@luzmery928:
Can I potty train him with the crate when we are not home but give him free use of the house when we are, including letting him sleep during the night out of his crate? This is the only reason y we have not crated him. O.k about the nipping thing, we are all going to have to strap ourselves like cowboys to a chewing toy and maybe a squirt water bottle for back up.
You can do whatever you want with him, as long as you can keep your eye on him every single second. During the day, you make it so he can't leave the room you are in…or tether him to you....while you are sleeping, you are unlikely to be able to watch him, so I would crate him. The only exception to that, imo, is if he is sleeping in your bed, and you wake up when he starts to move around. That is how we night trained several of our dogs. As soon as the puppy starts moving around, we take them outside.
We have a puppy right now too...so I totally understand what you are going thru. But I know if I walk away from the puppy, I will most likely find a puddle when I come back. I clean it up, and go on....I know if I leave her in her crate for more than three hours, I will be cleaning up pee, and probably poop. I put newspaper on the floor of the crate, and an absorbent blanket, and be prepared to clean when I come back. The responsiblity is all on ME to set her up for success...if I can't do that, then I take responsiblity for not actually training her.
For the biting, try standing up and leaving the play when it gets too rough. Usually our puppy bites when she is either on my lap, or if we are holding her..I immediately put her down (unless she is struggling to *get down, and that is a different story). Game over. You can also try spraying your hands and arms with Bitter Apple. That is the only thing that worked when Querk was a puppy.
House training sometimes takes a long time. You KNOW that he will poop when somebody walks away (separates themselves) from him.... so set him up so that can't happen. If your daughter needs a break from him, put him in the crate, and she goes off to her room. Give him something fun do in there, so it isn't a puninshment. Or she says 'mom, watch the puppy, I can't deal with him right now'.
You were meeting with a trainer, right? Has that happened yet? Hopefully he or she will have some good ideas for you.