potty training in apartment

Question
is it ok to litter box train my puppy along with regular potty training or will that just tend to confuse her as paper training often does? I live in an apartment, only on the second floor but the stairs are very steep and I can imagine a spill happening trying to rush a peeing puppy outside so I was considering litter box training her as well. But also I am going to be moving in with a girl who has cats and i don't want there to be issues with my dog using the wrong box. Also is crate training as effective as people make it out to be???? I will be taking my new puppy home in a couple weeks and I just want to be on the right track for both the puppy's sake and the sake of my security deposit. Please help!

Answer
Hi, Jessica!

Initially, I would recommend using one house training method or the other or I fear that your pup will be confused.  Whatever you do, do it consistently.  Remember that dog potty training is rarely accomplished overnight, so you must be patient.  It will probably take several months for your puppy to be completely potty trained with no accidents.  You can minimize the accidents by keeping your potty outings on a schedule (every couple hours to begin with), until you know how long your dog can go between outings.  If you wish to take your puppy outside to potty, check out my blog post:

http://blog.gizmo2wizmo.com/2008/09/13/house-train-your-dog-the-easy-way.aspx