Is my Pomeranian playing a game or am I giving mixed signals?

Question
Hi Cathy!
I am the proud owner of a 5 month old Pomeranian. She is intelligent, lively, and generally very well behaved for a puppy her age. I have had her for a little over a month now. We are working on potty training her. She always tells us when she needs to poop, and she always poops outside without a problem (yay for that!!!). However, peeing is another story. I would say that she pees in her correct spot about 60% of the time. The other 40% is on our kitchen floor. But- here's what's going on. She always lets us know that she needs to go potty by doing twirls in the kitchen and scratching at the stove. I don't know why that is her chosen signal, but it's consistent, so I just follow it. She'll make those motions, and I will put on her leash and walk her to her spot outside- and then, that 40% of the time, she'll just sit there. I'll wait up to 20 minutes out there waiting for her to go, encouraging her with "Go potty" or "Bailey, potty outside." I'll bring her back in the house and not 5 minutes later, she's doing the potty dance again. The cycle will repeat. If I ignore her potty dance, she will urinate in the kitchen, so she's not bluffing. My question is- why is she doing this? I have heard many times that such issues are never the dog's fault- it is the fault of the owner for sending mixed signals. I am fully prepared to accept that- I just want to know how to fix what I might be doing wrong. I can tell you that we recently moved a few weeks ago, so I am sure the new surroundings have her a little confused. And, don't get me wrong, I know that she is young and I have very long to work with her before I expect 100% accuracy. I just want to make sure that I don't continue to possibly make a repeated mistake that might hinder her potty training development.

Answer
Hi Emily,
I don't think you're giving mixed signals and you are probably right that the move has caused some confusion.  While I can't answer why she is doing this, I can try to make a suggestion on how to resolve this.  I don't know if you used a crate to train her or not, but if not -- perhaps you could get one.  A nice open wire one that doesn't make her feel too confined.  When you make your trips outside and she doesn't go, I would suggest bringing her back inside and putting her in her crate and wait about 15-30 minutes and take her outside again.  Hopefully this time she will go.  She could be doing this just to get attention or an extra little walk.   If she learns that when she goes out and doesn't go, she'll go in the crate, I think she'll start to go the first time.      The key to housebreaking is eliminating the opportunity for an accident and I've always found that the crate is the most helpful method.