Potty regression

Ellie has been sleeping in our bedroom since May and doing great about not having accidents. Recently, I have found a couple of pee spots on the floor so she is back to sleeping in her crate in the basement. I hate it but hopefully it will reestablish the concept of waiting until morning to go outside and potty. She doesn't get to sleep in the bed because I refuse to vacuum the bed everyday. If she would just come to my side of the bed and let me know she needs to go, I would take her out. She still does not communicate going outside very well. I am a light sleeper so it wouldn't take much for her to wake me. She is a year old now and I don't know what to do about our communication problem. During the day, she will ring her bell to go out "sometimes". When I say "outside", she just gives me a blank stare as if the word means nothing to her even though we have always said it when we take her out. I'm getting quite discouraged with the lack of communication and wonder if it's ever going to get any better. I don't want her sleeping in her crate in the basement all night for the rest of her life--I want her to be upstairs with the rest of the family. Unfortunately, our bedroom is not big enough to have the crate in there with us.

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on August 1, 2011 at 5:31pm

Hi Kathryn, read and re-read the FAQ on potty training and common mistakes. As far as sleeping in the room goes, close the bedroom door if you can't fit the crate inside.

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Permalink Reply by Kathryn Harbour on August 1, 2011 at 6:09pm

We do keep the bedroom door closed --the potty spots are on the bedroom floor. I thought about putting a bell on the bedroom door but she would probably be ringing it just to get out of the bedroom (heaven knows they are smart enough to figure that one out!) Thanks for the input and let me know if you have anymore ideas. Maybe I'm the one that needs training :)

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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on August 1, 2011 at 7:26pm

Hi Kathryn, over clean the soiled area first, if she made an inch diameter spot, clean and soak the area to 2 inches. Can you put the crate on wheels in the door way? If she is having accident else where, she should not have free roam until proven reliable. re-read the FAQ, good luck!