just can't get over the housebreaking hump!

[Guest]

Lucy is now a year and a half. She still cannot be trusted to get through a given day without peeing, (tho never pooping) in the apartment. Yet she can go for a week or more without an accident. I know she can hold it because she's proven this many times, but she continues to pee indoors, today twice! Since we live in New York City, rushing outside midstream isn't possible.

We had started to allow her to sleep outside her crate but she pee-ed in the house during the night so now she's back in. She never pees in there and goes regularly on a wee-wee pad when she wakes up, tho only if led there. She has never figured out to go there on her own. (The pad allows us to let her out of her crate and pee as we get ready to go out. Again, because we live in an apartment, she can't just go outside immediately to pee. This system has worked fine in the mornings.

One contributing factor to her housebreaking hurdle may be that we have a second home upstate where her routine is a bit different. No wee-wee pad since she can go outside immeditely upon leaving her crate. We tried to have a pad there for consistency but she refused to use it.

She is a tough cookie, extremely willful, prone to running away if given the chance. She is also smart and playful and we love her. Help!