Pondering the Puppy Pee Pad Problem

My living room carpet is a patchwork of vomit stains, urine stains that have been scrubbed out with shampoo, and the occasional splotch of original color. I've told Mark that we have to trash the thing, but he's waiting for Bette to be completely house trained before committing to a new rug. So sometime in the distant future I'll be able to throw that nasty thing away. Sooner than later I hope. Throwing it away sooner is in doubt though because Bette is the most stubborn dog I have had in forty years. House breaking her has been a real struggle. I originally potty trained her to go on puppy pee pads because of her tiny bladder that needs to be emptied every half hour. The fact that I want her to go outside now to do her peeing seems to have confused her. Over the last few weeks, when I see her sauntering over to the puppy pee pads, I give her a call out. "Bette, you want to go out?" I'd ask, and Bette would do a U-turn towards the back door. Yay! Mission accomplished, or so I thought. What I did, was confuse her. I think in dog language I told her that "Peeing on the puppy pee pad is wrong.", not "I want you to go outside and pee." So up until a few days ago, she was again squatting where ever the hell she stood. Finally, in the last couple of days, I have re-instilled the idea that  peeing on the  puppy pee pads is the way to go. As for her peeing outside, I'll have to re-think my strategy.

Bette has another problem that I have been trying to break her of, shredding. Bette will grab any piece of paper, cardboard, one of my slippers, anything, and shred it. What is really disturbing is her latest twist on that habit. Bette grabs the puppy pee pad that she has just peed on, drags it into the middle of the living room, and shreds it.