their area. I love the crate for sleeping, car trips, etc but could not bring myself to crate Tuck during the day while I went to work. I got an X pen and gated off a small area (slightly larger than his crate). As he got older and held pee/poo longer, I expanded the space. Eventually giving him run of the dinning room (still baby gated from the rest of the house).

I've pretty much done this w/ Lulu. She started out x-penned in the middle of the dining room w/ Tuck (yes, the hoodlum is still gated in the dining room and will be for the rest of his life!). The pen got bigger as accidents disappeared. She now is sharing most of the dining room w/ Tuck. And no accidents!

The other turning point for both was catching them in the act of peeing on my rug.... both got grabbed mid-pee and ran outside saying loudly "noooooooo"! Yes, mid pee. When it happened to Tuck he actually kept peeing on me! That's my boy!